St. Patrick’s Day Oven Irish Boiled Dinner

Oven Irish Boiled Dinner is never bland nor water-logged. The web is full of traditional boiled dinner recipes, but ours skips the water for a richer, more intense meal.

I had a lot of boiled dinners growing up in Providence, RI. Never really liked them. Too watery and bland for me. And I didn’t yet appreciate cabbage. In my grilling column in the Tennessean a couple years ago Mindy and I cooked the corned beef in a pot and roasted the vegetables on the grill in a foil pan like the Boy Scout hobo pack method. It was fantastic. The roasted vegetables were hearty and flavorful and not soggy or watery whatsoever. Chop up the vegetables, toss in oil or dot with butter, salt, and pepper, cover, and roast at 400 F, about 30 minutes or until tender.  Remove the foil and continue to roast if you want a little browning.

Make a loaf of our Southern Irish Soda Bread to go with it.

Here’s that same great method in the oven, including the corned beef, which instead of boiling we cook in a roasting pan in about an inch of water, covered, ahead of time.  Covered with foil, roast at 325 F. for about an hour per pound.  It is ready when fork-tender.  Be sure to slice it across the grain for nice slices.

Out of the oven, the corned beef has a much nicer look and feel than out of a pot of water.

And the pan of vegetables can include all your favorite roasted roots — potatoes, carrots, cabbage, turnips, parsnips, and rutabagas.