Corned Beef, Sauteed Cabbage, Boiled Potatoes

I wasn't too excited by the boiled corned beef and cabbage recipes that I saw, so I started looking for something baked in the oven. I've adapted the recipes for corned beef and cabbage from this website. I'm hoping this meal will be a fun twist on the St. Patrick's Day favorite.

3 lbs corned beef (with spice packet)

2 T Dijon mustard

1 T brown sugar

1 T olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

1 head cabbage, sliced into 3/8 inch slices

salt

6 small potatoes, cut into fourths.
1 T butter
parsley flakes

Preheat oven to 350. Drain corned beef from package. In a small bowl, mix mustard and brown sugar. Lay corned beef, fat side up, on a large piece of aluminum foil. Spread the top with the mustard mixture. Sprinkle evenly with spice packet. Wrap the corned beef in foil in a way that will allow a little space at the top and catch the juices. Place foil-wrapped corned beef in a shallow roasting pan. Bake for 2 hours. Open foil wrapping. Broil for 2-3 minutes, until top is lightly browned. Let rest 5 to 10 minutes, then cut at a diagonal, across the grain, into 1/2 inch thick slices. (I will leave about half the meat unsliced for Sunday's Reuben sandwiches.)

Heat olive oil on medium high in a large pot. Add onions and garlic and cook 2 minutes. Add a third of the cabbage to the pan. Sprinkle with a little salt and stir to coat with oil and mix with onions. Spread out cabbage evenly over the bottom and do not stir until it starts to brown. Then flip the cabbage, scraping browned bits as you go. Once the cabbage has browned on a couple flips, add another third of the cabbage. Mix well, then spread out and repeat. Once this batch is cooked down a bit and browned, add the remaining third of the cabbage and repeat.

Add potatoes to a large pot. Fill with water to cover. Bring to a boil. Continue boiling over medium heat for 20-30 minutes, until potatoes are tender. Drain water. Toss potatoes with butter and salt, pepper, and parsley flakes.

*Now I finally understand what corned beef is! Corned beef is to beef what ham is to pork. The meat is cured in some sort of salty brine just like ham, so it is pink, salty, and somewhat rubbery. (It might be important to note that corned beef is even saltier than ham, making the potatoes and cabbage very complimentary side dishes.) I've never been a big fan of large slices of ham, and I definitely feel the same way about corned beef. It was fun to try for St. Patrick's Day, and I'm excited to try Reubens later in the week, but I doubt we'll be eating plain corned beef very often in our lives.

I hope you found a fun way to celebrate St. Patrick's day, corned beef or not.