The Ultimate Almost-Winter Comfort Supper

Hear that sound?

That's the sound of me throwing down the Comfort Supper gauntlet really damn hard. 

It's on. I welcome challengers, but I think this one might just take the proverbial cake.

Or actually, take the hash. Because that's what it is. Hash.

Specifically. Apple Pumpkin Bacon Onion Hash.

Any challengers? Nope. Didn't think so.

I'm forcing myself lately to turn to actual physical cookbooks instead of the interwebs, and as a result I've found a couple of good ones that my Dad stashed away, or that Mum bought for the pictures and hasn't gotten around to exacto-knifing them up yet.

It's also incredibly satisfying and incredibly soothing to tear up index cards and stick them in as placeholders, colour-coded (obviously) by Holiday, Course, Special Occasion (noted on card), Seasonal vs Year Round Ingredients, and Priority Level of Making.

Yes, there is a priority level (honestly, are you really that surprised?) and it's 1 through 5 if you're curious. 1 being "get in the kitchen right now" and 5 being "sounds delicious when you've cooked through the others please do give it a try."

THIS one, the Hash, is from a beautiful book called roast figs sugar snow: winter food to warm the soul by Diana Henry (and yes, the lack of capitals is from the jacket). The flap copy continues the theme, saying that it's a collection of recipes from the cold bits of North America and Europe. So New England, Scandinavia, Russia, etc. Basically the countries that invented comfort food. Because when you live in a wooden farmhouse on a snow covered hill and you've spent all day in a cow barn (or, you know, watching Hulu) you need something hot and delicious and incredibly filling.

I mean, you need SOME incentive for mucking out stalls. Or herding reindeer.

Or for watching half a season of The Wrong Mans in one sitting with a cat on your lap.

I will only add that this recipe is from Holland, and that the Dutch name for it is hete bliksem which, and I am not making this up, translates as "hot lightning."

LITERALLY. HOT LIGHTNING. YOUR HONOUR, THE DEFENSE RESTS.

I did tweak this, although the concept remains the same, and I'd like to think that Hash is a particularly forgiving dish, since it's entire existence is based on leftovers fried with bacon.

I'll give you the verbatim recipe from the book and explain substitutions in the Beetle Notes.

HOT LIGHTNING (hete bliksem)
APPLE, PUMPKIN, AND BACON HASH WITH ONIONS

INGREDIENTS

• 2lbs small new potatoes, scrubbed
• 9 oz tart apples (eg Granny Smith) 
• 9 oz pears
• 1/4 cup butter
• 14 oz bacon, cut into chunks about 3/4 inch square
• salt and pepper
• light brown sugar
• leaves from 2 sprigs of fresh thyme

Halve the potatoes or cut them into chunks about 1 1/4 inches square. Core and quarter the apples and pears and cut into slices lengthways; they should be about 1/4 inch thick at the thickest part. Melt the butter in a heavy-bottomed casserole dish and saute the bacon and potatoes until golden all over. Add the fruit and turn it over in the buttery juices. Season and add sugar and thyme to taste. 

Cover the casserole dish with a lid and cook over a very low heat on top of the stove, or in an oven preheated to 325 degrees, for 30 minutes or so, or until everything is tender. You need to shake the dish every so often to prevent everything from sticking. Add a splash of water to the mixture if it is becoming too dry. 

Check the seasoning and serve just as is (wilted Savoy cabbage is delicious with it), or with sausages or pork chops. 

BEETLE NOTES

For the sake of keeping everything organised, I'm going to bullet these. Otherwise it's going to be a sh*tshow. 

• I substituted Pumpkin for Potatoes. I wanted to use up the Pumpkins we'd had as decorations for Halloween, so I cut and peeled those instead. 
• I took out the pears because Mum hates pears. I know.
• I took out the sugar because I don't know how it's done in Holland, but over here hash doesn't need sugar. 
• I added onions because, (see above re: Holland) over here, hash needs onions
• I used veggie bacon.

It still turned out pretty well. 

Ohhhhh so warm. Ohhhh so comforting. It wasn't even that cold this weekend, and yet we inhaled this like it was 35 below and sleeting outside. I will absolutely use potatoes next time (mostly because potatoes are awesome) but the pumpkin worked, and the onions balanced out the resulting increase in sweetness.

I did it with straight olive oil instead of butter, which worked just fine. I did add a bit of water, maybe 1/2 cup, before I stuck it in the oven to prevent bottom-stickage.

After half an hour there was a fair amount of liquid at the bottom from the apples and pumpkins, which I just spooned off. It's hash, people, not soup.

Apologies to those who are offended by fake meat.

Obviously veggie bacon is not the same thing as regular bacon. It doesn't smell as good (IS there a better smell than frying bacon? I don't think so, even after 10 years of no meat it still makes my mouth water), and the cooking time is . . . not really an issue since it's flavoured soy protein. However, the saltiness of it (and "bacon like spices" that were used did provide a nice, almost pork-like contrast to the apples and onions.

Pork and Apples. It's a classic combo for a reason. It's DELICIOUS.

So. If you can think of something MORE comforting, soul-replenishing, or welcome after a day sorting recycling in the barn, scrubbing the kitchen floor, and chasing the bastard cat next door out of the yard, I hereby welcome challengers. But I think that something called HOT LIGHTNING is going to remain there for a while.

Incidentally, it's on the "Special Requests" page on the fridge. Priority Level 1 (asterix *potatoes*).