New England Boiled Dinner

It's not a pretty dish, but it's one I grew up with and I love it to this very day. It's a no-brainer one pot meal that comprises one corned beef brisket, water, turnips, rutabagas (urp!) carrots, parsnips (my favorite) and potatoes. Basically, you cook the living daylights (3 hours, give or take) out of the corned beef then add the vegetables about 1/2 hour before serving, boiling the hell out of them too. It's good old time New England cooking, harkening back to the days when no vegetable was fully cooked until it's been boiled for an hour. Mom's boiled dinner was no frills, but tasty. I made some uncomplicated alterations that zip it up a bit. I use all the ingredients above, but I add a couple of bay leaves, a whole onion, a couple of peeled garlic cloves, a fennel head if I have one kicking around, or some a couple of celery stalks (celery root would be tasty); lemon zest, some whole allspice berries and whole cloves, one star anise, some brown mustard seeds or a tablespoon of whole grain mustard - no more than a teaspoon of anything. You should probably put the spices in a cheesecloth so they don't become a nuisance during dinner. You can add some chicken or beef boullion to the cooking water (just watch the salt content, corned beef is salty), or some white wine - whatever's open. When slicing the corned beef, remember to cut against the grain of the meet for tidy slices, or you can just pull it apart for the stringy look.

Most importantly, make sure there is enough meat and potatoes left over for corned beef hash the next morning.