Irish Coffee, Oh, and Corned Beef With Beer

With St. Patrick's Day just a few days away corned beef and cabbage is on my mind along with one of my favorite drinks, Irish Coffee.

How many of us really enjoy corned beef and cabbage -- or more to the point cabbage? Here's the one thing we sometimes forget --

For many of us the foods we enjoy are the foods that are most familiar to us for one simple reason -- it's what our mother or grandmother cooked most often and served us with wonderful memories for us to always cherish.

If you never had corned beef and cabbage this is the perfect time to try something new. It's not a complicated dish to prepare and the cabbage is considered a "good for you" food.

With all the sales in our markets this week it's the perfect time to prepare an economical meal for the family which can turn out to be a twofer. Can't beat that!

I cook with wine often, but not so much with beer. Though I do make a great chili (so I've been told) and beer is one of the ingredients I use.   This week I'm making my son-in-law's very easy crock pot recipe for corned beef and cabbage with beer.

Family Style Corned Beef and Cabbage 

Ingredients

• corned beef brisket (approx. 3 lbs.)
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 12 oz. bottle of stout beer
• 1 large yellow onion
• 4-6 medium new potatoes
• 1 head of cabbage
• 3-4 carrots peeled and cut in 2 inch pieces
• 3-4 celery stalks cut in 2 inch pieces

Directions

1. Rinse the beef completely in cold water and pat dry with paper towels.
2. Rub the brown sugar over the entire corned beef, top, bottom and sides and place it in the crock pot. Pour the beer gently down the side of the pot.  It will cover the meat.
3. Cook 4 to 6 hours depending on the size of the corned beef.
4. Cut up the vegetables and add to the pot during the last hour of cooking.
5. If you need additional liquid you can add a little more beer, or beef/vegetable broth, or water.

With the leftovers you can have sliced corned beef sandwiches and or make corned beef hash.   Just chop up the meat into very small pieces, chop up the potatoes and onions and then saute them in a heavy saute pan until a lightly browned.  Serve with eggs, or make a sandwich.

If you enjoy flavored coffee then do serve Irish Coffee for dessert.

Irish Coffee

• six ounces of fresh brewed coffee
• 1 teaspoon of  sugar (use natural cane turbinado sugar if you have it handy)
• 1 ½ ounces of your favorite Irish whiskey
•  heavy cream, whipped

Directions

1. Whip the heavy cream and refrigerate until ready to serve the coffee.
2. Brew your favorite coffee and add the whiskey and sugar and mix well until the sugar dissolves.
3. Remove the whipped cream from the fridge and place on top of the hot coffee.
4. Enjoy!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!
Winelady Cooks