Wednesday, March 17, 2010

st. patrick's day

Today I made a somewhat genuine Irish feast. Too fun! My first step towards "faking" this meal was to buy a regular brisket instead of a corned beef - mistake numero uno. I also made a potato leek soup, which was outstanding, I must say, and Irish soda bread, which was also great!

Mistake #2 - I put the beef in the crock pot with the beer & seasoning. Yum! It started cooking, and the house started smelling really good. But, I forgot carrots at the store, which I intended to use instead of cabbage (again... "fake" Irish meal). So, Danielle graciously brought me a couple of bags.

Mistake #3 - I was trying to get my coffee grinder to work, and thought that perhaps I needed to reset my breaker. I did, and without realizing it, turned off my crock pot half-way through cooking the brisket. I didn't realize what I had done until 40 minutes before I was expected to serve dinner. I panicked! Rather than remember my handy-dandy pressure cooker, I freaked out and threw it in the oven.

Adam managed to save it by slicing it super thin - it didn't seem so tough that way. Luckily for me, the carrots, soup, and bread were all to die for (in my humble opinion), and made up for it. Also, someone brought a heavenly dessert - Death by Chocolate Cake. Seriously. So. Good.

So next time? Corned beef... not brisket. No turning off crockpots... I have a pressure cooker just in case! And... Adam will rescue me in the end if all else fails. :)

The recipe for the soup can be found here:
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Real-Potato-Leek-Soup/Detail.aspx

The recipe for the soda bread can be found here:
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Amazingly-Easy-Irish-Soda-Bread/Detail.aspx

Both are excellent!

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