I grew up eating West Virginia Hash, so it’s no surprise that I love this taste of home. True to form, I’ve made a few modifications, but only for the purpose of adding more veg, more herbs, a bit of cheese. What’s wrong with that? I have so much veg popping out of the garden, and herbs and cheese make everything better. Why hold back?

I can remember a few years ago describing this dish to a friend of mine (she’s no longer a friend, for a completely unrelated reason, another story) and the look on her face was priceless – it wasn’t quite disgust, but it most certainly was an expression of distaste, That sounds like comfort food! I chuckled to myself. That’s exactly what it is. I’m not trying to impress anyone. I’m just trying to make food that makes me and my guests feel good. That ‘friend’ was already a lost cause.

Print Recipe

Updated West Virginia Hash

Ingredients

• 2 onions
• 2 green peppers
• 12 ounces collard greens
• 1 pound tomatoes
• 3 T olive oil
• 1 pound lean ground beef
• ¼ t black pepper
• 1 t chili powder
• 1 t salt
• ½ cup uncooked basmati rice
• shaved Parmesan (for garnish)
• fresh parsley (for garnish)

Instructions

• Mise en place – Peel and chop the onion. Destem, deseed, and finely chop the green peppers. Slice the collard greens into ribbons and then give them a rough chop. Chop the tomatoes, if necessary, reserving the juice.
• Preheat the oven and sauté the hash on the stovetop – Preheat the oven to 375℉. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet and add the chopped onion and peppers. Sauté until very soft, then stir in the collard greens. Continue cooking until the collards are very soft, then stir in the ground beef. Sauté until it is mostly browned, then stir in the tomatoes, juice, ¼ t black pepper, 1 t chili powder, 1 t salt, and the rice.
• Assemble and bake – Pour into a large baking dish. Cover and bake for 45 minutes. While the hash is baking, chop a handful of fresh parsley, leaves and stems.
• Garnish and serve – Pull out of the oven. Let rest for a few minutes, then garnish with shaved Parmesan and chopped parsley, and serve.

INGREDIENT NOTES:

The wild card here is the tomatoes. My mother’s recipe calls for 2 cups of canned tomatoes. However, I have so many tomatoes coming out of the garden that I’ll use either fresh tomatoes or Roasted Romas that I’ve stashed in the freezer. This recipe is very forgiving, so you can use whatever you have and it will be fine. However, if you’re interested, The Spruce offers a tomato conversion guide.

The collard greens that I use are another attempt to ensure that I use everything that the garden produces. You could substitute with another hearty green, or even spinach. Or you could just leave it out, which is truer to my mother’s original recipe.

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