recipe: corned beef and potato pizza

so in yesterday's indecisiveness about what to have for dinner and even MORE corned beef left in the fridge, clearly the solution was a corned beef pizza. good mix of my Italian & Irish genes, on a plate. if you like corned beef and potato (and also are a big fan of potato pizzas), you really can't go wrong here. it was a total mouth party.

ingredients list: 
- 1 recipe for pizza dough or fresh store-bought 
- 1/2 - 1 cup sour cream
- 1/2 an onion, diced
- 1 potato, baked & thinly sliced into rounds
- 1 & 1/2 cups leftover corned beef, shredded 
- 2 cups cheddar cheese
- pinch salt
- olive oil
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- few dashes of parsley

to make: mix 1-2 tbsp olive oil, salt, 1/2 tsp garlic powder, and parsley in small bowl and set aside. preheat the oven (with pizza stone in the oven also) to 450 degrees. 

roll out pizza dough on lightly floured surface. lightly flour the hot pizza stone, then carefully transfer the dough to the stone. spread the sour cream, cheese, onion, potato & corned beef over the dough. bake in preheated oven for about 10-13 minutes.

brush the crust with the garlic olive oil mixture within the last few minutes of cooking. allow to cool at least 5 minutes before eating. 

recipe: corned beef hash

we had a ton of corned beef leftover from St. Paddy's day... i never used to be into the corned beef hash thing (growing up i just thought it sounded & looked gross), but considering i love all the ingredients in it, seemed like a must-make. i had just bought fresh eggs from Otis Egg Farm so they seemed like a match made in heaven. i didn't follow a recipe, just did a chop & throw into pan deal... it came out better than i expected, though i do wish the potatoes came out a bit more crunchy/brown... it's VERY hard to get them crisp for hashbrowns in the absence of a full griddle cook top. 

ingredients list: (makes enough for 2 large servings) 
- 1/2 green pepper, diced
- 1/2 red pepper, diced
- 1/2 small onion, diced
- 1/2 jalapeno, seeded & finely diced
- 1 large potato, shredded
- 1 & 1/2 cups (roughly) of leftover corned beef, shredded
- 3/4 cup leftover corned beef broth
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- crushed red pepper to taste
- salt & pepper to taste

to make: add 1-2 tbsp of olive oil to a large saute pan and heat over medium heat. add green & red peppers, onion, & jalapeno. 

dab the shredded potatoes with paper towels to remove excess moisture, then add to the pan with the veggies. season with garlic powder, crushed red pepper, & salt & pepper to taste. cook until the veggie & potatoes start to turn a little brown on the edges. add corned beef & the leftover corned beef broth and cook for 2-3 more minute, until the broth is absorbed and the corned beef is heated through.

while the veggies & corned beef is cooking, heat a small saute pan over medium heat, then fry the eggs to desired temperature (for this, i prefer them extra runny so the runny egg runs all over the hash). serve egg over the hash & done! 

st. patrick's day recipe 3 of 3: guinness cooked corned beef

this corned beef recipe i had cooked once before and really liked. i'm not into the boiling of corned beef, or the cooking of massive amounts of cabbage, but beer and sugar really speak to me. i used the Guinness Corned Beef recipe from allrecipes.com, adapted for the slow cooker. 

ingredients list:

- 2 & 1/2 lbs corned beef brisket

- 1 cup brown sugar

- 1 & 1/2 cans Guinness or bottle of Irish stout beer

to make: pour beer into the pot of a slow cooker. rub the beef with brown sugar, add the beef (and any extra sugar) to the slow cooker, and cook on low for 4-6 hours. flip periodically to make sure the top of the meat doesn't dry out.

***

love this. some of the folks that reviewed it said it came out fall-apart tender - that is not the case here (and i find it hard to believe it could get that way with this type of meat), but the flavor is still very good. it's just a little tougher than a lot of slow cooked meats. definitely my go-to corned beef recipe, i don't feel the need to snag another. rating... 6******.

st. patrick's day recipe 2 of 3: colcannon

so... next up for st. paddy's. i didn't want to do straight out cabbage with the corned beef, but the colcannon sounded like a great happy-middle between cabbage and a yummy side (it has bacon... so yep there ya go). i used another allrecipes.com recipe for this one, Diane's Colcannon. 

ingredients list:
- 1 & 1/4 lbs potatoes, cubed
- 4 slices bacon
- 1/4 small head cabbage, chopped
- 1/2 large onion, diced
- 1/4 cup milk
- salt and pepper to taste
- 2 tbsp butter


to make: place potatoes in a saucepan with enough water to cover. bring to a boil, and cook for about 20 minutes, until tender when poked with a fork.


while potatoes are cooking, place bacon in a large skillet, and cook over medium-high heat until even brown. remove bacon, crumble, and set aside. saute the cabbage & onion in the skillet in the bacon drippings, until cabbage & onion are soft and start to turn golden. 


drain the cooked potatoes, mash with milk, the butter, and season with salt and pepper. fold in the bacon, cabbage, and onions and serve.
***
i wasn't sure if i would like these or not because of the "chunky" potato texture, but if i thought of it as a side and not "mashed potatoes", they were actually really good. the cabbage kind of made it like a egg roll flavor, mixed with a random potato bacon onion party (egg rolls are really my only experience with cabbage). would def make again, but next time i want to try adding a bit of cider vinegar when the onion and cabbage saute... a little bit of german potato salad vinegary twang would work nicely with it. 6******.

st. patrick's day recipe 1 of 3: soda bread

st. paddy's day menu was cooked a week late this year since i haven't been home long enough to cook since the real date. besides cooking corned beef once i've never really cooked any traditional irish food, so this was all a first whirl. it was pretty yammmmmy even still. the first recipe was Amazingly Easy Irish Soda Bread from allrecipes.com, scaled in half since there were just 2 of us eating and tweaked slightly (the original recipe is 20 servings).

ingredients list:

- 4 cups flour

- 2 tbsp white sugar

- 1/2 tsp baking soda

- 1 & 1/2 tsp baking powder

- 1/4 tsp salt

- 1/4 cup butter, softened

- 1/2 cup buttermilk

- 1 egg

- 1 tbsp butter, melted

- 2 tbsp buttermilk

to make: preheat oven to 375 degrees. lightly grease a large baking sheet and set aside. 

in a large bowl, mix flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and 1/4 cup butter. stir in the 1/2 cup of buttermilk and egg. turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead slightly, then form dough into a flattened ball and place on prepared baking sheet. 

in a small bowl, combine melted butter with 2 tbsp buttermilk, and brush loaf with this mixture. cut an 'X' into the top of the loaf, then bake in the oven between 30 and 45 minutes, brushing with the mixture periodically. bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

***

i liked this. i never really ate soda bread (because of the raisins... blech) so don't have anything to compare it to, but it was still good all on its own. tastes great warm with a little bit of butter. hmmmm... 6******?