Tinky's Tangy Maple Coleslaw

I’m continuing with my Maple Month theme by popping some syrup into a basic coleslaw. It only gives a TINY hint of sweet, I promise. In fact, when I served this as part of my (almost) all-maple meal, my guests pronounced it their favorite part of the meal.

And OF COURSE it’s green (pale green, but green is green begorra!) for Saint Patrick’s Day.

If you’re looking for something else for Saint Patrick’s Day, I heartily recommend my Irish beef stew, Irish cheese fondue, or Irish soda bread. Don’t forget to wear green while you cook.



Ingredients:

1 medium head cabbage, shredded
2 carrots, shredded
1 cup mayonnaise
3 to 4 tablespoons cider vinegar
1/4 cup maple syrup
kosher salt to taste (I used about 3/4 teaspoon)
lots of freshly ground pepper
1/2 teaspoon celery seed

Instructions:

If your cabbage and carrots are a little elderly (as cabbages and carrots tend to be at this time of year), soak them in cold water for an hour. Drain the vegetables thoroughly before you continue with the recipe. The syrup makes this slaw a little wet to start with so you don’t want to compound the wetness!

In a bowl combine the mayonnaise, vinegar, syrup, salt, pepper, and celery seed. Taste this dressing to see whether you need more salt, vinegar, mayo, or syrup. (It may need adjusting depending on the strength of your vinegar and maple syrup.)

Pour the dressing over the drained cabbage, and let it marinate in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour before serving. Stir and taste before serving, adjusting the flavors if necessary.

Serves 6 to 8.

Surprise Soda Bread

I love Saint Patrick’s Day.

As I noted a couple of years ago on this blog in a discussion of my unsainted great-grandmother, I’m only marginally Irish. Nevertheless, I’ve always embraced this holiday.

It’s cheerful at a time when the landscape in my beloved New England is gloomy.

It’s associated with any number of popular Irish and Irish-American songs.

Some are humorous, such as “Who Threw the Overalls in Mistress Murphy’s Chowder” and “Harrigan.” Only George M. Cohan could have constructed the interior rhymes in the latter.

Others are sentimental to the point of being maudlin. Since a lot of beer is drunk on this holiday no one objects.

I fully expect to evoke tears from the audience when I pay musical tribute to “me mither” during my little solo at our local Saint Patrick’s Day concert. (I’ll be singing “An Irish Lullaby.”)

I also love Saint Patrick’s Day because I look fabulous in green.

And because I love, love, love soda bread.

I’ve already posted recipes for white and whole-wheat soda bread. This year I’m using a recipe cribbed (with thanks!) from Cabot Cheese.

As soon as I saw Cabot’s Cheddar Soda Bread I knew it would be just the thing to serve with corned beef and cabbage or Irish beef or lamb stew.

I have changed the recipe a little, of course.

First, I upped the Irish ante by using Irish cheddar—laced with porter. The marbled cheese gave the bread a gorgeous mottled look. The original cheddar might taste sharper, but this version still had lots of cheesiness. I can’t wait to try this cheese in my Irish cheese fondue.

Second, I switched Cabot’s salted butter to unsalted (there’s plenty of sodium in this recipe without more in the butter—and I say this as a girl who loves her salt) and used Kerrygold Irish butter.

Third, I threw in some caraway seeds. They are often used in soda bread. I find them a little strong in sweet breads, but they complement this savory recipe beautifully.

Enjoy—but eat sparingly. This bread is very filling.

And if you’re in Alexandria, Virginia, Thursday night, come sing along with me and the Montebello Singers....


Surprise Soda Bread

Ingredients:

2-1/2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon caraway seeds
1/4 cup (1/4 of a 1/2-pound package) Irish butter
1/2 pound Irish cheddar with porter (or stout!), grated
1 cup buttermilk
1 egg

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Lightly grease a cookie sheet or line it with a silicone mat.

In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and caraway seeds. Stir in the cheese and blend well.

