From A Past Edition Of The New Orleans Menu Daily By Tom Fitzmorris Mary Ann's Hash Brown Potatoes My wife Mary Ann has a unique style of cooking. Two of its tenets are: 1) There are only two settings on a stove burner--Off and Hi. 2) You can put a pan on Hi, walk away and do something else, and check back when you smell something burning. That approach (which I do not recommend) happens to be the perfect technique for cooking hash brown potatoes. Hers are the best hash browns I tasted, and she wows everybody else with them, too. I can't duplicate them myself, because my instincts will not allow me to do so. But here's how it goes. It's best to bake the potatoes a day or more in advance, (perhaps while you're baking something else) and refrigerate them. 5 lbs. medium white potatoes 1 stick butter 3 green onions, tender green tops only, finely sliced Salt and pepper Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. 1. Bake the potatoes, skins on, in a preheated 450-degree oven for 40 minutes. This will be a bit less than the time needed for eating them as baked potatoes. Cool the potatoes, then refrigerate. 2. When you're ready to cook, remove the potatoes from the refrigerator and cut in half, but leave the peels on. 3. In a skillet over the highest heat, melt 2 Tbs. butter until it sizzles. Using the big holes on a hand grater, grate the potatoes right into the pan, sprinkling some green onions as you go, until the pan is nearly full. Cook without turning until the bottom appear to be on the verge of burning. Turn (either the whole thing or as much as you can at a time) and cook the same way on the other side. 4. Dump the pan of hash browns into a serving dish, and keep it warm in the oven while you repeat the process for the rest of the potatoes. Or you can stop right there if that's enough for the meal involved. The rest of the potatoes can be made into hash browns on another occasion. Serves eight to twelve. Click here for an index of recipes from past editions. © 2008 Tom Fitzmorris. All rights reserved. news@nomenu.com