Hearty Irish fare

I can't believe it is well over a week since St Patricks Day.



This year, there was eight for dinner. Everyone arrived wear something green - it was fun night. The kids were sooo excited to have their grandparents over for dinner. I realised it had been a while, we must do it again soon.



It was an Irish feast to be sure.

On one of our hottest days and a rare day of full sunshine, I was committed to the kitchen. I didn't mind, it is my favourite place to be. Here was the menu for the night.

Parmesan Cheese Biscuits (with drinks)

Beef Braised in Guinness
Dublin Coddle
Colcannon
Baked Onions
Steamed Broccoli and Asparagus
Soda Bread

Ballymaloe Apple Cake 
Spiced Apple and Walnut Cake 

Homemade Baileys



While I travelled through Ireland for over a month when I was in my twenties, I never got the chance to eat in an Irish home. However Grandma and Grandpa have visited Ireland many times and have stayed with their Irish relatives. My mother-in-law told me that there is always a big bowl of mashed potatoes on the table no matter what. Even if there is colcannon or champ or roasted potatoes or soda bread there is also, always a bowl of plain mashed potatoes. I guess I will be doing that next year.

My grandfather's father was Irish, he died in France in World War 1, not a lot (read: pretty much nothing) is known about his family. But I have always enjoyed celebrating St Patrick's Day, thinking about our unknown ancestors, the lives they lived and the foods they could have eaten.

I bought this book 15 years ago while living overseas, while I do vary my St Patricks Day dinners from year to year, a firm favourite are the recipes from this book, that I will share here today. This is the meal that I cooked for my husband on our very first St Patricks Day together, just us, in our first home, by candlelight, with way to much food for two. I remember the night like it was yesterday.



Beef Braised with Guinness

serves 6-8

• 200 grams prunes (pitted and left whole)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1.5 kilograms chuck beef (cut into 5cm cubes)
• 1 onion (diced)
• 450 grams carrots (cut into fingers)
• 6 garlic cloves (peeled but left whole)
• 2 tablespoons plain flour
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 750 ml Guinness
• 1 bouquet garni (3 bay leaves, 2 sprigs rosemary, thyme, parsley, and 3 strips of orange peel)
• salt and pepper

Start this recipe the day before. Soak the prunes in water overnight. Drain before using them in the casserole.

Preheat oven to 150 degrees. Heat the oil in a heavy based casserole and seal the meat on all sides. You may need to do this in two batches. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside. Add the onion, carrots and garlic and let them begin to colour before sprinkling them with the flour. Add the tomato paste and then return the meat to the pot. Slowly pour in the Guinness, stirring as you do, allowing the liquid to thicken. Bury the bouquet garni in the liquid and bring to the boil. Season to taste and transfer into the oven. Cook for 1 1/2 hours. After this time, add the prunes and return to the oven. Continue to cook for another 30 minutes or until the meat is tender. Remove the bouquet garni and serve immediately.

Colcannon

serves 6-8

• 1 kilogram green cabbage (finely shredded)
• 2 leeks (rinsed well and finely diced)
• 150-300 ml milk
• 1 kilogram potatoes (peeled and roughly chopped)
• salt and pepper
• a pinch of grated nutmeg
• 125 grams butter (melted)

Simmer the cabbage and leeks in just enough milk to cover. Cook until soft. Boil the potatoes until tender, then drain and mash them. Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg. Add the cabbage, leek and milk mixture to the potatoes and mix well. Place the mixture into a deep serving bowl and make a well in the centre. Pour in the melted butter. Serve the vegetables with spoonfuls of butter.

I actually didn't know this, but according to my book the Irish make this with kale. Kale has only recently appeared on the shelves here in Queensland. I might try this again during the cooler months. I only discovered kale last year and I love it!




Baked Onions

• allow 1 large onion per person

to serve 

• butter
• salt

Preheat oven to 150 degrees. Trim the bases of the onions, if necessary, so that they will stand upright, but do not peel them. Stand the onions in a roasting tin and pour in about 1 inch of hot water. Bake for 2 hours. Serve the onions in their skins with butter and salt.

This is the same time and temperature as the Beef Braised with Guinness. So if you are serving them together they are cooked at the same time.


I will post a few more recipes tomorrow. One of the apples cakes was not nice and I didn't end up serving it on the night. I can't put my finger on what went wrong. But I just didn't like it. How can apple cake not taste good? The other apple cake was this one, actually a dutch apple cake that has been baked at the Ballymaloe Cooking School in Ireland for years.

Do you celebrate St Patrick's Day? I'd love to know what you cook?

What is your favourite Irish food?

Pastitsio

Weekday dinners in our house have been kept fairly simple over the last couple of weeks. 

With the weather already very warm (summers here!), and a garden overflowing with fresh salad greens, there has been limited cooking. A lot of grilled chicken, barbecued meat or quiches all served with a giant 'help yourself salad' salad. 

Last night I made another old favourite, pastitso (pah-STEET-see-oh), a good alternative to lasagne or moussaka. Served again with a big salad, picked fresh from the garden while the sun set. 

And great news, I don't have to cook at all tonight - there are heaps of leftovers!







