I love corned beef. Mark only puts up with it on my behalf. When I saw The Country Cooking of Ireland on the library shelf, I had all these grand intentions of making a more Mark-friendly St. Patrick’s Day dinner. This cookbook is truly drool-worthy – the photography is beautiful and had me considering things I’d never think of eating (like, everything in the “Offal” section). If you’re interested in Irish cuisine, I highly recommend checking it out.
In the end, I just couldn’t break up with my corned beef – I love it too much – but this slight variation was enough to make it a little different than the usual. The original recipe called for boiling the corned beef for serveral hours – the traditional preparation – but it worked perfectly in the crockpot too.
I served this alongside roasted potatoes and – of course – cabbage.
Corned Beef with Parsley Sauce
(adapted from The Country Cooking of Ireland)
Serves 4
2 lb. corned beef brisket with spice packet
2 T. butter
1 T. minced onion
2 T. flour
3/4 c. milk
2 t. minced fresh parsley
1/2 t. spicy brown mustard
Pinch of nutmeg
Place the brisket in a slow cooker. Sprinkle spices from spice packet over the brisket. Add just enough water to the slow cooker to cover the brisket. Cook on low for 6-8 hours. When finished, reserve 3/4 c. of the cooking liquid.
Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add minced onion and cook for about 1 minute. Whisk in the flour and cook for an additional minute. Add the reserved cooking liquid, milk, parsley, mustard and nutmeg, whisking until smooth. Cook for 4-5 minutes longer, whisking constantly, until the sauce thickens.
Serve the corned beef sliced, with the sauce poured over it.
Looks good. Tonight was my first time trying Corned Beef.
I never had this until we got married. I guess Chinese peploe aren’t too big on Irish holidays. =p I love it though, and would have it more often if it was on sale. We get a great deal here…I think it was only 1.67/lb. Hubby just posted last week about this. he starts the slow cooker going before work…can’t wait! We actually had this at my parents’ house last week because my brother was craving it. He just wanted a little but you can’t really buy just a little, so we went over there and had some too. Haha I’m okay with that.