Using Dinner Leftovers for Breakfast

Posted by Somer on December 13th, 2009 at 10:22 am

Last night I made two gorgeous Delmonico steaks for dinner.  They were also huge and my husband and I were unable to finish all of the meat.  I didn’t want to throw out perfectly good meat (cooked perfectly to medium-rare, by the way) so I decided to chop it up and save it for a breakfast hash this morning.

I love a good breakfast hash.  It’s something that can be easily improvised, easily throw together, and it’s a great alternative to our usual weekend pancakes or French toast.  Breakfast hash is wonderful.

You don’t really need a formal recipe for a breakfast hash.  It really is something that you just throw into a skillet and then pile on a plate.  There are a few basics that you need:

Potatoes.  You can either cube them, or grate them (like with hash browns).  I like both, I just decided to have potato cubes today.   You also need thinly sliced onions, meat (this can range from leftover pot roast, corned beef, turkey, chicken, or leftover steak), and poached eggs.  These are the basics.  If you want to spice up your hash, add freshly chopped peppers, roasted red peppers, sun dried tomatoes, cheeses, or fresh herbs.  Since we’re still getting settled in our new home, I don’t have those things on hand so my hash was very simple, but a hash can pretty much hold any extra ingredient and still taste great!

Soften the onions in some Extra Virgin Olive Oil.  Add some salt and pepper to taste.  Once the onions are soft, add the potatoes.  Keep your heat at medium and flatten the potatoes on the bottom of the skillet.  Cover and cook for 5 minutes.  Stir and flip the potatoes and cover for 5 minutes more.  You will start getting some gorgeous color on the potatoes.  Do this until the potatoes are tender.

Add your meat and stir until the meat is heated through.  There’s no need to really cook the meat any further.

Now you need to poach your eggs.  I like to use a broad pan (a wok-like skillet in this case) so that my eggs have plenty of room to do their thing.

Fill your pot with water.  Add 1 Tblsp. of vinegar to the water.  This stabilizes the egg whites and keeps them from spreading all over the place.  Heat your water to just before a simmer.  If you drop your eggs into boiling water, you will destroy your eggs.  You just want your water hot and at no more than a gentle simmer.

Crack your eggs one at a time into a small bowl.

Slowly and gently drop your egg into the water.  Depending on whether you want a runny or hard yolk, the time can differ from 3-5 minutes.  I like my yolks runny, that way I can have warm yolk mixed all over my hash.  It’s yummy that way.

Remove your eggs with a slotted spoon and nestle them into the top of your hash that you have piled onto your plate.  Sprinkle with scallions, red pepper flakes, hot sauce, cheese, sour cream, or fresh herbs.

A quick note on hot sauce:  I like to keep a few different kinds of hot sauces in the house.  All have different consistencies, and tastes and are appropriate in different uses.  I encourage all people to experiment with hot sauces and to keep many different kinds handy for different uses.

And there’s the close up.  It’s not much in the way of photographic talent, but you can see that beautiful color on the potatoes, the red pepper flakes sprinkled over the top, and the poached egg broken open so the yolk can bleed all over the delicious meat and potatoes.  It’s a great way to start the day..but you’ll want to eat light for the rest of the day after a breakfast like this.  Try it anyhow.  It’s a great way to experiment since it’s so versatile.  Enjoy!