Glazed Corned Beef (points), Sauteed Cabbage

St. Paddy's Day Dinner Revisited: Glazed Corned Beef, Cabbage and Colcannon (Irish Mashed Potatoes)

It all starts with a slow cooker.  I gathered together all of the ingredients for a traditional corned beef and cabbage dinner and prepared it in my crockpot.  After that I separated the components and made three separate dishes with them.  My Corned Beef was baked in a delicious apricot-spicy mustard glaze.  With some of the cabbage, onion and potatoes, I made Colcannon enhanced with nice thick bacon, purchased from Harter House Supermarket.  Then I used the rest of the cabbage and sauteed  it with more bacon!

The great thing about this dinner is that most ingredients are already cooked in the slow cooker once, so preparing the individual dishes hardly takes any time at all.  You can even do it all in advance and refrigerate until you are ready to make the individual recipes. Also, you can cook all the bacon for the Cabbage Saute and the Colcannon at once and divide it for each dish.

Tricked Out St. Patrick's Day Dinner

Apricot-Mustard Glazed Corn Beef

Ingredients

1 large sweet Onion

4 Medium Potatoes

1 1/2 cups low sodium chicken broth

1 1/2 cups water

Garlic cloves, minced

1 bay leaf

2 Tbl sugar

2 Tbl Apple cider vinegar

1 (3 lb.) Corned beef brisket point

1 large or 2 small heads of cabbage, cored, cut into wedges

For the Glaze

• 2 tablespoons orange marmalade
• 2 teaspoons Dijon-style mustard

Directions

Place the onions and potatoes in a 5-Qt slow cooker.  Combine broth, water, garlic, bay leaf, sugar, vinegar and pour over vegetables.  Top with Brisket and cabbage.  Cover and cook on Low for 8-9 hours or until meat and vegetables are tender.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Carefully remove corned beef from the slow cooker and place in a shallow roasting pan.

Mix all glaze ingredients together in a bowl.  Pour over corned beef.  Bake 30-40 minutes, until glaze is nice and bubbly.

Slice corned beef on a diagonal and serve.

Sauteed Cabbage
4-5 Slices thick cut bacon
1/2 of the reserved cabbage from the slow cooker, sliced into strips
1 large sweet onion, thinly sliced
2 TBL Cider Vinegar
2 tsp sugar
salt and pepper to tast

Place bacon in a large skillet and cook over medium high heat until evenly browned.  Place on a plate lined with paper towels and cut up into small pieces.  Set aside.
  

In about 2 TBL of the reserved bacon drippings, (save the rest for later) Saute the onion until very soft.  Add cabbage and the rest of the ingredients and saute until liquid is absorbed and all is heated through.  Serve.

Colcannon  (Irish Mashed Potatoes)
Ingredients
Reserved potatoes from slow cooker
1/2 of the reserved cabbage, cut into small chunks
4 strips of bacon
1 large sweet onion
1/2 Cup half and half
salt and pepper to taste
2-3 TBLs butter

Directions
Place potatoes in a large bowl. Smash them up a bit and set aside.
Place bacon in a large deep skillet.  Cook over medium high heat until evenly browned.  Drain, reserving drippings and set aside.  In the reserved drippings, saute onion until very soft.  Add the cabbage for the last few minutes and continue to saute so the cabbage absorbs some bacon flavor.

Mix the half and half into the potatoes and season with salt and pepper.  Fold in the bacon, cabbage, and onions, then transfer the mixture to a large serving bowl.  Make a well in the center, and top with butter.
Serve immediately.

Creamy and Spicy Corn Soup

I have always been a huge fan of corn soup.
I love the sweetness of fresh corn, and truthfully, all of the cream and butter in the recipe.

Whenever we have a choice between a cream-based soup and a broth-based soup, we usually choose the cream-based soup.

So I decided that I was going to makeover Creamy Corn Soup, healthier, without using any actual cream in the recipe.  Instead I added vegetable broth and potato for that “creamy” feeling, warm spices like cumin and chili powder, and fun toppings like tomatoes and cilantro for some texture and flavor.

It was a huge success.
This soup is great for summer – when you can get wonderful fresh corn and tomatoes. But fresh frozen corn is still delicious.  And with the warming spices, I’d say this soup transitions really nicely all year round.

You can add just about any toppings to this soup and it will still taste great. For a twist on this recipe, try adding avocado, guacamole, or crushed tortilla chips.

We ate so much of this soup we didn’t have any leftovers!
And the best part is, it took less than 30 minutes to make from start to finish.

The Ingredients
Serves 3

5 ears fresh sweet corn
1 medium onion, chopped
1 tsp olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste
1/2 a medium yukon gold potato, chopped
2-3 cups vegetable stock (the more stock you add, the thinner your soup will be)
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp cumin
1.5 tsp chili powder
A pinch of cayenne pepper

1/4 tsp black pepper

The Directions
Step 1: Cut the onion, potato, and trim the corn kernels off the 5 ears of corn.

Step 2: Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic, saute for 5 minutes until the onion is translucent. Add the potato and broth, bring to a boil and cook until the potatoes are very soft – about 10 minutes. Then add the fresh corn and cook through for a couple minutes more.

Step 3: Add a bit more vegetable broth if your soup mixture looks too thick. Add all of your spices (cumin, chili powder, cayenne, black pepper). Then puree with an immersion/hand blender, or with a regular blender/food processor. 

Step 4: Top with a variety of toppings: cilantro, tomatoes, fresh corn, crushed corn chips, avocado, or anything else you can think of!

This soup is so rich and flavorful, it tastes like it was made with a ton of butter and cream, but you can enjoy it totally guilt free!