Worth waiting for

A hellish week for cooking. Storms every evening, downpours. Hot as Hades. I just didn't have the motivation to cook anything, even in the microwave! Even with my new cookware! The most I made to break it in was a patty melt last night. For the most part, I have been existing on sandwiches made with my new favorite bread (see previous post).

Until this evening.

I found the original recipe online this morning at http://www.epicurious.com/. I spend a lot of time on this site and Food Network's, but rarely make any recipes as written. However, on a side note, if you like sweet barbecue sauce, you gotta try this one (I put it on country pork ribs last Sunday and Oh. My. God.).





Now, back to my original thoughts. I stewed and salivated over my imagined dinner all through work. I got sidetracked by a trip to PetCo (20 minutes one way), so including some grocery shopping, I didn't get home until nearly 7 PM. Kind of late to start dinner, especially when you have a puppy and two annoyed cats all looking for attention from their momma.





But I decided I would just attempt to stay up later than normal (I hate going to bed with a full tummy because I sleep miserably) and stick with the plan. And my heavens, was it worth not cooking all week to be able to eat this tonight.







Poached Eggs on Salmon Hash


Based on a recipe from Bon Appetit on Epicurious





4 ounces smoked salmon, roughly chopped


1/2 cup red onion, diced


1/2 cup green pepper, diced


1 clove garlic, minced


2 tbsp sour cream


1 tbsp prepared horseradish


1 1/2 tsp dijon mustard


2 tbsp butter


2 tbsp olive oil


3 cups frozen hash browns


2 eggs


Salt


Pepper





Melt the butter and the oil together in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the hash browns, onion, green pepper, and garlic; sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper (a pinch will do unless you're a salt fiend, which I am not). Cook the potato mixture until golden brown, about 10 minutes. Reduce the heat to low.





Poach the 2 eggs. If you want a fool-proof method, use this. It has never failed me.





In a small bowl, combine the sour cream, horseradish, and dijon mustard. Add this mixture and the salmon to the skillet. Toss with the potatoes and cook until just heated through, about 2 minutes.





Split the potato mixture between 2 plates. Top each mound with a poached egg and a grind or two of fresh cracked pepper.