Since St. Patrick's Day was filled with work deadlines and my weekly yoga class, our annual corned beef and cabbage dinner was a week late this year (we instead had baked potatoes on St. Patrick's Day, which was probably more authentic anyway). The smallest corned beef I could find was two and half pounds, which translates into a lot of meat for two people. Typically, my oh-so-creative strategy for dealing with leftovers involves portioning them out into small glass containers and then reheating them for lunch. This is not typically an issue, since it feeds my leftover obsession, but I was in the mood to try a little harder. I was also in the mood to stretch my antibiotic-and-hormone-free, vegetarian-fed corned beef from Whole Foods a little further (Mike: "You spent what on a piece of meat?" In my defense, it was on sale). Mike ended up forgiving me since my major meat purchase yielded three servings of slow cooker corned beef and cabbage and four servings of corned beef and cabbage soup. This meant he got to eat four homemade meat meals in one week, which is pretty unprecedented around here unless he makes himself a pan of Italian sausage lasagna. Happy belated St. Patrick's Day, honey.
Inspired by the recipe from Skinnytaste.com
Ingredients:
- 2 teaspoons olive oil
- 2 leeks, chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 cup chopped carrots
- 1 1/2 cup shredded cooked corned beef (approximately one pound uncooked)
- 3 cups thinly sliced green cabbage (about 1/4 of a large head)
- 1 medium potato, chopped
- 6 cups beef broth
- pepper, to taste
- 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
Heat Dutch oven over medium-high heat for one minute. Add olive oil, tilt to evenly coat, and add leeks. Cook, stirring occasionally, until leeks are softened, about five minutes. Add garlic and carrots and cook, stirring occasionally, for an additional five minutes or until garlic is golden.
Add the corned beef, cabbage, potato, and broth and bring to a boil. Cover and reduce heat. Cook at a low boil until vegetables are tender, about 20 minutes.
Season with pepper to taste and serve garnished with fresh parsley.
