An Irish Meal For Any Day!

Submitted by Jeanne Gardin

I am 100% Irish with my great grandparents on both sides of my family all coming from Ireland and settling in Minnesota. I remember having corned beef and cabbage on St. Patrick’s Day as far back as I can

Ingredients

4 – 4 ½ lb. beef brisket

6 carrots, peeled & sliced into chunks

2 cans Guiness

3 stalks celery chopped

Beef broth

1 large onion chopped or sliced

Directions remember. Even though I wasn’t fond of boiled cabbage when I was a small child, I would force some down anyway because I was very proud of my Irish heritage. If it was considered to be Irish, I did it, said it, wore it, danced it, sang it, and ate it! My mother boiled it, but today I use my crock pot to prepare corned beef and

Corned Beef and Cabbage

cabbage and usually have a party for anywhere between 30 and 40 people each year on or about the 17th of March. I have found a way to prepare the cabbage that I like better than boiled, but you can choose your preference.

Place beef brisket in 6 qt. slow cooker and top with seasonings provided. Top with the two cans of Guiness and enough beef broth to cover. Add the carrots, celery, and onion. Cook on low for 6 hours. Remove the brisket and let sit before slicing. (You may return the sliced corned beef to the slow cooker when the cabbage is done or serve it separately on a platter.)

Chop up a head of cabbage in big chunks and add to the slow cooker. Cover and cook for another 30 minutes.

Alternate cabbage method: Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Slice the cabbage in ½” thick slices. Spray cooking sheets with Pam or brush with olive oil. Place the cabbage “steaks” on the cooking sheets and brush with olive oil. Season generously with garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Bake for 40 minutes. Remove from oven and place on platter (when cooking the cabbage this way do not return to the slow cooker). Cover platter with heavy-duty aluminum foil to keep warm if serving a crowd. is is my favorite! Now sing “When Irish Eyes are Smiling” and serve your guests!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!!!

By Chef LaMott (Doris LaMott Hoel)

When I think of entertaining in March, one of the things I like to do is a soup supper. Making soups is so easy and delicious and can be very healthy if you want it to be. And what a great way to entertain. You could make a few soups and keep them on low on your burners of your stove and have people help themselves. Have you ever thought of that? I have a friend that does it on a regular basis in her neighborhood. All she has is some crusty breads and the soups. is creates community for the neighborhood, and she gets to have fun with soups! It’s a very economical meal as well. Give it a try!

Some of my favorite soups are extremely easy. Like for instance, I love making chicken noodle soup. When I go to Costco, as most of you do, I buy two of their rotisserie chickens. We have a half -at most- for our rst meal. I take all the meat o of the two chickens. I pull it to be bite size pieces. en I take a large stock pot and put all of the bones from the carcass and cook them as long as I can. Sometimes I have things to put in it for the stock such as celery, onions, and carrots, but if I don’t have them on hand I’ll cook it anyway. But when I am organized, I have already purchased the vegetables so I cut o all the root ends and add them to this stock pot. I’ll leave it on all night on a slow, slow simmer. at avor is coming out of all the bones and you’re making a great broth.

e next thing I do, as in most soups, they need mirepoix- you wonder what mirepoix is? It’s celery, onions, and carrots that are cooked together for the base of the soup. I add to that base- poultry seasoning, sage, thyme, garlic, and a little turmeric. I let the vegetables cook until just done -depending on how much you want to make, divide the mirepoix that is cooked up into containers. en I take the pulled chicken and divide it up upon the containers. I then take the broth and ll each container with the broth.