New England Boiled Dinner

Most people think of corned beef and cabbage as the traditional Saint Patrick’s Day dinner. It’s actually a New England boiled dinner. We ate most of it before I realized I didn’t take a picture, so I tried to make the leftovers presentable. Traditionally a New England boiled dinner is made with parsnips or turnips; parsnips give me hives so I replaced them with beets. That will work out perfect for my corned beef hash tomorrow.

4 lbs corned beef
1 package of petites carrots
1 medium onion, quartered
3 large potatoes, peeled & quartered
3 fresh beets
1 head cabbage cut into wedges
2 bay leaves
1 tsp peppercorns
1 tsp basil leaves

Cover meat with cold water; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, simmer, covered 4 hours.

Add cabbage, cook for 15 minutes.

Quarter beets and place in separate sauce pan to cook for about 45 minutes. (I cook the beet separately so that they do not turn the other vegetables red).

Add potatoes and carrots; cook for 30 minutes. Remove meat and cut into pieces; place vegetables strategically around meat.

Serve with horseradish mustard and plenty of vinegar for the cabbage and beets. The pumpernickel bread in the background will make for excellent Rueben’s tonight.

© Crackerberries 2011

Red Flannel Hash

So we had a New England boiled dinner over the weekend. You know what that means? Leftovers get turned into a new meal; Red Flannel Hash. Just use all of the leftover meat and vegetables from the dinner. The only new items I added was the bacon and the beets…that’s what made it red since I was not using corned beef which is customarily what is cooked in a New England boil dinner. I used a rump roast.

2 cups chopped roast
1½ cup diced potatoes
1 stalk celery, finely chopped
2 cups shredded cabbage and onions
1 15 oz can beets, drained and finely chopped
1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp thyme
½-¾ cup juice from leftover veggies or beef broth
3 slices bacon


Save about ½-¾ cup of juice that the veggies are setting in when you take them out of the fridge. Combine chopped and diced veggies with meat. Mix well. Add Worcestershire sauce, thyme and paprika to reserved veggie juice or beef broth. Pour over mixture. Spoon into greased baking dish; and lay bacon over top and bake at 375º for 30 minutes or until bacon is crisp. Let stand a few minutes before serving. Good for breakfast with eggs or din-din with Italian bread.



© Crackerberries 2009