Corned Beef and Cabbage with Irish Soda Bread

Ok, so this is late, I'm fully aware of that, but at least its up! St. Patrick's Day is known for two thing: the color green and corned beef and cabbage. I've never made it before, so figured I had to for the blog.


Ingredients

• 2 stalks celery, halved
• 4 carrots
• 1 medium onion, cut in 4 wedges
• 4 to 6 red potatoes, quartered
• 4-pound corned beef brisket
• 12-ounce bottle stout or dark ale
• 1 tablespoon corned beef spices or pickling spices (or spices that come with the brisket)
• 1 medium head cabbage, cut into 6 wedges

Directions
Place celery, carrots, onion and potatoes in the bottom of a large slow-cooker or crock pot. Rinse the corned beef brisket and place over vegetables. Add the bottle of stout (I used Guiness of course), spices and enough water to just cover the meat. Cover and cook on LOW for eight to nine hours. About 30-45 minutes before it is done, add the cabbage to the top.

Slice brisket across the grain, serve with vegetables, mustard or horseradish sauce. Pass extra cooking liquid at the table.

Results
Wow, this was great. The beer really makes a difference, and while I'm not usually a big fan of cabbabe, this was pretty damn good.

Irish Soda Bread
A true soda bread has exactly 4 ingredients: flour, baking soda, salt and buttermilk. If it has anything else, it is something else. Might be tasty, but I wanted to go with tradition.

Ingredients

• 4 cups (16 oz) of all purpose flour.
• 1 Teaspoon baking soda
• 1 Teaspoon salt
• 14 oz of buttermilk

Directions
Preheat the oven to 425 F. degrees. Lightly crease and flour a cake pan.

In a large bowl sieve and combine all the dry ingredients.

Add the buttermilk to form a sticky dough. Place on floured surface and lightly knead (too much allows the gas to escape)

Shape into a round flat shape in a round cake pan and cut a cross in the top of the dough.

Cover the pan with another pan and bake for 30 minutes (this simulates the bastible pot). Remove cover and bake for an additional 15 minutes.

The bottom of the bread will have a hollow sound when tapped so show it is done.

Cover the bread in a tea towel and lightly sprinkle water on the cloth to keep the bread moist.

Results
Again, this was pretty awesome. Smear with a nice sweet butter, and you've got yourself a little slice of heaven.

Chicken Mulligatawny

Mulligatawny is not really an Indian dish, but rather a British interpretation of an Indian dish, and variations abound. I got this version from Eating Well magazine.

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon canola oil
• 1 large yellow onion diced
• 2 stalks celery diced
• 3 cloves garlic minced
• 2 Granny Smith apples peeled and diced
• 1 1/2 teaspoons hot Madras curry powder
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 6 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth
• 1/2 cup white basmati rice
• 12 ounces chicken breast tenders cut into bite-size pieces
• 1 cup lite coconut milk
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• 3 tablespoons toasted sliced almonds

Directions
Heat oil over medium-high heat. Add onion, celery and garlic; cook, stirring often, until softened, about 5 minutes. Add apples, curry powder, cumin, coriander and ginger and cook, stirring often, until the apples begin to soften, about 2 minutes. Add broth and rice; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook, uncovered, for 12 minutes.

Add chicken, return to a simmer and cook until the chicken is cooked through and the rice is tender, 8 to 10 minutes more. Stir in coconut milk and return to a simmer. Remove from the heat; stir in lemon juice, salt and pepper. Garnish with almonds.

Results
This is a very tasty soup. I would change a few steps though. First, I would reserve some of the apple and add at the very end to give it a pleasing crunch. Second, I would probably cook the chicken in the coconut milk separately and add that in one step again at the end.

Nutritional Information
Servings: 6
Calories: 230
Fat. Total: 6g
Carbohydrates, Total: 26g
Cholesterol: 38mg
Sodium: 284mg
Protein: 20g
Fiber: 2g
% Cal. from Fat: 23%
Fat, Saturated: 3g