Leftovers Reborn

When I looked into our fridge and saw leftover scalloped potatoes and the remains of our not quite Christmas Day prime rib, I thought hash. Well to be honest I looked at the beef and thought hash. I probably first thought that while I was roasting the meat or maybe even before. But using those leftover potatoes sadly didn't even occur to me until I was almost starting to fry. I had purpose boiled a couple potatoes but when I started to think about my hash beng a combination of onions, beef, potatoes and cream I realized those scalloped spuds were just the right ingredient (and my boiled potatoes could be surprise breakfast has browns). I started a skillet with come of the beef fat from the roast over medium heat. When I had a good bit of rendered fat I removed anything solid and added my chopped scalloped potatoes (already flavored with plenty of thyme) reserving as much of he cream sauce as possible for later use. I let those brown for about 10 minutes and then added in a chopped onion and let the two vegetables cook together for about another 10 minutes until the onion was transucent. Next went in the chopped beef, garlic, fresh sage, cayenne pepper and a pinch of nutmeg (the potatoes already had a hit of both garlic and nutmeg). I let the beef brown in the skillet for about 5 minutes or so and then added in the cream sauce I'd set aside from the potatoes along with a hit of fresh cream and brought the heat up to high just long enough for the hash to build a tasty bottom crust. I flipped (as much as I could) and let the other side crisp while I quickly fried an egg to set on top -- runny yolk and all.
A diner style dinner that still feels like Christmas