Posted in Tightwad Tuesdays
Top 'O the Mornin' to ye all! I wish you all a wonderful day filled with the magic and mystery of the Irish, and be mindful of the faeries and their tricks as you go about your day.
Below you will find my contribution to Tightwad Tuesday, all revolving around the delicious and inexpensive (for the most part) dishes of Ireland. Have a wonderful day, and remember, whether you've an ounce of Irish blood in you or not - today everyone's a wee bit Irish!
Welcome to the Irish version of Tightwad Tuesday with Canadagirl! If you have a thrifty tip to share, please do go visit my lovely friend, Mary, for more information - and to congratulate her on being HSB's Featured Member of the Week!! Congratulations, sweetie!!
Today I have a few of my family's standard, traditional Irish fare to share with you. Growing up, I remember a lot of cabbage and potatoes at my grandparent's house. Grandmas could add those two ingredients to just about any dish, it seems, lol! Maybe that explains my aversion to cooked cabbage, but I digress.
Today I'm going to give you three recipes that are in our regular rotation of foods here, and it is my hope that you enjoy them as much as we do. From my home to yours, slainte!
Irish Soda Bread
2 cups unbleached flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
3 tablespoons butter
1 beaten egg
¾ cup buttermilk or sour milk
1 beaten egg
Preheat oven to 375°. In a bowl combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and ¼ teaspoon salt. Cut in butter till mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Combine 1 egg and buttermilk; add to flour mixture. Stir just till moistened. On a lightly floured surface, knead gently for 12 strokes. On a greased baking sheet, shape dough into a 6-inch round loaf. Cut a 4-inch cross, ¼-inch deep, on the top. Brush with 1 beaten egg. Bake for about 35 minutes or till golden. Cool on a rack. We have this with our Irish Potato Soup below. This is a great bread for sopping up that delicious soup.
*variation: Sweet-Raisin Irish Soda Bread: Prepare as above, except add 2 tablespoons brown sugar to the flour mixture and 1/3 cup raisins to the buttermilk mixture. We have this for breakfast. It's wonderful with fruit of a morning.
Irish Potato Soup
½ cup (unsalted) butter
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
3 leeks, sliced
3 large baking potatoes, peeled and cut into ¼" thick slices
3 (14 1/2) oz. cans chicken broth
1 teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
Melt butter in a large saucepan over low heat; stir in onion and leek. Cover and cook 20 minutes. Stir in potato; cover and cook 15 minutes. Stir in broth, salt, and pepper; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 30 minutes or until potato is tender. Remove from heat, and cool slightly.
Process soup in batches in a blender/food processor until smooth, stopping to scrape down sides; return to saucepan, and cook over medium heat until thoroughly heated. Serve with following toppings: shredded Cheddar cheese, crumbled cooked bacon, chopped fresh chives.
I often make this in the morning and then stick the pan in the fridge so all I have to do is re-heat it for dinner. I've often wondered how it froze; not having dairy in it and with the potato creamed... hmmm. I'll have to try it soon.
Now, for you meat lovers...
Crockpot Irish Beef Stew
2 lbs. stewing beef, cubed
2 envelopes dry onion soup mix
1-10 ¾ oz. can tomato soup
1 tsp. salt
½ teaspoon pepper
2 cups diced carrots
4 cups diced potatoes
1 lb. pkg. frozen peas
Cover beef cubes in flour (you know, shake a Ziploc bag around doing the boogie while it's full of meat and flour :). In a frying pan, place several Tbl. of olive oil, heat, and add floured meat. Heat until browned. Place beef in crockpot, and add water to the pan. Whisk up all the brown bits on the bottom of the pan, and then pour those over beef.
To the beef in the crockpot add: onion soup, tomato soup, salt, pepper, carrots, and potatoes. Cover with water (using soup can to get all the rest of the tomato soup out). Cook on Low 8 hours.
Add peas, cover, and cook on low 1 more hour. Serve with thick slices of homemade bread to sop up the gravy. This is soooo good!
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