Kiss Me I'm...Italian?

St. Patrick's Day is one of those holidays that, growing up in an Italian family, I never took part in. In fact, I never even tasted Corned Beef and Cabbage until well into my twenties. It took a lot of
cajoling by my husband (who, incidentally, is French...go figure)  before I agreed to cook something that I had never even tasted. After reading various recipes (and quite a bit of Irish-American history and lore) I finally came up with a tasty, though not perhaps truly traditional, version of my own. Here's what you need:

The beef. You have two options here--buy it or brine it. The grocery store has plenty of pre-brined corned beef available, but if you do go this route make sure you discard the "flavor" packet inside--plech! If you have some free time (ie 10 days) and are really going to immerse yourself in the brining experience, I suggest using http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/corned-beef-recipe.html. 

Ok now that our meat is ready, place it in a large pot and completely cover it with water. Then add in your spices--about 1 tsp of allspice, 1 bay leaf,  plenty if fresh ground black pepper and 1.5 tsp salt. Cover it and bring it to a rolling boil, then immediately reduce heat to a simmer and cook, covered, for 2.5 hours. 

Next add in your veggies. I used 3 medium carrots (there is some vigerous debate about serving carrots on St. Pat's, but we like them so I include them), 3 medium russet potatoes, 2 medium onions, and one large stalk of celery. Peel and chop until they are uniform, then into the pot they go.

Adding this huge mess of veggies will stop your simmer, so bring the temp back up and simmer, uncovered, for 15 minutes. While that's cooking, chop up your cabbage. We don't care for it much so we only used half a head. I chop it before cooking--it makes less of a mess in the long run. 

Lastly add your cabbage and simmer 15-20 minutes longer until it's tender. Then, pull out your veggies (get those bay leaves out of there!), remove the meat, and slice it thin, against the grain. 

I toss my veggies with a little butter...my husband likes to hit them with some vinegar. I prefer my meat with a little Dijon mustard. Yummm---a St. Padd's day dinner even us pisans can enjoy!