Corned Beef and Cabbage - Video Recipe

You don't need the luck of the Irish or a 4 leaf clover for finding good food deals this week of St. Patrick's Day. Just check your mailbox for grocery store flyers or visit your local market for discounted Corned Beef, heads of cabbage, carrots and potatoes. And I have an easy dish to celebrate St. Patty's Day: Corned Beef and Cabbage.

If you are as cheap as me, you will have stocked up on the Irish holiday Corned Beef sales. Not the biggest BBQ day of the year, the 4th of July has such a good deal on beef  (even hamburger was at least $2.89 per pound, if I remember last year's prices right).

Corned Beef is normally in the 5 dollars per pound range, but this week it drops to around 2 bucks, or less, per pound! You can get a whole cabbage for about a buck as well. And carrots and potatoes are always cheap.

My Corned Beef and Cabbage recipe couldn't be simpler to do. When you buy Corned Beef from the market it is ready to cook. Cover the Corned Beef with water and add the packet of herbs contents that come with it, then boil the beef for about 4 hours.

When the Corned Beef is nearly fall-apart tender remove it from the cooking broth. Now a typical Corned Beef is super salty and the broth will be too, give it a taste to make sure.  I usually pour out half the broth and add fresh water to replace. This will lighten the salty brine flavor. When you add water give the broth a quick taste to see if you can handle it.

All you need to do is add the chopped veggies to the broth, including cabbage, red potatoes, and a whole chopped carrot. You cook the veggies until tender - this only takes about 20 minutes. If you like crunchy cabbage, cook the potatoes and carrot for 15 minutes then add the chopped cabbage and cook until desired tenderness, about 10 to 15 minutes.

I use red potatoes, but you can use any potatoes you find on sale. I chop them in quarters (4 pieces) so they will cook faster. I like big chunky carrot slices, too. The cabbage can be chopped roughly into large chunks.

It does take a bit of patience to cook my budget Corned Beef and Cabbage but it's well worth the wait. My budget one-pot meal is really easy to make, that's why so many families have embraced this classic Irish meal. Sometimes this Blarney Chef is full of it, but not this time, my cheap$kate holiday dish is one I make every year, and you should too!

Corned Beef and Cabbage - Video

Play it here. video runs 2 minutes, 22 seconds.

Ingredients

• 1 corned beef - I use cheap point-cut corned beef on sale. They usually weigh 3 to 5 pounds. You can follow package directions for cooking corned beef. 
• 1 whole cabbage - chopped. They have a tough root stem you can remove, but it will tenderize. I only remove if it's discolored brown and extra tough. 
• 1 carrot chopped - You can add another carrot or two, depending on the size. Sometimes I like more veggies.
• 2 red potatoes chopped - You can boil red potatoes whole, but they will take an extra half hour to cook. Okay to use white or russet potatoes. Also, add more potato if you like.
• Water to cover corned beef - When corned beef is cooked, taste broth for saltiness, if too much then replace half the broth with fresh water and taste again - repeat if necessary.

Directions

Corned Beef is a thick and tough piece of meat, so you need to low boil it for about 3 to 4 hours until tender. Time will vary depending on the size of whole Corned Beef brisket. Mine was about 4 pounds. Cheaper cuts of Corned Beef can be fatty, so it's okay to trim off some of the fat.

You can follow Corned Beef package cooking directions. Usually, you cover Corned Beef with water, about 5 cups worth. Most times you have a small packet of spices and herb included, so open and empty the contents into the water. Sometimes I leave out the packet, as the corned meat is seasoned enough for me.

In a large pot, bring the Corned Beef in water to a boil, lower to a low simmer or low boil and cover the pot. Cook about 3 to 4 hours. Check on the pot every hour or so to make sure liquid does not cook out, and add more water if needed. It's okay if the liquid cooks out by half, this will make an intense broth for the veggies.

After about 3 hours you can chop the cabbage, carrot and potatoes.

When the Corned Beef is done, remove it and set aside. Taste the broth to see how salty it is. More than likely it's too salty, so pour out half the broth and add an equal amount of fresh water. Now taste to see if the broth is milder. Repeat this step if necessary to reach your desired flavor.

Once the broth meets your tastes, then add the chopped veggies. Bring to a low simmer, cover the pot and cook veggies about 20 minutes.

If you like crunchy cabbage, first cook carrot and potato about 15 minutes, then add chopped cabbage. Cook until cabbage reaches desired crunchiness, usually 10 minutes or so.

