When a Recipe Doesn't Work... Make Hash

Sweet & Savory Chicken Hash

An online recipe for Maple-Mustard Baked Chicken Thighs with Potato Wedges tempted me, but it didn't meet expectations. I can't blame the BGSK recipe for last night's dinner disappointment. No, it was more a recipe selection error by this cook, trying a chicken preparation not well-suited to our taste preferences. What's not to like about baked chicken and potatoes? The dish looked so good coming out of the oven. How could it not work when RL really loves mustard and maple syrup. Somehow the combined ingredients were too sweet a mix to work for us in this entree. (Flash of insight: the dish reminded me of Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles, a restaurant whose appeal I never understood when living in Southern California.) 


A small tasting plate apiece took care of any hunger pangs, but left a lot of chicken, potatoes and sauce in the pan to deal with. Reheating and re-serving was not a popular option. For one brief moment I even considered reheating and serving the leftovers over crispy waffles - wow, how's that for desperate?!


Hash - aha! there's a solution that has worked before. Hash proved a winner with the remaining Maple-Mustard Chicken and Potatoes. Added sauteed onion chunks, julienned kale and a few squirts of lemon juice provided a welcome balance to the cloying sweetness of the original dish. In the future I might tweak the BGSK recipe to suit our palate, or I might just move on. Whatever. It's guaranteed that I will add add a touch of mustard, vinegar and maple syrup to chicken hash again soon.


Here's a link to the original recipe for Maple-Mustard Baked Chicken Thighs with Potato Wedges as posted by BGSK on Serious Eats. Give it a try and see what you think.

Sweet & Savory Chicken Hash

1 or 2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 large yellow onion, in medium dice

2 fat garlic cloves, minced 

Cooked Maple-Mustard chicken*, meat from 2 large thighs, in medium dice
Cooked Yukon Gold potato chunks, in medium dice (a generous cupful)
2 cups kale, in medium shreds or coarsely chopped
2 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
any leftover sauce from the BGSK chicken plus enough water to thin it a bit
Optional garnishes: Italian parsley and shredded Parmesan


Heat the oil in a large saute pan over medium heat. Add the diced onion and cook for a few minutes until softened, but not browned. Add the minced garlic and cook for another minute or two until fragrant. 
Add the diced chicken, potatoes, and kale. Stir gently to mix, then add the water and vinegar to the pan plus any leftover sauce* from the BGSK chicken. Cover the pan, lower the heat to medium low and cook until warmed throughout. Stir occasionally.
When warmed throughout, remove the lid and cook until the hash begins to crisp up a bit. Add salt and pepper to taste. Top with parsley and a sprinkle of grated parmesan cheese and serve immediately.


*If you don't have any cooked BGSK chicken, substitute deli chicken or any other cooked chicken and add a 1/8 cup of mixed cider, mustard, maple syrup and olive oil (proportioned to taste).


Note: Diced poblano and red peppers would be tasty additions to this hash.