Prepare a unique breakfast dish using your homemade sauerkraut, fresh eggs and potatoes with this recipe that’s adapted from a brunch dish, Reuben Hash, we savored at the Bona Sera Restaurant, in Ypsilanti, Michigan. It’s a hearty, unique breakfast twist to a well-known sandwich, the reuben. John Ivanko already covered the culinary feasts to be had in Ypsilanti and Ann Arbor on a recent food travel excursion. Now we have one more reason to visit this farm-to-table restaurant destination.
Starting as an underground supper club, Bona Sera Restaurant is owned by Wonder Woman and Bad Fairy (their underground names). Bona Sera’s version of the Reuben Hash is made up of roasted potatoes, shallots, scallions, and red peppers, then topped with The Brinery sauerkraut, smoked gouda and housemade Russian Dressing. It’s topped with two poached eggs. Of course, we had ours with corned beef, but Bona Sera offers their Reuben Hash with tempeh or turkey, too. Other enticing items on the menu included shrimp and grits, bourbon walnut strata and a truffled benedict.
A clever and tasty mash up of a classic Reuben sandwich meets comfort food breakfast entree, the recipe below is our own Inn Serendipity twist on the tasty Reuben Hash we tried at Bona Sera. My family loves this dish because it uses nearly everything we grow, make or raise. We now also enjoy our sauerkraut for breakfast!
It’s a readily adaptable recipe. Feel free to adjust the layers and ingredients based on your flavor preferences or what you have in seasonal abundance.
Reuben Hash Recipe
From Inn Serendipity Farm and B&B
Serves: 4
Ingredients:
• 4-6 large potatoes, scrubbed clean
• 4 tbsp butter
• Salt and pepper
• 4 cups sauerkraut (fresh or canned; about a one quart jar)
• 16 oz. corned beef (about 2 cups)
• 2 cups shredded melting cheese such as Swiss (for classic Reuben taste), Havarti or cheddar
• 4 eggs
• Russian Dressing (see recipe below for our version)
Directions:
1. Slice potatoes into ½ inch pieces. Cover with water in a pot. Bring to a rolling boil and turn off heat. Let potatoes sit until they are “firm-tender” but not mushy. Immediately drain water and rinse in cold water to stop cooking. Lay potatoes out on a towel to dry; dry potatoes will crisp up better.
2. Melt 4 T. of butter in a pan, ideally a cast iron skillet, but an electric fry pan also works well. Our you can fry the potatoes up in a pan over a woodstove like we do in the winter. Add potatoes and fry till brown and crispy. Salt and pepper potatoes to taste.
3. Spread crisply potatoes evenly in pan. Layer half of the sauerkraut over the potatoes, followed by half of the corned beef. Repeat with remaining sauerkraut and corned beef.
4. Make four, small “wells” indentations into the top of the layers. Crack an egg into each of the four “wells.” Sprinkle cheese as a top layer.
5. Cook over medium heat until eggs set to your liking.
6. Divide into four pieces to serve. Top with Russian dressing.
Russian Dressing Recipe
Ingredients:
•1 ½ cup mayonnaise
• ½ cup tomato sauce
• 2 tbsp brown sugar
• 2 tsp rice vinegar
• ¼ cup sour cream
• ¼ c. minced dill pickle or relish
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tsp onion powder
• Dash allspice, garlic powder, chili powder, parsley
Directions:
Mix all ingredients together thoroughly. It’s best to let refrigerate overnight before serving to let flavors blend.
Lisa Kivirist, with her husband and photographer,John D. Ivanko, have co-authoredRural Renaissance, Homemade for Sale, the award-winningECOpreneuring and Farmstead Chef cookbook along with operating Inn Serendipity B&Band Farm, completely powered by the wind and sun. Both are speakers at the Mother Earth News Fairs. Kivirist also authoredSoil Sisters. As a writer, Kivirist contributes to Mother Earth News, most recently, 9 Strategies for Self-Sufficient Living. They live on a farm in southwestern Wisconsin with their son Liam, millions of ladybugs and a 10 kW Bergey wind turbine. Read all of Lisa’s MOTHER EARTH NEWS postshere.
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