Recipes From the Root Cellar_ 270 Fresh Ways to Enjoy Winter Vegetables - Andrea Chesman [124]
1½ cups sauerkraut, homemade (page 84) or store-bought (choose the refrigerated type, not the canned type), drained
Pastry for a 10-inch double-crust pie (page 265)
8 ounces Swiss or Gruyère cheese, thinly sliced
8 ounces corned beef, diced or cut into strips (about 1 cup)
1 small onion, halved and sliced
1 Preheat the oven to 425°F.
2 Taste the sauerkraut and rinse with warm water if it is very salty. Drain well.
3 Prepare the pastry according to the recipe directions. Roll out one piece of dough into a 12-inch round and ease into a 10-inch pie plate. Layer half the cheese in the pie shell. Top with half the corned beef. Layer the sauerkraut on top. Scatter the onion over the sauerkraut, then the remaining corned beef, then the remaining cheese. Roll out the second piece of dough slightly larger than the first and place on the filled pie. Trim the dough ½ inch beyond the edge of the pie plate. Fold the extra under the bottom crust. Crimp the edges. Prick holes in the top to allow steam to escape.
4 Reduce the oven temperature to 375°F. Bake for 35 to 45 minutes, until the top of the pie is golden.
5 Let stand for 10 minutes. Serve hot.
Kitchen Note: Use either thin-sliced deli corned beef (cut into strips) or about 1 cup of diced leftover homemade corned beef.
New England Boiled Dinner
Serves 4–6
The original New England boiled dinner was probably made with salt beef, but when was the last time (or the first time) you saw salt beef in the supermarket? Corned beef was an inexpensive replacement, adopted by immigrant Irish cooks in the 1800s. The first printed recipe, which appeared in a 1936 edition of the Fannie Farmer’s Boston Cooking-School Cookbook, called for rutabagas, potatoes, carrots, and cabbage, as does this version, which cooks the beef in a slow oven for an extra-tender, fuss-free dinner. Substitute other root vegetables as you please. If you are from Newfoundland, you might call this “Jiggs Dinner” and serve it with “pease pudding,” which is a purée of yellow split peas.
4–6 pounds corned beef brisket
2 tablespoons mixed pickling spices
3 thin-skinned potatoes, peeled and cut into bite-size pieces
2 small carrots, peeled and cut into bite-size pieces
1 small rutagaba, peeled and cut into bite-size pieces
½ head green cabbage, cut into wedges
Mustard, for serving
Prepared horseradish, for serving
1 Preheat the oven to 250°F.
2 Cover the corned beef with water in a large Dutch oven. Add the pickling spices. Cover with a lid.
3 Bake for about 3 hours, until the meat is tender when poked with a fork. Let the meat cool in the cooking liquid for 15 minutes. Transfer the meat to a platter and tent with foil to keep warm.
4 Set the pan on the stovetop and bring to a boil. Add the potatoes, carrots, and rutabaga, and simmer for 20 minutes. Add the cabbage and simmer for 5 to 10 minutes longer, until all the vegetables are tender.
5 Use a slotted spoon to transfer the vegetables to a serving bowl. Cover and keep warm. Return the meat to the cooking liquid to reheat for about 5 minutes.
6 Slice the meat against the grain and serve with the vegetables, passing the mustard and horseradish at the table.
Kitchen Note: This dish is far more pleasing when the vegetables are cooked separately and care is taken not to overcook the cabbage.
Horseradish
A handy root to have around, horseradish is notorious for being hard to eradicate once well established in the garden. If you want to have horseradish over the winter, you can dig up some roots after a few frosts but before the ground is frozen and store them in the root cellar with other root vegetables (at 32° to 40°F and 90 to 95 percent humidity). When the ground thaws in spring, roots left over the winter will be in harvest-ready condition.
To use horseradish, peel the roots and grind in a food processor, adding a bit of white vinegar to help with the puréeing and to help