Corned-beef Hash with Fried Eggs

I love New York and, in particular, New York delis, where I always order a hot pastrami sandwich on rye bread and my husband always orders corned-beef hash with a fried egg. Although we don't have the same type of corned beef here, our humble, modest tinned version makes a mean old hash and, what's more, at an amazing price. A great meal made with incredible ease.

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This recipe is taken from How to Cook Book One and has also appeared in Sainsbury's Magazine.

Method

Start this off by cutting the corned beef in half lengthways, then, using a sharp knife, cut each half into four ½ inch (1 cm) pieces. Now chop these into ½ inch (1 cm) dice, then scoop them all up into a bowl. Combine the Worcestershire sauce and mustard in a cup and pour this all over the beef, mixing it around to distribute it evenly.

Now peel and halve the onion, cut the halves into thin slices and then cut these in half. The potatoes need to be washed and cut into ½ inch (1 cm) cubes, leaving the skin on, then place the cubes in a saucepan. Pour enough boiling water from the kettle to almost cover them, then add salt and a lid and simmer for just 5 minutes before draining them in a colander and then covering with a clean tea cloth to absorb the steam.

Now heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in the frying pan and, when it's smoking hot, add the sliced onions and toss them around in the oil to brown for about 3 minutes altogether, keeping the heat high, as they need to be very well browned at the edges.

After that, push all the onions to the edge of the pan and, still keeping the heat very high, add the potatoes and toss these around, too, because they also need to be quite brown. Add a little more oil here if necessary. Now add some seasoning, then, using a pan slice, keep turning the potatoes and onions over to hit the heat. After about 6 minutes, add the beef and continue to toss everything around to allow the beef to heat through (about 3 minutes).

After that, turn the heat down to its lowest setting and, in the smaller frying pan, fry the eggs in the remaining oil (see _How to fry an egg_, below). Serve the hash divided between the two warm plates with an egg on top of each and don't forget to have plenty of tomato ketchup on the table.