Red Tomato Hash

People have been asking me a lot lately how school is going. My response is usually its been going for three weeks too many. That is right people, can't a girl just be ready to be done with school? We have all been there, right?

The best part of my semester, maybe the second best class ever taken at UW-Madison, is my 50 minutes of relaxation twice a week. It is pretty awesome. We stretch, relax, clear our minds, focus on breathing, all that cool stuff. I'm going to be a zen relaxation machine come December.

You may wonder to yourself, what could be a more awesome class than that? A literature class dedicated to J.R.R Tolkien. What I have to read The Hobbit tonight? Well, I am not going to argue with that, ever. Speaking of being a total LOTR nerd, who is way excited for The Hobbit movie to come out December 14th? I don't even care that it is right before finals week, I will be there at midnight.

Enough LOTR nerd talk and on to this hash. It is pretty delicious and fairly easy. You roast some tomatoes, garlic and jalapenos. Don't be afraid to let the tomatoes get really blackened, it makes the salsa more thick and delicious. Add it all to a food processor, making it a chunky salsa consistency. Finally toss in some finely chopped onion and cilantro and done.

You can also double the tomato salsa and get salsa one day and hash the next. I do suggest, depending on how hot your peppers are, one jalapeno for salsa and two for hash. The peppers I used, where like crazy stupid hot. Locally grown for the win. Grocery store jalapenos, weak.

After you make the salsa you cook up some onion and other vegetables you have on hand, in a non-stick skillet, with a little oil. Then add some salsa to the skillet, letting it reduce and thicken. Finally add some roughly mashed potatoes, stirring occasionally letting everything get all golden delicious before shoveling into your mouth.

xo
April

Ingredients:
Salsa:
1 pound (3 medium) tomatoes
1-2 fresh jalapeno chiles
3 garlic cloves, unpeeled
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 small onion, finely chopped
1/3 cup chopped cilantro
1 1/2 teaspoons cider vinegar

Hash:
1/2 small onion, chopped
1 medium red bell pepper, chopped
1 ear corn, kernels removed
3 cups roughly mashed red potatoes (from about 2 pounds boiled potatoes)
3 tablespoons vegetable oil

Instructions:

1. Lay the tomatoes on a rimmed baking sheet and place about 4 inches under a hot broiler. Roast until blistered and blackened on one side, about 6 minutes. Remove the baking sheet from the oven, flipping the tomatoes over and adding the jalapenos. Return the baking sheet to the oven and continue to broil for 6 minutes, at 3 minutes, add the unpeeled garlic cloves to the baking sheet.
2. Cool, then peel the skins off the tomatoes and garlic and stem and seed the jalapenos. In a food processor, grind the jalapenos, garlic and 1/2 teaspoon salt to a paste. Add the tomatoes to the paste, pulsing several times to achieve a coarse puree.
3. In a strainer, rinse the onion under running water, shake off any excess and add to the salsa, along with the cilantro and vinegar. (At this point you could use this as a salsa or continue on to make the hash).
4. In a large non-stick skillet over medium heat, fry the onion, pepper and corn in the vegetable oil for 5-8 minutes. Add 1 1/2 cups of the salsa and cook until thick and reduced, about 5 minutes. Finally stir in the 3 cups of coarsely mashed potatoes, continuing to fry and turn everything together until the potatoes brown and the mixtures holds together, about 5-10 minutes.
5. Serve the hash with a fried or poached egg.

Adapted from Ricky Bayless