Corned Beef – Simply Sundays

If layers of tender corned beef, melty swiss & slightly “sour” kraut slathered with creamy dressing and sandwiched between grilled marbled rye sounds good, then you’ve come to the right place!

Truthfully, I have no idea where the Reuben sandwich originated from. Some say New York City, some say Omaha, Nebraska. Two guys each with the name of Reuben claimed the rights to this sandwich, but I’ll let them both fight it out

The deli that I worked at when I was younger replaced the rye bread with a marbled rye-pumpernickel bread which I love and used Thousand Island dressing instead of the traditional Russian Dressing

For each sandwich, you’ll need two slices of bread, some sauerkraut, thick sliced swiss cheese, Thousand Island Dressing & thinly sliced corned beef

We rarely put the butter in the fridge at the deli, and it made spreading the butter on the bread so easy

So let’s start with room temperature butter and spread on two slices of the bread

On the non-buttered side of each piece of bread, slather some Thousand Island Dressing to taste. Some of us are over-condiment-ers and some are non-condiment-ers, so add as much or little you like

Let’s work on the layers… add two slices of thick swiss on top of the dressing and add at least 3 ounces of corned beef and about 1/3 of a cup of well drained kraut

It’s important to drain the kraut and then squeeze out whatever liquid remains so the sandwich is not soggy

I believe the key to any grilled cheese sandwich is to have cheese on both sides of the ingredients. It kind of glues everything together and is well, more cheese!

Add two more slices of cheese over the kraut, slather some more Thousand Island dressing on the non-buttered side of the bread and we’re ready to roll!

Ah, a thing of beauty. Build another one for a friend, or two or three more depending upon the amount of hungry people you need to feed

Preheat a large pan, over medium heat. I put a small swirl of butter in the pan even though we’ve buttered the outside of the bread

This is an active-cooking-part of the recipe. Meaning, don’t watch a Gilmore Girls re-run or scroll through Instagram…

After 3 minutes, flip each sandwich. Cook for another 3-4 minutes. You may need to move the sandwich in the pan to less hot areas so it doesn’t burn but still gets crisp

Once the cheese is melty and the bread is nicely toasted, remove to a cutting board and let sit a minute or two for the cheese to set

All I know is that we’ve been eating these post St. Patty’s Day sandwiches since I can remember. I almost think I like the leftover version of our traditional Irish meal better than the corned beef and cabbage itself!

Check out some of our other St. Paddy’s Day favorites!

Instant Pot Corned Beef and Cabbage

Irish Soda Bread

Irish Soda Bread Scones

Copycat Shamrock Shake

Irish Lamb Stew

Enjoy!

Simply Sundays ~ NY Deli Style Reuben

Servings: 2 sandwiches
Time: 10 minutes prep, 8 minutes cook
Difficulty: Easy
Print

Ingredients per sandwich

Two slices of marble rye bread

3 ounces thinly sliced corned beef

1/3 cup of sauerkraut

3 ounces of thick sliced Swiss cheese

Thousand Island Dressing to taste

Butter for cooking

Directions

Spread room temperature butter on the rye bread; on the non-buttered side of each piece of bread, slather some Thousand Island Dressing to taste

Add two slices of thick Swiss on top of the dressing and add at least 3 ounces of corned beef and about 1/3 of a cup of well drained kraut

It’s important to drain the kraut and then squeeze out whatever liquid remains so the sandwich is not soggy

Add two more slices of cheese over the kraut, slather some more Thousand Island dressing on the non-buttered side of the bread

Preheat a large pan, over medium heat and melt a small swirl of butter in the pan

After 3 minutes, flip each sandwich. Cook for another 3-4 minutes. You may need to move the sandwich in the pan to less hot areas so it doesn’t burn but still gets crisp

Once the cheese is melty and the bread is nicely toasted, remove to a cutting board and let sit a minute or two for the cheese to set; slice and serve

Tools used to make this recipe

Simply Bamboo Maui Bamboo Cutting Board

Lodge Cast Iron Skillet

NuWave Flex Precision Induction Cooktop

We have always celebrated St. Patrick’s Day with a traditional corned beef & cabbage dinner

My Mom would boil the corned beef in a pot with cabbage, carrots and potatoes

When I started to make my own St. Patrick’s Day dinner, I used the crock pot

Now, I have evolved to the Instant Pot so we don’t have to wait all day for our dinner!

