corned beef

Last night I was lost for inspiration. It's not a regular occurrence but my uninspired mode rears its ugly head once every blue moon. Did I feel like steak? fish? chicken?? Something vegetarian?? I didn't really feel like anything... then John suggested corned beef. Huh- its not something I eat often but when I do I rather enjoy it (especially in a sandwich stacked sooooooooooo high you can barely get your mouth around it!). So corned beef for dinner it was! I didn't really have a recipe as such but there were general instructions on the back of the pack and I followed my instincts and off I went in the kitchen.

Now for some facts on corned beef- it is basically the brisket part of a cow that has been cured in salt. Our friends in North America traditionally eat them in a sandwich while here in Australia we too eat them in our sandwich but we also poach them at home and serve it with white sauce. Anywho enough trivia, back to the recipe... what I love about corned beef is the saltiness, I'm the kind of person who has a bad habit of adding salt to almost any meal without eating it first. I know what you're thinking... and I know salt isn't good for me and I am trying to cut back! But don't worry you are able to purchase a low salt variation at your butchers or supermarket. Usually I would serve this up with a side of carrots and onions (that has been cooking with the meat) and a generous serving of mash potato. But I wasn't in the mood for mash and decided to go with a side of mixed salad leaves. It's not that I was particularly trying to be healthy (clearly as I chose to serve it up with a traditional white sauce), its just that after eating almost all protein, especially red meat, I feel the need to eat greens.

The other exciting thing about this entry is that it's a double recipe!! Mostly because we had so much left overs that I had to think of another way to serve corned beef. So as I was scrolling through articles on corned beef I came across the word "Reuben Sandwich" a number of times... interesting... so my search led me to a recipe. The picture reminded me of the sandwich I had in Montreal (can't for the life of me remember what they were called) but with interesting addition: sauerkraut. So I added that onto my shopping list and was surprised that John wasn't turned off by the idea, that is until he walked into the kitchen as soon as I opened the jar and yelled "Oh! What is that smeeeeeeeeeell??!" The end result was surprisingly good- as I took my first bite I was thinking 'how is it possible our paths have never crossed'... till now that is! I have a good feeling "Reuben" and I will meet again very very soon.

Corned Beef

1.5kg corned silverside

8 whole cloves
1 tspn of black peppercorn
3 bay leaves

1 brown onion, peeled, root intact

1tbs brown sugar

4 large carrots, you can cut it into thick pieces or wait until serving

1/2 cup malt vinegar
White Sauce
50g butter
2 tsp plain flour
2 cups milk
salt & pepper

Place silverside into a deep saucepan with a lid. Add cold water until the meat is just covered. Add all of the ingredients to the saucepan and place it over low heat. Bring to the boil, uncovered. Use a spoon to skim fat from surface and discard. Once boiling, turn the heat back on low, partially cover saucepan and let it simmer. Simmer for approximately 90 minutes or until the meat it cooked well. General guideline is 40minutes for every kilogram of meat.

White Sauce
Melt the butter in a small but deep saucepan. Add the flour, using a wooden spoon mix the butter and flour (its important that you cook the flour otherwise your sauce will taste floury...). Swap your wooden spoon for a whisk and start gradually adding the milk to the saucepan mixing as you continue to whisk. You must must must continue to whisk if you want to make sure there are no clumps in your sauce. Turn the heat off once the sauce thickens, don't worry if you think it's still too runny as it will continue to thicken as it cools.

~BONUS~

Reuben Sandwich
Adapted from allrecipes.com

rye bread (or in my case sourdough worked quite well too)
corned beef
sauerkraut, drained
mayonnaise or thousand island dressing (traditionally a Russian dressing is used)
Swiss cheese
butter, for the bread

Basically you butter the outside of the bread (so it will go nice and brown when toasted) then spread the mayonnaise. Add the Swiss cheese, then corned beef, then the sauerkraut and if you like top it with another layer of cheese. You can add as much or as little of the ingredients and place in under the sandwich press until golden brown. Don't worry if you don't have a sandwich press you can put it under your oven grill or worse case a non-stick frying pan.