Corned Beef

Corned Beef & Cabbage

In response to the current global pandemic known as COVID-19 or Coronavirus many people have been visiting supermarkets to stock up on grocery items. The go-to food items are typically the ones that have an extended shelf life so we’re talking canned goods, dried foods, grains as well as frozen items. Hopefully you didn’t go out and panic buy, stockpiling toilet. But it would be prudent to stock your pantry with some essential items as we should all be making an effort to lessen the need for public gatherings and do our part as individuals to help lessen the risk contagion. I decided to focus the next couple days on “Quarantine Cooking” to provide assistance to those who may need some ideas or inspiration for their meals. I thought it was only right to start off with the mother of all canned foods here in TT and that is Corned Beef. For many of us, our cooking journey began with making a pot of corned beef and I can say safely that it has been over 20 years since I have made or eaten corned beef so this was truly a blast from the past for me and I tried to keep the recipe as close to how I used to make it twenty years ago.

Ingredients

• 1 can of corned beef
• 1 large onion diced
• 3 cloves of garlic minced
• 3 pimentos finely chopped
• 1/2 scotch bonnet pepper finely chopped
• 2 tomatoes diced
• 1 cup of cabbage shredded
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• 1 tbsp paprika
• 3 tbsp lemon juice (optional)
• 3 tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
• salt & black pepper to taste
• 2 tbsp cooking oil

Method

1. Heat oil in a pan then saute onion, garlic, pimentos and scotch bonnet pepper for 1 minute
2. Add corned beef, saute for 2 minutes
3. Add tomatoes, paprika, tomato paste, lemon juice and Worcestershire Sauce then saute for 2 minutes
4. Season with salt and pepper to taste
5. Add shredded cabbage, combine well then cover and allow to simmer on medium to low heat for 10 minutes
6. Deglaze with water if corned beef becomes too dry
7. Enjoy with rice or spaghetti or as corned beef sandwiches