Corned Beef with Maple Mustard Glaze & Little Salty Caramel Meringue Pies

Main: Corned Beef with Mustard Maple Glaze
The Coles Magazine

Dessert: Little Salty Caramel Meringue Pies
Women’s Weekly – The Baking Collection

“What is Patriotism but the love of the food one ate as a child?” – Lin Yutang

Hi Everyone!

Hope you’ve had a fabulous week because I have. Finally caught up with the grandchildren after not being able to see them for nearly a year so feeling very nostalgic. When I’m with them I love to cook some of the old fashioned favourites I loved as a kid just to see if the recipes still cut it with the much younger generation. Well, I think the verdict is still out on that one but I will persist as time goes on.

So I thought we’d try another version of the old fashioned fave – corned beef. This one was in the Coles magazine and I loved all the extra vegies that went along with this recipe. It also varied from the regular slow cooking in the pot on the stove or your slow cooker, in that the last 25 minutes it is placed in a hot oven with the glaze and the vegies which brown up beautifully.

Placing it in the hot oven for 25 minutes browns up the vegies

The smell throughout the house is mouthwatering to say the least. Transferring to the oven browns up the vegetables and the glaze adds a wonderful sweet and savoury flavour to what can be a rather salty cut of meat unless soaked for an hour before cooking. However, and here is the big BUT…… We all felt the meat ended up a little bit dry. It certainly fell apart when cut and was incredibly tender but next time I will add the white sauce I usually serve with corned beef. The reason I didn’t do it in the first place was because it had the mustard maple glaze over it so I thought that would form a sauce and therefore I could drizzle it over the cut beef. It dried up too much in the oven.

Never mind, that is exactly what this blog is about – a learning process. The vegetables were absolutely delicious and yes, I will do this again during winter and add the white sauce. It still got 8/10 so that wasn’t too bad at all.

Oh yes, salted caramel and meringue – well, is there anything else to say here really???? Oh, okay I had better tell you how easy this is. The pastry rolls out like a dream. The recipe says it makes 8 however, I think my flan dishes may have been a bit bigger and it only made 6.

The filling is whipped up in about 15 minutes and once cooled slightly can be placed into the prepared pastry cases, meringue on top and then in the oven for 5 minutes. (I had a lot of meringue left over). These can definitely be done in the morning or even the day before you need them. They are on my “do again” list. 9/10.

This menu, whilst having two sort of caramel, syrupy type bases (yes, I know but what can I say, I just love the flavour) is a definite comfort food menu for a cool night. Hope you give it a go.

Until next week.

From my table to yours with love x

Corned beef with Mustard Maple Glaze

1.5 kg corned beef silverside
¼ c malt vinegar
2 tbsp brown sugar
2 dried bay leaves
1 garlic bulb, halved crossways
6 whole cloves
1 celery stick (thickly sliced)
1 brown onion (cut into wedges)
2 baby fennel (quartered)
2 bunches dutch carrots (peeled)
6 small parsnips (peeled)
2 small turnips (peeled, quartered)
12 baby potatoes
⅓ c maple syrup
2 tbsp brown sugar (extra)
1 tbsp wholegrain mustard
1 tbsp dijon mustard

Place the beef in a slow cooker. Add vinegar, sugar, bay leaves, garlic bulb, cloves, celery, onion and fennel. Add enough cold water to just cover the beef. Cook for 4 hours on high (or 6 hours on low). Add carrots, parsnips, turnip and potatoes. Cook for a further 30 mins or until the vegetables are just tender.
Preheat oven to 200°c. Combine the maple syrup, extra sugar and combined mustard in a small bowl. Use tongs to transfer the beef from the poaching liquid to a roasting pan with the carrots, parsnips, turnip, fennel, garlic bulb and potatoes. Drizzle the mustard mixture over the beef and vegetables.
Roast, turning vegetables occasionally, for 20-25 mins or until beef is glazed and the vegetables are golden brown.

Little Salty Caramel Meringue Pies

395 g canned sweetened condensed milk
30 g butter
¼ c golden syrup or treacle
2 tsp sea salt flakes
¼ c pouring cream

Pastry

1 c plain flour
⅓ c icing sugar
90 g butter (chopped)
1 egg
1 tbsp iced water, approx

Meringue

4 egg whites
1 c caster sugar

Pastry

Process flour, icing sugar and butter until crumbly. Add egg yolk and enough of the water, processing until ingredients just come together. Knead dough on a floured surface until smooth. Enclose pastry with plastic wrap; refrigerate 30 mins.
Grease eight 8cm round loose-based fluted flan tins. Divide pastry into eight portions. Roll a portion of pastry at a time between sheets of baking paper until large enough to line tins. Ease pastry into tins, press into sides; trim edges. Prick bases with fork. Place on an oven tray; refrigerate 20 mins
Preheat oven to 180°c.
Line pastry with baking paper; fill with dried beans or rice. Bake 10 mins; remove paper and beans. Bake a further 5 mins until browned; cool.
Stir condensed milk, butter, syrup and salt in a small heavy-based saucepan, over medium heat, about 12 mins or until caramel-coloured. Stir in cream. Spread filling into pastry cases.
Make meringue; spoon meringue onto tarts.
Bake tarts about 5 mins or until browned lightly. Stand 20 mins before serving.

Meringue

Beat egg whites in a small bowl with an electric mixer until soft peaks form. Gradually add sugar, beating until sugar dissolves.

Corned Beef with Maple Mustard Glaze & Little Salty Caramel Meringue Pies