Brussel Sprout Hash
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Start your day with this hearty and healthy Brussel Sprout Hash! I love starting my day with a serving of vegetables, and this dish is full of them! Potatoes, mushroom, and Brussel sprouts topped with crispy pancetta, and over-easy eggs! The whole family will love this one!
Several months ago I was out to breakfast with some friends from work and ordered a vegetable hash. My favorite thing to do at a new restaurant is explore the menu for items that feel new or sound unusual. The idea of adding Brussel sprouts to hash had me intrigued, so of course, it was what I ordered, taking care to save enough to take home and pick apart to determine what I liked best about the recipe. Using that dish as my inspiration and the potato and onion dish my mother, Trudy, made when I was a child as the base, this one has quickly become a family favorite.
The potatoes might be the hardest part to get right in this recipe. Once you do it the first time, it will make sense and you will move through this step quickly. For anyone that has ever made roasted potatoes or french fries probably learned, to get that brown, extra crispy exterior potatoes should be cooked twice. The goal is to par-boil them first, then slice and pan fry as the base of the hash. Parboiling is simply partially boiling, or precooking. I like to do the parboiling step the night before, then the potatoes have time overnight to dry and completely cool before they get peeled and sliced. This will also speed up the time it takes to get the hash completed the next day.
Yum pancetta - I love it as a base for pasta, soup, and vegetable dishes! High-quality pancetta is not too easy to find where we currently live. Fortunately, when my mother-in-law knows we're coming for a visit she'll stock up and purchase 1/4 pound chunks for me to bring home and hoard in my freezer for special dishes like this one. If you’re not familiar with pancetta, you could easily substitute bacon or ham in this recipe. Similar to bacon, frying the pancetta will render out the fat and leave a lot of flavor in the pan to build upon when you start to fry the potatoes.
The first time I tested this recipe I intentionally chopped all the vegetables into large pieces. Not being too confident that the family would embrace the Brussel sprout for breakfast. I thought at least if they weren’t sure, they could pick around them, which I have to admit a few of them did the first time. I was not willing to give up on the flavor or the beauty that the Brussel sprout adds to this dish. On the third attempt, I added the over-easy eggs on top of the hash instead of serving alongside the hash. That warm, runny, egg seemed to be all the incentive they needed to gobble up all of the hash including the Brussel sprouts! Vegetables for the win!
I hope you try this one and please leave in the Brussel sprouts! Just remember - parboil the potatoes, brown them in the pancetta (or bacon) grease until they are crispy and layer on the vegetables! Please don’t forget that sunny side up or over-easy egg on the top!
Pancetta and Brussel Sprout Hash
Ingredients
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Rinse and scrub potatoes to remove any visible dirt and debris. Do not peel. Add potatoes to a large pot and cover with 1 inch of water. Sprinkle in a teaspoon of salt and bring to a boil. Once the water comes to a boil, reduce heat to low and keep a rapid simmer. We only want to par-boil them, not cook them all the way through. Cook whole potatoes for 15-20 minutes. Insert a knife to check the middle for doneness. Potatoes should still be firm. Drain water and set potatoes aside to cool.
- While potatoes are cooking, add Brussel sprouts and mushrooms to a 12x18 sheet pan lined with parchment paper. Drizzle 2 tablespoons of olive oil, add salt and pepper. Roast for 25-30 minutes or until Brussel sprouts and mushrooms are tender on the inside. Shake the pan from time to time to brown vegetables evenly.
- Heat a large cast-iron or skillet over medium-high heat. Cook pancetta slices, about 3-4 minutes per side. Pieces should be brown on each side. Set pancetta aside on a piece of paper towel. Leave any drippings and oil in the pan or skillet.
- Once potatoes are cooled, with a paring knife gently peel the potato. Add butter and remaining olive oil to the pancetta drippings over medium heat in the same cast iron pan or skillet. Thinly slice potatoes directly into the pan, creating layers of potatoes. Add chopped onion on top of the sliced potatoes. Add salt, pepper, and cayenne pepper. Let the potatoes and onions crust, 4 to 6 minutes, then flip them, and let them crust again. Keep turning the potatoes and onions over for about 20 minutes, until they are evenly golden and crusted.
- Once potatoes are done, add in the Brussel sprouts and mushrooms. Top with slices of pancetta.
- This can be served alongside your favorite eggs, or for a show stopper, add sunny-side-up eggs to the top of the hash and serve.
Notes:
To get ahead start on this recipe, boil the potatoes the night before and leave them out to cool until morning!
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