Sweet Potato Hash

My little cold from last week morphed into something much grosser, and I have not really felt like cooking at all this week. I've barely felt like eating. But last night I summoned the energy to try out an idea that had been swimming around in my head for awhile. I'm supposed to be eating more sweet potatoes (so says the nutritionist/trainer that visits our little apartment gym once a month) and even though I do love them just baked with a little butter and cinnamon, I wanted to try something different.

The apple might sounds strange, but trust me it adds a great flavor to the dish that works really well with the sweet potatoes and the sage. If you're not a fan of bacon, you could substitute olive oil, but I think the bacon really gives the dish a lot of flavor, so it would probably be better to reduce the amount used before eliminating it all together. We had these with dinner, but they would be a great dish for a brunch. And the recipe is easy to scale up or down based on how many people you are serving.

Sweet Potato Hash
Serves 2

Ingredients:
2 sweet potatoes
4 strips of medium-cut bacon
1/2 medium apple (I used Gala), diced small
2 tsp. fresh sage, chopped

Directions:
-Poke holes in the sweet potatoes and bake in a 400 degree oven for 40 to 50 minutes. The potatoes should give a little when you poke them.
(Shortcut: Poke holes and microwave each potato for five minutes or until softened.)
-Let the potatoes rest until they are cool enough to handle.
-In the meantime, chop the bacon into cubes, about 1/2 inch across. Cook the bacon over moderate heat in a large frying pan, until the fat starts to reduce from the bacon and the bacon gets crispy.
-When the potatoes are cool enough to handle, pull the skin off. (It should come off fairly easy, you shouldn't need a peeler.) Dice the sweet potato into large squares.
-When the fat has reduced from the bacon, add the diced apples and sweet potatoes to the pan, then the chopped sage. Toss (or gently stir) to combine. Cook over moderate heat for 5 minutes, or until the apples become slightly tender.
-Season with salt and pepper and serve.