Chorizo Potato Hash with Jalapeño Aioli

Grace turns thirty-one. April 3, 2020. The birthday that happened during a pandemic, which is to say: it barely happened. No party. No gathering at the Mountain View house. No Lourdes making pancit and lechon kawali while monitoring my plate with hawk-like intensity. Instead: a video call. Lourdes on the screen, in her kitchen, holding up a plate of pancit she'd made for long life — the tradition — and singing "Happy Birthday" in a voice that cracked on "dear Grace" and the cracking was not her voice failing but her heart showing, the grief of a mother who cannot feed her daughter on her birthday, the fundamental violation of everything Lourdes Santos believes about motherhood and food and the inseparability of the two.

Angela drove by my apartment and honked. She'd taped a balloon to my door. A balloon. I am thirty-one years old and a balloon on my door made me cry harder than anything has in weeks, because the balloon was effort, the balloon was Angela climbing out of her car in a mask and gloves to tape a piece of latex to my door because she couldn't hug me, because hugging was dangerous now, because the world had made the simplest expression of love — a sister's arms around you on your birthday — into a risk calculation.

I made my own birthday dinner. Lechon kawali — because Lourdes always makes it and Lourdes can't make it for me this year so I will make it for myself. The pork belly boiled and dried and fried, the skin shattering under my fork, the vinegar dipping sauce sharp and pungent. I ate it at the table. Seated. Alone. But not on the floor. Five years since the floor. Five years and a pandemic and a breakup and a birthday alone and I am not on the floor. I am at the table. The table is where thirty-one-year-old Grace Santos eats her lechon kawali on her birthday in a pandemic. The table is enough. The table is everything.

Mark called from San Diego. Joseph called from Kodiak. The Santos family, scattered across the continent, connected by phone lines and love and the shared knowledge that one of us is thirty-one today and alone and eating lechon kawali and the alone is temporary, the lechon kawali is perfect, and the Santos women endure.

Lechon kawali is my mother’s recipe and my mother’s hands, and that year I did the best I could with what I had — because that’s what the Santos women do. This chorizo potato hash carries the same spirit: pork crisped in a hot pan, bold and unapologetic, with a sharp, punchy sauce that wakes everything up the way vinegar does on lechon kawali. It’s not the dish Lourdes would have made, but it’s the dish I can make for myself, at my table, on any hard day I need reminding that feeding yourself is its own kind of love.

Prep Time: 15 minutes | Cook Time: 25 minutes | Total Time: 40 minutes | Servings: 4

Ingredients

12 oz fresh Mexican chorizo, casings removed
1 1/2 lbs Yukon Gold potatoes, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 medium yellow onion, diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoons fresh cilantro, roughly chopped
For the Jalapeño Aioli:
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 jalapeño, seeded and finely minced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

Instructions

Make the aioli. In a small bowl, stir together the mayonnaise, minced jalapeño, garlic, lime juice, and salt until fully combined. Cover and refrigerate while you prepare the hash — the flavors deepen as it sits.
Parboil the potatoes. Place the cubed potatoes in a medium saucepan and cover with cold salted water. Bring to a boil over high heat and cook for 5 minutes, until just barely tender but not soft. Drain well and pat dry with a clean kitchen towel — dry potatoes crisp better in the pan.
Brown the chorizo. Heat a large cast-iron or heavy-bottomed skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chorizo and cook, breaking it apart with a wooden spoon, until browned and cooked through, about 6–8 minutes. Transfer the chorizo to a paper towel-lined plate, leaving the rendered fat in the pan.
Crisp the potatoes. Add the olive oil to the chorizo fat in the skillet — you want a generous layer of fat for crispiness. Add the parboiled potatoes in a single layer. Cook undisturbed for 4–5 minutes until a golden crust forms on the bottom, then stir and continue cooking another 4–5 minutes until crispy on all sides. Season with smoked paprika, salt, and pepper.
Cook the aromatics. Push the potatoes to the edges of the skillet. Add the onion and bell pepper to the center and cook, stirring occasionally, for 4–5 minutes until softened and beginning to caramelize. Add the garlic and cook 1 minute more until fragrant.
Combine and finish. Return the browned chorizo to the skillet and toss everything together. Cook for 2 more minutes so the flavors meld. Taste and adjust seasoning. Scatter the fresh cilantro over the top.
Serve. Spoon the hash into bowls or onto plates and finish with a generous drizzle of jalapeño aioli. Serve the extra aioli on the side.

Nutrition (per serving)

Chorizo Potato Hash with Jalapeño Aioli — The Birthday Dinner I Made for Myself