- [Babish] This episode is sponsored by The Botanist Gin.
The Botanist is distilled from a unique combination
of botanicals that have been hand foraged
on the island of Islay, off the coast of Scotland.
The Botanist encapsulates the flavors
and essence of wild Islay.
It's beautifully complex and smooth.
Its unique flavor makes for an endlessly riffable
gin and tonic, just the thing to pair
with the subject of today's episode, potato hash.
Let's get down to basics.
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So of The Botanist's 22 unique botanicals,
the one that plays nicest with potato hash
because it compliments earthy notes is wild sage,
which is gonna play real nice with me
while I make some hash.
To make a sage gin and tonic,
we're pretty much making a gin and tonic
and shoving some sage into it.
Two ounces of The Botanist gin,
pour it over ice, topped with the tonic of your taste,
and functionally ornamented with a slice
of lemon and a spring of sage.
And a metal straw, because it's 2020,
come on, don't be wasteful.
And we have the perfect cocktail to enjoy
during the preparation of and alongside with our hash,
the very bedrock of which is built upon the potatoes
of your choice, which we ideally want to par-cook
before they end up in our skillet.
You could peel, chop these up, and boil them
for five minutes, but alternatively,
do you have any leftover baked potatoes?
Of course you do, you love baked potatoes,
and leftover baked potatoes are perfect for hash
because they're effectively pre-cooked.
So once we've peeled and chopped them
into half-inch pieces, they are ready
to hop right in the skillet, but potatoes alone
do not a hash make.
At the very least, we need a chopped onion of some kind
and to bring a little extra color and flavor,
a chopped red bell pepper is always a welcome guest.
And that's pretty much it.
If you're a vegan or vegetarian, you're off to the races,
but if you have a meat deficiency,
you're gonna want to bring some to the party.
It can be virtually any meat of your choosing.
The all-time greatest hits include but are not limited
to bacon, ham, sausage, and corned beef.
Bacon however presents a unique opportunity
in that it generates its own delicious fat,
which once the bacon is removed from the situation,
can be used to cook our hash in.
First we're gonna toss in the onions and red pepper
which we're gonna saute over medium heat
for about three to five minutes until softened,
and the onions are starting to pick up some color.
And then it's tater time, about two pounds worth
of peeled and par-cooked russets or Yukon golds.
First we're gonna toss those around
to ensure that everybody gets evenly coated in fat
and then we're gonna press everything down
into an even layer and let it sit undisturbed
over medium heat for about two minutes.
Then using a firm, sharp spatula,
we're going to dig under the potatoes and flip them,
exposing their beautifully browned caramelized underbellies.
Then we're gonna pat them back down
into another even layer and let them sit again
for about two minutes, repeating the process
about four times until everybody's cooked
and crisp and browned all over.
Before the final flip, we're going to prepare
our flavor finishers, some finely minced fresh sage
and our chopped crispy bacon.
Go ahead and stir those in for the final flip,
give the potatoes a good rustling,
so our herbs and bacon are gently kissed with heat,
and then our hash is pretty much done,
or you can dig in four little divots,
but what are those divots for?
Well, my curious friend, they're for eggs.
Crack an egg into each divot,
cover, and cook over medium low heat
for four to five minutes until the whites are set
and the yolks are still runny.
In addition to kosher salt and freshly ground pepper,
we're going to finish our hash
with some fresh minced chives.
And with that, our single pot, herby, flavorful,
meaty, crispy, runny, hearty breakfast for dinner is served.
Let's make sure our egg is nice and runny
which is especially important when you're cooking on camera
and dig into our hash, which is gonna pair perfectly
with our sage gin and tonic.
Sage has an earthy flavor and a slight mint freshness,
perfect for both cooking and cocktails,
and that, my friends, is sage advice.
So that's the basic hash equation.
Now let's throw some creative spins on the formula.
Let's start by switching up the potatoes
to sweet potatoes or yams, which is gonna play even nicer
with our botanical of choice.
As you can see, this is not a leftover
baked sweet potato but a fresh sweet potato,
so it must be par-cooked.
You could either boil it for five minutes
or throw it in a bowl along with some kosher salt,
freshly ground pepper, and a tablespoon of vegetable oil,
mix to combine and then cover with plastic wrap
or a plate, and microwave for five to six minutes,
tossing once halfway through.
This par-cooking of the potatoes is essential
so we can focus on crisping them up in the pan
without worrying whether or not they're still raw
in the middle.
For or onion element, I think we'll stick
with the same old onion, and I forgot to buy one,
but a Poblano pepper would be a most welcome addition
to this situation, because instead of bacon, we're gonna go
with some smoked chorizo.
We're adding about a tablespoon of vegetable oil
to the pot because the chorizo doesn't have
as much fat to render out, and we're just kinda
browning it up in the pan, so once those are nice and brown,
go ahead and fish them out with a slotted spoon,
and leave all that oil in the pan
so we can saute our onion, and I think some chopped apple
is gonna make a real nice autumnal addition.
Once we've sauteed those for about three minutes,
we're gonna add our drained sweet potatoes
and then it's the same deal as before:
toss to coat in oil, pat it down and let it brown
for about two minutes on medium heat,
repeating as necessary until everybody is cooked
and crisped all over.
As with the last batch, we're gonna add our botanicals
and meat before the final flip,
just so they get a little bit of heat,
we don't want to burn the sage.
Then optionally we can make our four little divots
in the hash, crack some eggs in there,
cover and cook over medium low heat
until the whites are set but the yolks are runny.
To serve, we are of course seasoning
with kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
but we're also gonna top with some thinly sliced scallions,
which like the sage is gonna bring both color and flavor.
And there you have it, two quick and easy
but big, bold, and flavorful hashes
that can be enjoyed for any meal of the day.
Thank you again to The Botanist gin
for sponsoring today's episode.
As someone who loves to pair a gin cocktail
with a good meal, I really appreciate the uniqueness
of The Botanist.
The combination of hand-forged botanicals
compliment almost any flavor profile,
which is why I'll be making a few dishes
to pair with The Botanist cocktails
over the next few weeks.
Order a bottle of The Botanist on Drizzly,
the link is in the video description, cheers.
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