St. Patrick's Day Feast: New England Boiled Dinner

St. Patrick’s Day is just around the corner, and in my 1/8th Irish-American household, that means it’s the one day a year I make Corned Beef and Cabbage!

I know that Corned Beef and Cabbage isn’t a terribly Irish thing to have on St. Paddy’s Day. But, it’s what our family does to give a tip o’ the hat to our Irish kin, besides wearing green and pinching everyone not wearing green.

My trusted Corned Beef and Cabbage recipe is actually named New England Boiled Dinner and the recipe I use is from Emeril Lagasse on the Food Network. Do not look at any picture of a NEBD (New England Boiled Dinner) you might find on the intrawebz because I assure you, the NEBD tastes waaay better than it looks. I know you clicked on that recipe and now you are grossed out. But I promise that if you think you might like the taste of salty corned beef all boiled with root vegetables and dipped into a delicious sauce made out of more root vegetables- this is the St. Paddy’s Day meal for you!

New England Boiled Dinner

Total Time: 3 Hours and 15 Minutes (plenty of time to make, regret, test your patience, call for pizza, then taste your dish and realize it’s delicious!)

Prep Time: 45 minutes

Cooking Time: 2 hours and 30 minutes

Serving Size: 6-8 people who love cabbage

Ingredients:

2 1/2 pounds corned beef brisket You can get these pretty much anywhere- they come in a bag all covered with pink goo/juice and a little bag of spices. I just pop it all into my pan of water and add the spices- hence the boiled dinner part. I also ate SPAM as a child, so there you go.

3 tablespoons pickling spices, 3 bay leaves and 5 black peppercorns, tied in a cheesecloth bag. The Corned Beef I buy usually comes with a bag of spices, if not- I’d hunt some down in the spice aisle. Guess what? Meat with pink goo/juice doesn’t bother me at all. But the idea of cheesecloth in my food does, so sometimes I don’t use the cheesecloth and just throw all the spices in, but sometimes I do. It depends on my mood that St. Paddy’s Day.

4 red potatoes, peeled and cut into large chunks

3 carrots, peeled and cut into 4 pieces each

1 onion, quartered

2 parsnips, peeled and cut into chunks You must add these because they are delicious, I promise!

2 turnips, peeled and cut into chunks Boiled down to their turnip essence these will make you say “why oh why do I only eat this meal once a year.”

1 small cabbage, cut into wedges Warning: No matter how small a cabbage I buy, or how large a pot- I always have more cabbage than pot space. Always. I usually forget this and start stressing out and smash all the cabbage I can into the pot of very hot liquid. The liquid then splatters all over the cook top. Avoid this by not smashing all the cabbage in the pot. It’s just not all going to fit. Sometimes I put another pot on just for more cabbage- depending on whether or not more people decide to join us for our feast- as often happens as this is served just once and year and it is that delicious.

1 tablespoon salt Pshaw. I don’t think I ever add this because I don’t add in more salt to the already salty corned beef. I’m trying to keep the boiled meat dinner healthy like that.

Directions:

Open Corned Beef package and scrape off pink goo/juice….(Joke!)

In a large pot combine meat, cheesecloth spice bag and enough cold water to cover. Bring water and meat to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer 2 hours. Add vegetables and salt. Simmer 30 minutes more. In the event that all your cabbage does not fit, do not force it in the pot! Instead, try transferring a wee bit o’ the delicious boiled meat juice to another large pot and add in more water- then boil the heck out of all that extra tasty cabbage!

Make horseradish cream: In a small bowl combine 1 cup sour cream and up to 1 tablespoon horseradish; season to taste with salt, pepper and hot pepper sauce. You can make this ahead of time and put in fridge. You can also make it during the two-plus hours you are waiting for the NEBD to cook and also for your pizza to be delivered because you are still thinking about that internet picture you saw of the NEBD cooking and you just can’t shake the image. To finish the deliciousness, remove corned beef to a carving board and slice against the grain. Transfer to a large, warmed, deep platter. I never do this, but it is in the directions and I trust Emeril’s advice over my own. Arrange vegetables from every assorted pot you had to use because you bought a giant sized cabbage and not a small cabbage around meat and serve with horseradish cream sauce.

All shenanigans aside, this is our traditional St. Patrick’s Day feast. I serve it up with some green serpent bread from Schnuck’s (yes, this is thing) and also a separate platter of chicken nuggets and carrots sticks for the children who do not like boiled meat with a side of veggies boiled with meat. We pretend that the chicken nuggets are really nuggets of gold found in the pot at the end of the rainbow. It is very St. Patrick’s Day that way.

If this preparation method is not your cup of tea, you can try a crock pot recipe for Corned Beef and Cabbage from Martha Stewart. I’ve not tried this method, but it might be a good choice when St. Paddy’s day falls on a weekday like it does this year.

Or this yummy looking roasted corned beef and cabbage from The Pioneer Woman. Everything I cook from the Pioneer Woman is amazing. One can only assume Corned Beef Pioneer Woman would be amazing.

Another option: The veggie St. Patrick’s Day menu pulled from our archives. It’s not boiled and it looks delicious!

For more St. Patrick’s Day fun, including family-friendly recipes and crafts- visit our Pinterest Board!

For more on How to Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with Kids in Champaign-Urbana, click here.

Kimberly Keniley-Ashbrook writes for Chambanamoms.com when she is not chasing her four boys around their family farmhouse in rural Homer.