Irish Potatoes

St, Patrick's Day is an Irish celebration that spans the globe. Today kids will check their Leprachaun traps and everyone will be decked out in green. If you're caught wearing any other color, beware! A pinch is the price you pay for not wearing the Emerald Isle's favorite color. 

The Irish flag today is made up of three stripes: green, white and orange. The Irish are predominately Catholic and before the current flag was created, the country's flag was a harp on a green background. In 1690, King William III's, also known as William of Orange (an area in France, he did not have a perpetual spray-on tan!), largley Protestant army defeated King James II's largely Irish Catholic army. This would mark the start of tensions between the Catholics and the Protestants in Ireland. As a way to acknowledge both groups, the Irish flag changed so that the green would represent the Catholics, the orange would be the Protestants and the white signifies the truce between the two. This leads us to the tradition of wearing green or orange on St. Patty's Day. The Catholics would normally don green and the Protestants orange. I imagine the pinch is a fun way to get back at the orange wearing Protestants.

For our last Irish themed recipe we chose to make Irish Potatoes because they are terribly simple to make and a great little treat. And with a little of that Irish luck, we will have more Irish themed blogs later this year. The goal is to see Eire first hand and bring back some great recipes and stories to share.  If you have any suggestions or requests for what we should see or recipes to bring back we'd be more than happy to hear from you!

 
YOU WILL NEED:

1/4 c. soft butter

4 oz. of regular (not whipped or fat free, better consistency) cream cheese

1 tsp. vanilla extract

2 1/2 c. (about 16 oz) confectioners' sugar

2 1/2 c. flaked coconut

Ground cinnamon

PREPARATIONS:

1. Soften cream cheese and cream together with the butter. 

2. Mix in vanilla. I used a whisk for these two steps because it helped to make it creamy. 

3. Stir in confectioners' sugar one cup at a time. Your mixture will start to get lumpy and difficult to stir. I switched to a spoon halfway through. 

4. Lastly, add in the coconut and mix thoroughly. 

5. Put the ground cinnamon in a separate bowl. Form quarter size balls of the mixture and coat them in cinnamon by rolling them in the bowl. 

Simple and delicious and not prone to the potato blight!

How to Cut a Leek

Leeks are a unique vegetable that grow in sandy soil. Since they have loose layers, similar to their onion counterparts, this sand makes them very dirty so you can't just chop them up and eat them.

First, you cut off the roots as close as possible so you do not lose too much of the white, fleshy part. Then cut off the hard, green leaves a few inches after it turns from white to green. The further up you go, the tougher it is so you don't want to leave too high up on the green. Now you can slice the leek longways down the middle.

Place the leek flat side down and slice to your desired thickness.

Fill a large bowl with cold water and get a colander ready in the sink. Dump the cut leeks into the water and swirl around cleaning off all the dirt. Lift the ceaned leek bits out of the water with your hand and place them in the colander. Do not dump directly into the colendar because you will then dump the dirty water on top of them and have to clean them again.

If you are using the leeks in a soup, you can place them directly in. If you are going to sautee them, pat them dry first in a paper towel. 

Champ (Brúitín)

YOU WILL NEED:

5 lbs potatoes

1 cup milk

1/2 cup butter

8 sprigs of scallions

Garlic

Ground Pepper

PREPARATIONS:

I used red potatoes because I like them better and you don’t need to peel them, the skin is thin enough to use if you want to. I peeled my potatoes and diced them up into roughly 1 inch pieces. Place potatoes into a large pot and fill with water until the potatoes are just covered in water. I am a garlic fiend so I added a heaping spoon (not the wimpy dessert spoon but the big honking one) of minced garlic to let the flavor boil into the potatoes. 

Boil potatoes until they are soft, roughly 15 minutes. Drain water and add milk and butter. Mash potatoes to desired consistency and then stir in diced scallions and pepper to taste.

Guinness Beef Stew

St. Patty’s Day is the one day of the year where everyone is Irish. Whether you are celebrating your heritage or out to enjoy the festivities, a hearty Irish meal is the perfect way to end the day or prepare for a night of drinking! And what better way to combine the two than with Guinness Stew?

