Tomorrow is St. Patrick’s Day! We can prepare our favorite recipe for corned beef and cabbage. I like reader Sally Benton’s version that has onions, celery, potatoes and carrots. In addition, I use a slow cooker for 10 hours or more to cook it.
If the corned beef package has seasonings in there, I use them. And, while perhaps it is true that in Ireland they don’t really fix corned beef and cabbage on St. Patrick’s Day, we DO in America! It is absolutely delicious, and I don’t plan to quit any time soon.
Two scalloped potato recipes await your review below. They both look like winners.
The first is Carolyn Booth’s cheesy scalloped potatoes from the Apopka Historical Society, Preserving the Big Potato. Carolyn uses raw sliced potatoes that are cooked as they bake in the sauce in the oven. She sometimes adds cooked ham in this dish.
The next, from Burnie Roberts in The Apopka Woman’s Club’s What’s Cookin’?, is plain scalloped potatoes, no cheese, that you cook with onions in water before assembling the dish for baking.
From New Visions’ Feeding the Flock, Toni LaPierre’s baked cabbage looks delicious. She says to make your oven time count, add baked potatoes and meat loaf to the mix. You will probably need to adjust your baking time up for this.
Sharon Ustler’s baked fish is simple and quick. And delicious! We thank First Presbyterian Church of Apopka for their Treasures and Pleasures cookbook for Sharon’s recipe.
Floy Bagwell’s old fashioned hoecake is from our friends in Plains, GA, in Pot Pourri. It is plain old American food, cooked in the skillet, and you will LOVE it as you use it to sop up your pot liquor from the corned beef and cabbage!
For dessert, try Darlene Brammeier’s cherry torte. I can’t wait to try it. And it appears to be fairly straightforward; she won’t make us do any backflips. Thanks to Northside Baptist Church for their cookbook where we found Darlene’s recipe.
SALLY BENTON’S
CORNED BEEF AND CABBAGE
Recipe from Reader of The Apopka Chief and Planter newspapers
4-1/2 to 5-pound corned beef brisket
1 tablespoon coarse black pepper
2 bay leaves
1-1/2 teaspoons ground allspice
2 teaspoons coarse sea salt or kosher salt
4-5 carrots, chunked
2 sweet onions, chunked
8 medium red potatoes, unpeeled and cut into chunks
3 or 4 stalks celery, chunked
2 cloves of garlic
1 head cabbage, cut into 8ths
Place the corned beef with pepper, bay leaves, allspice, and salt into large pot along with enough water to cover by one inch. Cover and bring to a boil. Then turn heat to low and simmer for 2-1/2 to 3 hours.
Then add vegetables (except for cabbage) and cook for another 20 minutes. Then add cabbage and cook until potatoes and cabbage are done.
Discard bay leaves. Remove meat from the pot, let sit for 10-15 minutes, then slice against the grain of the beef.
Serve with your favorite mustard sauce or just plain mustard.
CAROLYN BOOTH’S
CHEESY SCALLOPED POTATOES
Recipe from Apopka Historical Society Preserving the Big Potato
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup flour
2 cups milk
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon white pepper
5 potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
2 small onions, thinly sliced and separated (you can use chives instead)
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
Melt butter and add flour stirring until smooth. Cook one minute, stirring constantly. Gradually add milk and cook over medium heat until thickened. Stir in salt and pepper. Layer the sauce, potatoes, onions, and cheese in a baking dish beginning and ending with sauce. (Reserve some cheese for top to add at end of bake.) Cover and bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 55 to 60 minutes or until tender. Sprinkle with remaining cheese and bake an additional five minutes.
Optional: You can add chopped cooked ham between the layers for a one-dish meal.
BURNIE ROBERTS’
SCALLOPED POTATOES
Recipe from
The Apopka Woman’s Club
WHAT’S COOKIN’?
3 pounds potatoes
4 medium onions thinly sliced
3 teaspoons salt
3 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons flour
2-1/4 cups milk
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1/8 teaspoon paprika
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Lightly grease 2 quart casserole. Wash, peel, and thinly slice potatoes, which should measure about 8 cups. Cook potatoes and onions, covered in small amount of boiling water with 2 teaspoons salt about five minutes or until slightly tender. Drain. Add flour to melted butter and gradually add milk. Place potatoes in casserole dish and sprinkle with pepper and paprika. Pour milk and butter mixture over potatoes. Bake until bubbling. Garnish with parsley.
TONI LAPIERRE’S BAKED CABBAGE
Recipe from New Visions Community Church’s Feeding the Flock
1 head cabbage
8 slices bacon
salt to taste
pepper to taste
4 teaspoons butter or margarine
8 squares of aluminum foil
Cut cabbage into eight sections lengthwise; wash. Place each piece on a square of foil. Salt and pepper to taste. Wrap seasoned cabbage with a slice of bacon. Put one half teaspoon of butter or margarine on top. Wrap with the foil, securing edges well so steam will not escape. Repeat until all pieces are wrapped. Place them on a cookie sheet or in a 9 x 13 inch baking dish. Bake in preheated oven at 350 degrees for 45-55 minutes or until tender when squeezed. May be placed in oven with baked potatoes and meat loaf for an easy company meal.
SHARON USTLER’S BAKED FISH
Recipe from
Apopka First Presbyterian Church’s
Treasures and Pleasures
1 pound fish fillets
1/2 teaspoon salt
Dash of pepper
1 tablespoon grated onion
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons melted butter or margarine
If fish are large, cut into five or six serving pieces. Sprinkle both sides with salt and pepper. Mix margarine or butter, lemon juice, and onion. Dip fish in mixture. Arrange in ungreased 9 x 9 x 2-inch pan. Pour remaining mixture over fish. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees until fish flakes easily with fork or about 25 to 30 minutes. Sprinkle with paprika, if desired.
FLOY BAGWELL’S
OLD-FASHIONED HOECAKE
Recipe from Food Favorites of Plains, Georgia Plains Pot Pourri
Plain cornmeal
Water
Salt
Grease
Mix 1/2 to 3/4 cup plain cornmeal with enough water to make a soupy mixture. Add a dash of salt and mix well. Have a cast-iron skillet on top of stove, well greased and hot. Stir cornmeal mixture before pouring onto hot skillet. When bottom becomes brown, turn hoecake with a plate and cook other side. Make sure skillet is greased well again before cooking another hoecake. Always stir cornmeal mixture before pouring onto hot skillet.
Note: The recipe does say to “turn hoecake with a plate” but maybe because they had no other large turner.
DARLENE BRAMMEIER’S
CHERRY TORTE
Recipe from Northside Baptist Church cookbook
Pastry:
1 cup flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup margarine
1/4 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
Mix and press into 9 x 9-inch pan. Bake 15 minutes at 400 degrees. Crumble after cooling and press back into pan.
Filling:
1 8-ounce package cream cheese
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
8 ounces whipped topping
1 can cherry pie filling
Cream together cream cheese, powdered sugar and vanilla. Fold in the whipped topping. Spread over the crust. Top with can of cherries. Chill. Serve.
