Roasted Corned Beef with a Bourbon Molasses Glaze and Balsamic Glazed Seared Cabbage

 

Wow, that's a long and descriptive title for this corned beef recipe!   I was inspired to try "The Pioneer Woman's" version of Corned Beef and Cabbage, from her posting last March .  What reeled me in was her version of seared cabbage drizzled with a balsamic reduction.  I love cabbage, and that looked fantastic!

I've been sitting on this recipe since last St. Patrick's Day. I didn't mean for that to happen, but it was a last minute decision to break from making my traditional Corned Beef & Cabbage (with a tangy glaze).  St. Patrick's Day is just over a week away, so now seems a good time to share this with you.

Here's a nice looking corned beef brisket, and I added the seasoning packet and a bit of pepper. I placed into a 325 degree oven, covered, for about 1-1/2 hours. I decided to go rogue, on "Ree's" recipe and add a glaze...

I whisked some brown sugar and molasses...and some bourbon.  Then, I glazed the brisket and returned it to the oven for another hour-- until the brisket was fork tender. While the brisket was doing it's thing, I got busy with vegetables.  I peeled some carrots, and cut up some Yukon gold potatoes, and quartered a couple of onions.  I drizzle the vegetables with olive oil and season them with a little salt and pepper, and roast them for 15-20 minutes. (This isn't in Ree's recipe, but roasted veggies are my favorite way to prepare them.)

Using my cast iron skillet, I added a bit of olive oil and seared the cabbage quarters (seasoned with a bit of salt & pepper).  Instead of making a balsamic glaze, I use a bottle of prepared balsamic glaze that I've been hoarding storing in my cupboard.

While the brisket was resting, I roasted the vegetables on a baking sheet. The cabbage was put onto a baking rack with some beer poured into the bottom of a baking sheet.

The finished result looked and tasted  a lot different than a more traditional way of boiling or using a slow cooker method-- in a very good way!

Corned Beef & Cabbage (with a tangy glaze)

TASTING NOTES:  Truthfully, the corned beef wasn't quite as juicy and tender as my more traditional method.  However, the bourbon molasses glaze more than made up for it!  In fact, I wish I had reserved some of the glaze to drizzle over the corned beef.  The flavor of the cabbage was really good, and I think that I would prepare this as a stand alone side dish.  I'm not 100% convinced that the beer really added that much more flavor, but I'd use it again... why not?  Roasting the vegetables is always a good way to go. We enjoyed the meal-- and, of course, corned beef sandwiches on rye bread is an added bonus for leftovers. 

As always, a printable recipe card is at the end of this post.

As a side note: While I'm not crazy about losing one hour of sleep for daylight savings, I'm thankful to have more daylight to photograph recipes. Only a blogger would understand that!