Pastrami Hash

Pastrami Hash with a Fried Egg

I love breakfast foods.  When I come home to visit for the weekend, I know that my sister and mother are eagerly anticipating the next morning when I whip up breakfast.  Usually its my buttermilk pancakes that I've customized to each of our likings.  I like mine with bananas cooked right in.  Darian likes hers with lots of chocolate chips.  My mom's will be bananas with a sprinkling of frozen blueberries as well as bananas for extra antioxidants.  Darson, when he is there, likes an both bananas and chocolate chips in the pancakes, as well as on top.  And we all like a lot of whipped cream.

Those are our sweet tooth mornings though, when we are all together and enjoying each other's companies.  On the lazy days when it's just me at my apartment and I happen to have some left over baby potatoes, its Pastrami Hash.  Yep, pastrami and NOT corned beef.  Although I will order corned beef hash when I'm out, at home I use pastrami.  Growing up in a Jewish community, I've learned to appreciate a good pastrami sandwich and honestly, corned beef kinda grosses me out when it's not in a hash form.

And this recipe is great for another reason, you don't have to have leftover roasted potatoes or boil any potatoes beforehand!  Being Asian, we rarely have potatoes for dinner and when we do, they're aren't ever any left over so this is perfect for when I just have a hankering for some breakfast hash.  Also, I find that when I use leftover potatoes, the potatoes get too mushy for my taste.  It's also great because it helps me use up any veggies that might be going bad soon.  So do what I do and customize it to what you have left in the fridge.  I've had it with broccoli and even spinach and its comes out great.  For some reason the white wine just makes all the veggies taste even better!

- Darin

Pastrami Hash

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Pastrami Hash

For 2 servings

4 Baby Potatoes or 1 regular potato, diced
1 Red Bell Pepper, diced
1/2 Sweet Onion, diced
1 clove Garlic, minced
1/2 tsp dried Thyme
1/2 tsp dried Rosemary
4oz. Pastrami (the thicker cut, the better), diced
1 - 1 1/2 cups White Wine
2 Tbsp. Vegetable or Canola Oil
2 eggs

1) Heat a tablespoon of the oil in a large frying pan to medium high and add the potatoes, peppers and onion once the pan is hot.  Season with pepper and salt and let all the veggies meld together and the potatoes get a bit crispy, about 5 mins.

2) Once the potatoes are a bit browned and crispy and the pepper and onions are soft, add in 1/2 cup of the white wine along with the thyme and rosemary and cover, letting the potatoes steam and cook.  About 7-10 mins.

3) When all the white wine has been absorbed, add the pastrami and garlic (with a bit more oil if necessary) and sauté everything together.  Let the pastrami brown.

4) Add another 1/4 cup of white wine and scrape up the browned bits from the bottom of the pan and cover.  Lower the heat to medium.  We're trying to steam the potatoes to a soft, but not mushy texture.  About 5 mins.

6) In another frying pan, fry 2 eggs, sunny side up.  You want the yolk to still be runny.

7) Check the potatoes, if they are still not fork tender or a bit crunchy when you try them, add another 1/4 cup of white wine and cover for another 5 mins.  Season again if necessary.

8) Once the potatoes are done, add in another splash of white wine, scraping up any browned bits left in the pan.  Serve with an egg on top.  Enjoy!

Yum!