Celebrating ….. that humble but wonderful historic dish

 Potato hash comes in many varieties and will no doubt be claimed as their own by regions across Europe and beyond.

Just when the first cook added mashed potato with whatever was left over around the kitchen is I think lost in time.

Although I bet there will be learned articles pinpointing the exact moment when that wonderful all-purpose vegetable arrived in Europe and quickly ended up in a blend of other vegetables with some meat and fried till you get that crispy golden crust.

I grew up with corned beef hash, left over Sunday beef hash and veg hash.

What they all had in common was that simple and sensible form of household management which looked to using up all the leftovers.

Now many of the recipes I have recently looked at rely on buying in a heap of ingredients to create nourishing and authentic versions of hash, while in our house it started with what ever mother or grandmother had to hand.

And that in turn pretty much meant that the finished dish as it arrived on the plate was never quite the same from one meal to the next.

So today I took yesterday’s veg Shepherd’s pie mixed it with an avocado hard up against its sell by date, threw in a couple of fried chopped tomatoes, an onion and the last of the pesto.

And for good measure added the remnants of Tuesday’s halloumi cheese with some olives.

The lot just gently cooked away until there was that crispy golden crust which announced it was ready.

The finished thing doesn’t look elegant or sophisticated and won’t win a prize for presentation, but it ticked all the boxes in that it was economical, used up all the bits and tasted good.

And that is how I remember the hash we ate.  Although as we all know other variations are available as are other definitions of what the word hash means. 

But in terms of food when I checked on the definition of the word, I discovered it just means to chop food into small pieces and usually refers to a meat and potato dish cooked till brown.

Location; the kitchen

Pictures; from the collection of Andrew Simpson, 2026