Showing posts sorted by date for query lamb. Sort by relevance Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by date for query lamb. Sort by relevance Show all posts
New Potato Colcannon. This is a delicious colcannon recipe I wanted to share with you before Saint Patricks' Day on the 17th of March. There is something pretty wonderful that happens when you combine cabbage and potatoes and Ireland.
Its called Colcannon! And its very Irish. This is a slightly healthier version of the original. Created to be low GI and very diabetic friendly.
During the 17th and 18th century in Europe and Ireland, cabbages, potatoes and leeks were considered to be the basic foods of the common serf, man. In other words, most people. Only the very wealthy could afford to eat fancier foods.
Colcannon is the inevitable result of mankind's ability to make lemonade out of lemons. And it is a most delicious way to present these three simple ingredients. This dish however uses milder spring onions rather than the much stronger flavored leek.
A first reference to Colcannon in Irish History was found in the 1735 diary entry of William Bulkely, a traveler from Wales who was introduced to the dish on a Halloween night in Dublin:
“Dined at Cos. Wm. Parry, and also supped there upon a shoulder of mutton roasted and what they call there Coel Callen, which is cabbage boiled, potatoes and parsnips, all this mixed together. They eat well enough, and is a Dish always had in this Kingdom on this night.”
The word colcannon is derived from the Gaelic term “cal ceannann” which means white-headed cabbage. Although generally speaking these days the dish is made from either Kale or the darker green savoy cabbage!
Humble ingredients put together in a most delicious way, this is considered haute cuisine in many multiple Michelin star restaurants. In short this is a beautiful side dish well deserving to be served on any table!
This version I am sharing today boasts the addition of some smoky and salty pancetta. Oh, I just adore bacon and pancetta. Both go so very well with cabbages and potatoes of any kind, hence the addition of pancetta to this dish only makes sense.
New potatoes are considered to be low GI. In order to be considered low GI, a food must have a glucose index score of less than 55. These carbohydrates take longer to break down than their higher GI counterparts, which means that they cause a persons sugar levels to raise much more slowly, which is good news when it comes to controlling your diet as a diabetic.
I love it when the side dish becomes the star of the meal. I am a vegetable lover after all, and could be quite happy if I never ate meat again.
Well, I tell, a bit of a lie there because I would miss a good steak every now and again, and I do kind of like roast chicken and turkey. And a really well done Prime Rib Roast is a magnificent thing to behold and to eat!
Okay . . . I guess it's settled. I just like to eat. But I do have my favorite things and vegetables are one of them!
This Crushed New Potato Colcannon is a delightful side dish! Chock full of lovely savoy cabbage and new potatoes. It is also a perfect side dish to enjoy on Saint Patrick's Day.
I have also used spring onions, which have a nice mild onion flavor, not too harsh. It goes really well with the cabbage.
Savoy cabbage is quite a mild flavored cabbage. If you were to use leeks, or even regular onions, you run the risk of them overpowering the dish.
This is a case where you want to be able to taste the cabbage. Another reason I chose savoy is because it is has such a pretty green color and Saint Patrick's Day is all about the green!
This is a side dish that goes together really quickly once you have the individual elements of it ready to go. I sautéed the prosciutto first in a skillet, reserving the drippings for the finish.
The cabbage itself, was lightly steamed, so as to help preserve that rich green color. The potatoes were boiled in lightly salted water, just until they were fork tender.
You could actually do all of these things earlier in the day or the night before so that when the time came, you could quickly and easily just throw the dish together.
Spring onions/scallions are cooked in the pan drippings, just long enough to wilt them without browning. Once you've done that you quickly add the potatoes to the pan, heating them through and crushing them a bit in the process.
Then you add the cabbage and prosciutto, gently tossing everything together and heating both as well. A knob of butter is optionally thrown in at the end to add a bit of richness, but I can tell you, this beautiful side dish is every bit as delicious without it. ''
This was served simply with some grilled bangers/sausages, steamed carrots and a spoonful of grainy Dijon mustard. It would also go well with grilled pork or lamb chops, or even grilled chicken.
In fact, this is pretty tasty all on its own. Not to confess or anything, but I could be quite happy with just a plate of this and nothing else!!
