Friday night hash

Friday was a cool, windy and rainy day in the middle of a burst of warm spring weather.  I had planned on making a completely different dinner with my pile of ingredients, but somehow it morphed into a big cast iron pan full of hash.  Apparently, I was yearning for a plate of warm comfort on a blustery spring night.  I was also not planning on making it into a blog post, but it looked so gorgeous on the plate that I just had to take a photo.  The purple potatoes in the hash and the purple greens in our salad created quite a lovely and cohesive color palette. 

Once again, this post does not include a formal recipe, merely a guide for creating a similar hash in your kitchen, with what you have on hand.  This hash includes ham, but you could omit that for a vegetarian option.  If you still need a little protein boost, a couple of poached eggs perched atop the hash and asparagus would make a beautiful presentation.

Anyway.....

Start with a bit of oil or butter and some onions, maybe a little garlic.

Add some potatoes that have already been pre-cooked, but are still firm

(and/or sweet potatoes/rhutabagas/parsnips-any tuber!)

Add meat (ham, sausage, kielbasa, leftover roast etc) or no meat,

maybe some peppers or broccoli or carrots.

Is that vague enough for you?  Just experiment and have fun.

You can also check out my previous hash post for more inspiration.

I like to do this in a cast iron pan and press the whole works down with a spatula, letting it get good and crispy, then turning and pressing down again until all sides and bits are nice and browned.

This is a great meal for any time of day.  Serving it with a green salad and roasted asparagus as I did turns it into an elegant brunch or evening meal.