Corned Beef and Cabbage

St. Patrick's Day is upon us! While I never end up actually participating in the parades, bar crawls and debauchery that the holiday has come to be associated with, I am always on board with celebrating at home- with food of course. Over the years I've tried out a variety of corned beef and cabbage recipes, but always felt something was missing.

Corned beef and cabbage is a meal that has the potential to be extremely bland, so seasoning is important every step of the way. I add spices and beer to the boil to infuse the meat with flavor. Everything cooks in the same pot so the veggies soak up the beery fatty goodness, so make sure you have a BIG POT. I use a stock pot. Upon completion, I drain the veggies and douse them in salted butter. Not the healthiest, but certainly the tastiest.

Although not labor intensive, this is a time consuming meal to cook. I am someone who rarely has extra time, so I find shortcuts when I can. I save some prep time by using baby carrots- they come clean and ready to go! The cook time doubles as house cleaning time for me. It's four hours I need to be home with not much else to do. Yay for being productive!

Cook, eat, enjoy, and may the luck of the Irish be with you!

Ingredients:

Corned Beef 4-41/2 lbs.

2 Dried Bay Leaves

20 Black Peppercorns

1 11.2 oz. Bottle of Guinness, or any stout

8 Small-Medium Red Potatoes, peeled and quartered

1 Bag of Baby Carrots

1 Head of Cabbage

4 tbsp Salted Butter diced

Salt and Pepper

Directions:

1. Place bayl eaves and peppercorns at the bottom of a stock pot. Rinse corned beef to remove excess brine and place in pot. If it came with a seasoning packet, as they often do, throw it on top- nothing wrong with more flavor! Top the meat with the beer, then add water until it is covered. Place on stove uncovered over medium-high heat and bring to a boil.

2. Reduce to low heat to simmer, and cover. Let it cook for about 4 hours, or until fork tender.

3. The last hour of cooking, peel the red potatoes and quarter. Quarter the cabbage and separate the leaves.

4. The last 20 minutes of cooking, toss the potatoes, cabbage, and bag of carrots into the pot.

5. Remove corned beef to platter and cover with foil to keep warm.

6. Strain vegetables. Melt 2 tbsp of melted butter at bottom of pot. Pour veggies back in, top with the other 2 tbsp of butter, and mix. Salt and pepper to taste.

7. Carve corned beef against the grain. Plate and enjoy!