Yesterday I had friends over for my annual St. Patrick’s Day feast. I served corned beef with the usual suspects of potatoes, carrots, onions and cabbage and friends brought bought over Hot Reuben Dip, Soft Guinness Pretzels, grasshopper brownies, and even homemade BBQ! Of course I also served my Hidden Pot o’ Gold Cupcakes.

Every year I try out a new glaze for my corned beef and this year since I had two slow cookers full of corned beef I decided to try two different glazes. One was Guinness glazed and the other (which I am sharing with you) was Hoisin glazed and they were both fabulously delicious. Everyone had their own favorite or couldn’t decide between the two, but my favorite was the hoisin glazed.

I also tried something new with the potatoes from one of the crock pots, something called Colcannon which is Irish mashed potatoes. The original recipe had the potatoes and cabbage cooked separately, but I went ahead and used the ones that had slow cooked right along with the corned beef in order to get that extra flavor.

Two years ago: Stuffed Oatmeal Raisinet Cookies, Guinness Bread with Honey Butter, Roasted Cabbage with Lemon, and Corned Beef with Honey Marmalade Mustard Glaze.

HOISIN GLAZED CORNED BEEF

Serves 6

Ingredients:

1 medium onion, cut into wedges

8 medium red potatoes, quartered

1 pound carrots, cut into 1/2-inch wide sticks

3-4 cups water

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 bay leaf

2 Tbsp sugar

2 Tbsp cider vinegar

1/2 tsp pepper

1-3 lb corned beef brisket with spice packet

1 small head cabbage, cut into wedges

1/4 cup Hoisin sauce

1/4 cup honey

2 Tbsp soy sauce

1 tsp fresh ginger, minced

couple dashes of pepper

Directions:

1. Place the onion, potatoes and carrots in a 5-qt. slow cooker. Combine water, garlic, bay leaf, sugar, vinegar, pepper and contents of spice packet; pour over vegetables. Add more water if necessary to cover vegetables. Top with brisket and cabbage.
2. Cover and cook on low for 8-9 hours or until meat and vegetables are tender. Remove bay leaf and meat.
3. In a small bowl, mix hoisin sauce, honey, soy sauce, pepper, and ginger together. Take half of this glaze and reduce it down in a small saucepan till it’s a bit thicker (you can add more honey of you want it thicker). Keep warm.
4. Preheat the oven to broil. Remove brisket from cooking liquid, and place in a high-temp safe baking dish or cast iron pan. Spread some of the hoisin glaze all over the brisket. Put under broiler until a nice crispy top is achieved, I’d say about 4 minutes or until your likeness. Serve with remaining glaze

Source: Adapted from All Recipes and Vanilla Sugar Blog.

COLCANNON

Serves 6

Ingredients:

1 pound red potatoes, cooked*

1/4 head of a small cabbage, cooked* and sliced thinly

4 green onions, sliced

1/4 cup heavy cream

2 Tbsp unsalted butter

Salt and pepper to taste

Minced parsley, for garnish (optional)

*I used the potatoes and cabbage that slow cooked with the corned beef

Directions:

1. Mash the potatoes in a large bowl. Mix in the cabbage, green onions, heavy cream, butter and season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve with parsley if desired.

Source: Adapted from Closet Cooking.