In a small bowl or measuring cup, whisk together the buttermilk and the egg. Stir them gently into the dry ingredients.

Turn the mixture onto a lightly floured board and knead it a few times, until it holds together into a slightly flattened ball.

Pop your ball onto the prepared cookie sheet. You may cut a cross in the center, but my cutting wasn’t very successful so I would leave well enough alone.

Bake until the loaf has light brown spots and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean—35 to 40 minute or so.

Slice into small wedges (12 to 14).

Makes 1 loaf.

Irish Beef Stew

Top o’ the mornin’!

I know I published a recipe for beef stew EXTREMELY RECENTLY. We’ve been enjoying (if that’s the word) stew weather in the northeast a lot lately, however, so I’m posting another beef concoction for Saint Patrick’s Day.

The Irish stout in the recipe lends the dish a smoothness and a sweetness that suit this sentimental holiday.

My mother and I ate the stew three times for supper. We then chopped the beef and vegetables a bit more finely, added some beef stock and canned tomatoes, and enjoyed vegetable beef soup for a couple of additional meals.

As you smell the stew simmering on your stove you’ll find yourself singing “Danny Boy” (or maybe “Tinky Girl”).

Be sure to buy a little extra stout to sip on the side.

Next year, I hope to brine my own brisket for corned beef and cabbage. In the meantime, I highly recommend this recipe from the talented Michael Ruhlman.

Happy Saint Patrick’s Day to you all………

Ingredients:

extra-virgin olive oil as needed
2 bay leaves
1-1/2 pounds stew beef, cut into small pieces and dried with paper towels
1 large onion, thinly sliced
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 tablespoons flour
1 cup Irish stout
4 cups beef stock
several sprigs fresh thyme (or 1 generous teaspoon dried)
several sprigs fresh rosemary (or 1 generous teaspoon dried)
salt and pepper to taste
6 carrots, cut into chunks
1 pound fingerling potatoes plus a few more for good luck
1 teaspoon cornstarch (optional)
chopped parsley as desired for garnish

Instructions:

In a Dutch oven warm a small amount of oil. Throw in the bay leaves and let them flavor the oil for a moment or two. Add the pieces of beef and cook them, stirring frequently, until they brown.

Remove and reserve the beef and bay leaves, and sauté the onion and garlic pieces for a few minutes. Toss the flour onto them and cook for another minute or two. Add the stout a bit at a time to absorb any gunk on the bottom of the pan; then stir in the stock, herbs, salt, and pepper.

Add the meat and vegetables and bring the liquid to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer the stew over low heat, stirring occasionally, for 2 hours. Your pot should be ALMOST covered. (If it looks as though it is losing too much of the liquid, cover it.)

If you would like your gravy a little thicker, just before serving take a bit of juice out of the pot and whisk in the cornstarch. Return the cornstarch mixture to the pot, bring the stew back to a boil, and boil for at least a minute. Sprinkle the parsley over the stew, and dish it up.

Serves 4 to 6.

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Blarney Scones

I can’t imagine Saint Patrick’s Day without Irish soda bread. I start baking it around March 1—about the same time the lit-up shamrock goes up on the side of the house–so my family can get into the holiday spirit at breakfast each day.

This year we’re eating a slightly healthier version than my usual soda bread, the recipe for which I published last year.

I have always made soda bread with white flour, but my neighbor Mary Stuart Cosby urged me to try a brown version, and now I’m hooked. She suggested this recipe, which is adapted from King Arthur Flour.

KAF suggests using its Irish-style wholemeal flour, a coarsely ground flour that sounds a bit like old-fashioned American Graham flour. I don’t have any (next year I’ll order some in advance!) so I’ve been using KAF’s white whole-wheat flour. The whole-wheat flour gives the bread a lovely nutty flavor.

Of course, the bread would be even healthier if we could resist slathering Kerrygold butter all over it! So far we haven’t been able to make ourselves pursue health to that degree, however.

