St. Patrick's Day Corned Beef Dinner

It just wouldn't be St. Patrick's Day without a nice big corned beef dinner. In the Gruggen household that stool has 3 legs...braised corned beef, wilted cabbage salad and homemade soda bread. That famous Irishman, Sy Ginsberg, sells his incredible corned beef briskets to Costco and they sell them to us for just $3.39 a pound. I buy a half dozen....cook one up for March 17th and freeze the rest (because Costco only carries them for the month of March). Enjoy!


Braised Corned Beef
1 Corned Beef Brisket (any size will do)
Water

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
2. Place brisket in a Dutch oven (large pan with a lid). Add enough water so that half of the brisket is submerged in water.
3. Cover top of Dutch oven with foil. Place lid over foil. Place in oven and cook for 2 1/2 hours.
4. Remove brisket from Dutch oven. Slice and serve.

Wilted Cabbage Salad
1 pound of bacon, cut into 1/2 inch long pieces
1 medium head of red cabbage, shredded*
1 onion, chopped
6 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 cup of tarragon vinegar
1 tablespoon caraway seeds

*You can make the prep of this salad really easy if you buy bags of shredded red cabbage. Dole sells 10 ounce bags of shredded red cabbage. You will need 20 ounces of shredded red cabbage to make this recipe.

Directions

1. Heat a large, deep skillet over medium high heat. When skillet is hot, add bacon and cook until evenly brown.
2. Use slotted spoon to remove bacon to a paper towel.
3. Add onion and garlic to bacon fat until browned.
4. Add vinegar. Bring to a simmer, then add cabbage, caraway seeds and bacon.
5. Saute briefly and serve warm.

Kieran Folliard's Mom's Brown Bread
1 3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of sugar
3 1/3 cups (1 pound) whole-wheat flour
2 cups buttermilk
2 teaspoons of honey
Milk, for brushing loaf

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Dust baking sheet with flour.
2. Into large mixing bowl, sift all-purpose flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, salt and sugar. Stir in whole-wheat flour.
3. Make well in center of dry ingredients and pour in buttermilk and honey. Mix ingredients quickly until rough ball of dough forms.
4. Turn dough out onto lightly floured surface and shape into 10-inch round loaf.
5. Place loaf on baking sheet. With a sharp knife, cut large "X" halfway through thickness of loaf.
6. Brush loaf with milk.
7. Bake bread for 40 minutes, until bread sounds hollow when tapped underneath.
8. Remove bread from oven. Wrap in clean damp cloth and let cool, then slice and serve.

Wine pairing: Pinot Noir, Merlot or Syrah