We've been eating our way through the contents of the fridge and the freezer and have barely touched the cupboard full of food, so this morning I had a 'blast from the past' moment and decided to use a couple of the tins that we had in there to make up a pot of Corned Beef Hash for Alan.
It was always a favourite meal of my boys when they were growing up, little did they know that their 'treat meal' was in fact Mum's way of making one tin of corned beef serve a family of four a healthy, tasty and nutritious meal. Always served with slices of toast for dunking in the gravy and filling little tummies up.
You simply chop the onions, celery and carrot and then saute for a few minutes in a little oil, or water is fine if you have no oil. In mine I also used a little cafe pat of butter along with the oil as I have taken to picking them up if I see them about to be thrown away in cafes, so there's usually one or two in the fridge ... I think my new super power is avoiding waste!!
While they are sauteing, mix up your gravy adding a squirt of tomato puree (or ketchup would do) and a dash of Worcestershire Sauce. Then chop your potatoes and corned beef into bite sized pieces. The corned beef mushes up pretty quickly anyway in the gravy so you don't have to be too precious about how you chop it, but because of this bigger chunks are better.
It will take about 25 - 30 minutes to cook.
I always make this type of meal well ahead of time, as while it cools the flavours continue to develop and when you reheat it it will be even tastier.
Once it was cooked I portioned it up, and added a handful of frozen peas to each portion. As I had only used one tin of potatoes this made just three portions, normally I would have added lots more potatoes to really pad out the meal, but Alan likes to have this type of meal with less potatoes and more green veg so I will be serving it with a big handful of green beans tonight ... and of course some slices of toast ... to mop up all those lovely juices.
And did you spot in this photo that I picked up on a tip I received in the comments the other week about using masking tape instead of writing on your plastic boxes or using expensive freezer labels to label the boxes that I will be popping into the freezer. Alan found me a nice big roll when he was clearing out the shed ready for the car boot sale, so now it lives in my kitchen drawer and it works a treat. Now Alan has some ready meals for next time I'm away ... and he can see at a glance exactly what they are.
Sue xx
Shows how different recipes are as we just fry the potatoes and onions, followed by beef chunks and eat it with brown sauce. I can see the sense of gravy though with hungry families.
ReplyDeleteThat's how we had corned beef hash too.
Deletexx
Yes there are lots of recipes for this.
DeleteI was having a 'foodie chat' on the phone with Simon, my eldest last week and he was telling me about how when he first met his ex-wife, she invited him round for some Corned Beef Hash, he turned up expecting Mum's recipe or similar and was handed a bowl of mashed potato with corned beef mushed into it. He said he was SO disappointed.
I must have gotten my recipe out of a book back in the early eighties.
A good idea for using masking tape. I generally write on the box or bag with a sharpie (and it does wash off)
ReplyDeletexx
I cannot for the life of me scrub my sharpie writing off the Chinese takeaway containers I wrote on, hence me turning to masking tape ... I can hide the writing AND label the boxes ;-)
DeleteHot water, some washing up liquid and a quick scrub! Heat makes all the difference, I have found.
Deletexx
Yes, so many ways to make a tin of corned beef feed the masses.
ReplyDeleteOur version is without gravy but with a tin of baked beans added. It used to be Heinz Curried Baked Beans but I haven't seen those for ages so now it's a tin of Heinz Five Beans, if you haven't tried these yet its a mixture of 5 types of beans (cannellini, haricot, kidney, pinto and borlotti) in a slightly spicy tomato sauce and is a bit more grown up than the regular baked beans. TBH, I never buy ordinary baked beans now.
I haven't tried the Heinz Five Beans yet, but I'll lookout for them once I'm shopping again.
DeleteWhen they stopped making the Curried Beans I started making my own. I just saute half a finely chopped onion in a heaped teaspoon of curry powder and then after 2 or 3 minutes tip in a tin of beans. They taste lovely :-)
I love corned beef hash. I don't have a gravy with mine though. Must try your version very soon.
ReplyDeleteGod bless.