mr. and mrs. dell's

Today is my mom’s birthday. Happy birthday, mom.


Note to Brad: thanks for your comment. I’m confident you’re a guy whose going places.


I heard an advertisement on the radio the other day for a local grocery chain. Apparently, there is some football game next Sunday and the local supermarket is having a promotion for several food items in connection with that game. The one thing that struck me about the advertisement I heard was a special deal on Mr. Dell’s hash browns. This is a product I am somewhat familiar with, as I have been cooking them for breakfast occasionally for the last nine months. The first thing I thought, however, was that the uninitiated radio announcer had screwed up. I always refer to them as Mrs. Dell’s. I had a chuckle about it, until I went to the freezer and pulled out the bag of them we had and was taken aback to find they actually are Mr. Dell’s. Oops, my bad.

The Mr. Dell’s hash browns I use are subtitled “cubed potatoes,” and I usually prepare them as a side dish to Jimbo’s omelets. Mr. Dell’s makes and our grocery store sells both shredded hash browns and cubed ones. The cubes are approximately 3/8”- 1/2” on a side, and I prefer them to the shredded ones, although I’ve had the shredded ones and they are good, also. For what I do, the cubes work better. To best complete this recipe, you’ll probably want to take a trip back in time to a November blog, jimbo’s omelet: a bon vivant’s guide. It is located at the following address:

http://jimboandhisfriends.blogspot.com/2004/11/jimbos-omelet-bon-vivants-guide.html

First, like always, I will give you the list of ingredients. The quantities are for reference only. I will explain in a moment. The quantities detailed in the assembly instructions will be based on feeding two people, so you can adjust your quantities accordingly.

3 tsp Vegetable oil
32 oz. Mr. Dell’s hash browns (cubed potatoes)
Mushrooms, onions and peppers left after making omelets

Usually, while I am making omelets, I will plug in the electric skillet and set it on 300 degrees. Rather than measure the vegetable oil, I pour in enough to provide a thin film covering the bottom of the pan and allow it to preheat. At this point, I already have cut and diced some mushrooms, onions, a green pepper and another of a different color and heated them in a pan to be used to fill the omelets. You’ll probably want to refer to the omelet recipe to get the details. When I begin to make the first omelet, I put a third of the package, exactly 10.6666 ounces of the Mr. Dell’s cubed potatoes in the skillet. I am careful to measure them out to four decimal places. No, I’m just messing with your mind. I pour out what appears to be a third of a package into the skillet. A few too many or a few too few won’t make any difference. Sometimes, I don’t stick to the precise quantities when I follow a recipe and maybe you should allow yourself some slack and don’t worry about being too exacting. Just make sure you are close enough not to do any damage. I take a large plastic spatula and make sure all the cubes are lying flat on the bottom of the skillet and that they aren’t piled on top on one another. I set my cooking timer for ten minutes and then go back about my business.

About ten minutes later, as I am making omelets, the timer goes off and I shut off the timer, because I can’t freaking stand that infernal buzzing. I then turn all the hash browns completely over to cook them on the other side. I set the timer for ten minutes again and I continue to make beautiful music, food-wise. About the time I am putting the mushroom/onion/pepper mixture as filling for my second and last omelet, the darned timer goes off again. I quickly shut off the noisy little bugger and I turn the heat on the electric skillet back to about 200 degrees and put the remaining mushrooms, onions and peppers in the skillet with the potatoes and kind of mix them all up.

At that time, I usually put silverware on the table, put a napkin in each place and pour a couple of glasses of orange juice (you can substitute other beverages if you wish) and set the glasses of orange juice on the table in an area to the upper right hand side of the place settings (that is, of course, if you are viewing the place setting as a flat, two-dimensional plane). My two omelets are on separate plates at this point and I again stir up the mixture of potatoes, onions, mushrooms and peppers, and I put a helping on each plate and turn the heat of the electric skillet back to “warm.” I then pepper the food to taste (you can salt them if you want to, but we don’t use any appreciable salt here at chez Jimbo’s girlfriend) and place the plates on the table, roughly in the center of the place settings, somewhere between the silverware. I then announce to Jimbo’s girlfriend that breakfast is ready. At that time we sit down to eat. Usually, Jimbo’s girlfriend says nice things as she eats and I think she really means it. I don’t think she is just trying to be polite, but if she is, it doesn’t make any difference, because she has me convinced. Perhaps, if you make these things for your girlfriend, she’ll let you watch that football game on Sunday the guy on the radio was talking about.

After we are done with eating, we clean up the kitchen. We rinse off the dishes and silverware and put them in the dishwasher. Jimbo’s girlfriend likes to wash the pots and pans by hand, so we will generally cleanse them manually. I’ll teach you how to wash dishes next week. I’m just messing with your mind, again. I’m going to give you the benefit of the doubt on knowing the dishwashing technique.

Anyway, the hash browns are a good side dish to go with about anything, but they are especially apropos for consumption with Jimbo’s omelet. Enjoy your meal and eat hearty.

In Jimbo’s world we appreciate good taste, especially in our food.