Crushed New Potato Colcannon
Yield: 4
Prep time: 5 MinCook time: 30 MinTotal time: 35 Min
A healthier version of an old Irish favorite. Its delicious!
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 pounds (600g) new potatoes, unpeeled, washed well and cut in half
- 3/4 pound (400g) savoy cabbage, washed, trimmed and coarsely shredded
- 2 tsp sunflower oil
- 4 rashers prosciutto, cut into 1/2 inch slices
- 6 spring onions, trimmed and finely sliced (scallions)
- 2 TBS (25g) butter, cubed (optional)
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Add the prosciutto into a large skillet, along with the oil. Cook, until crisp. Scoop out and drain on paper towels.
- Set the skillet aside for now and reserve the pan drippings.
- Put the potatoes into a saucepan of lightly salted water. Bring to the boil and then reduce to a simmer. Cook for 18 to 20 minutes until tender. Drain well.
- Cook the cabbage in boiling water for about 3 minutes, until just tender. Drain well, run under cold water and drain again.
- Reheat the drippings in the skillet. Add the spring onions to the skillet and soften without coloring.
- Add the cabbage and heat through. Drop in the potatoes and lightly crush.
- Stir through the prosciutto and season to taste. If you are using butter, stir it in now.
- Serve hot.
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Easy traditional Irish Champ is the perfect recipe to enjoy during the month of March when we will be celebrating the wearing of the green, Saint Patrick's Day! The Irish love their potatoes and there is no end to the ways they love to enjoy them.
Champ and Colcannon are two of the most favourite ways and are both very similar. Champ is a potato/spring onion dish, whereas Colcannon has cooked cabbage in it as well as the onions. I love, LOVE them both!
I have seen Champ done with sauteed leeks and spring onions, but this version of Champ I am sharing today uses only spring onions (scallions.) It is delicious either way.
Oddly enough, in the old days, champ used to be made with stinging nettles. They were a plant which grew abundantly in most places and which was free for the picking. Make sure you wear gloves if you do try to pick and use them because they do sting and will blister your skin and hands.
Normally Dock leaves grown near nettles, so you can swipe one of those over the sting to take it away. Interestingly enough when nettles are cooked, this removes the sting, so there is no worry with eating them.
This begs an answer to the question . . . Just who was it that decided that something which stung the skin could be safely eaten??? Yes . . . I do have a curious mind.
Over the years, Spring Onions, or scallions as they are also known, have become the standard to use in the making of champ. I just think it is a fabulously tasty dish. We really do love it!
Everyone in my immediate family has had our DNA done now and we have discovered a healthy amount of Irish DNA in our family tree (with the exception of our dad who is 91% French). This gives us all the more reason to celebrate our Irish roots this year!
Mashed potatoes with warm milk, spring onions and butter beaten into
them. It's so tasty. The Irish know how to do potatoes and do them
well!
You can use leftover boiled potatoes to make this quite easily. Just reheat the potatoes in an amount of whole milk. Once heated through, mash and add the remaining ingredients. Easy Peasy.
Today I started from scratch.
For this you will want to use a floury type of potato, like a Russet or Maris Piper, King Edward. You do NOT want a new potato or waxy potato. They do NOT mash well. Trust me on this.
Once you have the right kind of potato, everything else is a doddle. Simply peel the potatoes, cut into chunks, and cook them in some lightly salted boiling water.
You will need to cook them until they are fork tender, but not falling apart in the water. Take care not to overcook them. It should take roughly 15 - 20 minutes depending on the size of your potato chunks.
Once they are cooked you will need to drain them very well and then return them to the pot. I like to let them sit in the heat of the pot over the residual heat of the burner to finish drying them out, with a clean tea towel thrown over top of the pan.
This allows the steam to be released without it being dropped back into the pan, whilst still keeping he potatoes heated.
I always warm the milk when I am doing mash of any kind. It doesn't take long to do it in the microwave. Just heat it on high for about a minute. I add the spring onions to the milk before heating it.
This helps to take any sharp flavour away from the onion and makes them just right for stirring into the mashed potatoes. It also helps to infuse the flavor of the onion into the milk beautifully. A quantity of butter is also stirred in, plus some salt and pepper. You can use white or black pepper.
The Irish used to serve this in a big bowl, hot from the stove.
