Rutabaga Hash Brown Egg Nests

I can't tell you how much I miss potatoes!  I am so glad that I read about rutabagas as a substitute.  I had never tried rutabagas before this year, and now I am just so grateful for them!  They are terrific in with roasted vegetables, and make a great substitute for potatoes in our Turkey Kielbasa Potato Chowder (I'll post that recipe next time I make it).  Some other substitutes for potatoes include cauliflower, turnips, celery root, jicama, and sweet potatoes (and I've recently discovered the white-fleshed sweet potatoes, which can even look like the forbidden nightshade potatoes, but aren't).

And now I know rutabagas work for hash browns, too!  Today's breakfast was bacon, egg, and rutabaga hash browns.  Since I was indulging in bacon today, I fried my hash browns in bacon grease, but extra virgin olive oil or coconut oil should work fine, too.  I used the recipe for Rutabaga Egg Nests from the PaleOMG blog http://paleomg.com/rutabaga-egg-nests/, with slight modifications.

INGREDIENTS

1 medium-large rutabaga, peeled (remove layer of white)

1 small-medium or 1/2 large yellow onion, thinly sliced

1 clove garlic, minced

3-4 slices bacon per serving

1 egg per serving

Salt & pepper to taste

COOKING INSTRUCTIONS

Roughly chop peeled rutabaga then put through shredding attachment on your food processor, if you have one.  My food processor doesn't, so I used the shredding blade on my mandolin for the rutabaga and the thin slices blade for the onion.

Mix the rutabaga, onion, garlic, salt and pepper together in a bowl.  Save any unused for another day (I used about 1/4 to 1/3 of mine and stored the rest in a plastic bag in the refrigerator).

For each serving:

Cook 3-4 pieces of bacon in a skillet.  When done, remove to paper towel.  Over medium heat, place a layer of the rutabaga onion mixture in the hot bacon grease in the skillet.  Press down with spatula.  Let cook 3-4 minutes.  Turn the hash browns over.  Clear a hole in the middle by pushing the rutabaga/onion mixture away from the center.  If needed, add a little olive oil or bacon grease to the hole.  Crack an egg and empty into hole.  Cook until egg is done as you like it - about 3-4 minutes.  Covering the pan while cooking helps cook the top of the egg.

Nutritional information: 

per serving of just hash browns cooked in coconut oil = 112.7 calories, 9 g fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 170.9 mg sodium, 7.3 g carbs, 1.5 g dietary fiber, 1.3 g protein

per serving cooked in bacon grease and with 4 slices bacon and 1 large egg = 440 calories, 38.2 g fat, 236.4 mg cholesterol, 854.1 mg sodium, 7.7 g carbs, 1.5 g dietary fiber, 15.6 g protein