You may think that St. Patty’s Day is over. But last time I went shopping, the only meat available in the Meat Department was corned beef! So you may want to cook corned beef more often than you otherwise would. But of course, we can’t just eat meat! So here’s a rundown of our whole meal:
aperitifs
Mom can’t have a lot of alcohol because of multiple medications, but it’s a holiday! So I took it easy, but let her have a bit of booze. We like “fuzzy sunset navels” (copyright elenacarlena!) i.e., OJ, a shot (or for her a half shot) of peach Schnapps, and maraschino cherries with a bit of their juice. For prettiest effect, do not stir! OJ, you need more of it during a pandemic, right?
corned beef
Of course it’s not St. Pat’s Day without corned beef, so I pretty much followed the package directions, using the provided spices, except I seared it before boiling:
Then cover it and let it boil for about 3 hours (about 1 hour per pound). Near the end of that time, I made sure I could cut it with a table knife (good way to make sure it’s tender!), let it finish cut in half, cut side down.
cabbage and onions
For a little different approach to the cabbage, I sauteed it with onions after it was almost finished boiling with the corned beef! I like purple/red cabbage and onions, for the anthocyanins and extra vitamin C and flavonoids.
I cut the cabbage into large pieces so it would cook quicker. Then boiled it with the corned beef during the last hour.
Checked it in 30 minutes and it was done, so I removed it with a slotted spoon.
When I cut up onion, I leave on the stem. This seems to help keep me from crying. I also recommend trying not to breathe through the nose, and rinse everything under water ASAP.
I then sauteed chopped onions in butter whilst waiting for the cabbage to cook with the corned beef. Once the cabbage was retrieved, it was chopped into bite-sized pieces, then went into the pan with the (now soft) onions. Since most of the butter seemed to have been used up, I added a bit more.
Covered, cooked over a low flame, and stirred often. Note the low flame if you don’t want browning. Also, this shot shows one of my new silicone reusable pan covers — no more wasted aluminum foil!
When the corned beef was done, I removed it from the pan, sliced it across the grain, and plated it for Mom. Since she eats slowly and likes her food hot, I actually used a bowl. Then added cabbage and onions to the side. Voila!
I still have to puree my food, but at least it was a lovely shade of lilac:
dessert
I found online recipes for Mint Brownies, but had a long day just doing the shopping, so cheated! Took Little Debbie’s brownies and Shamrock Mint liqueur.
Poured mint liqueur on the brownies, then popped into the microwave for 30 seconds. Voila, moist, minty fudgy goodness!
