for you, you.

if you live in NYC you probably hate march seventeenth as much as i do. millions of snookie-likes marching through midtown (where i'm lucky enough to work) in green antlers leaving a cloud of glitter and lovespell behind them. i had a bad lunch hour, okay?
I've wanted to try to make my own seitan for a while but could never find the time/occasion and constantly laze up at the last minute and use the packaged stuff. this is definitely not winning any beauty contests, but it was delicious! for as long as I can remember, my (very proud to be) irish grandmother made corned beef and cabbage for st. patrick's day. I definitely haven't had it in 10+ years but I can remember it: salty, chewy, slightly funky. yum.
I used a basic recipe and then rather than buying a brining or pickling spice mix i just emptied out the pickles from a jar and used that, luckily I have a man in the house who can somehow easily consume 8 pickles and still eat dinner. in retrospect, i would have maybe browned the "beef" before serving, but it was just husband and really, I closed my eyes and pretended I was chubby 10 year old me basking in the bland beauty that was my nano's cooking.

one recipe basic seitan ( i used his but you can use the premade joint too)

one jar dill pickle mixture sans picks

two tablespoons prepared horseradish

one small head green cabbage

1/2 lb organic carrots, peeled, large chunked

1.Combine your brine mixed with equal amount water in a wide shallow pan, add in seitan and horseradish(my loaf didn't fit in whole so i decided to preslice it) and bring to boil, turn to simmer and cook for about 20 minutes.

2. Add in chunked cabbage and carrots and cook until softened, another 20 minutes or so.

I served this with some roasted baby potatoes covered in dill and garlic because I realize this isn't the most texturally desirable method, but I wanted it to be authentic to how I remembered it. I could reimagine it with seared "meat" and some sauteed cabbage with onions and apples but, really, she wouldn't have done all that. It was a pot of boiled things with a splash of white vinegar. &Let's be real, it was all about the soda bread, anyway.