St. Patrick's Day Wine and Recipe
St Patrick’s Day
Chef and Sommelier Alexandria’s way!
Celebrate the luck of the Irish, rooted in tradition
St Patrick’s feast day started in the late ninth and early tenth centuries to honor a catholic Saint that had a profound effect on his home country; Ireland. Saint Patrick passed away on March 17th providing the reason behind the date of celebration. This holiday, celebrated around the world, is a justified reason to lift your Lenten restrictions of eating and drinking to enjoy a day of honoring Saint Patrick.
There are many special events and festivities that are held surrounding this holiday. This year, instead of celebrating in a packed establishment with sub par food and green flavorless beer, I encourage you to do something different. Revert back to what this holiday’s tradition is all about- a Saint Patrick’s Day Feast.
Here is my ideal Saint Patrick’s Day Feast. An exciting and enhanced spin off of the traditional house roasted corned beef with creamy Chianti spiced gravy. Accompanied by rosemary roasted fingerling potatoes and olive oil black pepper sautéed Napa cabbage.
*Recipe below!
No good meal is truly complete without wine! Here are my top choices for the total feast experience.
2012 Tobias Chardonnay
Citrus acidity, creamy, soft sweet spices and notes of herbal undertones offer the perfect accompaniment to the spiced corned beef and the buttery rosemary fingerlings. The lemony acidic finale on this wine paired with the splash of lemon in the cabbage to create a match made in heaven.
2009 Collezione di Paolo Chianti Reserva
This rich Sangiovese has strong smoked and toasted oak flavor with an acidic ripe black cherry finish. The smoky notes coupled with the ripe berry undertones compliment the salty and juicy corned beef flawlessly. Since the wine it self has strong tannic structure, paired with this meal they become velvety smooth. Not to mention the addition of this wine within the sauce add complexity and vibrancy to the entire dish.
My Irish Feast Recipe - Serving four hungry folks
With a cook and prep time of under two hours!
Ingredients:
1 ½-2 lb uncooked Corned Beef Brisket (you can purchase this at any major grocery store around this time of year)
1 small head of Napa cabbage, clean and cut into 1 inch pieces
1 small yellow onion- diced2 garlic cloves minced
2 lb Fingerling potatoes- I recommend a variety of colors.
2 large carrots peeled 1in diced
1 teaspoon minced Fresh rosemary-reserve the stems
½ teaspoon minced thyme- reserve the stems¼ c Chianti Reserva
2-Tablespoon whole grain or Dijon mustard
1/4 c heavy cream
2-Tablespoon Butter
1-Tablespoon Flour
½ lemon, remove seeds
olive oil, salt and pepper- to taste
Method-
Preheat oven to 350 Degrees
Place a large stockpot of water on high.
Gather all ingredients
Start with the Brisket
Take brisket out of packaging reserve spice packet.
Place brisket in boiling water for 1 minute to remove some of the salt **this step is optional
Do not drain boiling water, skim off fat and add 1 T Salt
Place corned beef fat side up on to a rack on a roasting pan add an inch of water to the pan and half of the contents of the spice package stir to incorporate.
Cover the roasting pan and cook in oven for 55 minutes. After the 55 minutes are up, turn up the oven to 375 and uncover. Cook for 25 additional minutes.
* Set a timer!
Start the fingerlings
Blanch fingerlings in the boiling water for 6 minutes, add in the carrots and cook for an additional 2 minutes
Drain contents and place the potatoes and carrots aside to cool
While the corned beef is roasting, cut each fingerling potato in half lengthwise. They should be almost fully cooked through.
In a bowl, toss the fingerlings, carrots, rosemary, thyme with ¼ cup of olive oil ½ t fresh cracked black pepper and 1 t sea salt.
During the last 25 minutes of cook time on the corned beef, (when you turn up the heat) place the seasoned fingerlings cut side up and carrots on sheet tray on the top rack of the oven
Next Focus on the cabbage
Place a large sauté pan on high, coat pan with olive oil
Place diced onion and cook until translucent. (2-3 Minutes)
Add in the minced garlic and immediately add the cabbage so the garlic doesn’t burn, your pan should be hot!
Season the cabbage with salt and pepper. (you may have to add the cabbage in batches) season and stir as you go!
Cook until cabbage has wilted but still retains texture, about 4 minutes. Taste the cabbage and adjust seasoning if necessary.
Finish the cabbage with a Tablespoon of butter, the juice of half a lemon and a touch more cracked black pepper.
Place cabbage into serving bowl and cover until meat and fingerlings are finished.
Almost done! Just the gravy left to do
Place a small saucepan on medium high heat.
Add in 1 tablespoon of butter and 1 tablespoon of flour whisk and allow to simmer (should look like wet sand) cook for 1 minute- add in the herb stems and the rest of the corned beef seasoning packet
Go ahead and open your bottle of Chianti, pour ¼ cup in and continue to whisk. 2 minutes
Then add in the ¼ cup of heavy cream (you can use milk if necessary)
Keep whisking, mixture will take a minute to incorporate and should be thick.
Spoon some of the sauce from the bottom of the corned beef pan into the sauce (¼ cup) and the tablespoon of mustard, whisk to incorporate
Finish with 2 Tablespoons of water to reach a desired consistency, whisk and strain into a serving bowl.
Once the corned beef and fingerlings are finished cooking, remove from pan, allow meat to rest and place the potatoes into a serving platter.
Slice corned beef with a sharp knife against the grain.
Place each component on the table with your bottle of Chianti Reserva and Tobias Chardonnay and enjoy!