Campfire Skillet Norwegian Potato and Smoked Trout Hash with Farm Eggs and Dill

Build your campfire early and let it burn down to a bed of steady orange coals — you want even radiant heat, not leaping flames. Set a grate over the coals and place a 12-inch cast-iron skillet on it to preheat for 5 minutes. (At home, use medium heat on the stove.)

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 2 lb small waxy potatoes, scrubbed and cut into 3/4-inch cubes
• 3 tablespoons butter, plus more for the eggs
• 1 tablespoon neutral oil
• 1 large yellow onion, diced
• 1 medium zucchini, diced (about 1 1/2 cups)
• 8 oz hot-smoked trout or smoked salmon, skin removed and flaked
• 4 farm-fresh eggs
• 3 tablespoons fresh dill, chopped, plus sprigs to finish
• 2 scallions, thinly sliced
• 2 tablespoons sour cream or creme fraiche
• 1 tablespoon capers, drained (optional)
• 1 lemon, cut into wedges
• Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper

Instructions

1. Build your campfire early and let it burn down to a bed of steady orange coals — you want even radiant heat, not leaping flames. Set a grate over the coals and place a 12-inch cast-iron skillet on it to preheat for 5 minutes. (At home, use medium heat on the stove.)
2. Par-cook the potatoes first: add the cubes to the skillet with the oil, 2 tablespoons of the butter, and a generous pinch of salt. Cover with foil or a lid and let them steam-cook for 12 to 15 minutes, shaking the pan every few minutes, until a knife slides into a cube with no resistance.
3. Uncover, spread the potatoes into a single layer, and leave them completely alone for 4 to 5 minutes so a deep golden crust forms. Flip in large sections rather than stirring, and repeat until most surfaces are crisped and browned.
4. Push the potatoes to one side, add the remaining tablespoon of butter, and cook the onion and zucchini in the cleared space for 5 minutes, until the onion is translucent and the zucchini has picked up a little color. Fold everything together and season with salt and plenty of black pepper.
5. Scatter the flaked smoked trout over the hash and fold it in gently — you want ribbons of fish running through, not shredded bits. Warm through for 1 minute; smoked fish is already cooked and turns dry if you push it further.
6. Make four shallow wells in the hash, drop a small knob of butter into each, and crack an egg into every well. Cover the skillet loosely with foil and cook for 3 to 4 minutes, until the whites are set and the yolks still tremble.
7. Pull the skillet off the heat. Scatter the chopped dill, scallions, and capers over the top, add spoonfuls of sour cream, and finish with dill sprigs and a hard squeeze of lemon over everything.
8. Serve straight from the pan with lemon wedges and thick slices of dark rye bread, letting everyone dig into the crispy edges.
9. This is Norwegian camp cooking at its most honest. Along the fjords and inland lakes, hot-smoking the morning's catch over alder or juniper is a summer ritual, and the leftovers almost always end up in a breakfast skillet with potatoes the next dawn. Late summer is when it comes together best: new potatoes are thin-skinned and sweet, zucchini is at its peak in every farmers-market stall, and the dill has grown tall and feathery. The combination of smoke, sweet allium, butter-crisped potato, and a soft yolk is Nordic comfort in a single pan — the kind of food that tastes twice as good eaten outdoors with cold air on your hands.

Nutrition (estimated, per serving)

• Calories: 520 kcal
• Protein: 29g
• Fat: 26g
• Carbohydrates: 44g
• Fiber: 5g
• Sugar: 5g
• Sodium: 780mg