Other than sushi, what my kids missed the most during quarantine was our trips to the diner. I have made countless hashes over the last 6 months, it is the ultimate in customizable recipes and they work for breakfast, lunch or dinner.
Of course they shine beside scrambled eggs or under poached or fried eggs and I love adding hashes to burritos for a fun twist. Recently I mixed a leftover hash in with some leftover spaghetti squash and it was one of the most flavorful and delicious meals I had all week from mixing two leftovers and it took 2 minutes to heat/eat. Which is another point… When you are making hash always make more than you think you will need because the leftovers are magic.

The classic hash that I grew up with contains potato and onion, doesn’t get much simpler than that. I love to use whatever veggies I have on hand to make sure everything from the farm gets used. They happen to make hashes even more delicious and make it a little healthier! I usually add peppers, but you could also add squashes, tomatoes, eggplant. If you are adding in any other root veggies you should pre-cook them just like the potatoes. If you want to add in meat, corned beef and sausages work great. My family loves when I add chorizo in a hash. When you do this, cook the meat in the pan before the veggies (after the bacon if using), and hold the meat on the side while you cook the veggies in the fond before adding it all back together at the end.

Some secrets to a great hash:
-Make bacon ahead of time in the pan you intend to make your hash in. Use the bacon fat/fond to create an incredibly meaty/smoky flavor to your hash.
-Ingredient ratio: completely depends on you and who you are cooking for. If you like onions, throw in an extra.
-Cut everything pretty similarly sized.
-Potatoes: Cut them evenly for consistency in cooking. Pre-boil your potatoes in salted water from cold until fork tender and drain completely before adding them to your hash. Russets are usually used, but any farm fresh potato will work beautifully.
-Season throughout the cooking process. Your potatoes will be sufficiently seasoned from their pre-boil. Season your onions and whatever other veggie you are putting in from the start.

Equipment:
Cutting board/Knife
Sauté Pan
Spatula

Ingredients:
2 large Russet potatoes, peeled and cubed (Place directly into small pot with cold salted water, to cover by about an inch.)
2T bacon fat or vegetable oil
2 medium onions, chopped
2 peppers of your choice, chopped (If I am using Poblano I will char and remove the skin first.)
Any other veggies or meat you have on hand, chopped to a similar size.
Salt and pepper to taste

Method:
1. Boil the potatoes until tender, drain completely. You want to see the edges get chalky, that means they will soak up all the beautiful flavors from the meat/veggies.
2. Meanwhile in a large sauté pan… (Preferably the bacon pan, but if not you can use 2T reserved bacon fat from another day or use your preferred vegetable oil. Also cook any uncooked meat or reheat if using leftover meat at this point, then reserve on the side while you cook your veggies.) Heat the fat and cook the onions and peppers, with a big pinch of salt until tender. If you are using other veggies put heartier veggies in earlier and more delicate veggies in later. You may need to add a little more fat if you add a lot of veggies. You don’t want the veggies to be greasy, but you want to have enough flavored fat in the pan so that when your potatoes go in they soak it up and make sweet flavor music together 🙂
3. When the veggies are softened you can throw in your drained potatoes and cook until the potatoes are exactly as you like them. Some people prefer to throw them in a hot oven or broiler for little burnt bits… I prefer a strong sauté so that some pieces are browned but not all. If using, put your pre-cooked meat in at the end and season to taste.

When I open my café there will definitely be lots of yummy hashes on the menu. I cannot wait!

I hope you try this for your family and let me know if you have any out of this world combinations that you’d like to share!