St. Patrick’ Day

American traditions are different than the Irish traditions for celebrating the feast day for St. Patrick.   Irish immigrants to America learned from other immigrants.  The traditional corned beef was brought to America by German immigrants. It was a way of preserving the meat with salt and pickling spices.  It needs to be boiled to remove the strong spices and salt to make the meat edible.   Irish immigrants used the corned beef as an inexpensive cut of meat.  Many Irish dishes are stews or boiled dinners.  Cabbage and potatoes are staples in the Irish household.  The corned beef lent itself well to a boiled dinner with potatoes and cabbage.

 

Traditional Irish cuisine centers on cabbage and potatoes.  Fish and seafood are very common main dishes.  Salmon is very common.  Game, lamb and pork are more common the beef.  Cows provided milk and dairy products are part of the Irish cuisine.  Cheese is a big industry and some of the sharpest cheddar is made there. Beer, ale, stout and whiskey are more common than wine. 

 

Irish cuisine, as cuisine the world over, is constantly changing.  It is transforming from the bland uninteresting food of the past, to innovative, and brilliant.  Gastro Pubs are growing in popularity and the cuisine is catching on throughout the world.

 

We consider ourselves Irish in my family; of course, there are other nationalities and culture in there, too.  I usually make corned beef and cabbage 2-3 times a year.  I usually make it the week of St. Patrick’s Day.  For St. Patrick’s Day I make Drunken Fisherman’s pie, Irish soda bread, colcannon, or Irish stew made with lamb and Guinness (stout).  I usually buy beer to make green on St. Paddy’s Day.  My favorite is Smithwick (ale) followed by Harp’s (beer).  If I go to a party I like to take a cheese tray with several Irish cheeses.  You can find Irish cheeses with porter or Irish whiskey, too.

 

This Week’s Challenge- Research Irish Cooking

 

            This year add one Irish dish to your St. Patrick’s Day celebration.  If your family cannot do without the Corned Beef and Cabbage, just add another dish to the meal.  If you can do away with this American tradition, add a fisherman’s pie or a fish dish.  Fish ‘n Chips is very popular throughout the United Kingdom and Ireland.  If you’re going to a party, take Irish cheeses and smoked salmon or research Irish appetizers and snacks.

 

Tip for this Week – Frying bacon

 

            Start the bacon by placing it in a cold pan.  Place the pan on the heat and cook on medium high heat.  Turn the bacon (the Irish call them rashers) often, cooking to the desired crispness.  Remove and drain on paper towels.  Continue adding more bacon to the pan as finished bacon is removed.  Some Southerners like the bacon deep fried in bacon dripping.  In the olden days bacon drippings were saved and used as flavoring in vegetables, fried potatoes, and fried fish and chicken.  Bacon drippings were added to cornbread and everything fried.  Today bacon drippings is not considered healthy as bacon and its drippings are saturated fat.

 

This Week in Punkin’s Kitchen

 

 Irish Beer Cheese Soup

 

 

     This is a comfort food for e.  It can be served chunky or pureed.  It it is too thick, add more stock or beer.  Serve it with Irish Soda Bread, posted on March 12, 2016.

 

 

 

I left this chunky, but it is great pureed, too

 

32 oz.              Irish beer, Harp’s is recommended

12 oz.             Vegetable or chicken stock

1 T                   Onion powder

1 t                    White pepper

1 lb.                 Potatoes, peeled and diced

1 T                   Cornstarch

¼ C                 Water

1 lb.                 Irish cheddar cheese, grated

Salt and pepper to taste

 

The Ingredients

1.    Add the beer, stock, onion powder and pepper to a large soup pot.

 

It will be foamy.

 

2.    Over medium heat bring to a boil.

3.    Add the potatoes and cook until soft.

 

 

 

Potatoes cleaned, peeled and diced. 
I would dice a little small.

 

 

 

 

4.    Combine the cornstarch and water in a small bowl and add to the soup and reduce the heat.

 

Mix well and let set a minute or two. 
This will remove any lumps.
Stir well before adding to the broth.

