Kiss Me, I made Corned Beef and Cabbage!

Wow I love it when the recipes I need are thrown into my lap via Gmail Subscription Reader. If you don't subscribe to all your favorite blogs and have them appear to you via the subscription reader....you are missing OUT!

I wanted to get my Corned Beef and Cabbage going before St. Patty's Day so I could blog about it. I wasn't really sure which technique I was going to use yet. BAM....a few days ago, Gin from Once upon a Gourmet Gin blogged about her corned beef and cabbage "CHECK! *licked finger and marked the air* Thanks GIN!

Then....

You know how some bloggers give a run down of some recipes: they want to use, have used or suggest in a little paragraph of links? One of my fellow Virginians Robin Sue from Big Red Kitchen had a plethora of recipes for her Irish Eggs Benedict creation and on it was a horseradish gravy. Robin Sue got it from Rindy's Mom on Kitchen Klique that she suggested putting on her corned beef and cabbage. BAM again. *clenching fist and jerking my elbow back making the universal 'YES' gesture* Thank you Robin Sue and Rindy!

Now if I could only find someone on my subscriptions who will come and here cook it for me? *eyebrows raised looking around my fellow food blogger* Sound of Crickets......SIGH. I didn't think so....oh well.

If you'd like the original recipes, click on the links above. But as we all do...we tweak recipes to work for us....here are my adaptations:

Corned Beef and Cabbage with Horseradish Gravy
adapted from Once Upon a Gourmet Gin and Kitchen Klique

1 package of corned beef with spice packet
1/2 head green cabbage
1/2 package of baby carrots
1 1.5 lb. package of small potato medley, cut in halves
1 head garlic, roasted
1 tablespoon beef bouillon

(1) Fill a slow cooker with water and set to low. Place corned beef in slow cooker with spice packets and cook 8 to 10 hours. (I jacked my cooker to HIGH and did 4-5 hours instead)
(2) Roast garlic (slice off garlic bulb top, place in foil, cover with olive oil, gather up foil and bake @350 degrees for half hour).
(3) When the corned beef is done, remove from crockpot and let cool so you can slice it.
(4) Add half of the juice from the slow cooker to a big stock pot. Add an equal part water, beef bouillon, potatoes, carrots and roasted garlic. Cook until carrots and potatoes are tender.
(5) Add corned beef and cabbage to pot and simmer until cabbage is tender.
(6) Season with pepper. A word about additional salt: YOU WON'T NEED IT!! If you insist on salting make sure you start slow and taste. You don't want to ruin this masterpiece!!












Horseradish Gravy:

3 Tablespoons Butter
3 Tablespoons Flour
2 cups corned beef broth from above.
1 tbsp. dijon mustard
1-2 tbsp. horseradish

1. Make roux with butter and flour, melt and cook for 1 minute until smells nutty.
2. Add 2 cups corned beef broth, cook until thickened.

3. Add 1 tbsp. Dijon mustard and 1 to 2 tablespoons horseradish. The more horseradish the more your sinuses will clear!

This sauce was awesome! Never again will I eat corned beef and cabbage without this sauce. I poured it all over EVERYTHING (the beef, cabbage, carrots, potatoes) then wiped my plate clean with a biscuit.