Corned Beef for St. Patrick's Day (or Any Day!)

St. Patrick's Day is almost here, which means you'll be able to find corned beef easily in the stores.  I often buy several packages and freeze the extras to use when corned beef mania strikes.  Corned beef is SUPER easy to cook - one of the prerequisites for my culinary efforts!  


Corned Beef (with Potatoes, Onions, Carrots, and Cabbage. and Mustard Sauce) 

For Beef:
1 3- to 4-lb corned beef brisket, with spice packet
1/4 c brown sugar
2 bay leaves
3 garlic cloves, minced
3 1/2 lb potatoes, peeled and quartered
1 lb baby-cut carrots
1 small to medium head cabbage, quartered
1 large onion, quartered

For Sauce:
1 1/2 c reserved corned beef cooking liquid
1 T butter
2 T flour
1 T red wine vinegar
1/2 c sour cream
2T coarse-ground Dijon mustard

Place brisket, contents of seasoning packet, brown sugar, garlic, and bay leaves in large dutch oven or stock pot; cover with water; bring to a boil, turn heat down and simmer 2 hours.

Add carrots and potatoes; return to a boil, then simmer 30-40 minutes until vegetables are tender.

Add cabbage to pot; return to a boil, then simmer about 15 minutes.

Add onion to pot; return to boil, simmer about 5-10 minutes.

Reserve 1 1/2 cup of cooking liquid for the mustard sauce.


Mustard Sauce

In a 1-quart saucepan over medium heat, melt butter.  Stir in flour until smooth; cook about 1 minute.  Stir in the cooking liquid and vinegar.  Cook, stirring frequently, until thickened.  Remove from heat and add the sour cream and mustard.  Serve over corned beef.

(I've made the sauce in the microwave before, and it worked out great!  It also freezes well.  I just microwave it to warm it up.)

Soup! Soup! SOUP! Yes, ANOTHER Soup Recipe!

If you've been following this blog for a while, you've surely noticed that a LOT of the recipes I post are for SOUP.  I don't know why, but I'm just not much of a sandwich-for-lunch-type person.  I'd rather have good ol' SOUP - especially in the winter!

Well, DUH.

Here's what I made the other day.  I went through all my SOUP recipes and nothing called my name, so off to the fridge to see what was in there.  I found lots of leftover roast chicken, a gallon of homemade chicken broth, the remains of a bunch of celery, some matchstick-cut carrots, and a container of leftover corn.  There were a few potatoes and a couple of onions left in the bags I bought a few weeks ago.

So here's what I came up with!


Chicken and Corn Chowder

1/2 c butter
1/2 c matchstick carrots
2 stalks celery, diced
1 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 c flour
4 c chicken broth, divided (heat 2 c to almost a boil)
2 1/2 c half-and-half
4 russet potatoes, peeled and diced
1 lb frozen whole kernel sweet corn
1 1/2 pounds cooked chicken (boned and skinned), cubed
1/4 t nutmeg
1 t salt
1/2 t white pepper

In a 4-qt pan, melt the butter and saute the carrots, celery, onion, and garlic until fragrant.  Add flour and cook 1-2 minutes, stirring constantly, then add the hot broth slowly, still stirring constantly, until the flour is incorporated and there are no lumps.  

Stir in the reserved broth and half-and-half.  Heat to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer until the mixture thickens.  Add the remaining ingredients, bring back to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer until the potatoes are cooked through.  Adjust the salt and pepper to taste, and serve.