A big knob of
butter would be melting into the middle of it so that the family could dip their
pieces of bread into the butter and scoop up some potatoes to eat with
it at the same time.
It sounds all warm and cosy to me, although nowadays with Covid, perhaps not a wise thing to do.
I tend to serve it as a side dish these days. It goes with just about everything. Lamb is especially nice. Grilled Chops, or some roasted lamb would be lovely.
Today we had it with grilled and glazed bangers/sausages. If you can get real Irish ones so much the better!!
In working with the green theme, I served some steamed green beans on the side. It was a really lovely meal. Really lovely.
I will always regret that during my stay in the UK, I never did get to visit Ireland, and it was so close too. I have heard that it is a beautiful country with too many shades of green in its landscape to count.
The closest I ever got was enjoying the company of a few Irishmen on the train back from London one time. Those Irish sure have the gift of the gab, especially when they've been enjoying a Guinness or two or three. Very pleasant folk to be sure!
Irish Champ
Yield: 4
prep time: 5 Mincook time: 25 Mintotal time: 30 Min
An old Irish Dish, consisting of fluffy white mashed potatoes infused with plenty of butter, milk and spring onions.
Ingredients
- 1 kg (2 1/4 pounds) floury potatoes, peeled and halved
- 225ml whole milk (1 cup)
- 1 bunch spring onions, thinly sliced (6 to 8 scallions)
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp white pepper
- 50g (2 ounces) butter
- a knob of butter to serve
Instructions
- Place the potatoes into a large pot and fill with enough cold water to cover. Lightly salt the water, bring to the boil and cook until fork tender, about 20 minutes.
- Drain the tender potatoes well. Return them to the pot and shake over the residual heat of the burner to dry them out. Place a clean tea towel over top to absorbe any access moisture.
- Place the milk into a large glass measuring cup along with the spring onions. Heat gently in the microwave for about 1 minute.
- Mash the potatoes well with the butter until smooth. Stir in the milk and spring onions to combine well together. Season with salt and white pepper.
- Pile into a bowl and top with a knob of butter. Serve immediately.
This content (written and photography) is the sole property of The English Kitchen. Any reposting or misuse is not permitted. If you are reading this elsewhere, please know that it is stolen content and you may report it to me at: mariealicejoan at aol dot com Thanks so much for visiting. Do come again!
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Lately we have all had a hankering for a Irish Lamb Stew. There is someting about the winter months that makes us long for comfort foods and you can't really cook anything much more comforting than a delicious Lamb Stew.
There is also something quite evocatively comforting about the idea of a bowl of Irish Stew. I never did get to Ireland when I was in the UK, but it was on my list of places I really wanted to go, and we had really planned to go last year, but Covid you know and then everything else happened.
Life has a way of surprising us with its twists and turns.
For all that I have heard and read about it, Ireland is a beautiful country. They say there are more shades of green in Ireland than the imagination can conjure up and I know personally that the people are quite simply wonderful.
Humble and sincere, open and friendly people. Much like the people of Nova Scotia I would say. I have heard it said that if you meet an Irishman in a pub, next thing you know he will be inviting you over to his for supper and to meet the family.
You'd probably be taken home to a humble abode, perhaps even a thatch roofed stone cottage. Cosy and quaint with an open fire on the hearth
Chances are you would be lucky enough to be served a fine hot bowl of this simple, yet very delicious Irish Stew. Filled with chunks of tender meat, rich gravy and some humble, yet perfectly cooked root vegetables.
Oh but I am waxing poetically now am I not? Oh well . . . we do tend to think romantically of Ireland and the Irish. I blame that old black and white movie, The Quiet Man.
It is one of my favourite old films. I just love it. I loved every film Maureen O'Hara was ever in. She was one of the best actresses of that era. My ex MIL looked very much like her, except she was blonde. What a beauty.
Lamb was not something we ate a lot of when I was growing up. In fact, I can only remember mom serving it to us once. Lamb Chops. They smelt like mittens burning in the skillet.
None of us would eat them. I rather suspect they were very old lamb chops or even mutton which had a very distinct strong flavour in comparison to lamb.
My great Grandfather raised lamb on his farm up in Inglisville on the North Mountain. He had quite a large farm, with milk cows, sheep, chickens, vegetables, etc. The old house and some out buildings are still there, very much run down. I believe it is owned by one of my mother's cousin's family now.
