Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Why I wish I was Irish


Why? Because then I could eat this meal more often and not have people think I'm weird! Well, people probably think that anyway, but why give them yet another reason?

I grew up on a different version of this meal. When I was in grade school and then in middle school (we had no junior high - 6th, 7th, and 8th grades were called middle school), I dreaded the smell of corned beef (or pork hocks, depending on dad's mood) because I knew what we were having for dinner, and quite frankly, I didn't like it. At all.

But then I grew up and began to appreciate the flavors of cabbage, corned beef, pork hocks... On Sunday, I was actually CRAVING it. I flipped through the recipes I scratched down before moving to Illinois and it wasn't there, which means that Dad never wrote it down. So I picked up the cell phone and dialed my parents and talked to Dad. Who knew that something that tastes so good can be so easy?

I cut everything in half since this was just for me. A word to the wise - watch that crock pot! I wasn't able to stop at home during lunch today, and it ended up cooking dry. And overcooking the potatoes.

Easy Corned Beef and Cabbage
From the family vault - kinda

1 corned beef (I have no idea of the weight - I pitched the package without looking, like a dork. The one I had was about 7 inches long, 5 inches wide and 1 1/2 inches thick)
1 head of green cabbage, cleaned and cut into strips
8 carrots, peeled and chopped into 1 inch pieces
6 red potatoes, scrubbed and quartered
1/2 + 1/4 cup water
2 tbsp butter
Sea salt
Pepper

Place the corned beef in the crock pot. Add the potatoes, carrots, 1/2 cup water, and a sprinkle each of salt and pepper. Set the crockpot on low for 8 hours AT THE MOST (might be overdone if your beef is small).

10 minutes before you want to eat, heat the butter in a large skillet on low heat until melted. Add 1/4 cup water and the cabbage. Toss gently to coat the cabbage with butter, then turn off the heat and cover. The cabbage should cook and wilt in about 5 minutes.



I guess I am going to find out if this Cook's corned beef is gluten free. I am such an idiot - the plan was to call the company because I couldn't find it on their site - and never did.

4 comments:

Lynn Barry said...

WEll? any side effects?

Sheri said...

Tummy was a little acidic, but that's nothing out of the ordinary.

Shannon said...

Oh yeah! I was wondering if I could eat corned beef this year for St. Patty's Day. I mean, how can an Irish lass not partake?

Sheri said...

Shannon, if you're gonna do it, I know that there are some out there that definitely aren't GF. All the research I did online said Cook's, the kind I bought, was GF according to various forums, but I never called the company to verify. Bad, bad Sheri.