July 18, 2008

Recipe for a friend - Corned Beef and Cabbage


Homestyle Corned Beef and Cabbage

2c. water
1/4 c. honey
2 tb. Dijon mustard, divided
1 medium cabbage head, cut into 8 wedges
3 tb. butter, softened
1 1/2tsp. fresh dill, chopped or 1/2 tsp dried
2 1/2 lbs. corned beef brisket

Place brisket and water in Dutch oven; cover tightly and cook 1hr. at 350 degrees. (It is very important to simmer the meat slowly because boiling will cause meat to become tough.) Turn brisket over and continue cooking, covered, 1 1/2-2hrs Or till meat is tender. Remove meat from cooking liquid and place flat side up on rack in broiler pan. Combine honey with 1 tb. mustard. Brush half of mixture over top of brisket. Put in broiler with meat about 3-4 in. from source of heat and broil about 3min. Brush again with remaining mixture and broil again for about 2min. or till meat is glazed.

Meanwhile steam cabbage 15-20 min. or till tender. combine remaining mustard with butter and dill, spread over hot cabbage wedges. Carve brisket diagonally across the grain into thin slices and serve with cabbage.
Serves 6.

This is my friend Boo's recipe. Ive adapted my own recipe to this now the only differences were I cooked mine on top of the stove and added the spice pkg. that comes with it to the water. I also put in potatoes, carrots and the cabbage when the meat was done and cooked them till tender. When done I drained all of it and glazed the corned beef. While that was glazing I made the mustard dill butter-doubled to put on the veggies.

Now I have another way to do it. As you all know I'm moving soon and am cleaning out my freezers. Its been really hot here and yet I wanted to cook corned beef. So rather than heat up my kitchen I decided to try it in my pressure cooker. I never made it that way before but I can say it came out tender, delicious and fast! So here's that adaptation too.

Seas Pressure cooker Corned Beef and Veggies

1 corned beef brisket about 3 1/2lbs. plus the spice pkg.
2 garlic cloves
2 bay leaves
water
3 potatoes
4 carrots
1 pkg. of frozen Brussels sprouts
1/4 c. honey
2 tb. Dijon mustard
6 tb. butter, softened
1/2 tsp. dried dill

Remove meat from pkg. and rinse well. Place in pressure cooker (mines electric, so adapt to what you have). Cover with water and empty spice pkg.in to it. Add garlic cloves (no need to peel) and bay leaves.
Put on lid and seal. Set timer for 50min. For those with regular cookers........use this time for after it comes to the boil. Mine doesn't start timing till then either.

Peel and cut up veggies while meat is cooking.

When done, test, it should be tender. Add all veggies and reseal. Cook for 8min. more.

(I decided to slice mine first this time and glaze so glaze can seep into everywhere, we love it)

Drain all. Put meat on broiler pan and finish as above. Drain veggies and put in casserole, top with dill mustard butter and keep hot till meat is glazed. Serve.

I used brussels sprouts that day because I didn't have any cabbage in the house. Since I'm emptying my freezer anyway that was a really good substitute and one that I will do again.

1 comment:

Mother Effingby said...

Well, lady, this explains a lot. Like why my brisket was always hard as rubber. Now I know. This looks quite fabulous. My daughter Emily, who is into all things Irish, will love this meal. I know my husband will. I usually just cooked everything to death. One of the things I wish I had was a pressure cooker.
We are trying to eat more Mediterranean these days at our house. Tonight I am fixing grilled eggplant and orzo with spinach.