Instead, this is my attempt to stir up some St. Patrick's Day spirit. It's time to go GREEN!
Since tomorrow is a busy night for us, we had a special St. Patrick's Day meal today. I love holidays, but I am quickly going to be out-done by my daughters who have VERY high expectations regarding how to celebrate a holiday. Tonight, we got away with just a festive dinner and an art "project" Mia had printed off on the computer. (Although, Mia does want to set up the video camera to try and catch the leprechauns who she is certain will visit our house again this year to make mischief and possibly drop some treasure.)
Dinner Menu:
Corned Beef and Cabbage
Potatoes
Broccoli
Irish Soda Bread
Leprechaun Cake
Corned Beef and Cabbage / Potatoes
With apologies to my parents (Dad, who liked the stuff, and Mom, who made it for him) the corned beef and cabbage we would have when I was a kid was nasty. Watery, boiled cabbage with canned corned beef floating in it -- anything but appetizing. But, last year I found a delicious way to prepare this traditional St. Patty's fare. Here is what I did.
Cubed about 5 potatoes and placed them in the bottom of my crockpot
Placed one slab of corned beef brisket on top
Added a head of cabbage cut into chunks on top of the corned beef
Added the package of seasoning that came with the corned beef and a few cups of water
Cooked on high for 2 hours and then on low for 6 hours
About an hour before serving I removed the cabbage and the meat and placed them in a large pan. I covered it all with a mixture of 1 c apricot preserves, 1/4 c brown sugar and 2 Tbsp soy sauce. I placed it in the oven at 350 degrees for about an hour, basting it with the sauce part-way through. Then, I removed it and served it together.
I took the potatoes out of the liquid as well. I melted about 2 Tbsp of butter in a frying pan, added 1/2 an onion, diced, and a couple of Tbsp minced garlic. I sauteed this until soft and then added the cooked potatoes. I fried them up for about 10 minutes and mashed them slightly, then I added 1/4 c of pepper jack cheese and 1 tsp fresh dill.
Roasted Broccoli
With the broccoli, I cut it into spears. Then, I tossed it with 1 Tbsp of olive oil, some kosher salt and fresh ground pepper, and 1 Tbsp minced garlic. I roasted it all on a jelly roll pan in the oven at 250 degrees for about an hour. I removed it and shook on about a tsp of Parmesan cheese and the juice of half a lime.
Soda Bread
The Irish Soda Bread recipe that I used can be found here. I made it exactly like this, except I added green food coloring. It is really good (it tastes similar to a biscuit). Traditionally, soda bread contains raisins, but I passed on those.
Leprechaun Cake
The hit of the evening was the cake. Mia had the idea to make a rainbow cake. After I got all six layer together, I decided to turn it into a hat. I made a yummy coconut cake, but you could do the same thing with any white cake. If anyone wants more instructions, feel free to let me know. Otherwise, I think the pictures are rather self-explanatory.
