This may not seem revelatory to any of you, but recently I started making hash browns for a weekend breakfast/brunch (who has early breakfast at the weekend?) and felt the need to share as it's so freaking good.
See, until April this year, Ben and I rarely had weekends to relax together as Ben's job meant he was mostly working, and when he wasn't we were mainly visiting or entertaining guests because it's nice to catch up with family and friends sometimes. This meant very few Saturdays waking up and saying 'what shall we do today?
In April however Ben was made redundant and we suddenly had all the time in the world, so we filled our time with visiting and guests and day trips and all the things we found it difficult to fit in before. And we had a great time, we saw people and did stuff and it turned into a kind of epic summer of fun things. But now it's autumn and we're settling in a bit more. We've promised ourselves to stay home as much as we can and concentrate on us and our house and getting ready for the c word. Oh yeah. I start geting excited about Christmas in approximately February so this is pretty restrained for me. And yes, food network have just done a weekend of christmas cooking shows and yes I watched most of them. Not even a little bit sorry.
Anyhoo, this is a massively roundabout way of saying that we've discovered the beauty of the lazy brunch together. I have an unashamed love of potatoes so take every opportunity I can to shove them in my face. Now I'd only had the hash browns you get in tacky cafes and cheap hotels before, you know, the triangle shaped ones with little to no flavour. But I'd heard amazing things, mainly from Greg Proops on his amazing podcast, The Smartes Man in the Workd. Seriously, listen to it. It's bloody good. Greg loves his greasy, starchy food as only a dedicated pothead who loves a lot of life on the road can. So I was inspired to give it a go.
I found this immensely simple recipe, which was promising.
So basically you get some potatoes and onions, grate them, squeeze out the water, season (do not forget the seasoning on potatoes) mix with an egg and fry. Easy, right? The only ball-achy part seemed to be the grating, but as I have a food processor to do that part I had no worries.
So I've made these 3 times and each time I've got it wrong.
I know, I know, how do you get such a simple thing wrong? Well, the first time I got so carried away that it wasn't until I put the egg in that I realised I'd forgotten to squeeze the water out of the potatoes and onions. Crap.
However, I'm a great believer in just working things out and making the best of it. Plus I was not wasting potatoes.
I put the whole mixture in a colander, squeezed it out the best I could, added another egg and firmed it up with some breadcrumbs I had on hand.
And guess what, it only worked. Totally delicious.
However, next time I was determined not to mess up. So I got my teatowel ready at the beginning to remind me, however in my lazy morning fug, when I put the grater attachment in the food processor I neglected to take out the metal knife blade, so I ended up with grated, then shredded vegetables. Sort of potato and onion mush.
Once again, bloody mindedness took over and I just persevered with the recipe. It worked, they were great.
So now I return to this morning. What went wrong today?
Well, nothing. I remembered every step, used the right blade, and got all the processes right.
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| Looks ok, right? |
But I used the wrong kind of potato.
We get an organic fruit and veg delivery. It alternates between all fruit and fruit and veg and we always get potatoes (hooray!) in the veg box, but for months now they've always been new potatoes or waxy potatoes. I like new potatoes, don't get me wrong, but it's getting cold, the nights are drawing in, I want to be able to have baked or mash or roast potatoes. So we find ourselves in the ridiculous position of having a load of lovely organic potatoes languishing in the fridge while we buy a massive bag of floury potatoes from the supermarket.
So I thought, 'maybe the waxy potatoes will work.'
Nope.
They hold onto too much moisture and don't stick together well. They kind of fell apart a bit in the pan and stayed too squidgy. I know, this should be obvious, but I really had to try it. Nothing ventured and that.
So in my stubbornness, when they fell apart and wouldn't crisp up, I just went ahead and added breadcrumbs to the remainder of the mix. And yes, it worked. Again. I'm a fricking genius.
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| Mmmmm.... goldeny.... |
To be honest we ate them all and I couldn't really tell the difference. They were a delight for brunch with a fried egg and a glass of orange juice.
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| Yup, my brunch wins. |
Next time maybe I'll do it properly, then again I do have some sweet potatoes in the fridge....
Love and kisses,
H.
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