Corned Beef and Cabbage with Root Vegetables and Horseradish Sauce

Step 3 Chop and boil veggies

Chop the vegetables into roughly equally-sized chunks. The turnips and rutabagas are usually good cut into 8 or 12 pieces; the carrots 4 or 6. The cabbage will remain intact if you leave the stem on; just trim the end of it, then cut the cabbage in half through the stem. Place the cut half face down, and cut into 3-4 wedges such that each is held together by the stem.

You can boil them in one go or in batches. I boiled all the root vegetables together, which took about 15 minutes; stab them with a fork or knife to check doneness. The cabbage only takes about 5 minutes, so I cooked it last. Your time will vary according to the volume and initial temperature of your broth and veggies, so trust your fork instead of a timer.

If you're cooking the vegetables in batches, use a slotted spoon to scoop them out between batches, leaving as much of the broth and seasoning as possible in the pot.