Mysterious hash browns
You will need…
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Hot cast iron skillet with a good tight-ish lid
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Fat (cheaper olive oil—no need for EVOO, coconut oil, ghee, bacon grease, whatever)
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Grater with larger holes (at least 5mm / one-quarter inch diameter)
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Sea salt, fresh ground pepper, fresh chopped green herbs on the side (parsley, oregano, chervil, basil, whatever is handy as long as it’s not rosemary, which is too strong)
Maybe some cheese (we use goat cheese; a sharp Cheddar probably is fine, or Monterey Jack, whatever floats yer boat)
Grate any or all of these into a bowl, these veggies should be washed but with skin still on, please:
- potato (skin on!)
- yellow squash
- zucchini
- winter squash with very thin skin, like pumpkin or kabocha
- carrot
- broccoli stems that have been peeled of the hard skin, with the tough ends trimmed off
- cabbage cores, toughest/most fibrous parts cut off
- and it not too objectionable, grate in a bit of celery and white or yellow onion
Toss gratings pile with a few pinches of salt and a quick dash from a peppermill.
When you are done grating and tossing, make sure you have at least 1 cup packed raw gratings per person. At our house, I can feed one teenager 3-4 cups (uncooked, packed raw) plus an egg or two on the side, and that’s a filling meal.
Assembly…
Heat fat in pan to well below smoking point, pour in gratings to a depth of two fingers (maybe less than 2"). Pack firmly and flatten. Put lid on, cook on medium heat for 2-3 minutes, turn heat down to cook slower until the hash browns are lightly browned on the bottom (check by lifting an edge and looking underneath). Flip over like a pancake, turn heat off for last few minutes, add grated cheese soft cheese like Jack, or spread the goat cheese, put lid on with the stove turned off.
Put the green herbs on after you plate it up. You can shortcut this by using pesto if you like.
Should be a bit crunchy. Guaranteed not “slimy,” which some kids/people object to re squashes. And guarantee to hold its own against ketchup (some people live off of ketchup… I graduated to sriracha sauce).
Not diet food.
ETA: typos corrected, cooking time sorted a bit because cooking times vary with moisture content of the veggies.
