Turning dinner into breakfast with leftovers is brilliant. Dinner can be daunting, particularly when you have to start at ground zero. But rooting through your fridge can often reveal items fabulous for a dinner omelette, quick soup or maybe a pasta dish made primarily from leftovers. The big dilemma for us this week was what to do with our fabulous left over brisket. I quickly tire of “big meat” and stress over what to do with all of it, especially with our much smaller household of late. This breakfast for dinner idea may seem low-brow, but it ended up being a great idea – totally not low-brow. It not only tasted amazing and utilized our leftovers, but it literally took 20 minutes. I’m certain we’ll do this again.

We reinvented the brisket into a colorful, flavorful potato hash with roasted red bells, purple onion, garlic, chopped herbs and chard, topped it with fried runny-yolk eggs and served it with spicy tomato jam I canned last fall from our heirloom tomatoes.  We enjoyed it with shots of carrot juice infused with vodka and spiced orange bitters. It was like a summer mid-morning brunch in the Russian River!  Except it was 6pm in Milwaukie.  Peeps had seconds, so there was that.

20 minutes max of prep and cooking.  Makes 4 big servings

INGREDIENTS

  • 2 T extra virgin olive oil, plus more for eggs
  • 1 T salted butter
  • 6-8 medium yukon gold potatoes, diced (or red potatoes)
  • 1 medium red onion dice, (approximately 3/4 cup)
  • 4 cloves fresh garlic, minced
  • 2 C diced brisket (or more if you have it!)
  • 1 large red bell pepper, julienne cut (approximately 1-1/2 cups)
  • 1 T smoked Spanish paprika
  • 1 tsp lemon pepper
  • 1/2 T kosher salt
  • 1/2 T cracked black pepper
  • 1 C organic green chard, roughly chopped (or spinach or kale)
  • 1/2 C fresh herbs, chopping (organic parsley or chives or cilantro – or all three)
  • 4 – 8 farm fresh organic eggs
  • 1/2 C spicy tomato jam (link below – we added hot sauce to the tomato jam to make it spicy)
  • Turmeric carrot juice with vodka and orange bitters

In a cast iron pan on medium high heat add in olive oil and potatoes. Cook until potatoes begin to crisp on the bottom – approximately 6 minutes. With a spatula, scoop potatoes from bottom of pan – getting all the crisp parts and flip over as best you can, to brown the other sides. Add in the onions and cook for 4-5 minutes then add garlic, brisket, bell pepper, paprika, lemon pepper, salt and pepper and cook for another 3-4 minutes. Turn down the heat and add chard and herbs. Let them wilt ever so slightly. Turn off heat. Potatoes will stay warm enough until eggs are done.  You can also keep them warm for about 5-10 minutes in oven set on 300.

In separate non-stick pan on medium heat, add 1 tablespoon olive oil.  Crack eggs, so yolks don’t break.  Cook until yolks are medium, but still runny – approximately 5 minutes. In large bowls, serve potatoes with one or two eggs. Small bowls of spicy tomato jam is great on the side and a shot glass of fresh carrot juice with vodka and bitters (recipe below) to enjoy in between bites!

LOUD TOMATO JAM!

Turmeric Carrot Juice with Vodka

For one drink

  • 2 oz of carrot juice infused with turmeric
  • 1 or 2 oz of good vodka (2 oz is best)
  • 1 dash of Woodford Reserve® Orange Bitters
  • 1/2 tsp honey
  • ice

Put all ingredients in shaker.  Shake until chilled.  Pour into tall shot glasses OR pour into low ball with ice.

Cook’s Notes:

You could easily make this vegan or vegetarian by omitting the brisket or omitting the brisket and egg.  Just increase your number of potatoes and maybe add more bell pepper and greens.

My kids thought tortillas and avocado were a must. So great addition to this meal would be good flour or corn tortillas charred on a flame and served warm alongside the cast iron skillet with diced avocado over the potatoes and egg.

Adding goat cheese or cotija cheese would take this dish up to an even higher breakfast for dinner level!

If you make this, please let us know what you did to make it delicious!  We love hearing your ideas and input!