Monday, March 17, 2008

Monday - Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!

Corned beef with carrots, potatoes, and onions (recipe in the comments)
Grainy mustard and horseradish
Boiled cabbage (recipe in the comments)
Soda bread
BEER

Hot tea
Guinness ice cream (Thank you Zingerman's!)
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This is dinner one of three meals that will come from this one piece of meat! How very Irish! We make a crock pot corned beef with lots of vegetables and the slow cooking creates a wonderful broth, which we save. It freezes beautifully and in a few weeks will make an incredible corned beef broth soup. Later this week, we'll use the leftover meat to make corned beef hash. Yum, yum! All three recipes are included in the comments from today's post. Even though we're not Irish, we love this holiday and the amazing food we get to make to celebrate. Doing it in the crockpot just makes the preparation easier and the celebrating comes earlier in the evening - important when you have a 21 month old and it's Monday :)

Prep Notes
Difficulty: Super easy
Chopping: Carrots, potatoes, onions, cabbage
Time: 20 minutes prep, 8-10 hours cooking (unattended), 15 minutes to cook the cabbage last minute (mostly unattended)
Make ahead: You bet your leprechaun.

Reaction
J: "Maybe we are Irish."
M: "Faith and begorrah!"

1 comment:

J said...

Corned Beef Three Ways – J & M
Makes three dinners for 4

Dinner 1: Crock pot Corned Beef and Cabbage

12 new potatoes, quartered
3 large carrots, peeled and thickly sliced
4-5 lb. corned beef, trimmed of fat and rinsed
2 medium onions, peeled and cut into eighths
3 cloves garlic, smashed
3 bay leaves
16 whole black peppercorns
Seasoning pack from corned beef (rinse off plastic)
Water
1 cabbage, cored and cut into wedges
1-2 T lemon juice

Place the carrots and potatoes in the base of your crockpot insert. Place beef on top. Sprinkle onion, garlic, bay leaves, peppercorns, and contents of seasoning packet on top of beef. At this point you can refrigerate the crock overnight.

Cover the contents of the crockpot with water and cook on low for 8-10 hours (or on high for 4-5 hours). Remove beef and slice to serve. Put portions of vegetables on the side. Serve with grainy mustard and horseradish. SAVE BROTH.

Just before serving, place cabbage wedges in a large covered saucepan or Dutch oven in about 1” of water. Add 1 t salt, and 1-2 T lemon juice. Cover and bring to a boil. Slowly boil for about 10 minutes, or until wedges are tender. Serve with white vinegar to sprinkle.

Serve with soda bread and Ben and Jerry’s Black and Tan Ice Cream and Beer

Dinner 2: Corned Beef Hash

2 medium potatoes, peeled and chunked (or 2 cups leftover mashed potatoes)
3 cups finely chopped corned beef, turkey, or flaked salmon
1 medium onion, chopped
1 medium bell pepper, chopped
1 t salt
½ t black pepper
¼ t paprika
¼ cup parsley, chopped
3 eggs, slightly beaten
2 T canola oil

Place potatoes in a saucepan. Cover with water and boil until fork tender. Drain and mash.

Combine potatoes, meat, onion, bell pepper, salt, black pepper, paprika, and parsley in a large bowl. Mix well. Taste for seasoning. Add eggs and mix thoroughly.

Heat oil in a large deep skillet over medium-high heat. Add hash, pressing it into the pan. Cook without stirring until bottom is beginning to brown and egg is setting. Gently stir until cooked through.

Serve with applesauce and greens.

Dinner 3: Corned Beef Broth Soup

Broth from corned beef
4 carrots, peeled and thickly sliced
3 celery stalks, thickly sliced
1 medium onion, cut into large chunks
2 bay leaves
16 peppercorns
1 t mustard seeds
¾ t salt
½ lb egg noodles

Mix all ingredients except noodles. Bring to a simmer and cook for 5-7 minutes. Bring up to a slow boil and add noodles. Cook until noodles and veggies are tender. Taste for seasoning.

Serve with rye or pumpernickel bread and salad.