St. Patrick's Day Dinner!

Goooooood Morning Vietnam (Boston)! It's going to be a beautiful, beautiful day outside today and I cannot wait until it's an appropriate time to get up out of the heez. I wanted to share my Corned Beef Success with you guys. Here's what I did:

Corned Beef and Cabbage

serves 4

3-4 lb. corned beef brisket (I think the only thing that makes it corned beef is the seasonings that're on it. I think if you just bought a brisket it'd be amazingly cheaper. This is the most expensive piece of meat I've bought since a Thanksgiving Turkey. $13.25)

3 lb. head of cabbage ($.75 - WF sale!)

1 large onion ($.10 - Haymarket)

2 T. dijon mustard ($.16)

1/4 apple cider vinegar ($.16)

2 t. salt ($.01)

Total: $14.33 (It's a Holiday meal, so that's not too bad. I think you could get a cheaper brisket and season it yourself for way less...maybe it's expensive because of the season). We ate it between 3 people, and are having sandwiches for lunch today.

1. Chop onion. Chop cabbage into 6ths. Sixths? I don't know...
2. Add brisket to the crock pot.
3. Add onion on top.
4. In a bowl, combine mustard + salt + vinegar and pour it over the onions.
5. Add 2 cups water.
6. Set slow cooker to low and cook for 7 hours, or until meat is tender to your liking. You could also do it on high for 4.
7. About 4 hours in, add the cabbage. Adding it in later helps keep it more crisp, but if you prefer it softer, you could always add the cabbage in on top of the onions in the beginning.

scrimpyTips:

- You could also just do this in a pot on the stovetop, too, if you're not a crockpot owner. Just simmer on the lowest heat until meat is tender. Probably from 4-7 hours.

- This is traditionally served with boiled potatoes, but I mixed it up and served it alongside mashed ones because Mike likes those. Very delicious.

- I like this served alongside dijon mustard.

- I ladled out some of the cooking liquid and served it in a gravy boat as a thin gravy. Good.

This is foolproof, festive, and delicious. I also made authentic Irish Soda Bread and now know why people add all sorts of other crap to it. It's pretty bland and mine could've used some extra salt. If you want to make it check out this site. You can also join this group on facebook (?).

This has gotten me pumped to try out slow cooking other cuts of tough meat. I think I'll make a pot roast soon.

Stay tuned for CVS Sales and scrimpySnack of the week! There was no Whole Foods pick of the week, so this upcoming week there will be 2! Yay, right?