Leftovers, and a "Heads Up"

A Discussion of Leftovers

I'm not up to much of anything in the kitchen lately, except for the same-old-same-old routine. And a few not-so-exciting new recipes completely unworthy of this blog. I did make a version of an Irish soda bread (a last minute decision) from a completely untried recipe over at Seven Spoons and without all of the required ingredients with success. I followed the recipe except for a few very small changes:

- I used oat bran cereal instead of oats for even more fiber.
- I didn't have yogurt, so I used fat-free ricotta instead. That was a nice addition, but the dough wasn't wet enough. I added water, a little at a time, until the dough was a nice texture--a whole 1 cup of water, to be exact!
- I baked the loaf in a cooler oven (350F) for a much longer time.

The result was a very nice, savory, whole-grain scone. It was tasty, and would have been even better with dried fruit added (raisins, cranberries or currants). It made a large loaf, too--plenty to enjoy with dinner last night with more than half leftover. It made for a lovely accompaniment with tea this morning at breakfast, slathered with a wee bit of butter.

So now I have leftover cabbage and a little corned beef left; I'm trying to decide on how to turn it into a soup that Mr.W will eat. I'm not sure that will work, since he's anti-cabbage... any ideas out there for a cabbage-free corned beef soup?

Things to Come... Maybe

I suppose it wouldn't be out of line to share that I'm a bit aggravated. I always get that way as my birthday approaches. Which is odd, really, because I remember being so very excited as a child as this particular milestone rolled around. Not so much anymore. It's more of a looming feeling of dread. Another year. Ugh. (Not that I consider myself so very, very old, mind you.)

I may have alluded to this in the past, and I don't want to make this a generally recurring theme here since this is a foodblog after all, but a bit of explanation may be due. My husband and I have been dealing with infertility for quite a number of years. Birthdays and holidays are markers at which I would say, "maybe next year," only to experience acute disappointment when next year rolled around. Slowly but surely, that glimmer of hope at each birthday and holiday just turned into dread. I think it began the year I got a birthday card from my mother, which read, "Don't worry. There's still plenty of time for children."

Yeah. I won't say how many years ago that was.

I share all of this with you not to solicit your pity, but to reveal a bit about me. And that, as a natural result of this particular situation, Mr.W and I are seeing a fertility specialist in Syracuse (the nearest "big city," which is an hour away). This requires some frequent road trips, doctor's appointments, tests and more tests, and soon, fertility drugs.

My posts might just become cranky. Or oddly timed. Or peppered with strange recipes based on hormonally-charged cravings. We'll just have to see how things go as this process continues. At any rate, we do hope to eventually have a high chair here at Mrs.W's Kitchen.

It's Time for an Irish Feast!

It's that time of year again. Tomorrow is St. Patrick's Day and people all around the globe are thinking about an Irish feast, if only for this one day of the year.

But what is an Irish feast, exactly?

Here in America, we equate St. Patrick's Day with a boiled corned beef and cabbage dinner with potatoes, carrots and onions, perhaps a green-tinted beer--and don't forget a hunk of Irish soda bread. While the soda bread is a traditional Irish food, corned beef is not. No, bacon and cabbage were much more common due to the inexpensive availability of pork. Early Irish immigrants to America preferred corned beef because it was cheaper to obtain compared to pork.

Irish cuisine has been characterized by simple ingredients, locally-procured and prepared in a humble, homey fashion. Today's Irish chefs have embraced more international cooking techniques, applying them to traditional ingredients and locally-available items (such as their growing cheese industry) to create a new Irish cuisine.

Ireland has fantastic local seafood, including wild salmon, cod, prawns and oysters. Try the Dublin Lawyer: lobster cooked in whiskey and cream. Sounds delicious!

Here are some other ideas:

- Lamb chops braised in stout served on a bed of smashed potatoes.
- Pan-seared wild salmon on a bed of braised kale with an Irish-cream sauce.
- Cod baked en papillote with lemon, julienned carrot and white wine served with mashed parsnips and chopped scallions, studded with crispy shallots.

As for me, well, I think there would be a coup d'etat if I didn't prepare corned beef for our St. Patrick's Day dinner. I'll be using my favorite method of preparing corned beef, loosely following Alton Brown's recipe: I make it in the crock pot and omit the onions, potatoes, carrots and celery. After it's cooked, I blot the meat dry, slather it with mustard and top it with a brick for a short stint in the oven, which compresses the meat and makes it easier to slice. To accompany, I'll also make braised cabbage--really, it is THE tastiest way I've ever eaten cabbage. Ever.


