Shredded Hash Brown Potatoes

I woke up a little late with a hunger pang for hash browns. Unfortunately, we are working our way through some of the frozen food and trying to not buy more at this point since we'll be moving in two weeks. Luckily, we had some leftover potatoes from our Old Bay Chicken dinner.

I washed and peeled four small potatoes.

Then I used our Box Grater to cut them into hash brown-sized shreds. I used the larger sized holes as opposed to the medium ones. Watch your fingers. If you aren't careful, you will cut your finger, your knuckle, or grate off part of your fingernail. Been there. Done that. Ouch.

I soaked the potato shreds in water for about 10 minutes, rinsed them, and changed the water to soak them another 10 minutes. You should notice the first time you change the water that it is a white-ish color from the starch residue. This is good because the starch will make them burn or turn mushy later if you don't soak it off.

Once you're done soaking, you need to dry them off as much as you can. You can use a clean towel or paper towels to do this. Squeeze or press the potatoes to soak out as much water as you can, being careful not to damage your shreds. 

Once your potato shreds are try, add your preferred seasoning. This could be simple salt, pepper, and paprika. I used a spice mix that was stashed in the pantry. It's one I make ahead of time and particularly like using on potatoes. You can view the recipe on Pinterest here.

Then all that's left is to heat your pan (medium to medium high heat), add some vegetable oil and fry them up! They'll take about 15 minutes total depending on how crispy you like them. Try to resist the urge to continually flip or stir them as they cook, especially if you like them more well-done.

And that's it! Not so hard, just takes a little time to prep (and you don't have to worry about freezer burn). I topped mine with Old Grumpy Mark's Cuban Missile Crisis hot sauce, one of my favorite hot sauces (but not for the heat sensitive).