St. Patrick's Day: A Day Away

St. Patty's day is tomorrow and my menu is almost set.  I'm doing what I thought was a traditional meal but after some research I found out that it is more of an American tradition.  Either way I'll take my Irish roots and my America upbringing and make a good meal.  The cabbage recipe is still a crap shoot.  I'll update this post after the meal and let you know what worked and what didn't.  I made the corned beef recipe last year and it was the first corned beef recipe that I made and liked so I'll stick with a good thing this year.

Here is what I learned regarding Corned Beef:  Historically, beef was a delicacy enjoyed only by Ireland's wealthy. Cattle were kept for their milk, and sheep for their wool. This left old hens and pigs for the pot. When the Irish emigrated to America, where salt and meat were cheaper, they treated the beef the way they treated pork or bacon, soaking it to draw off the excess salt, then braising it with cabbage.

Beer Bread:  I tested one recipe today so I will either make another loaf of this or give Soda Bread a try but the point of trying the one recipe today was to make sure what I make tomorrow works since I'm having company over.

ON THE MENU SO FAR - 2 recipes below (if others turn out I'll post them tomorrow):

• Old Fashioned Salad with Shanagarry Cream dressing - BOUNCED
• Guinness Crock Pot Corned Beef
• Colcannon (mashed potatoes with cabbage and bacon) - Made regular mashed topped with bacon
• Bacon and Cabbage with Mustard sauce - Made this and another version (see below)
• Beer Bread - this is a staple now, LOVE IT!
• Guinness beer
• Strawberry Shortcake, STRAWBERRY PIE or a Baily's dessert (strawberries because I have them)

LEFTOVERS:

• Corned beef and Cabbage Potato Salad
• Twisted Corned Beef and Cabbage Slaw Sliders

BEER BREAD
Prep: 15 min; Cook: 1 hour
3 ½ C. flour
3 T. sugar
1 T. baking powder
1 ½ t. salt
12 oz. beer (Bud Light)
1 egg, beaten

Adjust oven rack, to lower-middle position and preheat to 375˚F. Mix flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Add beer and stir with a fork until just combined. Turn dough onto a floured surface; knead quickly to form a ball (the dough will be sticky so just add enough flour so you can form a rough ball, 1-2 T.). Place bread on a baking sheet and saw an X on top with a serrated knife. Brush loaf with beaten egg. Bake 45 minutes or until golden brown. Transfer to a wire rack to cool. Serves 12.

GUINNESS CORNBEEF

2-3 lb. cornbeef with seasoning package
1 lg. onion, sliced
12 oz. can Guinness beer
2 T. stone ground mustard
¼ C. brown sugar
1 C. water

Place corned beef in crockpot. Sprinkle on seasoning. Spread on mustard. Slice onion and add to crockpot. Mix brown sugar to water, stir. Add water and beer to crockpot. Cover, cook on high for 4 hours. Turn down to low and cook another 4 hours. Remove from crockpot. Let rest 5 minutes. Slice against the grain.

Note: If your not home to turn down the crockpot just put it on low for 11-12 hours.

“3/16/2011: Upon doing research this year for St. Patty’s Day I realized that I was saying it wrong. It is CornED Beef vs Cornbeef. I should have known that.  This was the first corned beef recipe I ever did that I liked.  I made it for the first time last year.  I got it from a friend."

UPDATE:  The corned beef was as good as I remembered.  Unfortunately a late husband and our green beer run ran a little late so the corned beef was in the crock for about 1-1.5 hours longer so it didn't slice, it fell apart.  It still tasted good because there were no leftovers but if you want to do Twisted Corned Beef you need to be able to fry a slice.  I'll keep making this recipe.

CREAMY CABBAGE
4 C. shredded cabbage (about ½ head)
4 slices bacon, cooked, crumbled
1 T. flour
½ t. kosher salt
¼ t. smoked paprika
¼ t. coarse ground pepper
1 C. nonfat milk

Preheat oven to 400˚. Boil cabbage 3 minutes; drain. Place in a 1 quart casserole. Fry bacon, remove, drain all but 2 T. bacon grease. Add flour, salt, paprika and pepper. Cook for 1 minute, stirring. While continuing to stir add milk slowly to avoid clumping. Cook until thickened. Pour sauce over cabbage, top with crumbled bacon. Cook 15 minutes.

Do Ahead: The nice thing about this dish is you can prepare it earlier in the day and then 15 minutes or so before your ready to eat, top with bacon and reheat it in the oven.

Variation: Instead of paprika use 3 T. stone ground mustard.

UPDATE:  I did both creamy cabbage recipes.  I liked the mustard sauce the least but with my change to reduce the flour, not add the butter and use milk vs. half and half the sauce will be thinner and therefore better.  It was just too thick unlike the other recipe.  The main recipe was more flavorful which surprised me that the mustard didn't stand out more.  I used Sierra Nevada Stout stone ground mustard.  The best part about these two recipes is that you can do them ahead, bake them when ready and your house doesn't get stinky.  They are both much better than plain boiled cabbage.

STRAWBERRY PIE
1 C. sugar
3 T. cornstarch
1 C. boiling water
3 T. strawberry gelatin
1-1 ½ lbs. fresh strawberries, sliced
1 pie crust
- Whip cream

Pie crust needs to be baked before filling weather you are using a premade or homemade crust. In a medium saucepan combine sugar, corn starch and boiling water. Cook until thickened. Remove from heat, add gelatin. Set aside to cool. Clean and slice berries, put in cooled pie shell. Place in refrigerator while sauce cools. When cool, pour sauce over strawberries. Return to refrigerator and let set for one hour.

Notes: Some recipes tell you to put in whole berries but even quartering them makes it hard to eat if your berries are large. I suggest you slice them for best results. Strawberries can come in quarts or pounds. A quart of strawberries equals 1 ½ lbs. or 2 pints so purchase what you can find in your store either 1 or 1 ½ lbs. works. The picture below is using 1 pound. Strawberry gelatin is strawberry flavored “Jello”.

UPDATE:  This strawberry pie couldn't have been easier.  When strawberries are in season you must give this a try.  It was so cheap (strawberries $1.50, gelatin $1, whip cream $2. and the rest was staples since I made my crust).  Why would anyone purchase the jar of red glaze at the grocery store.  I'm also sure this tasted better.  I did make my own pie crust but I should have rolled it thinner it was a bit cookie like vs. thin and flaky.  Still a winner none the less.