Hash-ish

No, not the condensed marijuana, but pretty addictive anyway. My Beloved loves hash under his eggs, so I set out to surprise him with a new version last week.

I cut some yellow fingerling potatoes into small dice, chopped an onion, slivered a big clove of garlic and cut the kernels off an ear of corn. I had some prosciutto in the fridge, so I cut those slices into small pieces and sautéed them until nearing crisp in some olive oil, added all the rest of the ingredients except the corn and cooked them long and slow to bring out the sweetness of the alliums and to put a nice brown crust on the potatoes. A little fresh parsley would have been terrific if I had had it. In the last few minutes, I stirred in the corn niblets and cooked it all together for few more minutes before plating it with an egg on top, easy over as he prefers.

Not really classical hash, but it was homey and fresh at the same time. Definitely habit-forming.

Comfort Food

Bad news at the dentist. Despite having a constant record of high praise from the dental hygienist for the past 30 years, the sins of my youth are coming back to sneer at me. Seems to me that the worst news you can get from a dentist is that the very expensive and painful root canal they did two years ago didn't work and the tooth must now be extracted and an implant put in.

*sigh*

So, today, I went to see the specialist who will do the implant, a handsome, cheerful and chatty young man who assured me that it won't hurt a bit and I'll be pleasantly surprised. Yeah, yeah, that's what they all say; when the root canal was done, the endodontist lifted me right off the chair when he hit a very lively nerve. So much for reassurances.

I left with dread in my heart and the knowledge that all this joy will take about four months and cost about $1,000 per month. Fun, huh? I was in great need of comfort food.

How very appropriate that one of my favorite breakfast places is "Comforts" in San Anselmo. I found a parking place nearby and was given a table right away - things were looking up. A quick scan of the menu revealed their meatloaf hash topped with two eggs. Now, I ask you, what could possibly be more comforting than hash made from meat loaf? I ordered that, with eggs over easy.

The plate was so full I couldn't possibly finish it, but the part I did eat was comfort personified. Deeply homey and sustaining, it was just right for a cloudy day of spitting fog, chilly winds and bad news from the dentist. By the time I left, the fog had lifted and the sun was shining. I put the top down on my car and cruised home feeling much better. I'm still not looking forward to the next few months but at least for the moment I was comforted.

Pot Pork, Take Two - Or Is That Take Three?

Making a hash of things is my specialty. Oh, not the mess that the figure of speech implies - in this case, real hash.

The final act for the pot pork was to make a nice hash with chopped onion and cubed potatoes, draped with a fried egg "over easy" and a big blob of spinach nearby. Not bad for a pork roast that weighed just about three pounds before cooking. And I still have some of the goozle that I think I'll use as a basis for soup. I'm lucky that My Beloved doesn't object to leftovers, as long as there is a little variety in the presentation. While it was delicious in all its various forms, I have to admit I'm not sorry to see the final take!

Winter Confetti

Here's the corned beef hash I made with the leftovers from the Irish dinner and the roasty toasty veggies. It made a colorful jumble on the plate and a nice change from simple spuds and corned beef. Onions and kabocha squash and potatoes and yams - this is rib-sticking food to get you through a rainy spell or a nasty cold, or both, as has been our fate just recently. I owe our improved outlook to the colorful confetti on our plates.

If I wasn't so worried about offending a certain Australian brown mouse, I'd show you the picture I took once I topped it with poached eggs.