Boiled Dinner — The Sunday Table That Belongs to April

After the family visit, the garden in full April motion. The asparagus is up — the first fat spears appearing Tuesday morning, the bed producing early this year. I ate the first handful Wednesday: snapped from the bed, washed, cooked in butter with salt, eaten standing at the stove. The ritual that belongs to April and nothing else. Some rituals are worth protecting from improvement.

The tomato transplants are in the cold frames, doing well under glass. The lettuce and spinach and chard are up in the raised beds. The rhubarb is coming strong. April on the farm is the month of several beginnings at once — everything started at different times in different places arriving at presence simultaneously. It looks like abundance. It is abundance. It just hasn't peaked yet.

Carol came for Sunday dinner and we talked about the memorial garden. Helen's memorial garden — it's something we've been discussing for two years without acting on, a corner of the property near the lilac hedge where I've been thinking about planting something permanent in her honor. Carol said: this is the spring. I said: I know. She said: you keep saying you know. I said: this time I mean it. She said: what are you going to plant? I said: that's what I need to figure out. She said: come over next week and I'll show you something. She has an idea. Carol's ideas about plants are usually good. I'll go.

Sunday dinner with Carol called for something unhurried and grounding — the kind of meal that holds its own against a long afternoon of serious conversation. A boiled dinner is exactly that: everything in one pot, cooked low and slow, nothing to fuss over while you’re talking about memorial gardens and what you’re finally going to do this spring. It fits the season too, the way the asparagus does — plain, honest, asking nothing more of you than your attention.

Boiled Dinner

Prep Time: 20 minutes | Cook Time: 3 hours | Total Time: 3 hours 20 minutes | Servings: 6

Ingredients

• 3 to 4 pounds corned beef brisket, with spice packet
• 1 medium yellow onion, peeled and quartered
• 3 cloves garlic, smashed
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 pound small red potatoes, scrubbed
• 4 medium carrots, peeled and cut into 2-inch pieces
• 3 parsnips, peeled and cut into 2-inch pieces
• 1 small head green cabbage, cut into 6 wedges
• 4 medium beets, scrubbed (optional, cooked separately to avoid color bleed)
• Salt and black pepper to taste
• Prepared horseradish or grainy mustard, for serving

Instructions

1. Start the brisket. Place the corned beef brisket in a large heavy pot and cover with cold water by at least 2 inches. Add the spice packet, onion, garlic, and bay leaves. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce to a low simmer. Skim any foam from the surface. Cover and cook for 2 hours 30 minutes, until the meat is nearly fork-tender.
2. Add root vegetables. Add the potatoes and carrots to the pot. If using parsnips, add them now as well. Return to a simmer, cover, and cook for 20 minutes.
3. Add the cabbage. Nestle the cabbage wedges into the broth around the other vegetables. Cover and cook for another 15 to 20 minutes, until the cabbage is just tender but not falling apart.
4. Cook beets separately (if using). Simmer whole scrubbed beets in a separate small pot of salted water for 40 to 50 minutes until tender. Drain, cool slightly, and slip off the skins. Slice and serve alongside.
5. Rest and slice. Remove the brisket to a cutting board and let it rest for 10 minutes. Slice against the grain into 1/4-inch slices.
6. Serve. Arrange sliced meat on a large platter surrounded by the drained vegetables. Ladle a small amount of the cooking broth over the top. Serve with horseradish or grainy mustard on the side.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 520 | Protein: 38g | Fat: 22g | Carbs: 38g | Fiber: 6g | Sodium: 1480mg