Happy Saint Paddy’s Day!
Posted: March 17, 2012 Filed under: Treats | Tags: happy Saint Patrick's Day, Irish meal 11 Comments
Here’s some of my favorite recipes from Ireland:
Soda Bread:
4 cups (16 oz) of all purpose flour.
1 Teaspoon baking soda
1 Teaspoon salt
14 oz of buttermilk
(1/2 cup golden raisins optional)
Preheat the oven to 425 F. degrees. Lightly crease and flour a bundt pan.
In a large bowl sieve and combine all the dry ingredients.
Add the buttermilk to form a sticky dough. Place on floured surface and lightly knead (too much allows the gas to escape)
Shape into a round flat shape in a round cake pan and cut a cross in the top of the dough.
Cover the pan with another pan and bake for 30 minutes.
Remove cover and bake for an additional 15 minutes.
The bottom of the bread will have a hollow sound when tapped so show it is done.
Cover the bread in a tea towel and lightly sprinkle water on the cloth to keep the bread moist.
Colcannon
3 pounds potatoes, scrubbed
2 sticks butter
1 1/4 cups hot milk
Freshly ground black pepper
1 head cabbage, cored and finely shredded
4 scallions, finely chopped
Boil the potatoes in their skins for 30 minutes. Peel them using a knife and fork. Chop with a knife before mashing. Mash thoroughly to remove all the lumps. Add 1 stick of butter in pieces. Gradually add hot milk, stirring all the time. Season with a few grinds of black pepper.
Boil the cabbage in unsalted water until it turns a darker color. Add 2 tablespoons butter to tenderize it. Cover with lid for 2 minutes. Drain thoroughly before returning it to the pan. Chop into small pieces.
Add cabbage and scallions to mashed potatoes, stirring them in gently.
Baked Pork Chops and Apples
Flour, salt and pepper to taste
2 tablespoons butter
6 pork chops
4 apples (I use Granny Smiths)
¼ cup brown sugar
½ teaspoon cinnamon
Peel, core, and slice the apples.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Melt the butter in a skillet.
Dredge the pork chops in the flour mixture and brown the pork chops on both sides in the butter.
Butter a large baking dish.
Put the apple slices in the bottom of the dish.
Mix the brown sugar and cinnamon.
Sprinkle the cinnamon and sugar over the apples.
Place the pork chops on top of the apples.
Cover with foil and bake for 1 and 1/2 hours.
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How many pork chops do you use with four apples? I love pork with apples, but potatoes and cabbage leaves me cold.
six. and I use the skinny loin ones
I made Irish Stew and Irish Soda Bread. It was so yummy that I find myself thinking about eating more tomorrow, and I can’t wait! I streamed Irish music on Pandora while I cooked, and I had a ball!
Share your Stew recipe?
Sure. It’s done in two parts. I brown the lamb pieces (3 lbs. of lamb shoulder or boneless leg cut into inch and a half pieces) in a dutch oven in some olive oil. Once they’re browned, take them out of the pot and saute 2 cups of sliced leeks in the same dutch oven you browned the lamb in. Once the leeks are softened, add a half a stick of butter and a half a cup of flour to make a roux. Let that cook on low heat for 15 minutes then add one cup of Guinness, 3 cups of beef broth, and one can of diced tomatoes. Add the browned lamb back in the dutch oven and bring it to a simmer. Cover it and let it simmer for at least an hour and a half.
While the lamb is simmering, roast your root vegetables. Cut a half a pound of carrots, half a pound of parsnips, and a pound of potatoes in chunks about 1 1/2 inches, and spread the vegs out on a sheet pan. Also add 4 cloves of garlic, cut in half, and 3 sprigs of rosemary. Salt and pepper the vegs and drizzle them with olive oil. Toss it all together so that everything gets coated in the oil. Roast the pan of vegs for 40 minutes at 400 degrees, stirring them every 15 minutes or so.
Once the vegs are roasted and the lamb is finished simmering, add the vegs to the lamb along with a cup of peas. Also add a tablespoon of minced fresh rosemary and two teaspoons of dried thyme. Let it all cook together for at least 10 – 15 minutes.
I got the recipe off of food network dot com. It’s the first time I’ve used it, and it’s just delicious.
I’ve never heard of roasting the vegetables before adding them to the stew. That sounds just delicious and I shall try it soon. Too bad every one I know turn up their noses at lamb stew because it’s my favourite!
Outis, the roasting of the vegs really makes a big difference. It not only adds flavor, but it keeps the vegs from getting mushy.
I’ve only recently discovered lamb. My mom never made it because she didn’t like it, so it’s not a part of my history. I tried to make it a few years ago because my husband said he liked it, but when I made it I didn’t like it. I’ve learned that proper seasoning and sometimes marinating is crucial with lamb.
I like to go through the various recipes on food network dot com. You can find a favorite and save it or, what I do is read through several and pick out different things from each one and compose my own. The Irish Stew recipe is almost identical to what I found there, with only a few variations that I discovered through experience that I preferred.
Oh Dak! The baked pork chop receipe is perfect! 😀 I have a version of that receipe for the grill in which you stuff the chops with a sauted apple/mushroom/arugula filling. But I am going to do this baked chops receipe this week!!
Hillary 2012
That sounds awesome.
The cooking time varies based on how thick the chops. If it looks a little dry during baking you can add some apple juice.
I love that pork chop recipe because of its simplicity. I have a pork chop and apples recipe that I just love, but it’s a little more complicated so I don’t make it often.