Nourishing your soul

There are many fond memories surrounding this dish that brings big smiles to my children's and my face, whilst tucking into this delectable comfort food that nourishes our souls. I tend to still cook quite frequently to this day. Every time we eat corned beef hash we feel our souls are nourished with nothing more than goodness, health, vitality and comforts us to full satisfaction.

I first made this recipe at our first apartment at 405 Budshead Road in Plymouth, Devon in the city's suburb named Whitleigh back in the mid-nineties when my children were only very young back then. It was in fact the first -ever meal I cooked in that exquisite large kitchen at that apartment on the first floor facing a large council housing estate and a back garden blossomed with a floral tribute.

My version of making corned beef hash exemplifies a natural savoury eclectic of different salty and slightly sweet flavours, that is so easy to make in no time. It is so satisfying and certainly fills, that empty void and comforts the sorrowful, grief, stricken, soul for the loss of a loved one through death.

Its a very much appreciated, memories of rescue food that still never fails to this day satisfy any hungry mouth and is a war- time peasants meal dating back to world war 2 which was originally derived from the South Coast of Massachussetts in North America. These days it's not regarded as a peasants meal and is normally eaten on St. Patrick's day on 17th March once yearly. But is eaten on any occasion in my household when needed or preferred. It still remains a very popular meal amongst my family and guests to this day. My vegan friend, unfortunately misses out on enjoying this glorious sun-filled satisfying dish and eats vegan food cooked by myself when they visit us instead.

Here below is my own version of this recipe how to make this:

PAULINE'S CORNED BEEF HASH RECIPE.

SERVES 4 PEOPLE. PREPARATION TIME: 15 minutes. COOKING TIME: 15 minutes.

INGREDIENTS.

350g tin of corned beef.

2 finely chopped onions.

1LB soft boiled diced potatoes.

4 eggs.

500g frozen garden peas.

1 teaspoon coarsely ground sea salt.

1 tablespoon coarsely ground black pepper.

1 teaspoon Colman's English mustard powder.

1 tablespoon roughly fresh chopped parsley.

1 teaspoon dried herbes de Provence.

4 extra virgin olive oil.

50ml a good quality beef stock water.

2 tablespoon sundried tomato puree.

DIRECTIONS:

1. Cut the corned beef into 5 cm cubes on your clean chopping board using a sharp kitchen knife.

2. In a large deep based frying pan, add the olive oil in and let it heat up on a high heat setting until smoking hot.

3. Add the prepared onions and fry in the hot oil for 5 minutes or until softened.

4. Throw in the cubes of corned beef, the diced soft potatoes, frozen peas in with the onions. Vigorously continuously move these contents around the frying pan, until there is a hard crust that forms at the base.

5. When you reach a hard crust at the base of the pan, you add the sundried tomato puree, sea salt, black pepper, herbs and mustard powder in. Continue to mix all these flavourings in until well distributed.

6. Next make 4 deep wells in the mixture and gently crack an egg in each crevice.

7. Lower the heat onto a medium heat setting and continue to cook until all the eggs have solidified and not runny anymore. Adjust seasoning according to taste at this stage and garnish with a sprig of fresh parsley on each serving plate. It's ready to eat.

SERVING SUGGESTIONS.

Best eaten piping hot and accompanied with your favourite hot or cold beverage to be enjoyed by your family and guests. Each serving should be served with 1 egg each on top.