New England Corned Beef Dinner

This dish is usually referred to as New England Boiled Dinner, and for years I made it the traditional way—in one pot—beginning with the beef and onions, cooking that for 2 to 3 hours and adding cabbage, carrots and potatoes to the pot for the last hour. Voila! Dinner.

I now make the dish this way—heightening the taste a bit by slow-cooking the beef and then roasting the carrots and potatoes separately so that they are brown and caramelized and a great complement to the mild, smooth cabbage. Served with a good mustard or horseradish cream sauce, this is equally perfect as a Sunday night supper or something you come home to after a long day out. And the leftovers make terrific sandwiches or a heartwarming soup. I also like to make this in a slow cooker—put it on in the morning and forget about it until it’s time to roast the vegetables, but it tastes just as nice made in a Dutch oven—and I’ve included the times for both.

New England Corned Beef Dinner

Serves 6

• 1 3 to 4 pound corned beef (seasoning packet discarded)
• 2 large yellow onions cut into quarters
• 1 ½ cups of water
• 1 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
• ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 small head cabbage, cut into wedges
• 5 to 6 large carrots, peeled and cut into 2-inch pieces
• 8 small red potatoes, scrubbed and cut into quarters
• 2 tablespoons olive oil

In a slow cooker (or a Dutch oven if you don’t want to use the slow cooker) place the onions in the bottom to cover. Lay the beef on top of the onions. Pour the water over. Sprinkle the top of the beef with the pepper and the garlic powder. Cook on high heat for 8 hours (or on top of the stove in the Dutch oven for 2-3 hours) until the beef is very tender. Add the cabbage—just arrange the wedges right on top of the beef– for the last 2 hours (if using the slow cooker) or the last hour (if using the Dutch oven) and continue to cook until the cabbage is tender.

An hour before you plan to eat, preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Place an oven rack in the lower third of your oven. Toss the potatoes and carrots with the olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place the vegetables in a roasting pan and roast on the bottom rack of the oven for one hour, stirring after 30 minutes.

When the meat is done, remove it from the pot to a cutting board and let rest while you plate the vegetables. Slice the beef on the diagonal and serve it all with mustard and/or horseradish cream sauce.

Horseradish Cream Sauce

½ cup sour cream

2 heaping tablespoon fresh grated horseradish

2 tablespoons of heavy cream

Combine the sour cream, horseradish and heavy cream and let chill in the refrigerator for an hour or two before serving.

Tags: corned beef, corned beef and vegetables, New England boiled dinner, New England corned beef dinner