 

Quickly stir in the cornstarch mixture.
It will thicken quickly and
continually stir until well blended.

 

5.    Add the cheese a handful at a time.

 

Stir until the cheese is well melted.
At this point the soup may be pureed.

 

6.    Ladle into serving bowl and serve with Irish Soda Bread.

 

This is a strong soup.  If you like beer
and extra sharp cheddar, you will love this.

 

 

Colcannon

(Irish Mashed Potatoes with Cabbage)

     This is an economical way to use up leftover mashed potatoes or to stretch the potatoes to serve more people.  If using leftover potatoes, cook the bacon, onions and cabbage and then add the leftover mashed potatoes.

 

Colcannon served with Irish Whiskey
Salmon and salad

3-4      Russet potatoes, scrubbed, peeled and quartered

3-4      Slices of Bacon

¼         Onion, finely chopped

1-2 C  Cabbage, finely sliced

            Milk

            Butter

            Salt and pepper

 

The ingredients
I substituted canola oil for the bacon.
If you use the bacon, I usually crumble
the cooked bacon and add it to the
mashed potatoes.

1.    Prepare the potatoes and boil until soft enough to mash.

Cook the potatoes until soft enough to mash.

 

2.     While the potatoes are cooking, fry the bacon until crisp.  Remove the slices to drain. 

3.    In the same frying pan sauté the onion in the bacon drippings until soft. 

Stir often and it is okay if there is some
browned bits.

 

4.    Add the shredded cabbage and stir to coat.  Allow the cabbage to cook down while the potatoes are cooking. 

I used savoy cabbage this time

Stir to coat the cabbage and continue cooking
until very soft and reduced in size

 

The cabbage cooked down and ready
for the potatoes

5.    When the potatoes are done, drain and mash them with butter, milk, salt and pepper. 

Drain and mash as ususal

I usually mash by hand and leave it a
little chunky.

Add the milk and add to the cabbage mixture

 

6.    Add the mashed potatoes to the cabbage.  Stir to mix and mash down the potatoes in the frying pan.  Press them into the bottom with a spatula and allow to cook unstirred until the bottom browns a little. 

Add the potatoes and stir to combing
with the onions and cabbage.

Then mash to mixture in the bottom of the
pan and let it cook undisturbed until
brown on the bottom.

Then flip it over and brown the other side.
It is difficult to turn.  Just mask in
level in the bottom of the pan and
cook undisturbed until browned.

 

7.    Turn the potatoes over to brown on the other side.  There should be just a little browned.  Serve hot.

To plate place the dish over the pan and flip it over.
The colcannon should drop into the dish.

Colcannon served with Irish whiskey
salmon and salad.

 

 

Fish Dish of the Week

 

Irish Whiskey Baked Salmon

 

2 T       Honey

¼ C     Cider vinegar

¼ C     Irish whiskey

2 T       Thyme, freshly chopped

1 ½ t    Lemon zest, grated

2 T       Vegetable oil

            Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

4          Salmon filets

The ingredients

 

1.    Mix together honey, vinegar, whiskey, thyme, lemon zest, oil, salt and pepper. Pour over salmon and marinate 1 hour on the counter, or 4 hours refrigerated.


Place the salmon in a Ziploc bag.


 

Mix the remaining ingredients together.

Add the marinade to the bag with the salmon.
Allow the salmon to marinate for four hours or longer 

 

2.    Preheat oven to 450°F.

3.    Remove salmon from marinade and place on a rack over a roasting pan.

Remove the salmon from the bad and place
in a dish for baking.

Pour the marinade over the salmon and bake.

 

4.    Grill or Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, basting once with the marinade or until golden and white juices are just beginning to appear.

Salmon served with colcannon and a
salad of baby greens heirloom tomato
and rainbow radish

 

http://www.food.com/recipe/irish-roasted-salmon-169936

 

Erin go baugh!

Happy Cooking!