Tag: St. Patrick’s Day
Irish Soda Bread
3 cups all purpose
¼ cup evaporated cane juice (sugar)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup mixture of raisins, cranberries and currants, chopped
2 tablespoons orange zest
1 tablespoon fennel seeds, crushed or powdered
4 tablespoons super cold butter, cut into little pieces
1 ¼ cups buttermilk
1 egg, beaten
Preheat oven to 400.
Grease a large cast iron skillet or a 10 inch cake pan.
Transfer the flour, sugar, salt and baking soda in a mixing bowl, whisk together. Add the butter and mix briefly with fingers, incorporating the butter. Add the raisins mixture, zest and fennel seeds and mix well. Mix the buttermilk and egg together in a small bowl and whisk well and refrigerate until needed (the key is to have this liquid as cold as possible) Add the liquid slowly to the dry mixture while mixing it with a fork. Once all the liquid is incorporated, gently mix everything with your fingers and form an 8 inch round loaf and transfer to the cast iron skillet or cake pan. Mark the top with an ‘X’ with a knife about ½ inch deep.
Bake for 20 minutes in the oven and check if the top is getting too brown. If it is, then top with aluminum foil and bake for another 20 to 25 minutes. Take out of oven and keep the foil on till it cools off.
Irish Style Coleslaw
It is time to cook up some corned beef and cabbage- it is that time of year. The time has changed and spring is in the air- we are almost there…
So, how does an Indian cook celebrate St. Patrick’s Day?? Well, I wasn’t very sure a few days ago. I was planning on wearing green (which is usually the only thing I do most years), and maybe visiting our local pub for a full Irish breakfast- yum! I will forego the green beer as I am not a beer gal but will devour the rest..
How should I honor the Irish tradition? It is a busy week and I was not up for a very complicated recipe with a big commitment- so I decided to make something simple. I was thinking of doing burgers for dinner and decided on making an Irish style coleslaw. I love a well made coleslaw but usually find myself shying away from it at restaurants. Mostly the salad is bland and old tasting- so I don’t eat it.
I was determined to make a delicious coleslaw and noticed a typical Irish coleslaw is usually made without mayonnaise- although I did come across some recipes with a tad bit added. I decided to eliminate it in my recipe. I made it easy for myself and bought a pack of shredded green cabbage. I looked for the rest of the ingredients in my fridge. I had green onions, sweet red peppers and Dijon mustard. I also added half an apple as I saw most of the recipes included some kind of an apple. I also added some apple cider to the dressing to mimic the flavor in the salad.
The coleslaw was a big success. I made Greek style burgers – yes, I know that is a weird combination, but it all complemented each other really well. The cabbage was delicious with the tangy dressing, the apple provided a delicious crunch and the green onions and red pepper were just right.. enjoy!
read more …
St. Patrick’s Day Celebration with Green Mini Cupcakes
My daughter’s class is having a mini celebration for St. Patrick’s day with green bagels, green grapes and green juice. As I was volunteering to send some Irish butter, my daughter expressed her disappointment about not having some green cupcakes for St. Patty’s day. So, of course as a responsible (and gullible) Mom, I volunteered to bake some. She was overjoyed as we decided to check with the teacher first.
Once we found out it was a go- I started looking at recipes online. There was one in Martha Stewart’s site that looked good. I decided on making the mini ones- no reason for 23 kids to be running around with tons of sugar in their bodies.
The recipe was enough to make two batches of 24 mini cupcakes. I didn’t have two of the same 24 cupcake pans so I decided to make 24 mini and 6 regular sized cupcakes. That way the two teachers can have regular sized ones. I used my usual white whole wheat flour, evaporated cane sugar and extra light olive oil. If you want to use butter instead- one cup is equivalent to 2 sticks. I also added zest of a Meyer lemon to give the cupcakes some extra flavor. If you don’t have a Meyer lemon, use a lemon or an orange instead. The frosting was delicious with cream cheese, vanilla extract and the butter- yes, I used butter in here- there is really no substitute for it in frosting. Overall the cupcakes looked beautiful with the bright green sugar on top.
St. Patrick’s Day reminds me of my all time favorite vacation to Ireland. It is the most beautiful country with super friendly people I have ever been to. We flew into Shannon and stayed in a beautiful town called Dingle. It is a gorgeous little town that has the most amazing restaurants and vistas. We ate amazing food and for someone who is not a beer gal, I drank it with every meal. I feel the urge to go back every year around this time as I hear tourism ads on the radio to Ireland and feel the weather changing.
I guess I will look at the green cupcakes and think of the gorgeous landscape in the beautiful country, Ireland. Happy St. Patrick’s Day to all of you!!!
read more …