Classic St. Patrick’s Day meal is one of Willows chef’s specialties

Diana Payne submitted her corned beef and cabbage recipe to OMNI’s March Madness recipe challenge

St. Patrick’s Day served as the inspiration behind Willows Estate chef Diana Payne’s delicious recipe submission for OMNI Health Care’s March Madness recipe challenge.

Corned beef and cabbage is a classic recipe served on St. Patrick’s Day, and Diana prepared her version of this fan-favourite meal for the residents of the Aurora, Ont. long-term care home on March 17, right around the time she submitted her recipe.

It’s a colourful, flavourful meal that Diana is rightfully proud to serve.

She starts by thinly slicing meat from a corned beef roast she then fries in butter. Next, Diana will sauté sliced cabbage, onions and carrots in butter and olive oil until the cabbage begins to brown.

She seasons the cabbage, onion and carrots – which reflect the green, white and orange colours of Ireland’s flag – with salt and pepper and serves the veggies with the meat.

“(I) planned the menu down to the detail, including making a pitcher of green beer to serve with lunch,” Diana says.

Accompanying her corned beef and cabbage on St. Patrick’s Day were lemon cupcakes with green buttercream icing.

Chris Weber, OMNI’s operations manager of nutrition and food service, says the March Madness contest, which saw 16 recipes compete in a bracket contest where votes were cast each week between April 14 and May 6, was close.

The winning entry was a Mediterranean omelette, created by Josephine Goddard at Country Terrace, which won “by a very thin margin,” Chris says.

OMNI launched the first annual March Madness recipe challenge in March in recognition of Nutrition Month in Canada.

Chris came up with the idea to encourage nutritional care managers and cooks to showcase their most-loved recipes and to highlight the high-quality meals served in OMNI homes.

Throughout March, nutritional care managers and cooks prepared their favourite meals, plated them and took photos that were sent to head office. The photos were accompanied by the name of each meal and its recipe.

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