Pretty Perky

In case you're stumbling in late from the New Year and have missed my month of woe-is-me wallowing, let's just say I needed a little pick me up. Having stopped at a local farm and departed with a softball sized beet, I was hopeful that a little bright color and salty sweet goodness would do the trick.  It's pretty messy to make, you may want to strip to your skivvies and then cover anything else you care about (floor, counters, pets, children) with a drop cloth, but when it's done you may just want a larger fork to get it to your mouth faster.  If it's enough to make me smile, it just might get you through the winter doldrums too.

SWEET POTATO AND BEET HASH
recipe from Melissa d'Arabian.  
Enough hash as a side for 2 with a smidge left over. If you wanted it to be the main event (maybe with some poached eggs) you could easily just increase the amounts.

INGREDIENTS:
1 softball sized beet (or 2 little beets)
1 large sweet potato (or 2 little sweet potatoes)
4-6 slices of bacon ( I had to make do with 3, of turkey bacon no less.  It was tragic.)
1/2 a large onion or a whole small onion, diced.
olive oil
salt and pepper

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat your oven to 400 F.  Cover a large baking sheet with tinfoil.  Remove any clothing items of value and cover what remains with an apron you're okay with ruining.  Consider putting on disposable gloves.  Attack the beet.  Peet it, cut off the stalk and end bits and then dice into 1/4 inch pieces.  Put on one side of the baking sheet.  Wash up and clean up all beet mess now, before it stains.  Peel the sweet potato and dice it to the same size as the beets, put the pieces on the other side of the baking sheet. I intermingled mine.  But you know the beets sort of bleed a bit, and they cook at slightly different rates (the potato is faster), so you might want a way to get the potatoes out earlier than the beets, which you could do if you haven't tossed them together.  Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Gently toss each respective vegetable with only it's own kind.  Bake for 45 minutes. I started checking mine around 30 minutes, and I think I could have pulled the potatoes then, but for all the mixing.  With only about 15 minutes left on the timer, start your bacon.  In a large skillet, add 1/4 or 1/2 inch squares of bacon.  Cook on medium until crispy.  Using the rendered fat (pour off a bit if there's too much), add the diced onion.  Cook until sweet and translucent. It's okay if it's a bit crispy.  When the beet and sweet potato are soft, add them to the pan and toss everything together.  The beet will bleed a bit on everything, but that's okay.  Serve as a side or just get a fork and stand over the pan.