Day 53 - Corned beef

This comes back into high circulation in winter. We're certainly not in winter yet, but I saw some nice pieces of corned beef at Woolies the other day and thought "oooh, white sauce and cauliflower." That's right, corned beef, the perfect excuse for calorie laden vegetable dishes.

1 piece corned beef - about 1.5kg
1 onion, cut into chunks
1 carrot, cut into chunks
a few peppercorns
2 bayleaves - fresh or dried

- place beef and other ingredients in a pot in which the beef is snug
- cover with cold water
- bring to the boil
- reduce to a simmer, and cook for 1.5hours
- let rest in water while you do the rest

potatoes
- cut into chunks and cook
- blend in blender with loads of butter, salt and pepper and milk

cauliflower
- I cook this in the same pot as the potatoes, just adding later in the cooking process

broccoli
- because you definitely need greens with corned beef. Green beans are also good.

parsley sauce
1/2 red onion, finely diced
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
good handful of parsley, finely chopped
large teaspoon horseradish cream
butter
flour
milk*
- melt butter - a large nob - in saucepan
- add onion, garlic, parsley and cook off until onion is cooked
- add a big tablespoon of plain flour and cook out
- add milk, stirring to get rid of lumps - adding more until it thickens and you get a good consistency.
- add horseradish cream to taste. Season.

* it's impossible for me to give accurate quantities here as it varies every time. But you won't get away with using less that about 2 cups of milk.

DIVINELY comforting.