Easy Farm Style Potatoes O’Brien

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I make a huge batch of these Farm Style Potatoes about twice a month and add it into our breakfasts every morning. I had the idea when I saw a bag in the frozen section called Potatoes O’Brien and I thought, well, I can make that myself!

Somehow, I never heard of this dish until now. Apparently it has a long history and is extremely popular. Legend has it that a restaurant owner back in the 1900s called Beefstew O’Brien decided to add some color to his potatoes. Now he officially gets the credit for inventing this particular combination.

Sauteed farm style potatoes, onions and bell peppers in a metal dish on a blue and white checkered table

I’m fairly certain that long before O’Brien opened his restaurant, a woman on a budget with 15 children to feed originally concocted Farm Style Potatoes. Of course, we have never heard of her, because no one recorded the momentous occasion. It was just breakfast after all, right?

Anyway, I’ll get down off my soapbox for now.

Obviously, as evidenced by the availability in the frozen section, this dish does well frozen. If you want to chop it all up and freeze it raw for cooking later, be my guest.

Personally, I chop it all up one day, cook it up the next and then we eat it every morning until its gone.

It should be noted that the potatoes can take a while to cook, so I tend to chop them very small and add a little water at times to hurry along the process. The steam helps cook them through while cooking them on medium in the skillet ensures nice crispy sides.

If you have a few bucks to spare, I highly recommend a chopper, like the “>RüK Vegetable Chopper that I have. This saves me 90% of the time I usually spend wielding sharp knives while my toddler is scaling the walls.

Sauteed farm style potatoes, onions and bell peppers in a metal dish on a blue and white checkered table

Farm Style Potatoes

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 40 minutes

Ingredients

  • 6 Large Potatoes
  • 1 Bell Pepper
  • 1 Onion
  • 2 T. Italian Seasoning
  • 1 t. Himalayan Sea Salt
  • 3 T. Olive Oil

Instructions

  1. Chop potatoes, peppers and onions.
  2. Heat oil, salt and Italian seasoning in large skillet on medium high.
  3. Add potatoes and cook until soft, ‘shoveling’ them occasionally with a metal spatula to keep them from sticking.
  4. Add peppers and onions and sauté until cooked to desired tenderness or crispness.

Notes

  • This can be made ahead of time and heated up for breakfast each morning.
  • I serve this to the small one with scrambled eggs or just by itself!
  • Keeps up to 5 days in refrigerator.
  • You can add pretty much anything to this 'hash' and it will be delicious. Do you have random vegetables that need to be used up? Would you like to spice it up with some sausage or bacon?
  • This also works great as a side dish!
  • Potato Omelette

    One of my favorite breakfasts growing up involved our version of hashbrowns. This dish takes a while to cook but it is worth the wait. I recommend it for weekend mornings when you can’t decide what to make.

    Heat 8″ skillet on medium.

    Add:

    1 – 2 T. Oil or Bacon Grease

    Grate:

    1 – 2 Potatoes

    It’s important to let the skillet and oil heat up before adding the potatoes. When adding a piece of potato makes it sizzle, it’s ready.

    Add grated potatoes to pan and cook until browned.

    Season with Salt.

    It’s tempting to turn up the pan and speed this process but I assure you, it will only result in burnt, raw potatoes.

    Flip potatoes.

    Sometimes they are perfect and flip in one piece. Some days it will look like there was a potato explosion on burner 3. It’s ok either way. Just smash it back into a flattish disk and move on with your life.
    You can let it take some time to brown on the other side before the next step, if you want.

    Scramble or simply crack on top:

    1 – 2 Egg(s)

    Season lightly with salt.

    Flip again to ensure all egg is cooked.

    It always looks like a hot mess at this point, because it’s hot and it’s a mess of potatoes and eggs with no toppings. Have no fear, cheese is near.

    Grate, shred, zest or slice on top:

    1/4 c. Cheese

    See? I told you there would be cheese. There is always cheese. Always.
    Of course you must now let the cheese melt.
    If you’re starving by now, have some more coffee. You will be able to pretend you are not hungry, with some luck.
    Now you can decide how fancy you want to be.
    Green onions are easy and pair perfectly. Have some fresh basil? That’s great too. Parsley? Not my style, but go for it.
    None of the above? Dump some hot sauce on top and call it a day. It’s one of my favorite toppings for this dish anyway.
    Voila!

    Happy Breakfasting!

    Veggie Frittata: Quick & Delicious One-Pan Breakfast

    veggie frittata

    This veggie frittata is the perfect breakfast to use up random odds and ends in the fridge.

    That shriveling tomato…the dying peppers…that half of an onion from last week..and the salad greens that are looking suspiciously like they want to go mushy.

    Chop up whatever treasures you can find and toss them in a skillet over medium heat.

    For an 8″ skillet, I used 8 eggs.

    I was feeding a grown man, myself and my baby, Hulk Jr.

    Whisk up the eggs, pour over sautéed hodge podge.

    Cover with lid and turn heat down to low.

    Cut into quarters and flip when mostly cooked through.

    Slice or grate cheese on top and allow to melt.

    Garnish with fresh green onion and enjoy!

    Fancy Breakfast Sandwiches

    Cook in iron skillet over medium high heat:

    4 Strips Bacon (cut smaller as shown, if you like)

    OR

    4 Sausage Patties

    (Alternately, batch bake up a sheet or two here.)

    This is where it gets fancy. Watch out!

    You can use any sort of egg ring, metal cookie cutter or something round, about the same size as whatever bread you are using and heat resistant.

    Oh yeah, choose your bread.

    In pan, heat on medium:

    1 T. Bacon Grease / Butter / Olive Oil

    Swirl the ring in the pan to make sure the insides and bottom surfaces are greased lightly.

    Break into ring:

    1 Egg

    This is the part where I realized that unless you have 4 or more of these rings, this is really a recipe for a single sandwich. So, here’s another option for ya if you have more than 1 person to feed.

    fried eggs on pan

    Fit as many eggs as you can in the pan.

    Break the yolks to ensure even cooking and to speed up the process.

    You can also just scramble the eggs before hand because you are going to cut them into pieces in a minute.

    Cover pan and cook on medium low.

    Steam is your friend. It speeds up the cooking and gives a much better texture. Also even if your pan was too hot for some reason, the steam will help cook everything before things get crispy.

    As soon as eggs in rings can hold their shape, remove the ring.

    If not using rings, use a spatula to cut eggs into portion sizes.

    Melt in pan:

    1 T. Butter

    Place bread, english muffins or biscuits face down in butter to toast.

    Flip.

    If desired, melt on egg:

    1 Slice Cheese

    Add meat of choice.

    Or don’t. It’s a free country.

    So far, at least. Kind of.

    Voila!

    I know, they sounded fancier than they look.

    They TASTE fancy, though. Or at least better than drive-thru version.

    At the very least, you can pretend you had fast food without wondering what is in your sandwich.