Red Flannel Hash

Red flannel is a New England tradition.  Nor' Easterners are frugal folk and this dish is made up of mostly leftovers.   Red flannel is made with cooked potatoes, beets, and corned beef.  Red-flannel hash takes its name from the chopped beets that give it that deep red color.

Red Flannel Hash


6 Ounces Leftover Corned or Roast Beef
3/4 Cup Leftover Cooked Potatoes, Diced
1/2 Small Onion, Finely Diced
1/2 Cup Diced Pickled Beets
1 Tablespoons Rendered Bacon Fat
4 Large Eggs
Salt & Pepper or Seasoned Salt

In a bowl combine beef, potatoes, onions and beets.  Season to taste.  Toss to combine.



Melt the bacon fat in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add the beef mixture, press down on the mixture with a spatula, forming a large pancake, and cook until well-browned on the bottom. Flip and cook for a minute or two more, again pressing down with the spatula. Remove from the heat and keep warm.

Cook eggs, as desired.  I like mine poached 3 minutes so that the whites are set and yolk is still runny.  

Divide the hash between two dishes and top each with two eggs. Season to taste with salt and pepper and serve immediately.

Oven-Roasted Fresh Beets

Beets are easy to grow and very nutritious.  The best part is that you can eat both the greens and the root.  The greens are delicious sauteed with garlic in olive oil or in a salad.

Oven-Roasted Fresh Beets

Fresh whole beets 

Olive Oil

Salt/Pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place rack in middle of oven.

Wash and scrub the whole beets to clean off any dirt. Leave the beet whole unless you have some extra large ones (if extra large, cut in half). Trim off the stems (leafy tops) and ends of the beets.

On a large baking sheet, cover with aluminum foil. Place beets on the baking sheetin a single layer.Toss lightly with some olive oil to coat the beets. Place another large sheet of aluminum foil on top of the beets and crunch up the sides of the aluminum foil together to seal.

Roast in the oven for about 1 to 2 hours (depending on the size of your beets) or until tender.

Remove from oven and take off the top foil. Set aside to cool enough to handle. When cool enough to handle, peel the skin off - you should be able to do this by hand.

Serve them as they are with salt or with feta cheese or however else you want to use them.  

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How my garden grows . . . like crazy!

Beet and Feta Salad

2 Cans Whole Beets, Halved

8 Radishes, Chopped

2 Tablespoon Olive Oil

1 Tablespoon Balsamic Vinegar

Pinch Sea Salt

Pinch Freshly Ground Black Pepper

1/2 Cup of Feta Cheese

6 Fresh Mint Leaves, Chopped

Combine all ingredients in a bowl.  Mix well and chill to allow all the flavors to mingle.

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We'll leave the light on for you . . . or not

When I was kid we didn't travel much.  Our vacations were either camping trips or staying with family members.


So, when the rare occasion arose where we would be staying at a motel/hotel it was a really REALLY big deal . . . an adventure, a luxury.

Mind you, we didn't stay a 4 or 5 star hotels.  Holiday Inn was as top of the line as we went and Comfort Inn was the norm.  It didn't matter . . . Cable television! Game room!  Swimming Pool! HOT TUB!  It doesn't sound like it should be that exciting, I know.  But trust me it was.  


Come to think of it, coming across the scrambled adult television channel may  have been my first experience with pornography . . . oh joy.

Anyhoo . . . as fun and wonderful as it all was it didn't make us (the kids) angelic guests.  For the most part we behaved ourselves but all that excitement seemed to have brought some prankishness to the surface.

Besides the typical swiping of the towels, soaps and whatnot . . . we dare not touch the minibar or Mom would open a can of whoop-ass on us . . . we had fun roaming the hallways and making a general nuisance of ourselves.  

Of course, there was the ever popular knock-and-run game.  But, that wears a little thin after a while . . . especially, as we got older.  One thing that never seemed to grow old no matter how often we did it was when we found the mini-moos and condiment packets left outside of random doors for room service to retrieve.  


What's so fun about that?  Well, what we did was stomp on them.  The contents . . . whether it was milk, ketchup, mustard or mayo . . . would squirt all over the walls and carpeting.  

;;

The bigger the spatter, the higher splat the more points.  We didn't have and actually scoring structure established and we didn't keep tally . . . it was more on a case by case basis . . . or smoosh but smoosh, as it were.


Yeah . . . we were hicks, we were lame but we had fun.

Ukrainian Red Borscht Soup

1 (16 Ounce) Package Pork Sausage

3 Medium Beets, Peeled And Shredded

3 Carrots, Peeled And Shredded

3 Medium Baking Potatoes, Peeled And Cubed

1 Tablespoon Vegetable Oil

1 Medium Onion, Chopped

1 (6 Ounce) Can Tomato Paste

3/4 Cup Water

1/2 Medium Head Cabbage, Cored And Shredded

1 (8 Ounce) Can Diced Tomatoes, Drained

3 Cloves Garlic, Minced

Salt And Pepper To Taste

1 Teaspoon White Sugar, Or To Taste

1/2 Cup Sour Cream, For Topping

Crumble the sausage into a skillet over medium-high heat. Cook and stir until no longer pink. Remove from the heat and put in large soup pot.

Fill the pot halfway with water (about 2 quarts), and bring to a boil.

Add the beets, carrots and potatoes, and cook until tender, about 15 minutes. Add the cabbage, and the can of diced tomatoes.

Heat the oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the onion, and cook until tender. Stir in the tomato paste and water until well blended. Transfer to the pot.

Add the raw garlic to the soup, cover and turn off the heat. Let stand for 5 minutes. Taste, and season with salt, pepper and sugar.

Ladle into serving bowls, and garnish with sour cream and fresh parsley.