Traditional Irish stew is made of mutton, potatoes, onions and water. Personally I cannot stand mutton; it has a specific taste that is too pungent for me and is as tough as old shoe leather. Lamb is much better in my opinion, but you have to be careful when getting it at the store, sometimes they try to pass off mutton as lamb. Lamb is much more tender and flavorful. But when it comes to stew, I am a sucker for beef.

We have a local Irish restaurant in my town.  I once had their stew and was terribly disappointed to find that it did not have one ounce of potatoes in it. When you think of Irish food the first thing to come to mind is potatoes. It was the Great Potato Famine between 1845 and 1852 that drove mass amounts of Irish to find new homes elsewhere. The potato: once it had been introduced to Ireland it became a supplementary food for the gentry but became a staple for the poor. When the Blight came and killed off many potato crops, people started to go hungry and die. The potatoes changed the landscape of Ireland’s people and greatly affect their lives. You can’t think of Irish food today without looking for the potatoes. So my disappointment at not having any potatoes in my Irish Stew made me feel that I could do better.

This past Valentine’s day found Sweet Cheeks and me testing out a new (at least to us) Irish pub in the city, and I decided to give their Guinness Stew a try in hopes that it would be more Irish since the bartender himself was an honest to God Irishman with the accent and everything. So imagine my surprise when out comes a steaming dish of stew with a white squirt of something with scallions in it. I was hesitant at first but my first bite showed it for what it was: Irish mashed potatoes in a thick stew. I fell in love with the idea of mashed potatoes with scallions (called Champ or brúitín) placed in a hearty Irish stew. I vowed to learn how to make this dish and share it with my family. Now I am sharing it with all of you!

Babycakes

YOU WILL NEED:

1 c. diced onion

1 c. diced celery

1 c. diced carrots

2 leeks finely cut

2 lbs beef cubes (or lamb if you prefer, just make sure it isn’t mutton!)

1 can (6 oz) tomato paste

6 c. vegetable or beef bullion (I use Better Than Bullion mixed in hot water, less salt)

Parsley

Bay leaves

½ c. butter

½ c. flour

Garlic

Salt

Pepper

*Using a Guinness Extra Stout will make the stew taste strongly of the beer. If this is not to your tastes, just use a normal Guinness.

*If you buy beef tips in a package at the store, you are going to want to cut them into smaller, bite-size pieces. Not only does this mean less work while eating but it spreads the beef out a bit in the stew so you are getting meat in every bowl. You can also add more or less of any of these ingredients to your specific tastes. We had 5 people pretty much clean out the entire pot with the above measurements. Next time I would consider increasing everything by at least a half with that many mouths because people will go back for seconds!

PREPARATIONS:

I find it infinitely easier to go about making this stew if you have everything precut and ready to go. So first make sure you cut up all your veggies and meat. I highly recommend using the leeks if you can find them because they are very good. When cooked they taste like a milder, buttery version of onions dipped in a hint of garlic. I would love to experiment with them in a leek soup!  How to cut a leek. 

           

Fry the beef up in some butter and minced garlic in one pan until completely cooked. In another pan, start frying up the celery and onions in some butter as well. After the beef is cooked, transfer to a deep pot, juices and all. In the frying pan that the meat was in, start sautéing the carrots in just a little bit of butter so they do not burn. Add the leeks and cook until they are soft. Add to the beef.

Once the onions and celery turn clear, add the can of tomato paste and bring to a boil. Add the parsley and bay leaves (whole leaves are easier to find later and remove) and bring to a boil. This will become part of the sauce stock. Reduce heat and simmer for a few minutes while you prepare the rue.

In yet another frying pan (this stew creates a mountain of dishes!) start browning the ½ cup of butter for the rue. Once it starts to fizzle and the edges turn a brownish color, add the flour and mix with a whisk. 

This is going to create a lumpy concoction. I added a cup of vegetable bullion to thin it out and create a creamier consistency. Add this and the tomato and veggie stock to the pot with the beef. Add the remaining vegetable bullion to the pot along with the carrots and leeks. This will be very thick but do not add too much water to thin it out. Season the stew to taste with salt and pepper.  Bring the contents to a boil and then reduce to a simmer stirring occasionally so it does not stick to the bottom of the pot. Cook for about 45 minutes to an hour.  This is a good point to start making your Champ.