Finally, return the cooked Corned Beef to the pot with veggies and let it reheat for about 5 minutes.

This is a one-pot meal, so just slice off hunks of Corned Beef and serve with the cooked veggies.

Sliced Corned Beef is great in a sandwich too, just click here to see how I make mine, with Homemade Coleslaw!

Best Lamb Curry with Vegetables - Video Recipe

My latest recipe is loaded with veggies, too. Lamb Curry with Vegetables starts with a basic meat curry, then when that is ready I add the veggies and finish it up - so, my latest recipe is a twofer: Lamb Curry and Lamb Curry with Veggies.

Curry comes in all flavors depending on the region of origin, from India to Thailand. I am making a simple India-style curry. Even in India, curries vary from region to region.

I make a basic Cheap$kate Lamb Curry with spices, coconut milk, tomato sauce, onion and garlic. All I do is saute the meat and onion, spices, then add liquids, cover and simmer the Curry about 2 hours, or until the lamb is fall-off-the-bone tender.

And I build a basic curry powder from scratch, but if you have access to pre-made curry powder then it's okay to use it. The spices I use are mostly easy to get and include: ground cumin, ginger, cinnamon, and coriander.

It's okay to mix and match my curry ingredients. If you don't have coriander then leave it out. Spices can be expensive, but I'm lucky to have  99c only Stores to shop in.

The main curry powder ingredient is ground cumin, if that's all you can get, then use only that- all the other spices just make the curry powder more complex.

Click on any photo to see larger.

For a richer curry I add coconut milk or cream, and tomato sauce. This adds sweet and acidic layers of flavor. Okay to leave out coconut milk for a light curry sauce. I get both ingredients from my local 99c only Store and Dollar Tree.

For meat, I sometimes splurge with pricy, pungent lamb. You can substitute with cheap chicken or pork.

 Depending on the meat, some cheap cuts of lamb, beef or pork can be very tough, so a 2 to 3 hour simmering time is needed. I leave fat and bone attached, for extra flavor. With long simmering times, some fat will liquefy and the bone will separate from the flesh. Any tough meat will tenderize. Cooking time varies depending on simmering temperature.

This is the kind of curry you can leave heating on the stovetop -- just check from time to time and add more water or broth as needed.

Click on any photo to see larger.

I fill out this Lamb Curry with a lot of cheap veggies that include: onion, bell pepper, carrot and potato.

You can add any fave veggies you like, such as: spinach, kale, cauliflower, squash, and green beans. My local Latin market has great deals on veggies.

After my basic Cheap$kate Lamb Curry is done, I add the veggies and cook another 45 minutes. You can adjust the cooking time if you like veggies crunchy or soft.

I don't make this recipe too often as lamb is a bit expensive, but sometimes I gotta have a Lamb Curry with Vegetables -- damn the price!

Best Lamb Curry with Vegetables - Video

Play it here. Video runs 4 minutes, 46 seconds.

My YouTube video link for viewing or embedding, just click here.

Ingredients (about 2-3 servings)

• 1 to 2 pounds of lamb  - slice into bite sizes. Okay to substitute any meat, including chicken, turkey, beef and pork.) The balance of meat to veggies is up to you.
• 1 tablespoon cumin powder - okay to substitute cumin with a favorite curry powder  (if you use a pre-mix curry powder, then leave out the other spices that follow.)
• 1 teaspoon powdered ginger - or fresh chopped ginger.
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon - okay to use a cinnamon stick.
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• 13.5 ounces coconut milk or cream - one regular size can.
• 8 ounces tomato sauce - one small can.
• 1 onion chopped - white, yellow or red onion.
• 1 tablespoon garlic - chopped (jar or fresh.) Okay to use garlic powder.
• 1 bell pepper - chopped
• 1 carrot - chopped
• 1 potato - chopped. I used a large russet potato.
• 1 tablespoon oil - to saute lamb.
•  1 cup of water or broth
• Salt and pepper to taste

*Other curry spices - garam masala, chili powder and turmeric. About a teaspoon each. Okay to mix and match what you like to make a curry powder, but always start with a tablespoon of cumin.

Directions
Slice lamb into bite-sized pieces. Okay to trim off some fat and remove bone. I like to keep most of the fat and leave bone in for extra flavor.

Add a tablespoon of oil to a medium heated pan. Add lamb and brown one side about 5 to 10 minutes, depending on how hot the pan is.

As meat browns, roughly chop one onion. Once meat is brown on one side then add the chopped onion and saute until soft, about 5 minutes.

