Corned Beef Hash - The Ultimate Comfort Food

I have always loved corned beef hash ever since the days of yore when my mother would make it for childhood suppers. I have always eaten it with baked beans and I have always simply mixed mashed potato with sliced fried onions and corned beef before frying it for what seems ages in a pan to get it browned off.

Then the other day I was having lunch in a local cafe, the very excellent Pear Tree Cafe in Whaley Bridge and one of their daily specials was corned beef hash. Sadly I didn't notice this until I'd already ordered my very scrumptious cheese on toast (never had a better one) but my neighbour had been more observant, so I had the chance to peer sideways at his while I tucked into my toast. What surprised me was that it appeared in a terracotta bowl looking more lumpy and juicy than the one I make, possibly with some carrot in it too. It clearly had been nowhere near a masher or a frying pan.

Intrigued, I decided to google some corned beef hash recipes to see what methods and ideas were out there. Many of them use diced potatoes and chunks of corned beef rather than the smoother mix using mash which I'd been brought up on. Some also added diced carrots - which most closely resembles the one I saw at the cafe - and a bit of parsley. Spurred on, I looked in the fridge and found some leftover new potatoes in their skins, some stir fried sweetheart cabbage and onion from the weekend roast and half a can of baked beans. 

All I had to do was chop up the potatoes (left the skins on) and a packet of corned beef and stirred them in with the cabbage and onion mix and some fresh chopped parsley from my herbs outside the back door. 

I also decided to add the baked beans rather than having them on the side as I normally do. 

I heated a small amount of oil in a sauté pan, squidged the mix into it with the back of a spoon and heated it through on the hob before sprinkling grated cheddar on top and popping it in the oven to heat through thoroughly and brown off. 

Incredibly cheap and simple, very tasty and totally comforting on a winter's night.

PS: this would also be lovely with a fried egg on top!