Many people all around the globe, Irish and non-Irish alike,
celebrate St. Patrick’s Day and this usually includes wearing something
green and a meal of boiled corned beef and cabbage. It just wouldn’t
seem like St. Patty’s without that, but is there a better way to prepare
it than boiling? It turns out there are a lot of advantages to steamed
corned beef and cabbage.
First of all, steaming cabbage preserves a good percentage of the
vitamins, minerals and flavor. And steaming the corned beef keeps it
moist and prevents it from becoming stringy and tough. With this
particular recipe, you will get the added advantage of having the corned
beef flavored by the vegetables (no need for one of those spice packages
that typically come with the beef).
Steamed Corned Beef and Cabbage
Ingredients:
1 unsliced 1.5kg of corned beef
1 large head of green cabbage
2-3 cups of small baby carrots
2 or 3 small onions (optional)
Salt and pepper
Procedure:
Begin by peeling the outer leaves from the head of cabbage. Rinse
them in cold water and place them in the steamer basket to line the
bottom of it.
Salt and pepper the top and bottom of the corned beef to taste, then
place it in the steamer basket on top of the cabbage leaves with the fat
side up. Steam covered for about 2 ½ hours making sure that the food
steamer does not run out of water.
While that is cooking, cut the remainder of the head of green cabbage
into six equal sections (wedges). Rinse the carrots. After the 2 ½ hours
is up place the cabbage on top of the corned beef and spread the carrots
out over the top of the cabbage. Adjust the amount of carrots to your
liking. You could also put a couple of small peeled and quartered onions
if you like.
Continue to steam covered for an additional 30 minutes. Check the
cabbage and carrots for tenderness; when they are tender your meal is
cooked. If you like, you can trim the fat from the top of the corned
beef before serving. Steamed corned beef and cabbage is goes well served
with boiled potatoes. Leftover corned beef makes great sandwiches served
on rye bread with mustard.
