One of my favorite brunches is the southwestern pile-up – cubes of pan roasted potatoes, onion, bacon or chorizo (or both), cheese, and red or green chile all piled on top of each other and topped off with a runny egg or two. This recipe with potatoes, fennel and andouille uses the same idea, but with different ingredients and served as supper. After all, who doesn’t like an egg for supper.
Suppertime Pile-up Recipe
Serves: 2
Prep and cooking time: 20 minutes prep, 25 minutes cooking time
Ingredients: Skillet 1
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 Tbsp. butter
1 medium fennel bulb, sliced thin
1 medium onion, sliced thin
1/8 tsp. salt and 1/4 tsp. pepper or taste
1 Andouille sausage, 1/4″ cubes (Optional – see Kitchen Notes)
Ingredients: Skillet 2
1 medium sweet potato, cut into 1/4 to 1/2 inch cubes
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1/4 tsp. salt and 1/2 tsp. pepper or to taste
2 to 4 eggs cooked over easy (It depends on how many eggs each person wants. I’m happy with 1 egg, but Bobby likes 2
butter or margarine for frying eggs
Instructions
Skillet 1 (large enough for the onion, fennel and sausage)
- Heat the olive oil and butter in a skillet over medium heat.
- Add fennel and sauté for 3 minutes. Add the onion. Toss with the fennel and sauté 5 minutes.
- Add Andouille sausage. Mix with vegetables. Reduce heat to medium-low. Add salt and pepper.
- Cover and cook about 12 to 14 minutes until vegetable are soft, stirring occasionally.
Skillet 2 (non-stick and large enough to spread potatoes in one layer)
- In a large skillet, heat 1 Tbsp. olive oil over medium heat.
- Add the sweet potato, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Toss and spread potato cubes into a single layer. Cover and cook 3 minutes.
- Flip the cubes over with a spatula. Cover and cook another 3 minutes.
- Remove cover and continue cooking, stirring infrequently until potato is cooked and pieces start to brown, about 3 to 5 minutes. (Taste for doneness and seasoning.)
- Divide sweet potato between two bowls.
- In the non-stick skillet melt some butter or margarine for the eggs. Fry the eggs, sunny-side up or over easy – your preference. (Be careful not to overcook the yokes. You want them runny.)
- Top the potato with the vegetable-sausage mixture.
- Place one or 2 eggs on top of the vegetables. Salt and pepper the eggs, if desired, and serve.
Kitchen Notes
The sausage – Even though this recipe calls for Andouille sausage, it can be made with just about any sausage or without sausage. I like it best with Andouille or Mexican chorizo. A friend of mine used a turkey sausage and loved it.
The fennel – If you don’t have a fennel bulb or don’t like fennel, just use two onions instead of one.
Vegetarian version - Omit the sausage and add a little jalapeno or green chile to the onion/fennel mix.
Variation from 12/14/2012 – Replace the andouille with chorizo and top the egg with a little red chile sauce.
Leftover fennel fronds – Need an item for those leftover fronds? Try making these fennel infused onions. Delicious!
This pileup recipe has been linked to the following blog hops. Be sure to click on the links for more delicious recipes.
Mouthwatering Monday Blog Hop, Gluten-Free Blog Hop, Frugal Food Thursday,
Tuesday’s Tasty Tidbits, Showcase Your Talent Thursday, Keep It Real Thursday, Gluten-Free Wednesday, Gluten-Free Monday
Another use for my favorite sausage! I loved this!
Jeff likes this pileup with a little less sweetness, so we use red potatoes instead of sweet potatoes. Still a yummy bowl of comfort!
Thanks for the feedback!
Delicious! Just delicious!
I love the name, a pileup! I’ve never heard of them before but I think there the same as what we call a skillet breakfast. I would totally eat this for dinner. i Love how you included fennel in your recipe. It’s one that I’m completely addicted to these days.
I’m hosting Whole Food Wednesdays at beyondthepeel. I hope you’ll swing by and maybe even join in! Have a great week.
http://www.beyondthepeel.net/2012/01/whole-food-wednesday-not-another-waldorf-salad-recipe.html
This looks really yummy!! I’ll have to try it soon! Thanks for sharing!
Yummy! I would love for you to Link up at my Linky Party via: http://www.ourdelightfulhome.blogspot.com
Mrs. Delightful
This looks good, I really like the egg on top! Thanks for sharing at Showcase Your Talent Thursday. I hope to see you there next week!
Wow! Sounds yummy. I love sweet potatoes. I know this is a silly question, but does fennel taste like licorice (like the seeds do)?
If you haven’t already, I’d love for you to visit my Gluten-Free Monday party at OneCreativeMommy.com and link up this and any other GF idea you would like to share. I hope to see you there.
Thanks Heidi! Cooked fennel doesn’t take like licorice. The seeds yes, and even the raw bulb a little. The cooked fennel has a sweet taste all its own. Thanks for the invite to your party. I’ll head over there.
I love the sound of this pileup, MJ! Fennel seed is often used in Italian breakfast sausage, so combining here with egg sounds perfect. And I’d totally eat this for breakfast, lunch or dinner
Such a delicious dish and thank you so much for sharing!