By the way, I must admit that I didn’t make up the name “Blarney Scone.” That honor goes to one of my favorite grocery stores, Trader Joe’s, which is selling small rounds of soda bread under that name this month.

Brown Soda Bread

Ingredients:

2-1/2 cups whole-wheat flour
1-1/4 cups bread flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) sweet butter, cut into small pieces
1 cup raisins (Mary Stuart suggested cutting them in half to distribute them better; I got lazy and didn't do this, but I think it's a good idea)
1-1/3 cups buttermilk
1 egg

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat.

In a bowl combine the flours, the sugar, the baking soda, and the salt. Cut in the butter; then stir in the raisins.

In a separate bowl or measuring cup whisk together the buttermilk and the egg. Stir this mixture into the flour just until combined.

Divide the dough into two clumps (they will be a little sticky) and knead each one briefly on a lightly floured board until they hold together as balls. Place them on the prepared sheet.

Break the bread for 15 minutes; then reduce the heat to 375 and bake for an additional 20 to 25 minutes, until it is golden brown. Makes 2 small loaves.

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Irish Cheese Fondue

I told my friend Peter I was working on recipes for Saint Patrick’s Day—and as usual he came up with a wonderful idea!

He said he had been surveying the variety of Irish cheeses on the shelves in his local grocery store and suggested that I create an Irish cheese fondue.

I picked up some Irish cheddar and threw in some stout. My guests swooned–with the possible exception of my mother, who is not completely convinced that melted cheese constitutes dinner.

If you don’t have access to Irish cheddar, you may use a domestic variety, but the Irish cheddar does have a different flavor. It’s slightly sweeter, I think, and yet a little tangy as well.

Marilyn stirs the fondue.

Ingredients:

2 to 3 cloves garlic, slightly crushed
1 pound Irish cheddar cheese, shredded
2 tablespoons flour
1 cup Irish stout
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
a few sprinkles of Worcestershire sauce
1 medium baguette, cut into bite-sized pieces
2 apples, cut into bite-sized pieces

Instructions:

Rub the inside of a fondue pot with the garlic; then discard the cloves.

In a bowl toss together the cheese and the flour.

Bring the stout, mustard, and Worcestershire sauce to a boil in the fondue pot. Reduce the heat and stir in the cheese/flour mixture. Continue to stir until the cheese has melted. Don’t be concerned if your fondue is brown: it’s supposed to be!

Dip the bread and apple pieces into your fondue. Yum! Serves 4.

Kay samples the fondue.

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Irish Cottage Soda Bread

I can’t imagine celebrating Saint Patrick’s Day without a little soda bread, so called because it gets its leavening from baking soda rather than yeast. This is my favorite recipe to date for this treat. It comes from a now defunct store in Summit, New Jersey, called the Irish Cottage. Every year the store had a soda-bread contest, and this was one of the staff’s favorite winning recipes.

If you don’t have a way to use a quart of buttermilk, you may buy buttermilk powder in the baking section of large grocery stores. Add the required amount to the flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder, and use water when the recipe calls for the buttermilk.

Ingredients:

4 cups flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) cold butter, cut into six pieces
1 cup dried cranberries (you may substitute raisins if you like)
1 egg
1-1/3 cups buttermilk
1 teaspoon baking soda
green sprinkles (optional)

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Grease a large cookie sheet or line it with parchment paper or a silicone mat.

In a bowl, combine the flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder. With two knives or a pastry cutter cut in the butter. When you are finished there should be only tiny bits of butter left. Add the cranberries.

In separate bowl (or a 2-cup measuring cup) mix the egg, buttermilk, and baking soda. Combine them with the flour mixture, stirring just until the dry ingredients become moistened. Form the dough into a ball.

On a lightly floured wooden board knead the dough for 3 to 5 minutes. Form the bread into two mounds, place them on the prepared cookie sheet, and gently make a cross on the center of each mound with a serrated knife. Add a few sprinkles if you like.
Bake the mounds until they are golden brown in spots, about 35 to 40 minutes.

