Irish Nachos

Living in the great Southwest means growing up loving certain flavors. When my boys have to fend for themselves, they make cheese crisps (quesadillas) or nachos. Sometimes they come up with some interesting combos! For instance, my eldest concocted this with Wasabi Doritos.

Most times our nachos come out looking something like this:

Kristin's Improv Challenge for this month utilized potatoes & cheese for our base ingredients. This gave opportunity to add another bit of international flair to our nacho repertoire. And how appropriate for St. Patty's day!

We started with a base of oven-fried potatoes. (Recipes all over the internet! Here's a simple one, if you need it.)

We like to pile on the feather shred. (The boys are partial to medium cheddar.) 

I stuck the plate back into the oven so it could get good & melty...

... & a dollop of sour cream topped that.

Next came some slivers of corned beef.  You could use bacon crumbles, if you'd rather...

Sprinkle on a bit of green onion...

...and garnish with finely shredded (raw) cabbage.

Forget the forks! 

Dive in with both hands!

It is that good!

(Now I'm just being mean...)

And here's where I'm partying...

that's how we roll...

Or, “This is the Way we Prefer to Cook our Corned Beef.”

Boiled vegetables (namely cabbage & onions) have never really been a favorite of mine.  I must’ve trained the hubs & sons correctly, because they’re polite to eat them when served that way; but would much rather have them grilled, roasted or sautéed. This does present a bit of a problem when fixing a “traditional” St. Patrick’s Day dinner.

Many years ago (like almost 20?) I came across a recipe on a corned beef wrapper that suggested roasting the meat in ginger ale and then glazing it with mustard & brown sugar. Unfortunately, I did not save that wrapper, so I do not have the exact recipe/proportions.  This was hands-down the very best corned beef I’d ever eaten! With the mustard/brown sugar glaze, it tasted so similar to a honey-baked ham. The meat was fork tender.

Since then, we have tried this many ways (even once with an orange-flavored soda… not good!) with various cooking methods. We’ve crock-potted, baked, and even boiled-in-soda-then-threw-on-grill.  (Here I came across the recommendation to use Dr. Pepper in the braising liquid.) Every time we’ve been so pleased with the flavor and tenderness of the meat. (…and every time I’ve cooked it differently my boys say, “Sure wish you would have used some ginger ale with this. Don’t we have ginger ale? Next time try the ginger ale way.”)

At Costco we found a nice-sized package of corned beef.

(ummmm, yeah -- that does say 11.69 lb)

I stuck it fat-side-up in the roaster and covered it with the ginger syrup leftover from this process, and added a whole can of ginger ale to the liquid. 

Covered the roaster and stuck it in the oven pre-heated to 350°. Left it there for about 4½ hours.

(If I would’ve uncovered the roaster the last half hour, the liquid would’ve cooked down & the fat would be nice & browned.)

We did have to sample it, though…

…and yes! It was sooooooooo tender!