Week 11: Under Cover Corned Beef & Cabbage Soup

In the spirit of St. Patrick's Day, I decided to make corned beef and cabbage soup. The recipe calls for the soup to be baked in a small dish and backed with a cover of puff pastry, sort of like a pot pie. And for this rainy, stressful work week, nothing like some pot pie comfort food.

This story begins with me wondering around Nob Hill trying to figure out exactly what corned beef is and how to buy it. I ended up at Nob Hill because I saw from their weekly add that all their St. Patty's day fair was on special. Only, I didn't realize that there is corned beef you cook and corned beef in the deli. I figured the recipe called for the deli corned beef, but at $10.99 a pound (and I needed 2 pounds), I decided to buy and cook a corned beef brisket. This definitely saved me some money, but added about 3 hours of cooking time. The good news is the corned beef and the soup was delicious and I can't imagine changing a thing!

I ended up cooking the beef the night before. There wasn't much to it. I placed the whole brisket and accompanying seasoning in a pot, covered with water and boiled for 2.5 hours, or 1 hour per pound. I didn't realize the roast shrinks down quite a bit, so next time (and I WILL make this again) I will buy an extra pound or two if uncooked. I'm not sure the weight of the brisket after cooking, but I think I could have had more corned beef in the finished soup. Once the brisket was cooled, I refrigerated overnight until it was soup time. The puff pastry should also be defrosted overnight.

The next day, I prepped all the veggies by dicing the onion, chopping the cabbage to pieces 1/2-inch wide by an inch long and cubing the potatoes to 1/2-inch cubes. Although that sounds easy, at some point, I suffered my first soup wound: a cut on the thumb. But after some pressure and a Raider band-aide, I was back to chopping.

The first step was to cook about 5 slices of bacon in a big pot. Once crisp, I removed the bacon and chopped in small pieces. In the same pan with the bacon drippings, I sauteed the onions for a few minutes then added the cabbage and potatoes and simmered for about 3 more minutes. I then added the broth and mustard and let simmer for 20 minutes. After simmering, I added the corned beef and let cool. The soup at this point was already very good. I added ground pepper, but no additional salt was needed with the bacon and corned beef.

While the soup simmered, I prepared the pastry tops. I was a little nervous about this having never worked with puff pastry, but it was really easy. I floured the table, unfolded the puff pastry and used a bowl about an inch wider than my ramekins to cut circles. I used a butter knife to cut 1/2-inch holes in the middle of the tops for the steam to escape while baking. I prepared an egg glaze by whisking an egg with 1 teaspoon cold water and brushed one side of the pastry tops with the egg glaze.

Next, I filled the ramekins within 1/2 an inch from the top. I covered with the pastry tops, egg side down and tightly pressed the pastry dough to the outside of the ramekins with a fork. By this time, I was super hungry and I was thinking I would skip the hour of refrigeration the recipe was calling for next, but I came to my senses and realized those directions are probably there for a reason, so I compromised and put 8 ramekins in the freezer for 20 minutes. I purposely left 2 out of the freezer, just to see what would happen, knowing that I had plenty, just in case. I baked the ramekins on a cookie sheet for 20 minutes at 400 degrees. Glad I did refrigerate because once baked the pastry dough on the other ramekins shrunk up. So my advice to you is to use my 20 minute freezer trick or refrigerate (covered with plastic wrap) for the advised 1 to 4 hours. See the picture on the right for the non-refrigerated bowls.

And then, eat Under Cover Corned Beef & Cabbage Soup. Delish! The family also loved the soup, the only negative feedback were that the ramekins were too small and I'd have to agree. A bigger portion would make this soup even better!





Ingredients
5-7 bacon slices / $5.69 / Nob Hill
1 chopped onion / from home
1 small green cabbage / 3lbs @ $0.99 = $1.04 / Nob Hill
2 pounds russet potatoes / $0.89/lb = $2.85
6 cups chicken broth/ from home
2 tablespoons whole-grain dijon mustard / $1.78 / Trader Joe's
2-3 pounds corned beef brisket / $6.11/ Safeway
salt / from home
pepper / from home
One 17.3 ounce package frozen puff pastry / $5.39
1 large egg / from home
8-12 1-cup ramekins / 3 @ 4 for $3.99 = $11.97 / TJ Max Home

Prep Time: 20 minutes, plus 1 hr refrigeration,
Cook time: 40 minuets, plus 2-3 hours corned beef cook time
Servings: 8
Taste: 5
Prep: medium easy
Cost: $22.86 (not counting ramekins)