Mom was born in one of the bedrooms of that house and always spoke of sitting on the porch as a child with her older sister Thelma, scraping the flesh from a raw turnip with a spoon and eating it.
My sister and I have always said that if we won the lottery we would try to buy up the old property and return it to its former state. What a dream that would be.
Mom loved lamb and often spoke about a delicious lamb stew she had been served in the hospital when she was in there having given birth to my brother. That would be almost 61 years ago now as my brother will be 61 at the beginning of March.
My father has always said he doesn't like lamb, however he has eaten it without knowing it was lamb in a shepherd's pie according to my sister. Ignorance is bliss they say.
Often what you don't know can't hurt. I had a moose steak once and didn't know it. Best steak I had ever eaten. However had I known it was moose I would have been a bit queasy about trying it.
There is nothing fabulously outrageous ingredient-wise about this stew. Simple ingredients put together in a very simple way.
Stewing Lamb, potatoes, carrots, onions, celery. Thyme, stock and seasoning. A bit of oil for browning the meat.
The meat is browned first. Much of the favour for a stew comes from the sticky juices that are left in the bottom of a pan after you have browned the meat.
I put the
lamb on to brown while I am prepping the vegetables. That way I tend
to forget about it, which means it gets nicely browned without me
worrying it every few minutes and stirring it about. (One of the secrets
to any good stew made with red meat, is in a good and proper browning.
The meat won't brown nicely if you keep moving it about.)
The vegetables in this stew are also semi softened in pan . You will need a good stove top to oven casserole dish.
Something with handles that can easily go into the oven. I use my enamel cast iron casserole dish, which is perfect for this sort of thing.
You also need some stock. Lamb stock is what is preferred for its subtle
flavours, but you can also use beef or chicken or a combination of the
two.
Aside from lamb stock, I have to say my preference is chicken stock as it has a much milder flavour than beef.
Altogether this is a fabulous stew that is comforting and pleasing. You have wonderfully tender meat and vegetables as well as a lovely broth.
I confess I enjoy mashing my potatoes into the broth and dotting them with butter. There is nothing more delicious on this earth. I quite simply adore simple meals like this. All you need on the side is some crusty bread.
Irish Lamb Stew
Yield: 4
prep time: 25 Mincook time: 2 Hourtotal time: 2 H & 25 M
Rich and delicious with fork tender chunks of lamb, a rich gravy and plenty of simple vegetables. Comfort food at its best. This is quite simply delicious.
Ingredients
- 1 pound lamb stewing meat, cut into cubes
- 2 TBS light olive oil
- 2 large carrots, peeled and chopped
- 2 sticks celery, peeled and chopped
- 1 large onion, peeled and chopped
- 2 sprigs of thyme
- salt and black pepper
- 1 1/2 pounds potatoes, peeled and sliced into wedges or rounds
- 2 1/2 cups (600ml) lamb stock (can use beef or chicken, or a combination)
- 1 knob of butter
- chopped parsley to garnish if desired
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 165*C/325*F/gas mark 3.
- Heat a medium, heavy bottomed flame proof casserole (with a lid) over medium heat. Add half of the oil and heat. Once the oil is heated, add the lamb and brown, over medium heat until well browned. Working in batches if necessary.
- Remove the lamb from the casserole and set aside.
- Add the vegetables and the remaining oil. Cook, stirring occasionally, over medium low heat, until they have begun to soften a bit.
- Return the lamb to the pot along with any juices. Season with salt and pepper. Add the sprigs of thyme.
- Pour in the lamb stock.
- Lay the potatoes on top covering and pushing them down a bit into the stock. Dot with butter.
- Cover tightly. Bake in the heated oven for 2 hours, until the meat is beautifully tender and all of the vegetables are cooked, uncovering the casserole for the last fifteen minutes to lightly brown the potatoes.
- Spoon out into heated bowls to serve. Sprinkle with parsley if desired. Crusty bread goes well.
This content (written and photography) is the sole property of The English Kitchen. Any reposting or misuse is not permitted. If you are reading this elsewhere, please know that it is stolen content and you may report it to me at: mariealicejoan at aol dot com Thanks so much for visiting. Do come again!
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