So…this is anything but your Grandmother's hash, a Maple Bacon and Sweet Potato Hash with Brussels sprouts, shallots, and poached egg.
This is a classic 'any meal of the day' dish of sweet and savory with just the right amount of salt. Maple bacon courts caramelized roasted bites of sweet potato before being balanced by sharp shallots, thyme, and shaved Brussels sprouts. The ingredients merge to support the protein, a perfectly poached egg, and is finished with either a smoked finishing salt or, if you like, a drizzle of Balsamic glaze. So…This is Anything But Your Grandmother's Hash!
This post, originally published in November of 2018, is now updated February, 2021.
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hash /noun
- a dish of cooked meat cut into small pieces and cooked again, usually with potatoes.
- a mixture of jumbled incongruous things; a mess. synonyms: mixture, assortment, variety, array, mix, miscellany, selection, medley, mishmash, ragbag, gallimaufry, potpourri, hodgepodge "a whole hash of excuses"
HASH AND VEGETABLE PREP NECESSARIES, CLICK ANY OF THESE IMAGES FOR PRICING AND AVAILABILITY
When I was growing up, we ate from the land. It was a real treat to have steak or even a ham, which was generally reserved for Easter. My Mom supplemented goods from the grocery store which in almost every case, was as basic as it came - milk, cheese ends, meat ends, butter, eggs, bread, and peanut butter. A bag of chips or a box of cake mix would have been a splurge to say the least, but looking back, we were ultimately better off with real food anyway. Hard to tell a little kid that though when they were baking brownies and eating pizza at the neighbors house.
Looking for additional comfort food meals? Be sure to check out my recipes for these great dishes, too!
Sour Cream Noodle Bake
Greek Shrimp Saganaki Over Creamy Polenta
Crazy Good French Onion Noodle Casserole
Amazing Swedish Meatballs In Creamy Gravy
Creamy Chicken Alfredo Casserole
a personal favorite, Best Chicken and Dumplings
Shepherd's Pie
Easy Four Cheese Baked Stuffed Shells
Rotisserie Chicken Casserole
or my Sausage-Studded Beef and Turkey Meatloaf
In an effort to 'keep it real,' and in addition, always keeping costs for myself down as much as possible, I have maintained into my adult life, the "outside edges of the grocery store" habit, only buying real, and as little processed as possible. Recently, I went through my Grandmother's recipe box, now in the guarded hands of my cousin, Holly. It was dreamlike, flipping through dog-eared and stained edges of paper all penned in her hand, notes in the margins "serve with strong coffee," or "dad's favorite." I came upon favorites which I recalled fondly such as her Sour Cream Noodle Bake and Crazy Good French Onion Noodle Casserole with Amazing Swedish Meatballs in Creamy Gravy. And then, something I hadn't recalled ever tasting at her dinner table; a recipe without a formal title, just the words scribbled shrewdly 'HASH.'
I read through the ingredients which were few. This was a 'rough recipe.' In fact, upon Googling the word hash, this is pretty darn exactly what it is...a rough mix of what is available.
I guess I gave quite a bit of thought to how hard life must have been during the Depression, and how many of these rough recipes my Grandmother had in her head. Potatoes, a seemingly key ingredient in most hash recipes I've since read through, were easy and abundant and kept over in winter. My guess was that largely, the dish changed and conformed to whatever was leftover and certainly based also on what was available. I snapped a pic of the recipe with my iPhone with every intention of assembling this Depression era masterpiece...and I did. So…This is Anything But Your Grandmother's Hash
So…This is Anything But Your Grandmother's Hash
The finished product that was hash went together quickly enough using the grizzly end of a leftover ribeye and about a cup of previously roasted halved creamer potatoes. I added coarsely chopped carrots which I caramelized in the pan, and half of an onion. The outcome; lackluster. But I didn't stop. So, why ever would I, a busy working gal, abandon the ease and speed of a recipe going together just because I hadn't nailed the correct ingredients? Why white potatoes? Why not sweet potatoes, given the carrots added the same sweetness a sweet potato would and would also provide more substance to the dish. Onions? Nah. Shallots! And from here, I built and the following, which....I have made in under an hour on a weeknight, many, many times. Enjoy!
All images and text ©Jenny DeRemer for Not Entirely Average, LLC
Equipment
- cast iron skillet
- small saucepan (or egg poacher) for poaching
Ingredients
Did you know that it’s super easy to print out a version of a half recipe or even a double recipe on Not Entirely Average? Hover over the serving size (highlighted in blue, it says 2 on this recipe) and then slide the the white line to the left to make less or to the right to make more. This "calculator" allows you to play until you get the number of servings you want. Easy.
Ingredients for Maple Bacon and Sweet Potato Hash With Brussels Sprouts and Poached Egg
for the hash
- 4 slices maple bacon cooked fully but still flexible and cut into 1/2 rough chop
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 large sweet potato rough chopped to 1/2-inch pieces
- 5 medium shallots peeled and sliced
- 1 cup Brussels sprouts shaved
- 3 sprigs thyme fresh
- Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
optional ingredients for serving
- light drizzle Balsamic glaze
- light drizzle olive oil
- pinch smoked finishing salt
for the poached eggs
- 2 tablespoons white vinegar
- water
- 2 large eggs
Instructions
The Method
make the hash
- Preheat the oven to 375°. Prepare a cookie sheet by lining with foil or parchment.
- Arrange bacon in single layer on the cookie sheet and bake in until cooked fully but still flexible, about 7 minutes each side. Reserve 2 tablespoons of the bacon grease.
- Add 1 tablespoon of butter and reserved bacon grease to a Dutch oven over medium high heat. Sauté sweet potatoes for 5 - 8 minutes stirring occasionally but allowing a nice golden brown on the potatoes.
- Add shallots and sauté 8-10 minutes more stirring occasionally.
- Add remaining tablespoon of butter to mixture and toss in the shaved Brussels sprouts and the fresh thyme. Keep in mind that they cook down rapidly. Remove from the heat when the sprouts are bright green, but not mushy, about 1 to 2 minutes at most.
poach the eggs
- Bring a pot with approximately 3-4 inches of water and the vinegar to a boil. Remove from heat once boiling and drop in your eggs one at a time to begin poaching. At this stage you can return the pot to the heat but lower to a simmer. Poach to desired doneness and drain. I like to use a slotted spoon and CAREFULLY flip the eggs half way through poaching so I do not get runny whites.
- Arrange half of the hash in a bowl and season with salt and freshly cracked pepper. Top with your egg, a drizzle of good olive oil, a pinch of a smoked finishing salt, or a light drizzle of Balsamic glaze.
Nutrition
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