Rinse the beef thoroughly. This is VERY important or else you’ll have salty beef!

I choose flat cut over point cut because flat cut is less fatty and cooks more evenly

The package of corned beef usually comes with a little spice packet, which I use, but I add some enhancements to it. Let’s add 2 whole garlic cloves, 2 bay leaves and 1/2 teaspoon each of black peppercorns and coriander seeds

Oh, and 3 cups of water

Pour the water into the Instant Pot, add in the trivet and place the meat on top of the trivet. Top with the spice packet, garlic, bay leaves, peppercorns and coriander

Set the Instant Pot on 90 minutes on high pressure

Let’s move on to the veggies

I’m using a head of savoy cabbage, 3 large carrots and a large onion

I like savoy cabbage because it’s a little more tender than traditional green cabbage, but either will work just fine

We’re not fans of mushy cabbage, so the Simply Sundays twist on this cabbage is that we steam it in the cooking liquid from the corned beef instead of boiling

First step is to peel off the outer layers of the cabbage

Cut the cabbage in half, then cut a “V” in the bottom to remove the core

You’ll also need to cut the onions into large chunks

I’m using a large cast iron pan (surprise, surprise) and placing the cabbage and onion chunks in a single layer

Next, cut the carrots into even chunks. Arrange in a layer in a large pan and now let’s wait for the corned beef to finish cooking because we’re going to use some of the liquid in the pressure cooker to braise our veggies in

90 minutes later and after 15 minutes of natural pressure release, we have our corned beef

Add 2 cups of the cooking liquid to the pan with the veggies, cover and cook over medium high heat for 12 -15 minutes or until the carrots can be pierced by a sharp knife

Allow the meat to rest before slicing and slice against the grain

Yum!!!

Serve with the cabbage and carrots

And we typically serve our Corned Beef & Cabbage dinner with Loaded Baked Potato Casserole or mashed potatoes rather than boiled. Entirely up to what you and your family prefer!

We also serve this with our Simply Sunday’s Irish Soda Bread which in my opinion, is the best part of the meal!

Enjoy!

Simply Sundays! ~ Instant Pot Corned Beef & Cabbage

Servings: 6-8
Time: 15 minutes prep, 90 min cook, approx 20 min natural pressure release
Difficulty: Medium
Print

Ingredients

For the corned beef:

4 pound corned beef

2 garlic cloves

2 bay leaves

1/2 teaspoon peppercorns

1/2 teaspoon coriander seeds

3 cups water

For the cabbage:

1 head of savoy cabbage

1 large onions

3 large lbs carrots

3 cups reserved cooking liquid from corned beef

Directions

For the corned beef:

Wash the corned beef very well to remove brining liquid. Add 3 cups water to the pressure cooker, place one corned beef on top of the trivet and add in the garlic cloves, bay leaves, peppercorns and coriander. If the corned beef has an included spice packet, sprinkle over the beef as well. Set the Instant Pot for 90 minutes on high pressure and natural release the pressure for 15 minutes

Slice up the corned beef against the grain

For the cabbage:

First step is to peel off the outer layers of the cabbage; cut the cabbage in half, then cut a “V” in the bottom to remove the core

Cut the onions & carrots into large chunks nestle down in the pan; add in 2 cups of cooking liquid from the corned beef. Steam the veggies, covered, on medium high heat for 12-15 minutes or until the carrots are tender

Serve the corned beef with the cabbage and carrots

Tools used to make this recipe

Lodge Cast Iron Pan

Simply Bamboo Cutting Board

Wilton Recipe Right Non-stick Cookie Sheet Set, 2-Piece/>

Anchor Hocking 8 Cup Measuring Cup

Presto 16-Quart pressure Canner