This was exactly what I was going for: a simple, delicious red potato dish to accompany our Saint Patrick’s Day corned beef and cabbage dinner. Easy, right? I’ve done it before many times – blind folded and with one arm tied behind my back. I mean, I’m part Irish, for shamrock’s sake! Who can screw this dish up?

Me.

How you ask? Well, in defense of myself, here are my reasons:

1. The searing pain in my sinuses woke me at 2:30 am  – darn cold.
2. While waiting for the drugs to kick in I laid awake thinking of all the things I needed to do at work. Which kept me up until 7 am.
3. Due to lack of sleep (I’m an 8-9 hour a night girl) and stress, my sinus headache turned migraine.
4. My migraine medicine makes me a bit loopy

So, when my friend brought over his new girlfriend I set the potatoes in the steamer, placed them in the pot with a bit of water, and turned the stove on.

And forgot to set a timer.

We cracked open the fabulous bottle of Ridge, filled our glasses (much needed after the day I’d had!) and got to know one another. Around 30 minutes later – far too long for a pot to go on medium-high with an inch of water in it – I smelled smoked.

Craaaaaaaaaaap!!!

I ran to the kitchen, opened the lid and my hair flew back from the blast of smoke that burst forth. “My Le Creuset!” I cried. My friend opened the windows, my cat scurried to smoke-free safety upstairs, and Allison (the new girlfriend) grinned.

“You’re going to do an exposé on the Foodista writer, aren’t you?” I whimpered, tail between my legs.

So I’m outing myself. I’m not perfect. Now you know.

At least the corned beef was good.

Note: That was total fiction. Well, at least the part about Allison grinning at me. She was, in fact, completely sympathetic and the perfect guest. All the rest, unfortunately, remains shamefully true.

Marybeth shows us how it’s done here:

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On the eve of Saint Patrick’s Day, in order to miss the crazy crowds drunk on green beer (are we officially old!?), our friend kindly opted to prepare us a delicious, nay splendid, Irish-American boiled dinner.

This was not a throw-together dinner; this was cooked on the stove all day with loving care gooooood.

Corned beef, gently and thoughtfully seasoned along with boiled cabbage, carrots, new potatoes and turnips and a wonderful, crumbly, dense as-it-should-be Irish Soda Bread.

The luck of the Irish to ya!

Traditional Irish Soda Bread from Bakingsheet

New England Boiled Dinner from Simply Recipes

An interesting article on the history of Corned Beef in America.

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