Farewell Winter Dinner

With the coming of spring and sunshine (yippee!) it felt fitting to say goodbye to winter and all the delicious, hearty food that goes along with it by making one last warm, wintery meal.

With my mom in town visiting, making this meal turned into an all day adventure that was a lot of fun!

We stopped off at the farmer's market to browse for fresh veggies and pick up the brisket from the butcher.

I made Deb's southwestern pulled brisket from the Smitten Kitchen blog and it turned out phenomenal as always.  I did half the brisket in the slow cooker and half in the oven.  Surprisingly we liked the oven one a little bit better, although it was very hard to tell the difference.  The slow cooker left more of the juices in tact (the oven brisket seemed to absorb all of the juices), and I like to shred the brisket and then add it back to some of juices that I reduce in a pan for about 10 -15 minutes.

{brisket in slow cooker}

{shredded brisket}

To go with the brisket, some wonderful creamy, winter potatoes.  I tried to be innovative and came up with the idea of "beer braised potatoes."

And while it sounds pretty awesome - potatoes and leeks browned in beer - I wouldn't run out and try this recipe just yet.  In fact I'm not even gonna share it, at least until a second attempt is made and some of the kinks are worked out.  It was a very good idea in my mind... but the finished product lacked that certain wow factor I was looking for.

{potatoes cooking in beer}

But my second side dish DID pack a healthy dose of wow!  Roasted carrots with sautéed mushrooms on top a bed of wilted spinach and topped off with toasted pine nuts - turned out to be a winning flavor combination and I was quite proud of myself for coming up with it.

{baby carrots and baby bella mushrooms}

{carrots oven roasted with olive oil, salt, and pepper}

{wilted spinach, roasted carrots, sauteed mushrooms, and pine nuts}

Dinner turned out to be a very nice exploration in winter flavors and was shared with some amazing people.  I'm looking forward to planning a "Hello Spring!" and dishing up some light and sunny springtime dishes!

peace, love, cooking, and happiness!