Makes 2 loaves.

Jan and I wish you a Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

The Orange or the Green?

Katherine Scott Hallett circa 1890 (Courtesy of Bruce Hallett)

A few days ago I decided to get ready for Saint Patrick’s Day. I foraged in the basement for my light-up shamrock (which a neighbor whom I shall not name says makes the house look like a low-rent tavern). I affixed it to a window and went into the closet to pull out green clothing. My mother looked at the green shirt, glasses, and hat I extracted and said, “Your great grandmother would have been appalled.”

Indeed, Katherine Scott Hallett was not a person known for wearing green on March 17. Born in 1860, she died long before I was born, but I have heard stories about her all my life. To say that my mother disliked her grandmother would be an understatement. Mad Katie (as we sometimes call her in the family) had no tolerance for little girls with spirit. My mother was chock full of spirit.

They couldn’t even make it through greeting each other without getting into a fight. Katie only wanted to be called “Grandmother,” deeming any less formal name beneath her dignity. She also believed that the word “hello” was sacrilegious. In her view it was just an excuse for saying “oh, hell” backwards. Of course it gave little Janice a great deal of pleasure to arrive at the red brick house in Clyde, New York, and holler, “Hello, Grandma!” at the top of her lungs. Things went downhill from there.

My Great Grandmother's House (the painting is signed "B. Christian")

What, you may ask, does this have to do with Saint Patrick’s Day? Katie came to this country from Canada, but her family was Scots-Irish. They took part in one of the waves of Irish settlement by Protestant Scots. These settlements were encouraged, even sponsored, by the English. For centuries the rulers of England deluded themselves with the belief that if they kept bolstering the Protestant portion of the Irish population they would eventually weaken the hold of the Catholic Church and subdue the will of the Irish to rule themselves.

As a Protestant Irishwoman, Katie believed in wearing orange on Saint Patrick’s Day to celebrate the victory of Protestant William of Orange over his Catholic father-in-law, James II of England, in the battle of the Boyne in 1690. This Irish victory helped ensure that William and his wife Mary sat on the throne of England, Scotland, and Ireland. It also ensured that Protestants would have the upper hand in Ireland for centuries to come, leading to violence and resentment on both ends of the Irish religious spectrum.

To Katie wearing Orange on Saint Patrick’s Day was a tactic in the ongoing battle between Catholics and Protestants. This battle remained vital to her family long after they settled on this continent.

In many ways, I have sympathy for Mad Katie. Far from most of her family after moving to the United States, she lost her husband to pernicious anemia at a relatively young age. In her middle years the rigidity of her personality morphed into dementia. She became even more alienated from those around her.

I have a feeling that at some level she had a genuine affection for my mother, who by all accounts was a pretty cute child. (Today she’s a cute old lady.) Sadly, Katie was unable to express that affection.

So—what am I going to wear for Saint Patrick’s Day? I hesitate to don either orange or green at this point for fear of reigniting the war Katie kept fighting well after it should have been over for her. I could try to emulate the Irish flag and wear a bit of both, throwing a little white in between. I’m not sure that color combination would do much for my figure, however.

At this point, I think I’ll bow out of the orange-and-green wars and wear blue. This color was originally associated with Saint Patrick; there is actually a color known as Saint Patrick’s blue. Of course, I’ll probably still have to don a shamrock or two.

Happily, I can pay tribute to both Irish Catholics and Protestants by whipping up some traditional Irish dishes in my kitchen. My great grandmother may have hated her Catholic neighbors. Nevertheless, she was as partial as the next Irish-American girl to such foods as soda bread and Irish stew.

I dedicate this year’s Saint Patrick’s Day-related posts to her memory and to the Irish heritage that many Americans share.

Irish Stout Cheese Spread

I have to admit to a secret love for processed cheese spreads. There’s something comforting and just plain yummy about them. I hate to read the labels on the commercial ones, however. So I’m making my own instead. This spread has all the creaminess of store spreads, but I know what’s in it, which is reassuring.

