Sunday, March 16, 2008

Corned Beef and Cabbage

In honor of our friend St. Patrick I thought I would post. This is a really good and easy recipe for corned beef.

Corned Beef and Cabbage

Ingredients:

One 3 pound corned beef flat cut brisket, in brine
Water to cover in pan
2 bay leaves
2 teaspoons black peppercorns
4 whole allspice
2 whole cloves
½ head green cabbage cut into wedges
8 small new potatoes (about 1 ¼ pounds) halved
4 carrots, cut into chunks
Freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
2. Place the corned beef in a colander in the sink and rinse well.
3. Place the corned beef in a large dutch oven with a tight-fitting lid.
4. Add the water to cover, bay leaves, peppercorns, allspice and cloves.
5. Bring to a boil, uncovered and skim off any scum that rises to the surface.
6. Cover the pan and transfer to the oven, braise until very tender, about 3 to 3 ½ hours.
7. Transfer the corned beef to a cutting board and cover tightly with foil to keep warm.
8. Add the cabbage, potatoes, and carrots to the cooking liquid and bring to a boil.
9. Lower the heat and simmer until vegetables are tender – about 20 minutes.
10. Using a slotted spoon – remove the vegetables from the liquid and transfer them to a large platter.
11. Slice the corned beef across the grain in thin slices and arrange on platter with vegetables.
12. Ladle some of the hot cooking liquid over the corned beef and season with pepper.
13. Serve immediately with stone ground mustard or horseradish sauce.

Friday, March 14, 2008

Breakfast Puffs

Becky mentioned to me a month or two ago that she likes to have this recipe for lunch, and since then I've been making it for dinner about once a week. It's quick, easy, delicious, and I swear it's good for you, what with all the fruit and natural ingredients and all. Enjoy!


Ingredients:

1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup flour
2 eggs
Dash vanilla
Dash cinnamon
2 tablespoons butter
Sliced apple, banana, etc. sauteed with butter, cinnamon and brown sugar


Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees
  2. Put an 8 inch round pan in the oven to heat up
  3. Combine the milk, flour, eggs, vanilla and cinnamon. Whisk to combine.
  4. Once the oven has reached temperature, put 2 tbsp of butter into the pan and allow to melt inside the oven.
  5. Once the butter has melted, pour batter into the pan.
  6. Cook until the batter has puffed up, is golden brown and dry to the touch, about 15 minutes.
  7. Top with sauteed fruit, yogurt, or ice cream.

I've been buying frozen mango, strawberries, and blueberries, and heating them up in various combinations (not usually mango/blueberry) with a little sugar and using them as topping. I highly recommend it! Apples and cinnamon with vanilla ice cream is also a classic favorite.