I have never been a fan of corned beef hash. It wasn’t a staple in our house as I was growing up, although my mother made some for herself once in a while out of a can. My sister liked it. She still does. Of course, Dottie was also known to sneak a bite of dog food whenever she could. She would show up just as my Aunt Christina was opening a can of Ideal dog food and offer to take it to Punchy, their resident boxer. My cousins and I were on to her, though. We knew what Dottie was up to. I’m not kidding you on this one, folks, and I have eyewitnesses who will corroborate. Maybe the connection with Ideal dog food tainted my taste buds, but, corned beef hash and my lips never met.
Until recently.
Late one night right around St. Paddy’s day last year, I caught an episode of Alton Brown on the Food Network. I don’t watch him very often, but, when I do I like his quirky approach to food with a little bit of chemistry and a lot of silly camera angles mixed in with some good and easy recipes. This particular episode showed how to make corned beef hash. This wasn’t the hash I remembered as a child. It was made with leftovers from St. Patrick’s Day that looked really good and easy and I gave it a try. Tom and I both liked it, it used up the leftovers and I think it will become a yearly event.
We had our once-a-year hash tonight and I thought you might like to try it. All the credit, of course, goes to Alton Brown and the Food Network. I told Dottie about it today. She said what we both say when one or the other calls and teases about something we know the other one likes. “Stop it. You’ll make me hungry”.
Corned Beef Hash (Alton Brown) Which I adapted to personal tastes.
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup finely chopped red bell pepper
2 cloves garlic, minced (I omitted this as someone-who-won’t be named doesn’t like garlic. I added 1 cup of diced onion instead)
5 cups leftover Corned Beef and Cabbage*
1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme**
1/2 teaspoon fresh oregano**
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
* I diced up 5 cups of my leftover corned beef, cabbage, carrots, and potatoes.
** I left this out, as I had no fresh herbs. It was still good.
Melt butter in a 12 inch cast iron skillet over medium heat.
Add bell pepper and onion and saute for a few minutes.
Spoon in the rest of ingredients, press down with a spatula and place a heavy plate of pan on top. I used a smaller skillet and then put a tea kettle on it as well.
Cook until browned, about 10 minutes.
Stir and press down again, about 1o minutes more.
I repeated one more time to make it a little browner.
We smiled through our delightful leftovers tonight, disguised as heavenly hash.
Poor Dottie, now we all know. Your recipe sounds yummy.
Of course, she could tell everyone about the time Teddy and I ate all the neighbor’s peony buds. It was yummy, Janet, and now we are done with corned beef until next year.
Oh how funny about Dottie. This reminds me of a time I was buying a roll of luncheon sausage for lunch children were coming to visit and Nathan, then very young himself, sniggered and said “it’s really dog food isn’t it!”
Your corned beef hash sounds very nice, I am sure that Jeff and I would enjoy this.
Oh, that is so funny, Marilyn. Soon enough, Nathan will have his own stories to tell about a certain little lass, won’t he?
I hope you have the opportunity to try this recipe some time.
Bill and I were just talking about the Corned Beef Hash in the can, I told him my parents used to fry patties from it and I would never eat it because it smelled the same as dog food. I told him I’ll bet they make it at the same place and one label is called “Alpo” the other” Corned Beef Hash”. We just chop up the corned beef and mash the potato with it and make a patty and fry it. Yours does sound good with all the other ingredients. I made some good barley soup yesterday from the juice that the Corned Beef was cooked in, very tasty..
That is so funny, Sharon. I’m glad I’m not the only one who thought of dog food as a child – and neither you nor I are fussy eaters. Your barley soup sounds good. Soup tonight here as well.
See you soon.
Ha! Had to share that one with Phil
We laughed out loud….and now I must try this. It must be good if it has you converted to hash. Thanks! That’s tomorrow’s supper sorted!
So glad it gave you a laugh, Kate. We need those moments. It really is good and would be even better with a poached or fried egg on top.