Corned beef hash

As a schoolgirl, I lived a few years on the idyllic island of Mauritius, spending much of my free time lying around on the soft demerara shores of the Indian Ocean. But all this changed at the age of 16, when I returned to Scotland, to the bleak new town of Cumbernauld, in what felt like the coldest winter ever.

It took me some time to adapt to this life, returning home from school in the dark, head bowed against the freezing horizontal rain, shoes filled with icy water. After one brutal walk home, my Aunt Sandra, with whom I now lived, welcomed me with a steaming bowl of mush. Like a hungry dog, I tore into it.

"What was that?" I asked, sitting back, feeling the warm glow of the meal reaching the marrow of my bones.

"Dinnae tell me yev nivir eaten coarned beef hash before," said my aunt, in her broad Scots accent.

No, I had never eaten corned beef hash before. But now, Tuesday nights were "corned beef hash night". A real winter warmer, my aunt's hash was made with a tin of corned beef, fried onions and heaps of potato. It was the first meal I learned to cook on my own, saving the leftovers to fry patties the next day. As a student, I would cook it for friends, throwing a fried egg on top for luxury.

Unlike other retro foods of the era, corned beef will never be fashionable. The unnaturally pink meat is pressed into tins, with a key to roll the lid open. The shape of the tin allows the block of meat to drop out when turned upside down. It doesn't really look like meat, but you'll soon forget that when you taste the salty, sour and spicy flavour.

Corned beef is seen as the food of the poor, and associations with poverty were further entrenched a decade ago when supplies from Romania were found to contain horsemeat.

This meat may never make it into the kitchens of foodies, but, hell, are they missing the trick! Frying this beef with onion and potato truly transforms it - it isn't paradise, but it's pretty damn close.

• 500 g potatoes, peeled and chopped

• 2 tbsp vegetable oil

• 1 onion

• 1 can of corned beef, cut into cubes

• 2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

Instructions

Put the potatoes in a pan, cover with cold water and bring to the boil. Cook until soft and then drain. Heat the oil in a non-stick frying pan and fry the onion for three to four minutes. Peel and chop the potatoes, then add them to the corned beef, stirring the mixture into a mush and pushing it down with a large spoon to crisp. Turn the mixture over, adding the Worcestershire sauce. Cook for five more minutes, until a little crispy. Serve in large bowls.