Donna and I spent a long weekend in Park City, UT with some good friends. One evening, we planned to make dinner and dine in. Soooooo I volunteered to make my world-famous hash brown potatoes. No big thing. Well, my friend Jack said “I make hash browns too. Why don’t we have a cook off?” I thought hmmmm . . . a cookoff. With that, the gloves were down, the aprons on and the skillets ready. We went to Fresh Market where I bought some large (ideally organic) yellow potatoes (I used 8) and two large yellow onions. I was ready. Jack bought similar ingredients. We went back and fired up the stove.
I halved, then thinly-sliced the onions. I washed the potatoes and pitted any “eyes” or rough spots (gotta be perfect). Then cut into small chunks. I put the onions and potatoes into a large fry pan with olive oil then covered on low heat. The object – to cook the potatoes slowly by steaming them with the onions. I stirred frequently. This is a slow process – taking 45 minutes or more. Gradually the potatoes softened and the onions began to darken. I added garlic powder, pepper, salt and a little Italian seasoning. Then I tossed in a large spoon of butter. Mmmmmmm . . . . When the potatoes were ready, I turned up the heat and took off the top to do a little pan roasting for perhaps six or seven minutes. At this point, well done chopped bacon is an option.
The result was wonderful. Jack’s offering was a counterpoint to mine. He first boiled the potatoes and chopped them small and tossed in with finely-chopped onions. He used butter only. His were more traditional flat hash browns with the delicious buttery taste. Mine were chunky and more of a roasted potato dish. The gathering happily devoured both. No winner was declared. It was a toss up! 🙂