RECIPE | CORNED BEEF HASH

A hash, in my house, is a meal we will have when we have a random selection of leftovers to use up. Otherwise known as a “pile of slop”, it’s a meal eaten from a bowl served with either some gorgeous warm bread or a couple of Yorkshire puddings. It really is the definition of hearty – warming, comforting, tasty, easy to make and eat, yummy.

I know lots of people really don’t like corned beef. A hash is the only way I’ll use the somewhat old fashioned tinned meat, it just seems to work. But I will also very happily use leftover roast beef, slow cooked gammon, minced beef, or you can just use veggies if you prefer. Also on the other ingredients, you can pretty much use anything you fancy. The baked beans and roast potato are a must in my opinion, adding the slop element as well as some all important texture, but other than that feel free to add or substitute pretty much anything you have left in your fridge. My recipe for Corned Beef Hash is therefore not a real recipe, more of a suggested template.

Corned Beef Hash

To serve two…

• A small tin of corned beef. Or a handful of leftover roasted or slow cooked meat; you know, whatever you had on Sunday.
• A red onion. .
• A decent sized white potato, roasted. Either roast one especially, or chop up a couple of leftover roast potatoes from your Sunday dinner. Or you could use roasted sweet potato, but it doesn’t add quite as much texture.
• A bell pepper, diced.
• A handful of mushrooms, any type, chopped into bite sized pieces.
• Other veg that I’ve found work well include courgette, roast carrot and parsnip, leek, baby corn, sugar snap peas – basically use whatever you fancy.
• A tin of baked beans.
• A squirt of barbecue sauce.
• A splash of Worcester sauce.
• A couple of Yorkshire puddings… I used Aunt Bessie’s as mine are generally rubbish.

Assuming you are using leftovers, prep for this meal will be super quick – chop up your roast potato, onion, pepper, mushroom, meat and any other ingredients you are using into bite sized pieces.

If you’re not using leftover roast potatoes, chop up your potato into 1cm ish pieces, boil for five minutes, and roast on a medium heat for about half an hour. Add some paprika or herbs when cooking if you like.

Heat a little oil in a non stick frying pan and fry your veggies few minutes, then add the meat to heat up/crisp up a little.

Now for your wet ingrediens. Add the tin of baked beans and stir, allow to heat through, then add a squirt of barbecue sauce and a splash of Worcester sauce to taste (and to get the level of slop you are hoping for). Cook until everything is nice and hot.

Serve in a bowl with a couple of Yorkshire puddings, a slice of garlic bread, or just have it as it is. The thing I like about this dish is it’s easy to eat from a bowl while you are sat on the sofa enjoying episode six of that box set you’ve been watching after a good day exploring the countryside. Great comfort food.

Let me know if you make it!

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