I’ll just start right off the bat and tell you that i’ve never been one to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, really.  Outside of wearing green and maybe a lucky charm or two to school when i was young, i never thought much about it as a holiday. No offense to St. Patty or the Irish! But the other day when Mema mentioned that she used to cook a whole corned beef with cabbage and potatoes for St. Patrick’s Day my ears perked up! Any celebration with food involved is a celebration worth having in my book. But where to get said corned beef and how to cook it? It came as a shock to Mema and even myself that i don’t ever remember actually eating corned beef, outside of the sliced deli version. Then she mentioned finishing it off in the oven with an apricot glaze and my salivary glands kicked in to overdrive. I had to find a way to make this St. Patrick’s Day corned beef happen…

The next day we went to go visit my arch nemesis and secret lover both rolled into one–COSTCO! Right there, in front of the two-aisles long cheese section was a whole display dedicated to housing five- and six-pound packages of corned beef. There may have even been a light or two shining down on them. If you have more time (about 10 DAYS, according to a few recipes i found) and patience, you might want to try and “corn” your own beef instead of using one out of the package. (Alton Brown always does a very thorough classic version of any good cooking technique.)

First, remove the meat from the package and insert into a large pot (juice from bag and all!), fat side up. Empty the contents of the seasoning packet into the pot, fill with water covering at least two inches over meat. Allow meat to boil  until tender (the package says to boil for 1 hour/pound, but i only let my 6 pound beef boil for 3.5 hours).

Corned beef, out of the boiling water.

Cut potatoes, carrots and cabbage into 1″ cubes.

Potatoes. Make sure any little hands are out of the way!

I only used about 1/2 a head of cabbage in my pan.

Place vegetables in the bottom of a deep roasting pan. Drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste.

Irish mirepoix.

Place corned beef on wire rack over vegetables.

I could take a bite right now…

Brush a nice apricot preserve all over the outside of the beef.

Ready for the oven.

Bake on 475 for about 20-30 minutes or until glaze forms a slightly charred, crunchy crust.  If the vegetables need a little more time to cook, by all means!

Let the corned beef rest and you do the same (as you pick the crispy edges little by little…)

ENJOY!

St. Patty’s Day Dinner

In the end, I couldn’t believe how easy and DELICIOUS corned beef actually is!  Finishing it in the oven with a sweet apricot glaze gives a nice slightly sweet and crunchy texture to an otherwise savory and very tender soft meat. St. Patrick’s Day and this meal are definitely on the calendar every year from here on out! Now, excuse me while I go thinly slice a few pieces of this corned beef and make myself a nice deli sandwich. HAPPY EATING!

xoxo Chrissy