St. Patrick's Day Dinner

Two years ago I "corned' my own beef for St. Patricks Day and was very pleased with the result.  I wanted to do it again the following year, but was unable to find a brisket to corn anywhere.  The story I got, was they were all sent out to be corned for St. Patrick's Day.  This year I was bound and determined to get a brisket to corn.  The smallest one I could find was well over 6 lbs, but no way was I going to pass it up considering my challenge in not being able to find one the year before.

I have a great book called Charcuterie by Michael Ruhlman and Brian Polcyn that gave me the idea to try this.  The same year I got this book I also found a Bon Appetit Magazine (March 2008) that had a "cooking class" article on brining your own corned beef.  Between the two and a few other recipes I found I came up with my own herb mix to go with the brine, which came out surprisingly good.

So to brine the brisket I poured 6 cups of water and a Sierra Nevada Torpedo Ale into a deep pan, added 1 1/2 cups kosher salt and stirred until dissolved.  You can use Insta Cure #1 at this point.  I didn't.  This is what will make your corned beef red.  Then add 1 cup packed golden brown sugar and stir until dissolved them mix in pickling spices. I made a mixture of my own pickling spices which consisted of 2 bay leaves, a couple fresh sprigs of thyme (from my garden) 1 tsp mustard seeds, 10 juniper berries, 10 crushed peppercorns, tsp coriander seeds, tbsp red pepper flakes, tbsp allspice berries,  1/2 crushed cinnamon stick, tsp whole cloves and a tsp of ground ginger.

I placed the beef in this pot, made sure it was submerged ( you can place a heavy plate on it to do this) and let is set until the morning of the 17th.  (6 days)

The night before St. Patricks Day I made the bread pudding I make almost every St. Patricks Day for the last 10 years.  Chocolate Chip and Raisin Bread Pudding with Bailey's Creme. This is a Bon Appetit Recipe from 1990 that I have finally become real consistent with, especially with the Creme Anglaise.
Here's the recipe:

1 1lb loaf cinnamon swirl raisin bread, ends and crusts removed, bread cut into cubes ( I used a cinnamon vanilla raisin bread this time)
1 1/2 cups milk
4 eggs
1/2 cup whipping cream
1/2 cup firmly packed golden brown sugar
1/3 cup Bailey's Original Irish Cream liquer
1/4 cup dark rum ( I used Sailor Jerry's spiced rum)
1 1/2 oz semisweet chocolate, chopped
1/2 cup raisins
1 tblsp grated orange peel
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Bailey's Creme Anglaise - recipe to follow

Place bread cubes in large bowl.  Whisk milk, eggs, cream, liquor and runin another bowl.  Mix in chocolate, raisins, orange peels and vanilla, Pour liquid over bread cubes and mix.  Cover and refrigerate 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Butter 9 inch springform pan.  Wrap outside of pan with foil (if you don't all that liquid will pour right on out.)Pour pudding mixture into prepared pan.  Bake until bread pudding is set in center about 50 minutes. Serves 8 2 1//2 cups)

Cook to lukewarm, Run small knife around pudding and release pan sides - serve war with sauce
(8 servings)
Bailey's Creme Anglaise
Makes about 2 1/2 cups

1 1/3 cups whipping cream
2/3 cups milk 2/3 cups vanilla bean splip lengthwise

Baileys Creme Anglaise ( makes 2 1/2 cups)
1 1/3 cups whipping cream
1/3 cups milk
2/3 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
4 egg yolks
1/4 cup sugar
 1/4 cup Baile's Original Irish Cream Liqueur

Scald cream and milk with vanilla bean in havey medium saucepan.

Meanwhile, whisk yolks and sugar in medium bowl to blend.  Slowly whisk in scalded mixture.  Return custard to saucepan and stir over low heat until mixture thickens and leaves a path on back of spoon when finger is drawn across, about  6 minutes; do not boil or mixture will curdle. Strain into medium bowl.  Stir in liqueur. Cover and chill. ( Can be prepared 1 day ahead)

St Paddy's morning I pulled out the brisket and rinsed it thoroughly.  I put it in a crock pot and poured one Guinness Stout over it and covered it with water.  I then put in 4 bay leaves, 1 tbsp of coriander seeds, 2 whole allspice berries, and a tbsp of red pepper flakes. I left it to cook for the day. When I got home I peeled and quartered 6 turnips, peeled 6 carrots and chopped into 2 inch pieces, 2 parsnips peeled and chopped into 2 inch pieces, quartered a head of cabbage and quartered 2 red onions and 6 white potatoes.  All of these I put in another pot with some of the juices from the Corned Beef, some more Guinness and water.  That was left to cook for a little over 1/2 hour.  In the mean time my husband and I made a stout mustard.  It consisted of 1/2 cup coarse grained Dijon. 2 Tbsp regular dijon, 2 tbsp Guinness Stout,  1 tbsp minced shallot and 1 tsp golden brown sugar.

