Luck of the Irish

Leek and Potato Soup with Soda Bread

Beef & Guinness Stew

Colcannon (mashed potatoes mixed with chopped, cooked kale)

Irish Apple Cake with Custard Sauce

Super Simple Irish Soda Bread

INGREDIENTS

4 cups (510 g) all-purpose flour, see notes below for making it whole grain

2 teaspoons (12 g) kosher salt

1 tablespoon (13 g) sugar

1 teaspoon (5 g) baking soda

1 cup dried currants, optional

1 egg

1¾ cups (410 g) buttermilk, see notes above

2 tablespoons melted butter

FOR FINISHING:

room temperature butter

flour

INSTRUCTIONS

Preheat the oven to 400ºF. Whisk together the flour, salt, sugar, baking soda, and currants (if using).

In a medium bowl, beat the egg and buttermilk. Add the melted butter and stir to combine. Add the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir with a rubber spatula until combined. Mixture will be sticky. Grease a 9- or 10-inch cast iron skillet (or other similarly sized vessel) with softened butter. Set aside.

Lightly flour your hands and sprinkle a little flour over the sticky dough ball. Use your hands to scrape the dough from the sides of the bowl and to quickly shape the mass into a ball, kneading lightly if necessary. Transfer to prepared skillet. Sprinkle with a teensy bit more flour. Use a sharp knife to make an X across the top of the dough ball. Place in oven and bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until lightly golden and bottom sounds hollow when tapped. Remove from oven, transfer to cooling rack, and let cool for 15 minutes before slicing.

To store Irish soda bread, tuck it into an airtight bag (such as a ziplock) or an airtight vessel. You can store it at room temperature for about 3-4 days or freeze it for up to 2-3 months.

IRISH POTATO AND LEEK SOUP

INGREDIENTS

• 1 teaspoons vegetable oil
• 1 cups  leeks, chopped
• 1 stalks  celery, diced
• 1/2 small  onion, diced
• 1 clove  garlic, minced
• 2 medium  potatoes, coarsely chopped
• 2 cups vegetable stock or 4 cups  water
• 1/2 teaspoon  salt
• ¹⁄₄teaspoon  ground black pepper
• ¹⁄₄teaspoon  dried thyme
• ^3/4 cups light cream
• 1 teaspoons  fresh parsley, chopped
• 1 teaspoons  fresh dill, chopped
• 1 teaspoons  fresh tarragon, chopped

DIRECTIONS

• In large pan, heat the oil and add the leeks, celery, onion and garlic.
• Saute over medium heat, until the vegetables are soft.
• Stir in the vegetable stock or water, potatoes, salt, pepper& thyme; bring to a boil.
• Simmer over medium heat for 20 to 30 minutes, until the potatoes are easily pierced with a fork.
• Add the cream and herbs and return to a light simmer, stirring occasionally.
• Remove the soup from the heat and let sit a few minutes before serving.
• Serve with warm bread.

Beef and Guinness Stew

Ingredients

1 tbsp vegetable oil

1.25 lb / 0.63 kg beef chuck , boneless short rib or any other slow cooking beef (no bone)

0.38 tsp each salt and black pepper

1.5 garlic cloves , minced

1 onions , chopped (brown, white or yellow)

3 oz / 90g bacon , speck or pancetta, diced

1.5 tbsp flour (all purpose/plain, Note 3 for GF)

220ml / 7.45 oz Guinness Beer (Note 1)

2 tbsp tomato paste

1.5 cups (375 ml) beef stock/broth

1.5 carrots , peeled and cut into 1.25 cm / 1/2″ thick pieces

1 large celery stalks , cut into 2cm / 1″ pieces

1 bay leaves

1.5 sprigs thyme (or sub with 1 tsp dried thyme leaves)

Instructions

Cut the beef into 5cm/2″ chunks. Pat dry then sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Cook bacon until crispy, remove leaving the fat. Add beef in batches and brown well all over. Remove onto plate. Repeat with remaining beef.

Lower heat to medium. If the pot is looking dry, add oil.

Cook onion for 3 minutes until softening, then add carrot , celery and garlic.

Add flour, and stir for 1 minute to cook off the flour.

Add Guinness, broth/stock and tomato paste. Mix well (to ensure flour dissolves well), add bay leaves and thyme.

Return beef into the pot (including any juices). Liquid level should just cover – see video or photos.

Cover, lower heat so it is bubbling gently. Cook for 2 hours – the beef should be tender by now. Remove lid then simmer for a further 30 – 45 minutes or until the beef falls apart at a touch, the sauce has reduced and thickened slightly.

Skim off fat on surface, if desired. Adjust salt and pepper to taste. Remove bay leaves and thyme.

Serve with creamy mashed potatoes!!

