Corned Beef and Cabbage Potato Gratin

This is why I made the corned beef.  This recipe aired on The Chew last month as ham, to celebrate "The Martian".  As they were putting everything together, I realized this would be perfect for St. Patrick's Day if you used corned beef.  It's a Reuben sandwich with potato instead of bread, and potatoes are an Irish flavor.

There were some differences between what was on the show and the published recipe.  I made it more like the show, including the larger pan.  I don't know who thought you could get this in an 8" square casserole.

All of the work in this is the prep.  Slicing the cabbage and the potatoes takes the most time.  I did get gorgeous potato slices off the V-slicer, but I'm assuming a food processor's slicing blade would do just as well.  It was nerve-wracking watching the show, with Daphne not looking at her hands as she sliced the potato on the V-slicer without a cut glove.  I don't care how good a cook you are, that is a dangerous piece of equipment.  But the slices are so pretty.

1/2 medium cabbage, thinly sliced
1 Tb butter
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 C chopped corned beef
2 medium russett potatoes, very thinly sliced
1 C heavy cream
1/2 tsp paprika
1/8 tsp pepper
2 C shredded Swiss cheese (about 8 oz)
salt to taste
parsley and chives for garnish

1.  Grease a 9" x 13" casserole (I used butter).  Melt butter in a large, deep skillet and add garlic and cabbage.  While that's cooking down for about 5 minutes, slice potatoes, chop corned beef, and shred cheese.

2.  Taste a bite of the corned beef and the cheese before proceeding.  Both cream and potatoes dull the sense of salt.  If the ingredients seem okay or bland, you'll need to add salt.  If your corned beef is a bit on the salty side, you can skip it.

3.  Preheat oven to 375º.  Add corned beef, pepper, and paprika to the cabbage and continue to cook until cabbage is thoroughly wilted and beef is warmed.  You don't want the cabbage giving off too much liquid when you get this thing in the oven.  Add up to 1/2 tsp of salt at this point if you think you need it.

4.  Arrange half of the potato slices on the bottom of the casserole, overlapping slightly.  Pour half of the cream on them and sprinkle with half of the cheese.  Cover with all of the cabbage mixture.  Top with the other half of the potatoes, the rest of the cream, and the remaining cheese.

5.  Cover casserole with foil and bake for 45 minutes.  This will allow the potatoes to steam.  Remove foil at that time and bake an additional 15-20 minutes to brown the cheese.  Remove from oven and sprinkle top with chopped parsley and chives as garnishes.  Allow casserole to cool for about 10 minutes before trying to serve.

Serves 4-6, depending how many sides you have.  I had half of one of my awesomely huge carrots with mine.


Difficulty rating :-0  (for the slicing)