Corned Beef and Cabbage

The last time I got a bountiful basket (sometimes I forget to contribute... oops!), we got two beautiful heads of cabbage. My sister/nanny HATES the smell, and is pregnant, so I strategically planned days to use it when she wouldn't have to gag on the permeating odor. Luckily for us, St. Patrick's Day fell on a night when she would have other plans. (Or so I thought... she ended up coming over to watch our college team play!)

Being neither Irish nor Catholic, I'm not sure why I celebrate St. Patrick's Day, but I do. It started with Green Waffles, and Green smoothies for breakfast. For dinner, we had corned beef and cabbage. Joe insists this should be eaten over cornbread. I don't love cornbread. (I do love him, so there is cornbread anyway!) I used my pressure cooker, and in about 2 hours, should've had delicious, tender meat. Unfortunately, I set it up just a little bit wrong, and it was a bit on the chewy side. However, the veggies were divine.

Anyway, here's how I cook corn beef.

1 corn beef (about 2 lbs, with seasoning packet)
2 cups beef stock (or water)
5-6 red potatoes, quartered
1 onion, cut into big chunks
3-4 large carrots, peeled and cut into 2 inch pieces
1 head of cabbage, sliced into 8 wedges

Put the corn beef on the rack in the pressure cooker and dump the seasoning packet over it. Add 2 cups of stock/water (some might add beer, but I'm not an alcohol kind of gal). Place potatoes, onion, and carrots on top. Set the pressure cooker to high pressure for 40-45 minutes. Use natural pressure release. Add cabbage. Set pressure cooker to high pressure for 4 minutes. Release pressure naturally. Veggies will be mushy and delicious. Roast should be fall-apart. Devour.