early St. Patrick's Day dinner

Tuesday is the feast of St. Patrick and I bought the corned beef weeks ago. But I work Tuesday; I could cook the dinner tomorrow, thereby making two dinners, but I thought I'd make it today, and hope for some leftovers on Tuesday.

 so much fat

It all really depends on what sized pot you have. Mine is more tall than wide, and after the meat is almost done, you have to put in the carrots, cabbage and potatoes and cook them in the flavored  liquid. 

A couple of weeks ago I came across a recipe for the well-known Irish dish, colcannon. It so happened I had a bag of shredded cruciferous vegetables that was hanging around and I decided to make my own version of it. I braised the veg in some water and drained it. Then rinsed and boiled a bag of small red potatoes, drained them, mashed them and added butter, cream salt, pepper, cream and some cheddar cheese. It was easy and tasty, and I had a thought - make it again for Patrick's day, which would give me more room in the pot for the vegetables. Potatoes are important for this meal, but they take up room in the pot and absorb liquid. 

So, that's what I did.

There was plenty of room to cook a pound of carrots in the pot with three big wedges of cabbage!

And outside the maple trees are full of their red buds.