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?