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11/24/1999 Archived Entry: "Barbecued Turkey Hash: Another leftover recipe"

My radio wife, Joan Hamburg, loves this recipe, and she is bound to mention it on the air sometime within the next week. That will bring me an avalanche of mail asking for it. It is not my recipe, although I introduced it to Joan and the many listeners who now call it their own.

It is a rather obvious recipe – potatoes, fried onions, turkey, barbecue sauce – but oftentimes the obvious has to be pointed out for us to see it. It comes from a wonderful cookbook that is now out of print: Susan Wyler’s “Cooking from a Country Farmhouse” (Harper Perennial, 1993). The title was perhaps a bad one for a cookbook that is filled with country food for urbane sophisticates, like Susan herself, who was a New York City magazine food editor before taking up the country life in Pennsylvania. I treasure my copy for gems like this, and her chicken pot pie, and … oh, I too could retire to the country on food like Susan’s. (I noticed this morning that there is one copy for sale for $10 on Amazon.com’s zShop.)

Barbecued Turkey Hash
Serves 4

4 medium potatoes, about 1 1/4 pounds total
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 medium onions, coarsely chopped
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 cups diced cooked turkey
1 cup Tangy Barbecue Sauce (page 61), or use your favorite bottled brand
4 eggs (optional)

If you have leftover cooked potatoes, by all means use them. If not, place the potatoes in a large saucepan, cover with water, and bring to a boil. Continue to boil over moderately high heat for 15 to 20 minutes, until the potatoes are tender throughout and will drop from a knife inserted in the center; drain. Peel the potatoes when they are cool enough to handle and cut them into 1/2-inch dice.

In a large ovenproof skillet, preferably cast-iron, heat the olive oil. Add the onions and cook over moderately high heat, stirring often, until they soften, about 3 minutes. Add the potatoes, reduce the heat to moderate, and cook, turning occasionally with a spatula, until both the onions and the potatoes are lightly browned, 5 to 7 minutes. Season generously with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Add the turkey to the skillet and cook, turning with the spatula, until heated through and some pieces are crispy around the edges, about 5 minutes. Add the barbecue sauce and cook, turning until mixed through and heated.

Serve the hash either as is or as follows: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Make 4 equidistant nests on top of the hash with a large spoon, drop an egg onto each indentation, and set the skillet in the oven for 5 to 7 minutes, until the eggs are set and the hash is slightly browned on top.