It’s funny how, when you’re a kid, you love the most random foods. My mother would spend hours making a nice, expensive meal that I would refuse to touch. We had weekly showdowns where I would opt to go directly to bed rather than eat the food on my plate. Other nights, in what I now recognize as the leaner times, she’d stretch our food budget with traditional recipes that I couldn’t get enough of. Roast Beef Hash was a staple in our house and a favorite dish of my older sister and me. It’s a nice way to turn a few ounces of leftover roast beef into a meal for the entire family. I’ve carried on this tradition and it’s still one of the prized meals in our house.
There’s not much to explain about this dish. I usually make it with leftover Italian Beef. You dice a large onion and two russet (or Yukon gold) potatoes and simmer it over medium-low heat in four tablespoons of butter. Toss in a half-teaspoon or so of kosher salt and several grinds of the peppermill. When the potatoes start to stick to the bottom of the pot, which usually takes about ten minutes, you toss in a cup of water mixed with a tablespoon of flour and a beef bouillon cube. Add the roast beef, chopping it into shreds if necessary. Let everything simmer until the water has pretty much evaporated. Add a cup or more of milk and stir to incorporate. Season with salt and pepper and serve over toast.
