Corned Beef and (just a little) Cabbage

This St. Patrick's Day I made a last minute decision to make corned beef at home.  I was quite pleased with how it turned out, as were Thomas and some of our friends, but I definitely have some ideas as to how I'll tweak it to make even better.

I got the idea for this recipe here.

What you need:

6 qt crock pot

3ish lbs brined corned beef brisket (I bought mine from my local butcher) and the little spice packet that comes with it
1 cup light brown sugar
24 oz guinness beer (I didn't have any on hand, so I used a stout and a dark ale)
3 sweet onions
1 cup chopped green cabbage
3 lbs baby red potatoes
2 cups baby carrots (which I forgot to add, woops!)

Mix together the sugar and spice packet. 

Pat the brisket dry with some paper towel and then rub the sugar and spice mixture all over the meat.  Place the meat in the crock pot

and then pour the beer in to cover it. 

Since I was running short on time I set my crock pot on high for 2 hours and then turned it down to low for a few more hours.  Next year I'll just set it to low for  6-8 hours.

While that's cooking I've got more than enough time to peel my onions and cut them in half, quarter the potatoes and chop up a little cabbage.  I don't actually like cabbage, but added some because it's traditional and whatnot.  I added my potatoes, onions and cabbage (and should have added the carrots but forgot!) about an hour before the meat was done cooking. 

Next time I'll add them closer to 2 hours before because I didn't think they were done enough after one hour and ended up leaving them in longer.

When the meat is done cooking, pull it out of the crock pot and let it rest for 10 minutes before slicing it. 

Then pile some onto your plate along with everything left in the crockpot and enjoy!  Seriously, that's it!  Easy, right?

It came out super delicious.  I was worried initially that everything would taste like beer, but it didn't (good news for those of us who don't actually like beer!).  Next time I'm going to put the remaining liquid in another pot to reduce and thicken it after everything is done cooking.  The sauce was fabulous but very thin, so this would make it that much better.

With a recipe this simple, you won't even need the Luck o' the Irish to ensure a festive and tasty meal!