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It's Sunday morning...what are we having?
During the pandemic, “diner breakfast” became a weekly ritual in my household. We missed going out for nice dinners, of course, but our true withdrawal was from greasy spoon, hole-in-the-wall style eateries where you could get a simple but somehow perfect breakfast. Eggs. Bacon. Crispy potatoes. Too much ketchup.
So on Sundays, I started doing Diner Breakfast. It’s always some iteration of breakfast meat (usually thick-cut bacon from the Whole Foods butcher counter); frozen hash browns cooked with garlic, chopped fresh jalapeño and chopped pickled jalapeño (drizzled with lots of the pickled brine); scrambled eggs topped with salsa and avocado.
Tom is in charge of the playlist, which he has perfected after our summer road trip up the Eastern seaboard where we went to several legitimate diners (one of which, Palace Diner in Maine, is truly the most perfect restaurant to ever exist).
I think 2023 will be the year of the diner. The year where comfortability trumps fancy, and scattered-smothered-and-covered is something of a Saturday mantra.
Below, my recipe for the perfect hash browns, Tom’s diner playlist, and a few of the products that round out my Sundays, post-breakfast spread.
The coziest (chicest) blanket for a full day of bingeing Emily in Paris.
The only way to do a true at-home diner breakfast? In your bathrobe, naturally. With slippers.
My favorite Sunday ritual: this mask, while I peruse Pinterest.
Diners always have the best mugs. If your diner is at home, make this one yours.
Diner Hash Browns
2 T. neutral oil (canola or vegetable work great)
1-2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 shallot or 1/4 of an onion, diced
1/2 of a fresh jalapeño (seeded if you don’t like things spicy)
1 T. chopped pickled jalapeños
2 T. brine from the pickled jalapeño jar
1 package frozen (shredded) hash browns
A handful of shredded cheese (cheddar, pepper jack or American are all great)
Salt and pepper, to taste
Heat your oil over medium heat until it’s warm. Add in garlic, onion and fresh jalapeño and stir into the oil with a wooden spoon until nice and aromatic (a few minutes). If they start getting too brown, turn the heat down. You don’t want burnt onion in your hash browns.
Add the jalapeño juice to the skillet (it’ll likely cook down pretty quickly) and scatter the hash browns over top. Add salt and pepper and let cook for five minutes without turning, until the undersides are brown.
Flip the hash browns and cook for another 5 minutes. (You can continue cooking at this point if you want to keep getting crispy edges, which are kind of the best part).
If you’re adding cheese and pickled jalapeños, scatter that over the top and cover the skillet, so the cheese can get gooey. Season to taste if you want more S&P.