"Clean Out the Fridge" Potato and Mushroom Hash

If you cook as much as I do, you're bound to have lots of leftover ingredients in your fridge.  As I've written about before, I absolutely hating wasting food so I try to utilize and maximize every ingredient before it reaches its expiration date.

Last Thursday, I already had a simple summer meal planned out of grilled hot dogs and corn on the cob.  I wanted to add a small side dish to this meal but I also wanted to use the ingredients pictured below that had been sitting in my fridge for way too long:

I decided to go with the first idea that popped in my head - a potato and mushroom hash!  The preparation was simple enough and mostly involved lots of chopping.  Bret and I slowly got to work on the ingredients while we caught up with each other about our respective day.  I honestly think this is what I enjoy most about cooking with Bret - the bonding that we do as we spend time together.  But I digress.

Bret washed and chopped up the two potatoes.

Meanwhile I got to work chopping up the mushrooms at a similar size to the potatoes.  We wanted to make sure everything was cut uniformly so that all the ingredients cooked evenly.

Around this time, Bret got the skillet ready by heating it at medium-high heat with vegetable oil.  When the skillet was sizzling, he added the potatoes since they would take longer to cook through.  We liberally seasoned the potatoes and I chose a mix of seasonings like salt, fresh cracked peppercorns, cayenne and cumin.

While the potatoes were cooking, Bret got to work on chopping one large onion.

And I remembered that we had some leftover red Russian garlic from Siena Farms.  The bulbs were on the smaller side so I roughly chopped up one entire bulb.

Then I got to work slowly adding each ingredient to the skillet.  I started with the onions and mixed up the hash.  I then added the mushrooms and let those cook down a bit.  Finally I added the garlic and after giving everything a good taste, I added a bit more of the spices to make sure it was seasoned well.  I put a cover on the skillet and let all of the great flavors come together.

And it was delicious.  Of course our ingredients made a lot of potato and mushroom hash, but it was an easy leftover side dish and even better when it was re-heated!

What are your favorite "clean out the fridge" recipes?