Pastitsio  

serves 8  

• 500 grams penne  
• 4 tablespoons olive oil  
• 1 onion (diced)
• 2 cloves garlic (crushed)  
• 750 grams lamb or beef mince  
• 1 x 445 gram tinned tomatoes
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1/2 cup white wine  
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano  
• 1 bay leaf
• salt and pepper
 
bechamel sauce

• 2 tablespoons butter  
• 1/2 cup flour
• 3 cups milk
• pinch of nutmeg  
• 1 egg (lightly beaten)

• 1 tablespoon breadcrumbs
• 3/4 cup parmesan cheese (grated)

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Grease a large (24x38cm) baking dish. Cook the penne in boiling water until just cooked. While this is cooking, make the meat sauce. 

In a large pot gently sauté the onion and garlic. Add the meat and cook on a high heat until the meat has browned. Add the tomatoes, tomato paste, white wine, cinnamon, oregano, bay leaf and season with salt and pepper to taste. Bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 2o minutes. 

To make the bechamel sauce: In a saucepan, melt the butter and stir in the flour. Gradually add the milk, and stir slowly until thickened. Add the nutmeg and season with salt and pepper. When the sauce has cooled slightly, stir through the beaten egg. 

To assemble the pastitsio, sprinkle the bottom of the baking dish with the breadcrumbs. Spread over half of the penne and cover with the meat sauce. Then spread over the remaining penne and cover with the bechamel sauce. Sprinkle with parmesan and bake for 45- 50 minutes. Leave to sit for 10 minutes before cutting.

Spooky Halloween Dinner

New traditions have been started in this house. Our spooky dinner on Halloween is one that we hosted for the first time last year and again earlier this week . I know for sure, that I will be cooking the same food next year, so I thought I'd better write it down.

My children have been talking about spooky food for over a month. There was no way we were having Halloween without goblin pies and bandaged fingers.

Here is our 'Spooky Dinner' menu

• sticky bat wings
• bandaged fingers or severed fingers
• slime pie
• goblin pies with blood sauce
• ribcage potatoes
• salad

• witches brew with shrunken heads
• murky merlot and queasy reisling

• mud cake
• eyeball jellies
• snakes in slime

Today I give you the recipes for our main meal.



Sticky Bat Wings

Honey and Soy Chicken Marinade

serves 6 - 8
 
• 1.8 kilograms chicken pieces (use chicken wings to make bat wings)

for the marinade

• 2 tablespoons honey
• 2 tablespoons dark soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons light soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons sweet chilli sauce
• 2 tablespoons tomato ketchup
• 2 tablespoons sesame seeds (optional)
 
Mix all of the marinade ingredients together and marinate the chicken pieces overnight.

To make bat wings, preheat the oven to 200 degrees and bake for 35 minutes. If you are using this marinade for other chicken pieces, I suggest that you cook drumsticks and thighs (with bones) for 45 - 55 minutes. If you are marinating chicken breasts or chicken thigh fillets I would cook them on the barbecue.
 


Bandaged Fingers

serves 4 - 6

• 12 chipolata sausages
• 3 tortillas (cut into 1 inch wide strips)
• tomato ketchup

Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Oil a baking tray. Lay the sausages onto the tray and cook in the oven for 20 minutes. To serve, wrap the end of each sausage with a strip of tortilla and dollop a drop of tomato ketchup onto the other end.

This year we served severed fingers because I forgot to buy the tortillas.




Slime Pie

Spanakopita

serves 6-8

• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 leeks (chopped)
• 1 cup shallots (chopped – include some of the green tops)
• 800 grams spinach or silverbeet (chopped)
• 1 cup dill (chopped)
• 1 cup flat-leaf parsley (chopped)
• 1/2 teaspoons ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
• salt and pepper
• 400 grams feta cheese (or 200 grams feta and 200 grams ricotta - crumbled)
• 4 eggs (lightly beaten)
• 16 sheets filo pastry
• 250 grams butter (melted)

Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Grease a 30 x 18cm baking dish. Heat the oil in a large pot and gently sauté the leeks and shallots until soft. Stir in the spinach and stir until wilted. Cover and cook for 5 minutes. Add the dill, parsley, nutmeg, cumin, salt and pepper. Cook uncovered for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the most of the liquid has evaporated and the spinach begins to stick to the pan. Remove from the heat and cool to room temperature. Stir in the eggs and feta.

Line the baking dish with 8 sheets of filo pastry, brushing each sheet with melted butter. Spoon in the spinach and feta mixture. Top with the remaining layers of filo pastry, once again, brushing each sheet with butter. Finish by brushing the top with butter. Cut a small slit into the top of the pastry and bake for 40 – 45 minutes until golden brown.
 


