Dinner the Next Day

From my file "It's was really late but WOW! really good" : 

I kinda messed up this year on my traditional St. Paddy's day dinner.  Hafta say ... I'm really glad that I did.  I had planned to use my crock pot to cook my corned beef all day but the recipe I wanted to use was for a slow bake in the oven.  When did I realize this?  At 11:45pm Monday night, as I was prepping before bed for the next morning. 

Well.  

Phooey.  

A quick run of the recipes for the crock pot all seemed to result the same ... using water and basically a "slow boil" of the meat.  I didn't want that.  I wanted the peppery tender bake I had planned.  

So I changed my plans.

Because ... I am woman.  

I am single.  

I can do that.  ;)

Hurrying home from work, I was able to get to the house, get the very excited angelpup out for a quick bush inspection, and then get my corned beef brisket into a baking dish and into the oven for a slow bake at 310 degrees by 6 pm.  I should note here ... I did not use the provided spice packet.  Nor did I use any water.  Just the brisket, fat side up, covered in cracked ground pepper and tented with foil.  Thank you to Ree Drummond & ThePioneerWoman.com for the idea.    

Three hours later, by 9pm, a fork slid in with only a mild resistance.  At 10pm, that fork slid in like it was going into butter.  :D  Took it out and let it rest for about 30 minutes.  Slice.  Die of happy goodness from the taste test.  ;)

Meanwhile, while the brisket rested, I finished up the best batch of colcannon I have ever paired with a corned beef.  Was it because it was a truly sweet, good head of cabbage?  Because I used the whole onion instead of just part?  Because I combined recipes and used a bit of bacon and therefore bacon grease?  Because I mixed the potatoes into the cabbage mixture in the skillet and let it simmer a few minutes instead of dumping the cabbage mixture into the potatoes and simply stirring?  I don't have any idea.  What I do know is that between the taste and the texture, I am very happy with the results ... to the point of actually writing it down ... on paper! ... so I don't forget what exactly I did, something I rarely remember to do (the writing down, not the forgetting).  

Of course, by the time I was done creating my St. Paddy's day dinner it was WELL and WAY past dinner time.  Dinner had turned into a bowl of cereal and a peanut butter sandwich.  Not bad.  Not very Irish either.  LOL!   

In the end though, that's okay.  I had a couple of taste tests while I dished it all up into separate containers to grab and go for lunches the rest of the week.  I went to bed a pleased and happy camper.  

Cause, you know ... "better late ... "