DY2 Preview- Scattered, Smothered, Diced & Greened

I'm having a lot of fun working on the second issue of Down Yonder! Keeping with the southern food theme from the first issue, the second Down Yonder is #2: The Metal Years. 

 The Down Yonder series is a way for me to dig into my personal food nostalgia to try and understand where my current eating habits come from. In Volume 1: Marlene, I stumbled down memory lane in honor of my mom, and the food we shared together when I was a kid. While there is no doubt the food I was introduced to as a young kid helped shape my tastes, I think there is also something to be said about my teenage years. I was just starting to really make my own food choices around age 15 or so. With a little bit of money in my pocket from various summer jobs, coupled with having some friends with driving privileges, it was a recipe for junk food and bad food choices. I have fond memories of some pretty crap food from that time. The food you find in DY2 may not all be traditional southern food, but they are certainly based on some regional restaurant favorites. Down Yonder Volume 2: The Metal Years is dedicated to all my Georgia metalhead friends, our late night Waffle House binges and post show Krystal eating competitions.
Horns up. \m/ \m/

Scattered, Smothered, Diced & Greened Home Fries

Oh, Waffle House. How you used to tempt me with your ridiculously cheap breakfast food available 24 hours a day on virtually every corner of every street in every city in Georgia. How you used to disgust me with your sticky bench seats, full ashtrays, needle scattered bathrooms and jukeboxes full of Bad Company. I found myself at a Waffle House pretty often during the metal years, mostly because it’s where you would go with a five dollar bill to get full on a patty melt and a side of hashbrowns late at night or after a show. The big appeal of WF hashbrowns is the toppings: First you order them “Scattered” which is just fancy talk for “plain”. Then you build upon your mountain of the finest GMO spuds ever delivered by a Sysco truck in Waffle House lingo like this:
Smothered- with onions
Covered- with cheese
Chunked- with ham
Topped- with chili
Diced- with tomatoes
Peppered- with jalapenos
Capped- with mushrooms

Have yours any way you want, but this lady likes hers with onions, tomatoes, and greens. At home of course, because there ain’t a damn thing vegan in that joint besides coffee. And I wouldn’t even trust that. I make fried potatoes cut up as home fries because I hate peeling potatoes and I’ll be damned if I’m shredding them by hand.

1 lb. yukon gold or other small starchy potatoes, quartered
1 small onion, diced
1 pint grape or cherry tomatoes, halved
1 bag baby spinach, or another favorite baby green
1/3 cup toasted sesame oil- you can use any oil you want, but I strongly suggest toasted sesame for a more bacon-like flavor
salt and pepper to taste

In a large skillet, heat oil on medium high heat. Cook the diced onion until soft, about three minutes. Add potatoes in a single layer to ensure even cooking. Let the heat and oil do it’s thing until the potatoes start to brown, then flip the potatoes. Add the tomatoes in a layer over the potatoes, then add the spinach over the tomatoes. Get those potatoes good and brown, and test one for softness by piercing with a fork. Once the potatoes are soft enough for your liking, stir the tomatoes and spinach in the potatoes until everything is mixed up good. When the spinach is wilted, it’s time to plate those potatoes and add salt and pepper. Hot sauce too, if you swing that way.