Corned Beef Hash With Tofu?!

Getting back to old-school breakfasts, I have become a fan of hashes. Essentially, I figure "hash" is as something in a skillet, mixed in with potatoes. A classic is corned beef hash. I've had it since I was little. Most of the time, for convenience, it comes from a can. Spread it out in a frying pan and fry until it gets crispy, then flip, add two eggs and fry until they are done to the "sunny side up" level. Flip one more time and remove from heat after about 30 seconds and serve hot.

Today I did something I never thought I'd do. I added firm tofu to corned beef hash. I expected a culture clash but we had the tofu left over from earlier in the week. I minced it finely and mixed it into the skillet with the canned corned beef hash. It worked just fine. The tofu flavor is subsumed by the corned beef and the seasonings. I did sprinkle some pepper over the whole thing just to make sure the flavor wasn't too diluted.




I also threw in cubed, half a baked potato from last night's dinner. It's a great extender and stretches the can out more without adding a lot of fat. Definitely worth browning the potato before frying the can of corned beef hash.

Bottom line: Would I have it again? Yes. Not bad at all. It still doesn't beat home made corned beef hash, but it is pretty good stuff.

Encrusted Chicken and Pork

It all started with some pork chops that needed a little spicing up. After watching a tv food show encrust a roast, I thought about throwing a few nuts, some corn flakes and some spices in the little magic bullet and made a crust for porkchops. They looked fine. Then, big mistake. We grilled them. They turned out ok. The crust was good but it was uneven and broken because of the grilling. So, definitely baking is the way to go.

A couple of days later, we were going to have chicken breasts for dinner. Threw the same ingredients in the Magic Bullet and this time put them on washed, patted dry chicken breasts. This time, they were baked and I even used a little cookie rack to bake them on the toaster oven. That did a good job of letting the heat go all over.
They were a hit. Even the pickiest eater in the group gave crumb encrusted thumbs up.

Tried A Variation Of A Meatloaf Burger

Just to see if we can spice up a hamburger a little, AND to stretch out the last bit of burger meat after the main family burgers were made, I tried throwing some things here and there into the burger to see what it would be like.

I put some cornflake crumbs, a little bit of tofu (the meat extender) and some spices and mixed it well. Grilled it up and it held together just fine. Put it in a large sesame seed bun, which helped a LOT, and threw on some raw baby spinach, slice of cheese, iceberg lettuce, sliced onions and sliced tomatoes from the garden. Spicy brown mustard, ketchup and just a hint of mayo rounded it off.

RESULT: Not bad. I think the tofu, of all things, helped keep it moist. Really sucked in the spices. The stacked baby spinach and lettuce on the large bun really, helped.

THE BIG QUESTION: "Would you have it again?"

Answer: Yes, probably. Especially if there was just enough meat left over. Not a bad stretcher. I'm surprised the cornflakes didn't make it taste like a breakfast burger or something.