Corned Beef and Cabbage

Corned beef sandwiches from Shapiro's Deli.  Wow.  One of life's treats.  Right up there with the double cheeseburger from Workingman's Friend.  So, how can a meat that's so magical when slapped between pieces of rye bread then slathered with spicy mustard taste so incredibly mundane when boiled with cabbage and carrots and potatoes?

We've not had the New Year's Day corned beef and cabbage routine in our family.  No, my brother's mother-in-law, Pat, fixes pork and sauerkraut for New Years Day.  Probably my favorite meal of the year.  She's a wonderful cook and this is her best meal.  So, I usually buy a corned beef when they're on sale leading up to New Year's Day, then cook it later in January.  That's what I did this year. 

So, how do I fight the blahs?  Ramp up the flavor with beef broth and red wine.  I made this recipe up probably twenty years ago.  And, it's been my go-to ever since.

Corned Beef and Cabbage

Ingredients:
corned beef
potatoes
carrots
cabbage
garlic cloves
beef broth
red wine
peppercorns
bay leaf
seasoning packet from the corned beef

Directions:

Put your carrots and potatoes in the crockpot.  I use the baby carrots.

Then, quartered potatoes.  Rarely do I ever peel potatoes.  There's so much good in the skins that it just feels wasteful!

Then, put the corned beef on top of the carrots and potatoes.  Tuck about a dozen garlic cloves around the corned beef.

Toss in a bay leaf and about a tablespoon of black peppercorns.  Add the seasoning packet from the corned beef.  It'll have more good stuff like mustard seeds.  Pour in a couple of cans of beef broth and one of the little bottles of red wine.  It's about 3 cups of beef broth and a cup of red wine. 

Cover the crockpot and cook on low for 6-8 hours.

Just before serving the meal, quarter and core the cabbage.  Cut it into slices and steam it until it's nice and soft. 

Slice the corned beef.  Serve with the vegetables and a ladle of the broth.

If you're doing this on the stovetop, you can use a 46 oz can of beef broth and cook the cabbage in with everything else.