Chicken Hash and Rye Sticks...

We made a couple of fun recipes for dinner tonight - I took care of these Rye and Caraway Seed Sticks first as the other recipe was going to need my full attention.

These simple sticks are a combination of all-purpose and rye flours spiked with crunchy caraway seeds. Using your fingers, a few tablespoons of cold butter are rubbed into the flours until the mixture resembles coarse meal - you could probably do this in a food processor, but it is quite a small batch and it could get overworked quickly. Water is added until a soft dough is formed - once combined the dough is portioned out and rolled into sticks. Unless the dough is extra moist, try not to add any additional flour - a little friction will help you roll the piece out into long enough sticks. A scattering of additional caraway seeds on top reinforces that tangy rye-bread like flavor and the sticks bake until they puff and crisp up. Unlike breadsticks which tend to either be crunchy or soft and chewy, these are decidedly more buttery and are reminiscently of shortbread, though savory, and have a sturdy, yet sandy tenderness to them.

Once those were in the oven, I was able to turn my attention to our main dish tonight - Poached Eggs with Chicken Hash. To make sure the potato portion of this hash would be completely cooked by the time the rest of the ingredients were ready, we needed to give them a head start in some boiling salted water. Since they are fairly finely diced, this only took about 5 minutes. As we waited on the potatoes, we started cooking the chicken (feel free to use breast or thigh meat) and some meaty diced bacon until the chicken was browned all over. Onions and celery are tossed in and once tender, the par-boiled potatoes are added in to finish cooking the hash.

When the hash was almost done, I started the eggs - there are several different methods for poaching eggs out there. I've found it easiest for us to add them to just simmering water that had been seasoned with a touch of cider vinegar to help the whites set. Feel free to use whatever method works best for you.

Once we served the meaty hash with the soft-set eggs set on top, a few dashes of hot sauce was the last touch for us. Yes, you could certainly cook the eggs so the yolks are more firm, but once we broke into the yolks and watched that luscious golden stream flow through the hot chunky hash, we were in heaven! A completely filling meal with a bit of heat, crisp-yet-creamy potatoes, salty bacon and tender pieces of chicken - what else could we ask for?

Recipes
Rye and Caraway Seed Sticks
Poached Eggs with Chicken Hash