Category: veggie dishes

Belated St Patrick’s Day Feast

How’s everyone doing in quarantine?? Hope you are all well and staying safe. In this house I’ve been cooking a lot more than usual, especially because I’m home from work. And, before the shutdown started, I had already planned on attempting a big project: homemade corned beef for St Patrick’s Day. I got it into the brine a few days late anyway, so it was a perfect way to spend the past Saturday. And I do mean the whole day; after picking up some fresh groceries in the morning, I spent most of my waking hours in the kitchen! But I did not mind.

Unfortunately, I do not feel comfortable sharing the actual recipes I used for this feast, as they all came from the NYT Cooking site, which is behind a paywall. I would guess everything can be found elsewhere, though. Pinterest is always a good place to start.

So, this is just a post to share with you my crazy effort and how proud I am of everything turning out. And my hope is that it inspires you, both for future holidays and perhaps while you’re sheltering in place during this pandemic.

St Patrick’s Day Feast Menu

  • Home-brined corned beef brisket
  • Red potatoes with cabbage and scallions
  • Nigella Lawson’s Chocolate Guinness Cake

The brisket had to go in the brine 5-7 days before cooking, and I had one heck of a time finding the pink curing salt, hence why our feast was belated. But it worked out okay because my sister was here to share it with us, as well!

Photo story of my day; hover mouse over each pic for caption. 🙂

First step: the cake.
Regular Guinness was out, so we tried this one; it was delicious.
Beautiful chocolate batter
Time to boil the brisket!
It smelled so good.
Potatoes next up.
Cooking and wine
Scallions in butter mmm.
Taters and cabbage
Look at that beautiful hunk of meat
Perfectly pink!! SO PROUD
It was a perfect meal.
Time to frost the cake!
YUM
And the end. It was perfection.

 

I greatly enjoyed this labor of love, and I’m glad my little quarantine family did too. We will always remember this time, and I’m thankful for good food, good wine, and good company.

As always, Happy Cooking!

Spinach & Onions, my favorite side

Happy Wednesday! How’s everyone’s August going? Feels like summer is disappearing fast. I am itching a little for autumn, because it’s the beginning of my favorite quarter of the year. But I’m also savoring what we have left of summer.

Today I don’t have a main dish for you, although this side dish of spinach and onions could easily be turned into one with the addition of a protein. Last night I served it with shredded chicken breast, which made a good complete meal.

Anyone who knows me knows that two of my favorite foods are spinach and onions. It’s rare that I go a day without eating one or both in a meal! They’re so good for you, as well, the spinach more than the onions hahaha. I’m very happy that this is an acceptable dish for a low carb way of eating, because I would be very very sad otherwise.

It’s super simple and works for any meal of the day. Yes, even breakfast. It’s amazing with some fried or scrambled eggs!

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Spinach & Onions

Ingredients:

  • 4 cups spinach
  • 1-2 medium yellow onions, sliced in rings
  • 3 tbsp butter
  • 2 tsp minced garlic
  • pinch red pepper flakes (optional)
  • pinch pink salt (optional)

Melt butter in high sided skillet over medium-high heat. Adjust heat as needed, just make sure it doesn’t begin to burn. Once mostly melted, toss in garlic and and red pepper flakes if using; stir to coat in butter. Add sliced onions, stir to coat in butter as well. Let onions cook till translucent, allowing them to get some sear/browning on them. Once that’s done, add the spinach. This may have to be done in batches. Add a handful, mix to coat, etc. Cook for another couple of minutes, stirring as needed. At this point, add the pink salt if using. When spinach is wilted but still a brighter green, the dish is done! Serve with whatever protein you want. Some grated or shredded parmesan cheese is awesome on top of this too. This can be made vegan by substituting olive or coconut oil, but I have found that the butter definitely cooks better and doesn’t splash as much.

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It’s simple, but so delicious, and easily adaptable. I probably would have shared this sooner except that I change it up a lot! So I made sure to make it the same way for a few weeks in order to have a good recipe to share. Hope you enjoy it, and please do share how you jazz it up if you do!

Happy cooking!!