Waste Not, Want Not: Denver Potatoes

My second week without a Ceramics Saturday.  I needed comfort and also to not waste food.  A few years ago, I read An Everlasting Meal:  Cooking with Economy and Grace by Tamar Adler.  Her prose and prosaic approach to cooking stuck with me. Her tips and techniques and having a husband who doesn't like to go out to restaurants made me fall in love with home cooking.  I also had a fond food memory of Sunday breakfasts with a boyfriend, and we continued those companionable meals even after we broke up.  I forget the name of the waterfront restaurant of those breakfasts in Benicia, but I remember my half order of Denver Hash Browns (and really they were home fries) with a poached egg.  

Yay for leftovers.  I had sliced and fried a small bag of Yukon gold potatoes for a roast chicken dinner last week. Half a green bell pepper from a Greek salad. Grated cheddar, Swiss and jack from macaroni and cheese making. Red onion. Eggs. A package of Irish bacon discovered at the Grocery Outlet.

I chopped the onion and green bell pepper and Irish bacon and fried them in my a mini cast iron frying pan with a bit of vegetable oil.  I then nuked the potatoes and then plopped them in the pan, stirring and flipping all the ingredients so the potatoes were on the bottom for browning and vegetables on top in order not to burn. I sprinkled the cheese on top and continued cooking the potatoes to melt the cheese and then started to fry an egg in another pan--poached eggs though I love 'em--is not in my skill set.

I can't believe I used to hate eggs as a kid and a young adult, and now I love eggs whether sunny side up or poached or hard boiled.  My Denver Potatoes were delicious and satisfying.