Add a bottle of Guinness to the stew slowly and return to a boil. 

By adding this at the end, it will thin out the stew to a creamy consistency without being watered down or runny. Allow to cook for about 15 more minutes. Spoon into a bowl hot and add some champ to the middle of it, crack open a Guinness to drink and voila! The perfect Irish meal!

Irish Soda Bread

 

If you know me personally, you know that I'm pretty proud of my Irish heritage.  I love all things green, my birthstone is emerald, I even have three Irish themed tattoos.  I also believe no meal is complete without potato.  My favorite part of being Irish has always been listening to stories from my grandparents.  The Irish are gifted story tellers.  My grandfather was known to break into an Irish brogue mid story, even if he wasn't talking about Ireland.  My grandmother, or Nana as we call her, is first generation American.  Her mother (from Cork) and her father (from Galway) came to the US separately when they were teenagers.  My Nana is an out of this world cook and baker.  She says a good Irish woman doesn't need recipes, that they just know how to make everything delicious.  One day she taught me how to make Irish soda bread.  I was never allowed to look at the recipe, but after each ingredient was added she quizzed me on the recipe so far.  To this day, years later, I still have that recipe memorized (though I will sometimes cheat and look at the recipe my mom wrote down, just to be safe). 

So now I will let you in on the Dolan/Simpson/Rowan family secret recipe! 

<3 Sweet Cheeks

YOU WILL NEED:

 

2 c. flour

1/2 c. sugar

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

2 tbs. caraway seeds (optional)

1/2 cup raisins (optional)

1 large egg

1/2 tsp. baking soda

~1 c. milk

iron frying pan

PREPARATIONS:

1. Preheat over to 350 degrees.

2. To really plump your raisins: Measure 1/2 cup raisins in a 1 cup measuring cup.  Pour boiling water into the cup until the raisins are completely covered.  Let sit for at least 5 minutes, then drain water.  Set the raisins aside.

3. In a large mixing bowl, sift together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.  I don't have a sifter, so I whisked them together. If you choose to use caraway seeds, you can mix them in now.  The seeds make it taste more like rye bread, whereas without the seeds it tastes more like a dessert cake.  I chose not to use the seeds.  This is also where you can add your raisins. 

4. Mix egg and baking soda in a large measuring cup.  Pour milk into the cup until the 1 cup line.  Whisk this mixture together. 

5. Make a hole in the middle of the flour mixture.  Pour the milk mixture into the hole and mix together until all the flour is wet.

6.. If you have a well seasoned iron frying pan, you can pour the mixture straight into the pan.  If your pan isn't seasoned, you'll need to grease the pan with butter or oil. 

7. Bake for 50 minutes or until knife comes out clean. (This changes for me every time, so I check often after the 30 minute mark.  This time mine was done at 40 minutes.) 

 8. Enjoy warm with butter! 

Focaccia Bread

When I graduated college, I moved in with my family while I was looking for a job. I got a job working on an overnight shift and quickly became nocturnal (read: I slept 10 hours a day and worked another 10). Being a broke college graduate with monumental student loans to pay back you sort of take whatever comes along first. My youngest brother and sister began referring to me as The Dragon because they knew that if they were too loud I’d come out of my cave (and it was a cave for it was always dark due to the blackout curtains and blanket I added for the extra measure) and growl in what probably would have passed as one of the beasts of legend. What can I say; I get grumpy when I’m hungry or tired. Catch me on a day when I’m both and I’m pretty sure you’d rather take on my mythical counterpart instead. On the rare days when I didn’t have to work and I was conscious at the same time as the rest of the family, I thought it would be fun to teach my brother, then 12, how to make bread by hand.