If you want to make this savory spread even prettier, use a yellow Irish cheddar to create a golden dip. A note to food-processor neophytes like me: if you use the food processor, don’t try to scrape the spread off the blade with a rubber spatula. We ended up with a “secret ingredient” in our first batch: red plastic!

Ingredients:

1 head garlic
2 to 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil (for roasting garlic)
salt and pepper to taste (for roasting garlic
6 ounces stout
1 pound sharp cheddar cheese, grated
1 8-ounce brick cream cheese at room temperature
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon Creole seasoning

Instructions:

First, roast the garlic. You won’t actually need the entire head of garlic, but it’s silly to roast less than a head. For instructions on roasting garlic see the “Springtime Irish Stew” post below.

Allow the stout to flatten a bit (you may do this while you roast your garlic if you like).

In a food processor or electric mixer, blend the cheeses and 1 tablespoon of the stout. Add the 1 teaspoon garlic, the Worcestershire sauce, the mustard, and the Creole seasoning. When they are well blended slowly pour in the remaining stout.

Let the cheese spread mellow in the refrigerator for 2 hours or more before serving. Makes at least 1 quart of spread.

Michael's Potato Cheese Soup

Michael (left) and his partner Tony (Courtesy of Carolyn Halloran/West County Independent)

Potatoes are central to Irish cuisine and have brought both joy and tragedy to the Irish people. This recipe comes from Michael Collins, the chef at the Green Emporium in Colrain, Massachusetts, now a pizzeria. Michael likes to serve hearty soups along with his pizza. This one reflects his Irish heritage and therefore serves as an appropriate addition to a Saint Patrick’s Day (or week!) menu.

He warns that the soup is quite heavy; if you look at it closely, you’ll see that it’s definitely NOT low in fat. Serve it in small quantities as part of a balanced lunch, however, and you’ll enjoy it without feeling too guilty.

We tend to think of potatoes as not terribly full of flavor, but this recipe shows that they can star in a dish. It occurs to me that chives might be nice as a garnish instead of the suggested herbs……..

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons canola oil
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 cup chopped leeks or green onions
3-1/2 cups diced potatoes
3 cups vegetable or chicken stock
1 cup grated cheddar cheese (a little more if you must, but don’t go overboard)
1/2 cup milk or half and half
1/4 cup chopped fresh dill or parsley
crumbled bacon for garnish (optional)

Instructions:

Heat the oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the garlic and leeks or onions. Sauté for 5 minutes.

Add the potatoes and stock. Bring the soup to a boil, cover it, and simmer it for about 15 to 20 minutes or until the potatoes are cooked through. Mash the potatoes a little if you see large chunks, but don’t get rid of them entirely.

Stir in the remaining ingredients (save a little of the herb for garnish), and cook for 1 minute more, stirring. Crumble a little bacon on top if you like for extra flavor (and calories, I fear). The leftover parsley or dill also looks nice on top.

Serves 4 to 6.

Springtime Irish Stew

We still have a lot of snow in the hills of western Massachusetts, but I know spring is on its way.

The sun shines in on my bed a little earlier every morning, delighting my cat Lorelei Lee. (I don’t have to look out the window or feel the sunlight. I can identify the exact moment the rays land on the quilt because I suddenly hear purring.) Of course, losing the hour of sleep this past weekend was a little hard on both Lorelei and me, but we love having more light in the evening.

Maple syrup taps have begun appearing on neighborhood trees, and sugarhouses are starting to boil down the sap to make New England’s best known elixir.

Best of all, new baby animals are making their way into the world. Erwin and Linda Reynolds in Charlemont reported the other day that they had THIRTY-ONE little lambs at their Erlin Farm! Naturally, my mother and I had to pay them a visit.

