Friday, December 5, 2008

Breakfast for dinner


Since I have a slow cooker that is far too big for just 2 people because for it to cook properly it needs to filled with a certain amount of food. My slow cooker hold far more food that 2 people can consume in one sitting. So, we ended up with alot of Carnitas leftovers. Since we don't have a microwave and I don't think I can force Mexican on the boy 2 nights in a row. I decided to do a take on one of my favorite breakfasts, corned beef hash and poached eggs. Since poached eggs are gross cold and I was starving by the time we both were able to sit down to eat, there's no picture. Sorry, but you get the recipe which I think is far more important.

Carnitas Hash
serves 2

1 russet potato - cut into 1-inch dice
1 small onion - diced
1/2 red bell pepper - diced
1 clove garlic - minced
1 1/2 cups of Carnitas at room temperature (or any other pulled or diced meat that's already cooked)
salt & pepper to taste
1 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp (or more) olive oil

1. Heat skillet over medium low heat. Melt butter with 1 Tbsp olive oil. Once pan is heated and butter is melted add potatoes and cover. Let cook on medium-low heat for 10 to 15 mins, checking a stirring occasionally to cook the potatoes evenly.
2. Once potatoes are tender add in onions, garlic & peppers. You will likely need to add the remaining Tbsp of oil here as the potatoes would have soaked it up and you need a bit of oil to make sure things don't burn. Cover and let cook for 5 mins.
3. Add carnitas to pan and gently mix in with vegetables. Turn heat up to medium and let cook for 5 minutes, without stirring. Flip and cook for another 5 minutes, without stirring. This last step is to get a nice crispy crust on the hash. Serve with poached eggs.

Any kind of meat hash is a great way to deal with leftover meat & potatoes. I used raw potatoes, but it comes together even more quickly if you have leftover baked or roasted potatoes. You can also add whatever vegetables you'd like. I've had it with green peppers before, but since I'm not a fan of green peppers I left them out. I like this dish because it's different every time and something you can have fun with.

I could write here how to poach an egg based on what I was planning on doing, but luckily the boy got home and has poached eggs before and took over that job for me. So it just doesn't seem right to pretend I did that myself, although I found these pretty solid directions on wikiHow.

The boy had never had hash and eggs before and seemed to like this. Poached eggs and hash is on my list of ultimate comfort foods and something I wish I had more often. Enjoy!

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