Rosie Makes Sweet Potato Hash In Pancetta Cups. Except Not.

Interestingly enough, Brian Boitano is now one of my favorites on the Food Network. Go figger. An Olympic Gold Medalist is skating circles around the rest of the crew at Food Network. I saw his Pancetta with Sweet Potato Hash and decided to make it for Sunday breakfast.

I started by lining my muffin tins with pancetta. Ideally, you're supposed to take another muffin tin and insert it, then cook the pancetta upside down over a baking sheet so that you end up with actual cups. As luck would have it, my muffin tins are two different sizes. So scratch that. I went ahead and cooked the pancetta anyway in a 400 degree oven for 12 minutes.

And I got what I expected - melted down non-cups of porky deliciosity. I set the non-cups down and tended to the rest of the meal. Wait a minute. I have to put a positive spin on this. They're not non-cups. They are Pancetta Coasters. On to Sunday breakfast:

I had a hankerin' for grits. And not just any grits. Byrd Mill grits. Once you've had Byrd Mill grits, you'll never go back. You can't. See My Cousin Vinnie's grit right here. Note: Quaker Grits are NOT REAL grits. And there is no such thing as instant grits. Cook the grits, slooooooooowly. Then add in cheddar cheese and buttah. Salt and pepper to taste. Cover. Go cook something else.

Some little bits of hot sausage.

Some bacon. Now, on to the Sweet Potato Hash with which to stuff the pancetta cups. Errrr ... I mean to pile on top of the Pancetta Coasters.

Ingredients: Sweet potato, peeled and cubed 1 stalk celery, chopped 1 small onion, chopped garlic, minced Hot Hungarian Paprika hot pepper flakes

I sauteed the sweet potato cubes in ELBOO and LOLUSB. That's Extra Light Bertolli Olive Oil and Land O' Lakes Unsalted Butter. I expect my acronyms to become part of the lexicon of the English language.

After about 90 seconds, I added in the celery, onion, and garlic.

Cook another minute or so. Taste it as you go along and see how the textures of your vegetables change, as well as the tastes. Salt and pepper. Add in the paprika and red pepper flakes. I like my vegetables just slightly sweaty. Just enough to activate the inherent sugars so that they glisten. I also like to add a tiny bit of sugar when I cook my veggies. And salt. Freshly ground sea salt. The salt and sugar together educe the natural sucroses of the vegetables. I use this sugar and salt trick with broccoli too. It seems to tame the sometimes apparent cruciferous taste of ... well, crucifers.

I crumbled some of the bacon over top of the hash.

I always look forward to Sunday breakfast. I look at it as a special time for the Hawthornes, no matter whether there are just the 2 of us or 3, 4, or 5 of us. It's relaxed and laid back. At 12 o'clock is my Pancetta Coaster, piled high with Sweet Potato Hash. At approximately 2 o'clock is more of said hash. At 5:45, grits with buttah and cheddah cheese. At 8:55 is my little sausage piece.

Here's the pon-cheeh-ta with sweet potato hash topped with bacon. Giada's pro-noon-see-ayyyyy-shoons just slay me. But excellent boobage in the video above.