I’m not Irish, but I married into the Irish, and suddenly I’m all into making this St. Patrick’s day meal. Last year was my first attempt as corned beef and cabbage, so I did pretty much a repeat of last year’s dinner. The downside for me is that it’s in the middle of my nutrition challenge (really?!). That just means, a low-point day for me. I couldn’t NOT add Guinness into the crock pot. Just had to use a little brown sugar for the corned beef. I couldn’t not make Irish Soda Bread. I mean, I could have, but this is a once-a-year meal, so I indulged.
Corned Beef & Cabbage, with root vegetables and Irish soda bread
The corned beef was a pacakged deal from Met Market, Wagyu Beef that included seasonings. The recipe from NYMSCC was quite similar to the other ones I found online. I placed red potatoes, quartered, a couple of small carrots and a parsnip on the bottom of the slow cooker then added the beef on top with additional spices. Poured in a can of Guinness then added additional water, so that the beef was just covered (per the recipe), though it seemed to me like a lot of liquid, I went with it.
Turned the SC on low for 9 hours, I took out the beef and vegetables and put them on a platter. Then added the cabbage, cut into wedges and held together by some kitchen twine. On high for 15-20 more minutes while the meat rested. Soup’s On.
The entire family enjoyed the meat and potatoes and not so much the bread. I will have to find a different version that doesn’t have raisins next time (I like the raisins, no one else does. I brought it to work for the crew to finish up and it disappeared from the kitchen pretty quickly, i suspect).
This was last night’s work. Tonight, the actual day, we had leftovers (which means no cooking for the husband three days in a row. That must be a record). As the finale the kid and I made a Green Smoothie. Recipe below:
Green Smoothie
Blend together a cup of chopped kale with a cup of coconut water. Based on what was in my kitchen 1/2 large banana, 1 small apple (peeled and chopped), a handful of frozen grapes. Blend until mixed. This made enough for two 8-oz glasses or so (see above).
This recipe idea courtesy of Pinterest! Woot.
Erin Go Bragh, as the Irish say.