Camp Recipe: Spam Hash

Okay, anyone with taste buds is probably cringing right now...spam?  Blech.  Reminds me of the Klik sandwiches my Granny used to make when I was a kid.  Chris likes Spam more for the Monty Python reference.  He doesn't eat it much, just once a year or so, gets this crazy need to eat Spam.  Usually, he'll slice up the whole can's worth, fry it up and eat 2 slices before feeling queasy.

This year, his urge hit while we were planning for our camping trip to Bon Echo, so I thought about what I could do with the Spam so most of the can wouldn't go to waste - that stuff is kind of expensive. I figured why not make something similar to corned beef hash, but with Spam.  My first attempt was simply Spam, canned potato and chopped green pepper, but after listening to Chris and Shawn quote the whole Spam sketch, I thought about adapting "Spam, egg, sausage and Spam" into a whole breakfast.

Ingredients

1 can of Spam, cut into 1/2 inch cubes

1 Italian sausage, cut in half lengthwise then into half moons (mild or hot...whatever you want)

1 can of diced potatoes

1 small red onion, chopped

1 green pepper, chopped

1 egg per person (or more if you want...)

a bit of oil for cooking the eggs

You'll want a fairly good sized frying pan for this.  I used my cast iron skillet the first time, but the second time I forgot it and we had to divide it between two smaller pans.

Heat up the pan and add the Spam.  Let it cook for a minute then add the sausage.  Cook and stir until they have browned a tiny bit.  Add the potatoes, cook a few minutes then add the onion and pepper.  Cook until the pepper and onion are softened, the potatoes have a bit of colour and the meat has crisped up a bit.

In a separate frying pan, heat a small amount of oil and cook your eggs how ever you want them.  We scrambled ours because that the only way the kids will eat even a tiny bit, but my mind was envisioning this on the plate with a sunny side up egg (or over easy) on top.

This is definitely a car camping recipe, and it does require a bit of chopping and prep work, but it's worth a try, even if it's just to prove to yourself that Spam can be quite tasty.  If you are like me, and watch videos online of people preparing for a hike or camping trip and Spam is on their menu, you start to think Spam is some kind of camping staple.  But the way I've seen people eating in (and the way we have in the past) just fried up by the slice?  Not so appealing.  This is a fun and tasty way to include it in your menu and pay homage to a comedy classic.