Top photo is courtesy of Kim Siciliano Salem's flickr page under Creative Commons license.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

This year, the Pope moved St. Patrick's Day to Saturday, March 15th this year--today--to avoid conflict with Holy Monday on March 17th. And although I think that's just plain ridiculous, it's still a good excuse to enjoy some good Irish food!

I love corned beef--it's an institution in my family. But unlike the throw-it-all-in-a-pot boiled corned beef and cabbage of my youth, I prefer to make colcannon with either corned beef or ham.

Granted, I probably should be corning my own beef brisket, but this foodblogger has her limits.

So here's the recipe I use--I hope you'll try it for something different--if not for your St. Patrick's Day meal, perhaps as a different way to use up some leftovers.

Corned Beef & Colcannon

Corned Beef
adapted from Alton Brown's recipe

2 to 2-1/2 pound corned beef brisket (I use store-bought)
1 tablespoon coarsely ground black pepper
1 teaspoon ground allspice

2 bay leaves

2 teaspoons kosher salt

Combine ingredients in a crock pot with enough water to cover; set to low and cook overnight (6 to 8 hours). Drain and set aside.

Colcannon

adapted from Christabel Rossiter's recipe

1-1/2 sticks butter, divided (3/4 cup)

1 small head regular green cabbage or savoy cabbage, sliced

5-6 white potatoes, peeled and diced

milk

salt and pepper to taste

In a large skillet, melt 1 stick (1/2 cup) butter and saute cabbage until fork-tender.

While cabbage is cooking, boil potatoes in salted water until fork-tender (or microwave until soft) and drain. Place cooked potatoes in a large bowl and mash with remaining 1/2 stick (1/4 cup) butter and enough milk to reach a stiff, creamy consistency. Add cooked cabbage and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Serve generous spoonfuls of colcannon with pieces of cooked corned beef swirled in and a good knob of butter melting over.

Colcannon lends itself to variations--it would be excellent with the addition of caramelized onions, shallots or leeks. It's also equally delicious with ham--I love it beside some good roast beef.

Obviously this is not a diet meal with all that butter, but it's good!

Recipe previously posted here.

Corned Beef & Colcannon

I love me some corned beef. Oh, yeah, just the thought of some salty red shreds get my mouth watering.

Watching foodtv last week, I saw Alton Brown actually MAKING corned beef from brisket. An admirable feat, no doubt. And I do like making things so that I know exactly what's in it--no preservatives, no msg, no nitrates, no added sugars or corn syrup, no abominations of any kind.

BUT...

There are just times when I'm not going to make it myself. Like hot dogs. And bacon. And corned beef.

So I did the next best thing. I followed Alton's recipe for cooking that hunk-o-store-bought-corned beef, and not without a good bit of hesitation. I mean--allspice? Bay leaves? The only times I've made corned beef in the past I used the little balls of included spices in the meat package. But he'd never let me down before, so I put my trust in Good Eats.

Boy am I glad I did. Yum with a capital Y! Okay--the only difference is that I cooked the corned beef overnight in the crock pot. Wow, wow, wow. It was perfect.

And in my house, corned beef goes with colcannon.

The first time I had colcannon I was on a business trip to New York City where I stayed at the Fitzpatrick Grand Central Hotel. Room service offered a lovely colcannon that changed my life. No more boiled corned-beef-and-cabbage for me!

I can't say that it's much of a recipe, however. I just peel & coarsely cut up as many potatoes I want and dump them in a microwave-safe bowl (I use a jumbo glass bowl) with about 1/4 cup water. I top the bowl with a double-thick dampened paper towel that drapes over all the bowl's top and nuke until the potatoes are fork-tender (I start with 6 minutes on high and go from there). I drain off any remaining water and mash the potatoes with butter, salt, pepper and 2% milk until mashed & creamy. It's better to have a slightly firmer mashed potato mixture for colcannon, because you'll add the cooked cabbage, which brings extra moisture.

Cabbage is equally as easy. Now I did use savoy cabbage this time--it has a milder taste and I was hoping I could get Mr.W to give cabbage another try. Chopped coarsely but fairly small (maybe 1/4" by 3" slices), it's perfect to throw in a large skillet with 1/2 stick (1/4 cup) of salted butter and about 2 cups of water, salt and pepper. Just let it go until the cabbage is wilty and soft.

Then I set aside some mashed potatoes for Mr.W without the cabbage before mixing the rest with the cooked cabbage.

Served in bowls with hunks of corned beef stirred in, this is a deeeeeee-licious way to satisfy your corned beef cravings.

Oh... and Mr.W said the savoy cabbage is something I could carefully sneak into other foods, but in small amounts. Because it still tastes like cabbage.

And that's a bad thing how?