recipe: corned beef hash

Corned beef hash always reminds me of Sunday brunches in college - when we would wake up at 11a.m. and waddle down to the dining halls in our pajamas. I never really got the recipe for this but my "this oughta work" recipe tastes close enough to the original that I haven't really tinkered with it.

For starters, I always use Hormel's canned corned beef. To one can of corned beef, I use 2 large potatoes and one yellow onion. Although there seems to be a lot of dicing here, if you time everything right, the prep work doesn't take long at all!

First dice up the onion and separate it into two equal portions. Put one portion into a non-stick pan with a little olive oil and let it soften gradually. 

Peel and dice up the potatoes. At this to the onions, which should have turned translucent. You want the residual moisture in the onions to cook the potatoes, and once it dries up, the edges of the potatoes brown and crisp up slightly.

Add in the corned beef, mashing it up with a spatula. At this point, you should season the meat - I usually add black pepper, paprika and a light touch of cumin to enhance the smokiness. Any salt should be added sparingly because although the corned beef is salty, the potatoes tend to "soak" up the saltiness.

Once the meat has darkened, throw in the rest of the onions. I like to do it in two batches because the second batch of onions has a fresher taste to it, and a quick saute with the cooking hash takes that sharp edge off.

Be warned though! The corned beef tends to increase in bulk because of the added potatoes and onions, so it should feed 4-5 hungry people for breakfast!