ST. PATRICK'S DAY IN CHEF G'S LABORATORY OF DELICIOUSNESS

The wearin' o' the green

HI folks, it's Chef G. again, and I'm here with a quick report on how I celebrated St. Patrick's Day.  But first I should make it clear that I am NOT Irish--not even a little bit.  Mrs. Chef G. is not Irish.  My dog is not Irish either.  There are no shillelaghs or shamrocks or leprechauns in my household.  Occasionally, there might be a few bottles of Guinness in my refrigerator, but that's about as Irish as I ever get.

But yesterday I was reminded of the legend of how St. Patrick saved Ireland by driving the snakes out of that fine country.  It's a great story, though not as great as the story of St. Urho driving the grasshoppers out of Finland.  Being that I'm 1/4 Finn, I probably should have been celebrating St. Urho's Day, which arrives on the day before St. Patrick's Day.  Unfortunately, I didn't have any fresh reindeer meat for a proper Finnish meal.

But I did have some corned beef thanks to a friend of Mrs. Chef G. who offered to bring us a traditional Irish meal of boiled corned beef, cabbage, carrots and potatoes.  That was a really nice thing to do and we accepted her generous gift with gratitude.

Now, in my opinion, boiled potatoes are so bland they're not even worth wasting stomach space on them.  And boiled cabbage tastes and smells so foul that it creeps me out.  So I gave my share of that stuff to Mrs. Chef G. and tried to think of a use for the corned beef, which I do like.

I'm sorry Ireland, but that's gross.

I know Mrs. Chef G. likes all those boiled vegetables, but I still had to find a way to celebrate at least one saint who drove some pest away from some country, so why not celebrate St. Patrick's Day with a homemade Reuben Sandwich?  Sounds good to me.

A Reuben is quick, easy, and delicious.  If you can make a grilled cheese sandwich, you can make a Reuben.  Just follow these simple instructions:

1. Heat up a skillet
2. Butter one side of a slice of dark rye bread
3. Put the slice of bread, butter side down, on the hot skillet
4. Place a slice of thin Swiss cheese on the bread
5. Crumble up some corned beef and sprinkle it on top of the cheese (corned reindeer can be substituted for those who prefer to celebrate St. Urho's Day.)
6. Squirt some Thousand Island Dressing over the corned beef
7. Put another thin slice of swiss cheese on top of that
8. Butter one side of another slice rye bread and place it on top, butter side up
9. Flip the sandwich over when the bottom slice of bread gets toasted
10. Cook it on the skillet until the other side gets toasted
11. Move the sandwich to a plate and chow down

Along with some corned beef, this is all you 
need to make a tasty Reuben sandwich.

Lookin' good!

Garnish your Reuben with any corned beef that wouldn't fit
inside during the sandwich-building process.

I must say, that Reuben was so fantastic that I went ahead and made another one.  Then I finished off my meal by making a delicious green beer from food coloring and a can of  Downward Spiral IPA from my local brewery. (It is a much darker green than a mix of food coloring and Coors Lite.)   I put on my best green shirt and green chef's hat and took a picture.  The result is the photo you see at the top of this page.