Corned Beef & Cabbage
3 ½ to 4 ½ lb. Corned Beef Brisket, trimmed of fat (I suggest flat cut, rather than point cut, because it fits better in your slow cooker and will leave more room for veggies)
½ teas. Crushed Red Pepper Flakes
1 can Swanson Chicken Broth
2 tablespoons Worcestershire Sauce
1 very large or 2 medium white Onions
About 10 Large Carrots, peeled and chunked
About 10 to 12 medium Red Potatoes, washed and halved or quartered, not peeled
1 head Cabbage, washed and cut carefully into about 8 wedges
½ to 1 cup fresh Minced Fresh Parsley leaves
½ cup Sour Cream
1 to 2 tablespoons Cream Style Horseradish from jar
Directions:
In a large Crock-Pot, place onions that have been peeled and quartered.
Take Corned Beef from package and rinse well. Discard Seasoning Packet. Trim off the thick layer of fat that your brisket will probably have on one side. (Be careful when doing this, and use a sharp knife).
Lay the meat on top of the onions.
Mix Chicken Broth with Worcestershire. Pour over meat and onion.
Sprinkle red pepper flakes over the meat (up to 1/2 teas.)
Turn crock pot on high for 1 to 2 hours, then turn to low (for total cooking time of about 8 hours).
4 to 5 hours into the cooking time, add veggies:
First carrots that have been peeled and sliced into chunky sticks, then red potatoes halved with peelings on (turn these cut side down), then 6 - 8 wedges of cabbage on top of everything (lay these with the insides down; try to keep them so they don’t come apart and stay in wedges as much as possible). Between each layer of veggies, salt and pepper generously. If the lid doesn’t fit down tight on the crock pot because you were trying to fit everything in, seal the crock insert over with foil, then place the lid on top of that, and it will soon shrink down enough for the lid to fit down tightly over the pot, and you can remove the foil.
About a half hour before you’re ready to eat, open and spear a cabbage wedge with a toothpick. If it’s good and done, all the veggies underneath will be done too. This isn’t a crispy vegi dinner—the cabbage comes out well done and pale green.
Next, lift the crock out of the cooker, and moving the lid back just enough to hold the dinner in but be able to pour through (hold on TIGHT with hot pads so it doesn’t come slaming down and dump the whole thing—you MUST have a firm grip on things) pour all the juices into the medium sized saucepan (I suggest doing this with the pan sitting down in the sink). This will be thickened for your gravy. Put the crock back into the cooker and turn your crockpot on the “keep warm” feature (or if you don’t have “keep warm” on your pot, cover with foil (take off plastic lid) and place in warm oven).
Make some flour thickener with about ½ cup flour and about 2 cups water (add more flour or water to bring to desired consistency—I’m just guessing on amounts here). Strain out lumps as needed. When broth is boiling, whisk this in slowly until it’s a gravy that is slightly thin. This will be poured over the veggies and passed at the table.
Carefully remove veggies from Crockpot, sectioning them off individually into a huge pasta type (large shallow) bowl. Pour some gravy over all the veggies, then sprinkle with fresh parsley. The rest of the gravy can be passed.
Lay the meat on a cutting board and slice with an electric knife into thin slices across the grain. Serve meat with horseradish sauce if desired.
This is enough for 6 to 8 hearty appetites.
Easy Irish Soda Bread
Ingredients:
3 cups flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 cups buttermilk
1/4 cup butter, melted
Directions:
Heat over to 325°F.
Mix dry ingredients in large bowl. Blend egg and buttermilk together. Add all at once to dry mixture and mix until just moistened. Stir in butter. Pour into 9x5 inch greased loaf pan. Let sit in pay 30 minutes before baking. Bake 65 minutes and let cool. Can be served right away or wrap in foil overnight for best flavor.
*Originally distributed March 2013
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