St. Patrick's Day Corned Beef and Cabbage

Despite the fact that I do not have any Irish in my bloodlines whatsoever, over the past decade it has become tradition to prepare a corned beef and cabbage meal on St. Patrick's Day! The first few times we made this meal, we did only some basic research and simply boiled the corned beef with the spice pack provided.  Assuming, however, that the gray, boiled corned beef could certainly be improved upon, we continued researching and spoke with others who felt they had mastered the preparation of the perfect corned beef.  We have finally tweaked the cooking method and glazes until we reached this point, which is a delicious corned beef, beautifully rosy red in color, and topped with sweet and tangy glaze which creates the perfectly crunchy crust.

Cook 1 packaged corned beef as per the instructions for 1 hour.  Remove the meat from the boiling water and place on a rack in a shallow baking dish.  Do not discard the water in which the beef cooked for that hour.  You will want to retain it to use when cooking the vegetables.  All of the flavor from the beef and the spices will infuse the vegetables as they are boiling.  Place the beef in the oven and roast at a low temperature, about 275-325 degrees, for another 2 hours.   Remove the beef and cover with the glaze and return to the oven for the final 1/2 - 1 hour of cooking.  Allow corned beef to rest before slicing, then cut into thin slices against the grain.

I think that this simple glaze compliments the corned beef with the perfect amount of sticky sweetness and mustardy tang.  In a bowl, combine 1/2 cup of apricot preserves, 1/4 - 1/3 cup of dijon mustard and a tablespoon or 2 of brown sugar.  Taste and adjust as you see necessary. 

Prepare the vegtables by cutting 1 head of cabbage into large chunks, cut carrots into 1-2 inches pieces, peel medium sized red potatoes and snap off the end of the green beans (if you can find edible green beans, I could not, they looked like they were the leftovers from last St. Patrick's Day).  Return the water to a boil and add the vegetables back to the pot starting with the potatoes and carrots because they take the longest to cook (about 20-30 minutes depending on how you like your vegetables). Next, add the green beans and finally the cabbage, which does not take more than 10 minutes.  Drain the vegetables into a very large serving bowl, add a few (alright, many) pats of butter and liberally season with salt and pepper.  Serve with the sliced corned beef, freshly baked glazed hot cross buns and a shake of vinegar!