. Other cooking methods:

– OVEN: Cover and bake for 2 1/2 hours at 160C / 320F. Remove then cook for a further 30 – 45 minutes to reduce sauce, per recipe.- SLOW COOKER: Reduce chicken broth by 1 cup. After you add the Guinness and broth/stock into the pot, bring to simmer and ensure you scrape the bottom of the pot well. Transfer everything into slow cooker. Add remaining ingredients per recipe. Cook on low for 8 hours. If sauce needs more thickening, simmer with slow cooker lid off (if you have that function), to ladle some of the sauce into a separate saucepan and reduce on stove.- PRESSURE COOKER: Follow slow cooker instructions, cook on HIGH for 40 minutes (this might seem longer than most but we’re using chuck here which needs to be cooked for a long time until tender and also the pieces are large).

Colcannon (Irish Mashed Potatoes)

Ingredients

1 pounds Yukon gold or Russet potatoes peeled and cut into chunks

3 tablespoons unsalted butter or ghee

2 cups (lightly packed) chopped kale or cabbage

1.5 green onions thinly sliced

1/4 cup milk any type works

salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

Place the potatoes in a large pot and cover with cold water, with about an inch of water above the potatoes. Bring to a boil and cook for 15-20 minutes, or until fork tender.

Meanwhile, melt the butter in a separate large pot over medium heat and add the chopped kale. Cook the kale for 3-4 minutes, until wilted. Add the green onions (reserve a small amount for garnish) and stir together for another minute.

Drain the potatoes in a colander, then add them to the kale. Pour in the milk, and season with salt and pepper. Mash the potatoes with the greens until fluffy and well combined.

Transfer the colcannon to a serving bowl and top with a light sprinkle

Irish Apple Cake with Custard Sauce

Ingredients

Cake

• 3cups all-purpose flour
• 1Tbsp baking powder
• 1/2tsp salt
• 1/4tsp of each ground ginger , nutmeg & allspice
• 3/4cup unsalted butter , cold, diced into small pieces
• 1cup + 2 Tbsp granulated sugar , divided
• 1 1/2lbs granny smith apples (about 5 medium)
• 3/4cup milk
• 2large eggs
• 1tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2tsp ground cinnamon

Custard Sauce

• 1 1/2cups whole milk
• 1pinch salt
• 6large egg yolks
• 1/2cup granulated sugar
• 1 1/2tsp vanilla extract

Instructions

1. For the cake:
2. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Butter and flour a 9-inch springform pan, set aside.
3. In a very large mixing bowl whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, ginger, nutmeg and allspice for 20 seconds. Add butter pieces and rub into mixture using fingertips until it resembles fine crumbs. Stir in 1 cup sugar.
4. Peel apples, slice in half, core and stem, then laying apples on flat side, slice downward into pieces slightly less than 1/4-inch thick, then dice those pieces into smaller chunks (about 2 or 3 chunks depending on size of apples). Add apples to flour mixture and toss well to evenly coat, while working to separate any apples that may be stuck together.
5. In a separate mixing bowl, whisk together milk, eggs and vanilla until well combined. Pour milk mixture over apple/flour mixture and using clean hands, toss just until combined (batter will be slightly lumpy but that’s fine, just don’t over-mix).
6. Pour batter into prepared baking dish and spread into an even layer. In a small bowl stir together remaining 2 Tbsp sugar plus 1/2 tsp cinnamon, sprinkle evenly over cake. Bake in preheated oven 45 – 50 minutes until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. Cool about 5 minutes on a wire rack then remove ring from springform pan and allow cake to cool to desired temperature. Serve warm drizzled with warm custard sauce (or cool with cold custard sauce, however you prefer).
7. For the custard sauce:
8. Heat milk with a pinch of salt over medium heat, and bring just to a light boil (keep an eye on it and remove from burner if needed before letting it rapidly boil). Meanwhile, add egg yolks and sugar to a medium mixing bowl and whisk vigorously until pale and fluffy, about 2 – 3 minutes (alternately you can do this with an electric hand mixer on high speed for about 30 seconds if you don’t want to mix that long by hand). Reduce burner to medium-low heat, then while whisking egg yolk mixture, slowly pour in 1/2 cup hot milk mixture. Then, while whisking milk in saucepan slowly pour egg yolk mixture into saucepan. Cook mixture, whisking constantly, until thickened and mixture coats the back of a wooden spoon, about 3 – 4 minutes (be careful not to over-heat it, if you cook it too long or don’t whisk well the eggs will curdle). Immediately pour into a glass container, stir in vanilla and whisk about 20 seconds to cool slightly, then cover with plastic wrap pressing against surface to prevent a skin from forming. Serve warm over cake (or cold). Store in refrigerator in an airtight container.

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