Goblin Face Pies with Blood Sauce

Mini Meat Pies

makes 16

for the filling

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 onion (finely diced)
• 1 garlic clove (crushed)
• 500 grams mince
• 150 grams mushrooms (finely chopped)
• 1/2 cup red wine
• 1/2 cup beef stock
• 1 tablespoon worcestershire sauce
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1 bay leaf
• salt and pepper
• 1 tablespoon cornfour
• 2 tablespoons water

for the pastry

• 5 sheets of store-bought shortcrust pastry (thawed)
• 1 egg (lightly beaten)

to serve

• tomato ketchup

Preheat oven to 180 degrees and oil muffin trays. Heat the oil in heavy based pot and gently saute the onions until tender. Add the garlic and then the beef mince and mushrooms. Cook until brown. Add the red wine, beef stock, worcestershire sauce, tomato paste, bay leaf and season to taste. Bring to the boil, cover and reduce the heat to simmer for 20 minutes. In a cup, mix the cornflour and water until well combined. Add to the mince mixture and increase the heat. Stir through and cook until thickened. Remove from the heat and allow to cool completely.

Use a small plate or cup to cut around for to make the pie shells. Line the muffin trays with the cut pastry and fill with the cooled meat filling. Using a smaller cup template, cut out the lids of the pies. Use a paring knife to cut out the eyes and mouths of the lids. Top each pie with it's goblin face lid. Brush the pastry with egg and bake for 10 - 12 minutes or until golden. Serve with tomato ketchup (blood sauce)

Editors note: I have updated this recipe (31/10/12) I found these were a little dry last year, so if you have made them, you might want to try them again. I think that this years batch of goblin face pies (much requested in this house) are an improvement.

Ribcage Potatoes

Hasselback Potatoes

serves 6

• 6 large potatoes (peeled and cut in half lengthways)
• 50 grams butter
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 220 degrees. Oil a large baking tray. Place each potato half on a chopping board, flat side down, ready to cut. Starting from one end of the potato, make slits in each potato by cutting almost all the way through the potato. Continue along the potato, making cuts about 4 mm apart. Carefully place the potatoes on the baking tray. Dot each potato with butter and drizzle with olive oil. season with salt and pepper. Bake the potatoes for 45 minutes or until the potatoes are golden and crispy. During the cooking time, baste the potatoes with the butter and oil and shuffle them about so they don't stick, but not in the first 15 minutes of cooking or they will break up. Serve immediately.

Goulash

I love the warmth that a large bowl of goulash can give in the dead of winter. Meaty, hearty, reassuring. I realise that today is the first day of spring, not mid winter, but I have decided to post this recipe anyway. After all, some of my readers are soon coming into autumn. We have enjoyed it a couple of times over our short Queensland winter.

When I was travelling through Europe in my twenties I met some friends in Austria who persuaded me to do things I wouldn't usually do. Austria to me was: theatre, palaces, galleries and most importantly, coffee and cake.

But one of the absolute highlights from those 12 weeks travelling though Europe was when we went white water rafting. Something I would never, ever choose to do. I am no adrenalin junkie. Two things made that day very special. Before we got to the craziness of the river rapids we glided down a peaceful river as if gliding through a postcard. We sat still, in a tiny yellow canoe on a narrow river of glass. Our boat snaked it's way through emerald green hills dotted with tiny gingerbread cottage farmhouses. Cows mooed, birds sung and leaves ruffled in the gentle breeze. I remember it as paradise.

With the buzz of white water rafting over, we begun our steep climb back up to the showers and to the small restaurant near where our bus had parked. The once shining sun had disappeared behind dark clouds. Unnoticed by us, as we rode the gauntlet of rocks and waves. As we stepped slowly up the hill the clouds grew darker. Thunder shook the valley and lightening streaked the sky. Exhausted, I entered the showers and had one of the longest and hottest showers I can ever remember having while travelling in Europe. When I came out of the shower block it was pitch black, it was 3:00 in the afternoon. I quickly entered the restaurant as heavy drops of rain began to fall and I ordered a bowl of goulash.

I don't need to tell you that was the best goulash I have even eaten. Warm and nourished, I sat and watch the rain pelting hard on the glass wall of the restaurant. I felt safe while the thunder bellowed and the lightening flashed. Safe and happy and full in every way, with my large steaming bowl of goulash.

Many years ago I played around with different goulash recipes to come up with this recipe. This is the closest that I can come to that goulash eaten on that day. I hope you enjoy it too.





Goulash

serves 4-6

• 1 kilo chuck steak (cut into 4cm pieces)
• 1 1/2 tables. olive oil
• 2 onions (chopped)
• 1 clove garlic (crushed)
• 1/4 cup sweet hungarian paprika
• 1/2 teas. caraway seeds
• 900 ml beef stock
• 2 large potatoes (peeled and cut into 4 cm pieces)
• 1/2 teas marjoram (chopped)
• 1 x 400 grams tinned tomatoes (chopped)
• 2 green peppers (sliced)

to serve

• crusty bread

In a heavy casserole dish, heat the oil and gently saute the onion and garlic until soft and lightly coloured. Remove from the heat and stir in the paprika. Stir until the onions are well coated and return to the heat. Add the beef, caraway seeds and stock. Bring to the boil, reduce heat and simmer, partially covered for 1 hour. Add the potatoes, marjoram, tomatoes and peppers and bring back to the boil. Reduce the heat to simmer and cook for a further 45 minutes until the potatoes and meat are tender. Season to taste. Serve with buttered noodles and crusty bread.