Not a lot of people think to make homemade bread from scratch but my family loves a good hunk of fresh bread on occasion. Store bought is fine but nothing beats a warm loaf right out of the oven. You can use a bread maker and set it up to be ready just in time for dinner, and I have nothing against bread makers it’s the bread maker that has a problem with me. I cannot, for the life of me, make bread in a machine that doesn’t turn into anything other than a condensed, hard-as-a-rock, piece of something. My mom has watched me do it multiple times, making sure my ingredients are correct and everything is done the way it should be: The darn thing just won’t work for me. This could have something to do with my technology curse. Anything electronic starts acting weird around me and, given enough time, I can break it beyond repair just by staring at it. Some of my friends don’t let me touch their electronics period. Regardless of my curse, the truth of the matter is I’m probably the only person on the planet that can only make bread the old fashioned way. So I set out to teach my littlest brother how to as well.

For Christmas he had gotten me a Betty Crocker Breast Cancer cookbook and we flipped through to the bread section to find something yummy. We settled on Focaccia and set to work gathering all the ingredients. Since the bread needs a sponge, it has to be started the night before. So we set out the flour, water and yeast and let it do its thing. The next night we added the rest of the ingredients and started kneading it all together. My brother took to it like a pro and was kneading the bread as if he had been doing it for years. After he was finished, we set the dough aside in a covered bowl and I tell him now we wait for it to rise. He looked at me and asked me what I meant. I explained to him that the yeast is a living organism and as it digests some of the ingredients; it gives off gases that makes the bread rise and expand. He cocked his head to the side considering this and then looked me square in the eye, “so it’s farting bread?” Leave it up to a kid to break something down to its simplest form. “Yes, it is farting bread.”

And so I give you a very delicious farting bread!

Babycakes

The last time I decided to make this bread, I wanted to try adding herbs and give it some flavor. I had no idea what type of spices to use so I asked my friends and one told me about the Simon & Garfunkel album Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme. He said he figured those spices went together well so we raided my spice cabinet. I had parsley, rosemary and thyme and added ½ tsp of each to the dough. It turned out very good!

*When preparing warm water for activating yeast, make sure the water is between 105۫ and 115۫F. Use a thermometer because if it’s not warm enough, it won’t activate and if it’s too hot it will kill the yeast

4 to 4 ½ cups all-purpose flour

½ cup warm water (105۫ to 115۫F)

1 tsp. Yeast

1 cup warm water (105۫ to 115۫F)

2 tsp. salt

1 Tbs. olive oil

Coarse Salt

Spices (fresh or dried)

To make the sponge (bread starter), combine ½ cup of flour with ½ cup of warm water and the yeast in a wooden bowl (wood works best and doesn’t leave the bread with a metallic taste). Mix together with a wooden spoon. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and store overnight at room temperature so it can ferment.

 

Gradually stir in 1 cup of warm water, 2 tsp. of salt, the spices and some of the flour. You want to add just enough flour so the dough begins to pull away from the sides. Lightly flour the surface of a counter and turn out the dough onto it. Knead enough of the remaining flour to create a stiff dough that is strong and smooth. This can take roughly 8-10 min. Grease a wooden bowl with butter or shortening and place the dough in it. Turn the dough to lightly coat with grease. Cover with a towel and let rise for about an hour until it has doubled in size.

 

Preheat oven to 475۫. Flour a baking sheet and place dough on top. Cover dough with the bowl and let rest for 30 min. Shape dough into a circle roughly 11 inches in diameter by pulling and pressing on it gently. Make sure you are careful not to disrupt any air bubbles in the dough.

 

Poke dough gently with your fingertips to create indents every 2 inches over the surface of the dough. Use a basting brush to spread olive oil over the top of the bread (or you can drizzle it on and use a paper towel to gently spread it around). Sprinkle with coarse salt and either leave bread on the baking pan or carefully slide onto a bread stone.

 

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes until the bread is light brown. Check bread after 8 min and pop any large bubbles that may have formed with a knife. Remove bread from the stone or baking sheet and cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Serve warm.

A Great Bread Dipping Sauce:

Oregano

Granulated Garlic

Dried Red Pepper

Salt

Pepper

Parmesan Cheese

Olive Oil

Mix equal parts oregano, garlic, red pepper, salt and pepper into a small, shallow dish. Add 1 Tbs. Parmesan cheese and stir together. Top with 2 Tbs. of olive oil and stir. Enjoy!