We had this last night for supper. We added the optional poached egg. It was a wonderful late-summer meal.
| 3 | Potatoes, WhiteMedium sized, washed and cut into small, 1/2 inch, cubes | |
| 1 | cup | RutabagaCut into 1/2 inch cubes |
| ½ | cup | Yellow OnionOr cooking variety, diced into similar size as potatoes and rutabaga |
| ½ | cup | Red Pepper, FreshAlso diced into 1/2 inch pieces |
| 2 | tbsp | Classic Olive Oil |
| 1 | tbsp | Unsalted Butter |
| ¼ | tsp | White PepperOr, to taste |
| ½ | tsp | SaltOr, to your preference |
| 3 | Egg/sOptional, but delicious addition |
| 1 | Use a good sized saute pan (it works well to give the veggies room to sizzle a bit). When close to finishing cutting the vegetables, start the pan heating to a medium or slightly higher heat. |
| 2 | Add the oil and butter. As the butter starts sizzling, add the potatoes and rutabaga. Do not stir them. Cover the pan and just let the bottom layer cook and then begin to brown. After about ten minutes, uncover, add the salt and pepper, and,using a spatula, turn over the bottom layer so that the vegetables on top can benefit by browning some. Recover the pan. (Feel free to use whatever root vegetables you prefer. Carrots certainly work, as would beets -- they add a definite purple hue to the dish.) |
| 3 | After about another ten minutes, uncover the pan and add the onion and red pepper, turning over again with a spatula. Recover the pan. At this point, the hash should be stirred every few minutes so that the browning continues. I have also occasionally added, with the onion and pepper, fresh corn kernels, a wonderful addition. You can certainly be inventive and customize the dish to your taste. |
| 4 | After about five minutes, have the eggs ready nearby. Make three little "wells," or indentations in the hash. Break one of the eggs into each one. Recover the pan and let the eggs cook just to the degree you like. We like them just between soft and hard cooked, medium I guess. That takes just about three minutes or so. |
| 5 | The dish is ready. Some people use ketchup with hash, as does my husband. I just like the dish as is, unadorned, or perhaps with a good country dijon mustard. |
| 6 | One morning, late summer, our children came over for an early breakfast. We had this combinations of vegetables: beets, carrots, parsnips, purple topped turnip (yellow turnip, also called rutabaga would serve as a good alternative), potatoes, onion, red pepper, all diced into about half inch pieces. Close to the end of its cooking I added fresh kernels off an ear of corn, thinly sliced scallion and, minced parsley placed just in the indentations for the soon-to-be poached eggs. What a wonderful combination this proved to be, well worth all the chopping. |
| 7 | I must encourage you to use the salt, and particularly, white pepper, which do so much to enhance the flavor or this wonderful dish. |