A Healer’s Geste

Ground Beef Hash

I buy ground beef in the 5+ pound family packs, and cook it all up with onions at once. Then, when I’m inspired, I make up a large batch of black bean chili or some casserole and freeze them. When I’m lazy (which is much more often), I freeze the cooked ground beef in baggies to be pulled out as needed. However, the question is always what to make for dinner on the night I cook the ground beef, because that’s enough of a mess and production on its own; besides, I usually don’t start soon enough in the afternoon to leave time to bake a casserole.

Last night was just such a night, and it wasn’t until I was chopping the onions that I settled on trying my hand at hash again. I don’t have a recipe for it, and all my attempts have been hit or miss. Well, last night was a big hit, so here I am recording the procedure for posterity (and myself).

Ground Beef Hash

While beef is cooking, chop potatoes into 1/2″ dice and let sit in a bowl of water until needed. Remove all the cooked ground beef and onions from the pan. Drain fat if necessary. Toss into the hot pan some diced pepper, zucchini, and any other vegetable you want that you have on hand. Add some mashed & chopped garlic and the potatoes, mostly drained (I just dumped the water out and didn’t use a colander). Generously salt (I used seasoning salt) and saute until the potatoes have picked up brown bits from the pan. Add a cup or two beef broth and a scoop or two of the cooked ground beef & onions. Bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally. If you think you’re a little short on water, cover and simmer gently until the potatoes are cooked. If you’ve been generous with the water, simmer it uncovered. I left mine to finish for the last 5 minutes covered. About 10 minutes before the potatoes were cooked, I added some chopped savoy cabbage, because I had some to use up. When the potatoes are tender, taste and season (i.e. add more salt or garlic) as desired and serve.

Yup, that’s about how I cook, whether I have a recipe or not. :) All amounts and even ingredients are optional based on your taste and what’s in your fridge. I’ve scrambled egg into the finished hash before, too, when I thought it was short on protein, and I think some beans added with the potatoes would also be tasty.

Hm, maybe there’s a reason I can hardly ever duplicate a success. :)

It was not only very tasty and satisfying, it used only the pan that was already dirty, and cooking liquid in the pan after browning the meat made the pan easier to clean. I served it with a slaw of Savoy cabbage, carrots, zucchini, apples, and cranberries. Leftover hash is just as good the next day, although I cannot say the same for the slaw. :)