Corned Beef Hash

This is a recipe for those of us really feeling the pinch of the recession.  Even if you take out a few of the ingredients you don’t lose that much flavour.  But it is a good stodgy winter’s night’s supper.

You will need the following:

One tin of good quality corned beef.

Five or six decent potatoes.

One onion

Half a pack of decent sized closed cap mushrooms.  Or about eight.

Two peppers, any colour (I use red and green for contrast)

One ball of Mozarella

One small jar of hot salsa sauce (alternatively you can make your own)

Worcestershire sauce

Paprika

Ground black pepper

You need one boiling pan and one large frying pan or wok, and two baking tins.

Firstly chop your potatoes into quarters and boil in a pan of water until soft.  Don’t peel them, the skin is the best bit.  Chop your onions, peppers and mushrooms finely or coarsely, as you prefer and fry in a pan until the onions are brown and everything is soft.

Open the corned beef (taking caution not to cut yourself) and add to the wok.  Using a spatula hack it down to small chunks.  Stir it into the vegetables.

Set your oven at 180 c and allow it five minutes or longer to heat up.

By now the potatoes should be just soft enough so drain the water through a colander and add the potatoes to the wok.  Again use the spatula to hack them down to small pieces and stir or ‘fold’ the mixture.

Add two heaped tablespoons of salsa sauce and one of worcestershire sauce.  Continue to stir and taste occasionally.  Add black pepper if you feel it needs it.  Reduce heat of the cooking ring.

Then use a serving spoon to transfer the mix to two thick single-serve oven dishes.

Open the Mozarella, drain the water  and slice as thinly as possible.  Place the slices (about three each) over the mix and sprinkle with a little paprika.

Place in the oven and cook for 7-10 minutes.

remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly.

Enjoy!

Winter Cider Punch

Time for a drink I think, and make something very hot and alcoholic.

An old family recipe is hot cider punch, simple and effective.

Empty a pint bottle of cider into a sauce pan.  I recommend Green Goblin from Wychwood or Magners.

Add the juice of one lemon.

Add two large tablespoons of honey.

Add four sticks of Cinnamon and simmer for five minutes.

Taste with a spoon, allow to cool a little and serve in a thick latte glass.