I think my mother may have been more excited to see our friends than the lambs. Erwin and Linda embody the extended meanings of the terms shepherding (guidance) and animal husbandry (love). They have within them huge stores of common sense and heart. My mother is as sensitive to those qualities as the lambs seemed to be.

(Courtesy of Leon Peters)

The lambs we saw at Erlin varied in age between six days and five weeks. The oldest were just learning to use their little knees to leap into the air. One would suddenly execute an awkward jump on all fours; then a couple of others would try and ALMOST manage. I’m sure within a day or two many will be airborne.

My mother and I fell especially in love with one of Erwin and Linda’s “bottle babies,” Bandit. Erwin explained that sometimes the ewes have too many lambs to feed or just don’t come up with enough milk. At that point, Erwin and Linda take over with formula. They have take extra care of the bottle babies since these lambs don’t get the natural immunities that come from drinking mother’s milk. Bandit looked pretty happy and healthy—and utterly darling. I’m hoping she gets to be a mother next year instead of being turned into lamb chops.

It makes me a little sad to think that most of these adorable babies will someday become food. Nevertheless, I’m happier cooking and eating lamb from Erwin and Linda or from my neighbor Paul Cooper than I am consuming lamb from far away. I know that these lambs led happy lives in a beautiful place. (I also know that they were fed a healthy diet.)

Erwin and Linda gave me a bunch of recipes from the American Lamb Board, some of which I’m sure will make their way into these pages soon. Meanwhile, in honor of spring—and Saint Patrick!—here is a recipe for lamb stew.

The recipe gives the potatoes and carrots maximum flavor by mixing them in with the lamb from the very beginning of the cooking. Its drawback is that by the time the stew is done the pieces of potato and carrot have become very small. If you like, you may wait until after the first hour to add them to the stew pot. They will have more integrity that way.

I like a crazy mixed-up stew so this method suits me just fine.

Erwin and Linda with Baby Bandit

Springtime Irish Stew

Ingredients:

1 head garlic
2 to 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil (for roasting the garlic)
salt and pepper to taste (for roasting the garlic)
1-1/2 pounds boneless lamb shoulder
8 baby potatoes, cut in half
1 onion, sliced
6 carrots, cut into chunks
a handful of parsley, chopped
1 tablespoon fresh rosemary (or 1 teaspoon dried)
salt and pepper to taste (I use a generous teaspoon of salt and 10 turns of my pepper grinder)
2 cups (possibly more) stock—lamb if you have it, but beef or chicken will do

Instructions:

First, roast the garlic. (If you are disinclined to roast, you may skip this step and chop up a couple of cloves of raw garlic for the stew instead. I think the roasting is rather fun.) Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Pull the outside skin off the head of garlic, but leave the individual skins on the garlic cloves.

Cut off the tips of the garlic cloves. (See photo.) Place the garlic head in a small baking dish. (An ovenproof ramekin does nicely.) Drizzle oil all over the exposed parts of the garlic, using your fingers to make sure the oil touches all the visible garlic. Sprinkle salt and pepper overall. Cover the baking dish with aluminum foil.

Bake the garlic until it feels soft, about 30 to 40 minutes. Allow it to cool until you can touch it; then squeeze the individual cloves out of their skins and into a bowl. Mash the garlic with a fork. Set it aside while you prepare the lamb.

Trim off any excess fat you can from the lamb, and cut it into small chunks.

Place about 2/3 of the potatoes in the bottom of a Dutch oven. Arrange the onions and garlic over the potatoes; then put the carrots on top of the onions and garlic. Place the meat on top. Sprinkle at least half of the parsley and all of the rosemary on the meat, plus the salt and pepper. Top with the remaining potatoes.

Pour the stock over all, and place the Dutch oven on the stove top. When it boils, turn it down and cover it. Simmer the stew for 2 hours, stirring occasionally to keep the food from sticking to the pan and adding more stock if necessary.

Just before serving sprinkle the remaining parsley on top of the stew to give a hint of fresh green.

Serves 4 to 6.