Corned Beef Hash

Every St. Patrick's Day we always have a big batch of corned beef and cabbage. My mom always seemed to find the largest corned beef in the existence of man, despite the fact that there were only 4 mouths to feed. This left us with piles of leftover, delicious, salty corned beef to eat for the entire following week. I'm not complaining.  When I met Andy, he introduced me to the world of corned beef hash. I love corned beef, I love crispy hash browns ("home fries" as we call them back home), so naturally I love the combination of the two together. Andy is the self-proclaimed corned beef hash king, and he makes it for me every year after St. Patrick's Day (it works wonders). This is a simple, delicious, hearty breakfast and I hope you enjoy :o)

Corned Beef Hash

Makes 2 servings

Ingredients

1 tsp. vegetable oil

1 tsp. butter

1 russet potato, peeled and diced into small cubes

1/2 small onion, diced

1 cup corned beef, diced into small cubes

salt and pepper to taste

2 sunny side up eggs*, for serving on top

Directions:

Heat the oil and butter in a cast iron skillet over medium heat. When hot, add the potatoes and onion and cook until the potatoes begin to turn light brown and soften a bit. Add the corned beef, salt and pepper. At this point you need a little patience. Spread out the hash as much as you can in the skillet and press it down using the back of a spatula. The goal is to increase surface area contact so the potatoes begin to crisp up, but don't push so hard that everything turns to mush. Allow the hash to sit and cook, untouched, for about 3 minutes, then flip parts of it over, press, and repeat. Continue flipping, pressing, and leaving alone for about 10-15 minutes or until the hash is brown and crispy, and the potatoes are cooked all the way through. Divide hash into two servings and top each with a sunny side up egg. Yum!

* I had a moment of enlightenment when watching the Food Network last week. Ree, the Pioneer Woman, made perfect sunny side up eggs for a breakfast, and they are so simple. When I say perfect, I mean that I swear these eggs were those plastic ones I used to have in my make-believe-kitchen as a kid. Perfect. These totally beat my always inevitably overcooked attempts at fried eggs. Try her recipe, it rocks!