Add curry spices, including: cumin, ginger, cumin, cinnamon and coriander. Okay to use a favorite pre-mixed curry powder.

click on any photo to see larger

Salt and pepper to taste, then add chopped fresh garlic or garlic powder. Mix well and saute dried spices and garlic for a minute or so.

Add one can of coconut milk or cream, a small can of tomato sauce, and a cup of water or broth. Mix well and bring up to a low simmer.

Cover and cook until lamb is tender, about 2 hours. Other types of meat may cook quicker. Chicken takes about an hour. Check from time to time, making sure liquid does not cook out. Add a little water or broth if needed.

This is a basic Lamb Curry. You can stop here if you like, I sometimes do.

The idea is to make a simple Lamb Curry with onion and spices, and cook it until tender. Then you add rest of veggies and cook them just enough to slightly soften.

 If you added all the veggies at once, in the beginning, they would cook until way too mushy for my taste.

While Lamb Curry cooks, chop the rest of veggies. After the lamb is tender, add chopped bell pepper, carrot and potato. You can add any favorite veggies you like including: cauliflower, green beans, squash and spinach.

Bring to a low simmer. Cover and cook veggies until they reach desired tenderness, about half hour to 45 minutes.

I like to serve my Lamb Curry and Veggies over rice.

Mashed Potatoes - Video Recipe

Potatoes deep fried, boiled or baked, the end result is always deeply satisfying. It's also one of the most complete nutritional veggies -- it's what the stranded astronaut survived on, in the book and movie, The Martian. Are potatoes the cheapest veggie out there? I often get them on sale, a buck for 10 pounds.

The spud originated in the South American country of Peru, were hundreds of varieties are available, but for my next cheap$kate recipe I use Idaho's finest, the russet potato. They are ideal for boiling into Mashed Potatoes. Russets stay dry enough when taking on water during slow simmering. You can also use red or white potatoes for this recipe - you may need less milk or cream to finish.

Everyone knows how to make Mashed Potatoes, right? Well, just in case you are a newbie here's one way to do them cheaply and easily.

Mashed Potatoes on their own are a bit bland. I usually make them for Thanksgiving and Christmas, when there is gravy and dressing to mix with. Or, lately it is the topping for my British-style Shepherd's Pie that's baked with a beef stew underneath. And any type of gravy are what Mashed Potatoes crave.

Shepherd's Pie

The ingredients are few for Mashed Potatoes, just boiled tubers, milk, butter, salt and pepper. And they all come cheaply. Butter is the most expensive ingredient, but I barely use half a stick.

I always get several pounds of russet potatoes for less than a buck. They keep for a couple of months if you store them cool, dry, and out of direct sunlight. And the price is right, my recipe calls for about a bucks worth of russet potatoes.

You can use any fat content of milk, or go all out and mix in cream.

Some cooks peel the potatoes first, but I find it's easiest to boil them so the potato skin slides off easy and you don't waste any of the flesh, which happens with a potato peeler.

I have a potato masher, but have used a regular fork - just make sure the fork's sturdy, it can bend during potato mashing. It really depends on you how fine to mash. I like to leave in smaller lumps, so I don't go overboard. Be careful if you use an electric mixer because you can whip them until they become a gooey, sticky mess. Just taste as you go -- which applies to any recipe you make.

Next time you roast a chicken, save some pan juices to make gravy (for recipes, click here, or here) and be sure to mash some potatoes to sop it up.

Mashed Potatoes - Video

   Play it here. Video runs 1 minutes, 37 seconds.

 My YouTube video link for viewing or embedding, just click here.

Ingredients (2-3 servings)

• 4-6 medium-size potatoes - about 3 pounds. At least 2 cups total when mashed. I used russet, but okay to use any type you like, even sweet potato.
• 1/2 cup of milk or cream - Add more or less milk to suit your taste and mashed potato texture. Okay to use half and half or whipping cream. Using a milk substitute is fine.
• 2 tablespoons butter - okay to add more or less. Okay to use butter substitute
• Salt and pepper to taste. 

Directions
Clean dirt off potatoes. I boil potatoes with skin on, some cooks like to peel the potatoes first - it's up to you.

 Add enough water to cover potatoes. High heat until water begins to boil. reduce heat to a low boil.

Should take about 1 hour, depending how large they are. Done when a fork easily pierces the potato. (To lessen boiling time you can cut potatoes into large cubes and boil them - should only take half an hour at the most.)

