Corned Beef and Cabbage

As you all just learned I love Japan, but my other love is all things Irish. My family and my husband's family have Celtic ancestors. I love Celtic music, the culture, history, art, and I would love to go there some day.  So at our house we do St. Patrick's Day up big. We normally go to the parade and I make corned beef and cabbage. I put on some Gaelic music and we all wear green, and if it is nice out we go for a walk. If you don't know about the history of St. Patrick's Day, Veggie Tales put together a very cute and very informative piece about this holiday.

For corned beef I do things very simply and of course taste matters. What I normally do is buy corned beef at the store. I find buying corned beef at the health store is always better then at a normal store, because it's leaner. I don't like eating corned beef that is mostly fat, it just kinda turns me off to the whole meal. This year I bought one just in brine but without the spices. I couldn't find any mild ones and since I have a kid, hot things don't work very well. So I'm doing the spices myself this year. I like to cook it in the crock-pot, that way I don't have worry about it and it melts away any fat that is on the beef.  In the past I've cooked the potatoes and cabbage all in the crock pot, and that turns out well and everyone likes it just fine, but this year I thought I try something new with the potatoes and cabbage.

I found an Irish cooking show on PBS and I'm going to be doing the potatoes sorta like how it is done on this show. The host is Rachel Allen and her recipes are very simple. I have to change up her recipe to make it dairy free. Her recipe is more traditional Irish cabbage and potatoes called Colcannon. I like potatoes and cabbage this way and will make it like this from here on out.

Corned Beef
1 Corned beef brisket in juices or in juices and spices*
2-3 carrots pealed and chopped
1 onion chopped 
2 cloves garlic minced
water 
Trim away any large pieces of fat from the corned beef. Spray the inside of the crock pot with cooking spray or olive oil. Place the meat, vegetables, and garlic into the crock pot and cover with water. Cook for 8 hours. Once cooked, slice the meat and put onto a serving platter and add the carrots and onions to the platter. Reserve the juice if you like and serve with the meal. Serves 4-6 depending on size of brisket. 

*If your brisket didn't come with spices take 2 Tbs of pickling spices and lightly toasted them in a dry frying pan and add them to the brisket. For the best results: place the brisket with it's juices  and with the pickling spices into the crock pot and refrigerate over night. This only works if your corned beef has been in a brine but not spiced, most store bought ones have been in a brine.

Colcannon
2-3 lb potatoes peeled and chopped
1 lb green cabbage, core removed and thinly sliced the leaves
4 Tbs butter
1/3 cup mayo
Salt and pepper to taste


Cook potatoes in salted water on medium high heat. Once potatoes are tender, drain and mash. Add butter and mayo to the potatoes, stir till you get a nice creamy texture (you may need to add some dairy free milk if not creamy enough), and set side. In a frying pan add some water, about 2 Tbs, and add the cabbage, cook over medium heat. Add a pinch of salt to the cabbage and stir occasionally. Once the cabbage is bright green and wilted remove from the heat and mix in to the potatoes. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serves 6.