Irish Egg Rolls (corned beef, cabbage, potatoes and carrots)

If you're Irish like I am (and even if you're not) there's a good chance you may have had corned beef and cabbage recently since today is St. Patrick's Day.

And if you make large quantities of food like I do, then there's an equally good chance that you have plenty of leftovers (we actually plan it that way because we enjoy them almost as much as the first time we serve it).

If that's the case, you may be wondering exactly what to do with some of those leftovers. I'm here to help!

I usually either just heat them up as is, make reuben sandwiches or chop them up to make hash (I can't stand the hash from a can - it looks and tastes too much like dog food) but it's awfully good when it's made from scratch.

I wanted to try something a little different this time around - and I've been making eggrolls recently so I decided to combine the two.

They came out fantastic. My son loves the corned beef and the potatoes but refuses to eat the cabbage and carrots so I wasn't certain how he'd react to the eggrolls with all of the above in them. I was more than pleasantly surprised when he told me (repeatedly) how much he loved them and that he'd REALLY like for me to make them again.

We used thousand island dressing as a dip which really gave them the flavor of a crunchy reuben.  If you don't happen to have any on hand, you can do what we did and make your own by combining catsup, mayo and a bit of pickle relish.

Keep in mind that you can also make this with packaged corned beef (or some from the deli) if you want to try it and don't have any leftovers to use.  You can also make it with or without any of the other ingredients - don't like cabbage?  Leave it out. Same thing with the carrots or the potatoes. I used all of it but it's certainly not necessary. Likewise, I'm listing the amount of leftovers I used but you can use more or less depending upon how much you have or simply how many eggrolls you want (the recipe below made about 15).

Finally, I use the eggroll wrappers that you find in a Asian market as opposed to the ones that you find in your local supermarket.  Both will work, but the ones you find in a supermarket are far more "bubbly", aren't as crispy and are "chewier".  Conversely, the ones in an Asian market are MUCH crispier, very smooth and have a wonderful "crunch".

These are the wrappers I prefer to use, but any will work

If you try them, let me know what you think!

Ingredients

• 1 pound cooked corned beef
• 1 1/2 cups cooked cabbage
• 3 small cooked potatoes, diced
• 4 small carrots, diced
• 2 ounces Swiss cheese, diced
• 1 small onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tbsp butter
• 12-15 egg roll wrappers
• 1 tbsp cornstarch
• 1/2 cup water
• oil for frying
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Mix corned beef, cabbage, potatoes and carrots in a bowl
2. Melt the butter in a skillet and then sauté diced onion until soft and just starting to brown (about three minutes)
   

   

   
   

3. Add minced garlic and sauté until fragrant (about two minutes) 
   

   

   
   

4. Add the corned beef, cabbage, potatoes and carrots to the skillet and cook, stirring occasionally until heated throughout

   

   
   

5. Season to taste with salt and pepper
6. Remove from heat and set aside
7. Mix the water and cornstarch well
8. Place the eggroll wrapper on the counter with one corner pointed towards you

   

   
   

9. Add about 2 tbsp filling and a bit of Swiss cheese on top of the wrapper
   

   

   
   

10. Start rolling the wrapper up and around the filling. It's very important to wrap as tightly as you can. 

    

    
    

11. Fold the right and left corner to the center

    

    
    

12. Roll towards the remaining corner but stop just before you get to the end

    

    
    

13. Brush the tip with the cornstarch water mix using a pastry brush (if you don't have one, your fingers will work)

    

    
    

14. Continue rolling and then lightly press the edges to seal

    

    
    

15. Repeat steps 8 through 14 until you use up all of your filling (or your wrappers)
16. Heat oil to 375° F

    

    
    

17. Fry for 2-3 minutes until golden brown

    

    
    

18. Drain the egg rolls on a cooling rack with paper towels until cool enough to serve

    

    
    

19. Serve with thousand island dressing or your favorite mustard
20. Enjoy!

NOTE:  You can actually make these and freeze them to cook later. Simply place a sheet of parchment paper on a cookie sheet and put the eggrolls on top of them (make certain they are not touching). Place in the freezer for a couple of hours until they are frozen solid, then place them in a freezer bag and pull them out when needed and fry in 375 degree oil until golden brown.