She Who Must Be Obeyed and I were on a ‘get-the-hell-out-of-town-for-a-bit’ drive the other day and ended up covering a fair amount of philosophical and other ground during our (day) journey.
She of course wanted to talk about our young adult children and the challenges they face today, asset management, marriage enrichment and where to live for the next phase of our lives (among other things).
I of course dutifully participated (honest) but also pondered flow rates on several nearby Olympic Peninsula rivers, evolving Montana snowpack volumes, the sorry state of my aging waders, whether to eat Thai or a burger for lunch and how my corned beef briskets were progressing in the crock at home.
At some point I even adroitly worked corned beef into the discussion and we somehow ended up talking about what a profound influence an aging codger in Montana (Ed) has had upon our perspectives on food. [I’ve written about Ed on many occasions; he does have some usefulness and is still on most days a cheap bastard.]
Case in point – Ed has totally changed our perspectives on the traditional meal of corned beef and cabbage to celebrate (the Americanized version) of St. Patrick’s Day.
Ed has convinced us that in reality, a genuine, handcrafted and home-cooked Real Deal Corned Beef Hash, topped with a runny-yolk poached egg and drizzled in hollandaise sauce is probably the ultimate corned beef presentation.
If you don’t feel like helping your cardiologist put his kid through college, go ahead and skip the poached egg and hollandaise, though you really should try that at least once. Ed won’t eat it any other way (and he’s lived far longer than anyone ever guessed…)
1 1/2 lb. Yukon Gold spuds, 1/2 inch dice
1 large onion, chopped medium
1 red bell pepper, stemmed, seeded, chopped medium
1 poblano chile pepper, stemmed, seeded, chopped medium
1 large clove garlic, minced
4-5 tbsp. unsalted butter
1 lb. cooked corned beef, chopped to 1/2 inch or so pieces
1-2 tsp. fresh thyme
1 tsp. fresh ground black pepper
1/2 cup flat leaf parsley, chopped4-6 eggs, poached, with soft yolk
Hollandaise sauce if Ed’s coming over
Prep. Scrub and dry the vegetables; dice and chop to your heart’s content. Some argue you need to parboil the potatoes (we don’t, you just need to be a bit more patient browning them) and roast the poblano chile (we don’t as unroasted it will hold a bit more body). Suit yourself and round up the rest of the ingredients.
Sauté it up. Melt 4 tbsp. of the butter over medium-high heat in a heavy skillet (at least 12 inches and cast iron plays very well here). Add the spuds and cook stirring frequently until they begin to get tender and are a light brown.
Now add another tbsp. of butter, the onions, bell pepper, poblano, meat, thyme, pepper and garlic. Cook, stirring now and again for 4-5 minutes until the vegetable begin to soften.
Crisp it up. Now smooth the mixture in the skillet out and gently compress it; raise the heat a notch and don’t touch it for 3 minutes or so to let a crispy-crunchy layer of caramelization develop. When the three minutes are up, turn that brown, crunchy bottom over and mix into the upper hash layers. Compress the mixture again and repeat at least two more times – the desired endpoint here is lots of crunchy, brown potatoes. Add the parsley on the last turn and stir.
Serve it right now, topped with a runny-yolk poached egg and drizzled with hollandaise if Ed’s coming over. He won’t eat it any other way.
Enjoy.