Cool off potatoes with cold water and peel them.

Add the peeled potatoes to a large bowl and add 1/2 cup of milk and 2 tablespoons of butter. Okay to use milk or butter substitute.

Season with salt and pepper. Mash it all together. You should get about 2 cups of mashed potatoes.

 

Old School Grated Hash Browns

I've had Hash Browns many ways. There's the chunky cubed kind (my recipe here); fast food formed ones, that look like a large flatten tater tot; and Old School Grated Hash Browns.

I like them all. With the cubed kind you can add a lot of tasty sauteed veggies like onion, scallion, herbs, and bell pepper (and here's my recipe for that type.) With some fast food types you can eat the large crunchy wafer, dipped in ketchup, with your hands. But there is something about Grated Hash Browns that I like best.

Mainly, it's the crunchy outside and tender moist inside that work together sublimely. And it's simply done by grating the potato. That makes it easy to spread out on a pan to get even browning and crunch. I guess they are similar to Latkes, except you will use a lot less oil, and no egg -- these Hash Browns are much lighter.

I like to add some grated, or fine chopped, onion to my Hash Browns, but if you are a purist, it's okay to leave the onion out.

That's it, just one or two ingredients, a little oil, and salt and pepper to taste.

 And Spuds are a bargain -- how about 8 pounds of potatoes for 99 cents? Not even yellow onions come this cheap. Of course I don't get find these prices every day, but I always get them for way less than a dollar per pound. You could use more expensive red and white potatoes if you have them lying around, but I prefer plain old russet potatoes. They brown nicely and develope a crisp exterior.

Also, I like to add a touch of grated (or finely chopped) onion. When caramelized you get a hint of sweetness.

Here are some breakfast recipes to pair with my Old School Grated Hash Browns, just click on any name to see recipe: Pastrami and Scrambled Eggs,  Eggs Benedict, Swiss Chard and Cheese Omelet, Huevos Rancheros, Jewish Scrambled Eggs, Homemade Egg McMuffin, Breakfast Burrito, Coconut Oatmeal, Chorizo & Eggs Breakfast Tacos, French Toast, Spanish Omelet, Pita & Scrambled Eggs, Tex-Mex Migas, Squash Blossom Omelet, Scrambled Eggs and Refried Beans, Billionaire's Crab Omelet, Sweet Potato Hash, and Fried Eggs on Breadcrumbs with Asparagus. Or pair my Hash Brown recipe with any or of your favorite breakfast recipes.

If you have an old beat up box grater like I do, then fry up some Old School Grated Hash Browns for your next breakfast. (And I don't have to remind you how cheap russet potatoes and brown onions are.)

Ingredients (1-2 servings)

• 1 medium potato - about 1 cup grated. Russet potatoes are best. Wash them off - peeled or not.
• 1/4 small onion - optional. Any type grated or finely chopped (I used a cheap yellow onion.) Okay to use even less onion, to taste.
• 1 tablespoon oil - any favorite type.
• Salt and pepper to taste

Directions
To prepare potato, use the box grater's largest grate holes. You could also use a food processor. You can remove the potato skin or leave it on (wash off dirt.) If you are preparing grated potatoes ahead of time then store them submerged in water - this keeps grated potato from turning too brown. Drain when ready to use. (Grated potatoes will turn slightly red/brown anyway, but when cooked, turn lighter again.)

Grate or fine chop 1/4 onion (optional.) Mix grated potato and onion together. Form into a mound and squeeze the onion/potato with a clean hand to get rid of some liquid. This will make less soggy hash browns.

I got one cup total out of the grated potato and onion. (The recipe is easy to double for more servings.)

Add tablespoon of oil to a medium hot pan. When oil is hot, add grated potato and onion. Spread it out to about a 1/4 inch thick. Season with salt and pepper.

You don't want hash browns spread too thin or they will be all crunch, without a soft center. It's really up to you how thick you like your hash brown patty -- try different thicknesses.

Don't stir or break up the potato and onion patty, let it brown evenly on the bottom. After a few minutes, the edges should start to brown. Mine took about 5 minutes. Loosen with a spatula and peak under the hash browns -- you are looking for a nice brown color. Turn them over when brown enough.

The other side doesn't need to cook as long, just enough to cook through, about 3 more minutes. Of course if you like your hash browns extra crunchy then cook both sides until brown. Try a small piece of Hash Browns to check for doneness.

Serve with the brownest side up, along with your favorite breakfast. I like sunny side up eggs with whole grain toast.