Corned Beef and Cabbage

We had an Irish meal in honor of St. Patty's Day this week. I found some naturally raised, hormone/antibiotic-free, grass fed corned beef briskets at Whole Foods Market and figured I'd give it a try. I've only ever had corned beef once... in a casserole... and I was not a fan. So I was a little skeptical about trying this. I'm so glad I did, though! This was delicious! All three of us really loved it and I will definitely make it again if I can still find some good, quality briskets. It had a really good flavor and the meat was just falling apart, it was so tender.

Corned Beef and Cabbage

1 medium onion, cut into wedges
4 medium potatoes, peeled and quartered
1 pound baby carrots
3 cups water
3 garlic cloves, minced1 bay leaf
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 (3 pound) corned beef brisket with spice packet, cut in half
1 small head cabbage, cut into wedges

Place the onion, potatoes and carrots in a 5-qt. slow cooker. Combine water, garlic, bay leaf, sugar, vinegar, pepper and contents of spice packet; pour over vegetables. Top with brisket and cabbage. Cover and cook on low for 8-9 hours or until meat and vegetables are tender. Remove bay leaf before serving.

Irish Soda Bread

I found another recipe on AllRecipes to go with our irish-themed meal on Tuesday for irish soda bread. I'd never had soda bread before. It is sooo good! The buttermilk gives the bread a great flavor. Its awesome with some homemade jam or apple butter on it! This is a very simple, easy to throw together recipe that I'm sure I'll make every so often. I threw it all together and baked it in the morning before we left for work, that is how simple it is! I made a half-recipe and it was plenty for us - for our St. Patty's day meal, and for our dinners for a couple nights after.

Irish Soda Bread

4 cups all-purpose flour
4 tablespoons white sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup margarine, softened
1 cup buttermilk
1 egg
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/4 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Lightly grease a large baking sheet.

In a large bowl, mix together flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt and margarine. Stir in 1 cup of buttermilk and egg. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead slightly. Form dough into a round and place on prepared baking sheet. In a small bowl, combine melted butter with 1/4 cup buttermilk; brush loaf with this mixture. Use a sharp knife to cut an 'X' into the top of the loaf.

Bake in preheated oven for 45 to 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean, about 30 to 50 minutes. You may continue to brush the loaf with the butter mixture while it bakes. (I didn't do that. If you don't plan on doing this either, you won't need nearly as much buttermilk/butter to brush on... probably only need a Tablespoon of each and you'd be good to go.)

Irish Lamb Stew

With a little one now, Kevin and I aren't able to celebrate St. Patrick's Day the way we usually do - by going out and drinking green beer. In college, we used to start at the crack of dawn (literally at 6am) by eating green eggs and ham and drinking green beer at one of the East Lansing bars. Now that doesn't even sound appetizing. So this year, I decided to make an irish-themed dinner to celebrate the day. Kevin has absolutely no irish heritage (he's pretty much 100% dutch), but Carson and I have some irish in us, albeit just a smidgen. I found some recipes on AllRecipes that sounded pretty good. Since I don't like corned beef, I was limited in my choices, so I decided to try out an irish lamb stew. It was sooooo good! I only made a portion of the recipe, but now wish I'd have made more. All three of us loved it! I modified it a lot because I wanted to make it in the crockpot so it would be ready when we got home from work. I'll post the original recipe and then my changes.

Irish Lamb Stew

1 1/2 pounds thickly sliced bacon, diced (I left this out since I can't eat bacon)
6 pounds boneless lamb shoulder, cut into 2 inch pieces
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 cup all-purpose flour (I didn't use this since I just threw the lamb in raw)
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 large onion, chopped
1/2 cup water (left this out)
4 cups beef stock
2 teaspoons white sugar (left this out)
4 cups diced carrots
2 large onions, cut into bite-size pieces
3 potatoes
1 teaspoon dried thyme
2 bay leaves
1 cup white wine (left this out)

Place bacon in a large, deep skillet. Cook over medium high heat until evenly brown. Drain, crumble, and set aside. (I skipped this step since I can't eat bacon)

Put lamb, salt, pepper, and flour in large mixing bowl. Toss to coat meat evenly. Brown meat in frying pan with bacon fat. (I skipped this step and just threw the lamb into the crockpot raw)

Place meat into stock pot (leave 1/4 cup of fat in frying pan). Add the garlic and yellow onion and saute till onion begins to become golden. Deglaze frying pan with 1/2 cup water and add the garlic-onion mixture to the stock pot with bacon pieces, beef stock, and sugar. Cover and simmer for 1 1/2 hours.

Add carrots, onions, potatoes, thyme, bay leaves, and wine to pot. Reduce heat, and simmer covered for 20 minutes until vegetables are tender.

(I just threw everything into the crockpot raw and cooked on low for 10 hours, when it was programmed to switch to keep warm. It was on this setting for about an hour.)