It all turned out very delicious and I wish I  give you the pleasure of smelling what I cooked.  It was absolutely delicious.  I hope to keep doing this every St. Patricks Day from here on out.

 May the luck o' the Irish be with you!

Using up leftovers

I had a half head of napa cabbage and some leftover sausage in my fridge last night and I was wondering what the heck I was going to make for dinner after spending the last five hours peeling and coring apples for apple pie filling and apple chutney. Well, here's what I came up with:
It was yummy!
Cabbage and Potato Soup

• 2 or 3 tblsp olive oil


• 1/2 head napa cabbage thinly sliced


• 3 large potatoes sliced in 1/4 inch pieces, peel on


• 1/2 lb cooked pork sausage (I used Gourmet Signature roasted red bell pepper and carmelized onion sausage)


• 1 can black eyed peas drained and rinsed


• 1 small yellow onion thinly sliced


• 4 cloves garlic chopped


• 5 cups chicken stock


• 1 tbsp Mexican oregano


• 1 tsp dried marjoram


• 2 tsp dried thyme
• pinch of allspice
  


• Parmesan cheese

1. Heat olive oil


2. Add chopped potatoes and large pinch of salt and cook on medium high covered until softened, about 8 minutes. Stir occasionally.


3. Stir in onion and garlic. Cook until onion starts to turn clear.


4. Add stock, canned black eyed peas, cooked sausage and spices. Bring to a boil and simmer for 15 minutes.


5. Stir in chopped cabbage and cook until it has softened, about 10 more minutes.


6. Salt to taste. You'll need more or less depending on whether you used homemade or canned stock.


7. Serve up topped with Parmesan cheese.


8. This is a hearty soup and is great with some crusty bread. It makes great leftovers, as we found it tasted even better the next day.

Cabbage Potato Soup @ Group Recipes

Corned Beef

Saint Patrick's Day is coming! My once o' year chance to eat Corned Beef and Cabbage. I know that Corned Beef isn't actually the traditional meal eaten in Ireland for St. Paddy's day. Corned Beef is an every day food, the food of the working class. The Irish are far more likely to eat a good Lamb Stew, which sounds good too, and I'm always tempted every year to make Lamb Stew instead, but I always break down and do the Corned Beef and Cabbage, because it's the one time of year I eat it, and it is incredibly delicious comfort food.
This year, I have decided to take the Corned Beef to a new level. I happened to see a Bon Appetite magazine for the month of March, and there was this mouth watering picture of a corned beef sandwich on the front. The image drew me to the magazine and made my stomach growl. I had to buy this magazine, I couldn't be stopped! It must be mine! I was so excited when I got home

So, I saw the recipe for brining your own corned beef, and thought, "I can do this!"

The Bon Appetite Recipe was simple. A 6 lb Beef Brisket being brined in beer, water, sugar salt, pickle spices, and, if available, Cure Number 1, which of coarse was not.
Thankfully, the cure is not necessary. It's merely the agent that makes the corned beef red. So, my corned beef will be gray, not red.

Ruhlman's recipe (from his new Charcuterie book that I recently bought) was also simple. The only difference was that he did not include beer, he called for a little more salt, white sugar instead of brown,garlic, and the cure was not optional in his recipe. So, when he said cure for 5 and Bon Appetite said 8, I went with 8, since I couldn't get the cure. Just a safety thing I guess.

So Kim's recipe is: a 5 1b brisket brined in 4 cups water, 2 cups Bass Ale, 1/4 cup pickling spices, 2 garlic cloves 2 cups course kosher salt, 1 cup brown sugar. I would have put in the cure if I could have acquired some in time for starting the cure. Oh Well, A gray brisket is better than no brisket.

So, the brisket is currently out in the garage fridge brining away. This is day two ( and the garage smells like Corned beef! It's Awesome!). On Wednesday I'll take it out, and stir up the brine and turn over the brisket and let it brine for another 4 days. Sunday it should be done, which means time to cook it up with potatoes, carrots, turnips, and, of course, cabbage Monday afternoon.

I'm so excited to see what my cured corned beef tastes like. Will it be similar to what I buy, or very different, and if so, how will I feel about that? I'm not sure what to expect. So we shall see. I hope it's good.
So, I'll let you know, and in the mean time. Top O' the Mornin' to ya'

And in the words of Yeats:

"Irish poets learn your trade
Sing whatever is well made.
Scorn the sort now growing up
All out of shape from toe to top,
Their unremembering hearts and heads
Base-born products of base beds.
Sing the peasantry, and then
Hard-riding country gentlemen,
The holiness of monks, and after"
Porter-drinkers' randy laughter;
Sing the lords and ladies gay
That were beaten into the clay
Through seven heroic centuries;
Cast your mind on other days
That we in coming days may be
Still the indominitable Irishry.

W.B. Yeats, Under Ben Bulben