With Saint Patrick's Day being on Sunday I thought it would be fun to make a smaller batch of Irish Stew for the smaller family. This recipe will serve 3, or 2 people generously. Or two people on the day and one with the leftovers the day after.
Its a simple and yet attractive stew, using simple methods and simple ingredients, because lets face it . . . the Irish were basically a very poor people, a humble people, without artifice, and many did not have stoves or ovens, but cooked over an open fire on the hearth.
This is a recipe I adapted from one I found in this book. It is originally meant to feed four people generously. This is a great book by the way. I have had it for a few years now and every recipe tried has been a real winner. Its from the Love Food people.
All you need for it is some stewing lamb . . . you could use neck fillets if you wanted to, I just used cubed stewing lamb I got at the shops. British or Welsh lamb is not quite in season yet, so suspect this was NZ lamb.
There is no browning or faffing about with the meat, which also lessens the fat calories. You just season and dust the cubed lamb with flour and lay it in the bottom of a heavy casserole dish. (I used my medium sized Le Creuset.)
Once the lamb is in the bottom, you layer on diced onion and sliced carrots. I like to lightly season each layer.
Once you have those layered in, you cover the top with wedges of potato. I used two medium/large potatoes, peeled and cut into wedges. I got kind of fanciful when I layered them on top. I thought it looked quite pretty.
Finally you just pour over a mix of hot stock and dried thyme. The recipe called for beef stock. If I do it again, I will use chicken stock. I thought some of the integrity of the lamb was lost by using beef, but that may just be me.
After that you just cover it up tightly and let the oven do the work. Go read a book, do some knitting, housework, whatever . . .
The recipe didn't call for it, but about 15 minutes before it was done, I took it out of the oven and brushed the potatoes with some butter, then popped it back into the oven at a higher temperature. It browned the potatoes up a bit, which I thought was a nice touch.
This was a really lovely stew. I am thinking if you didn't have lamb, you could do beef or pork in the same way, probably even chicken would be good done this way.
This is something I have done with stew since I was a child. I like to mash the potatoes up a bit and dab some butter on them. (Don't judge me.) Its really good that way. I also love sweet pickles with stew, but those don't exist over here, so I just think about how good they used to be and settle for what I have.
Yield: 3
Small Batch Irish Stew
prep time: 15 minscook time: 2 hour and 30 minstotal time: 2 hours and 45 mins
A small batch Irish Stew for the smaller family. Simple and delicious. This will give you a hearty meal on the day.
ingredients:
- 2 TBS plain flour
- 1 pound stewing lamb
- 1 onion, peeled and chopped
- 3 medium carrots, peeled and sliced
- 2 largish potatoes, peeled and cut into wedges
- 1/4 tsp dried thyme
- salt and black pepper
- 600ml hot beef stock (2 1/2 cups)
- small knob of butter
- parsley flakes to garnish
instructions:
- Preheat the oven to 165*C/325*F/ gas mark 3.
- Season the meat and roll it in the flour, shaking off any excess. Lay it in a single layer in the bottom of a casserole dish. Top with the chopped onion, then the sliced carrot, and finally the potato wedges. Season each layer lightly as you go. Whisk together the stock and thyme. Pour into the casserole dish. Cover tightly.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 2 1/2 hours. About 15 minutes before it is done, remove the cover and brush the top of the potatoes with the knob of butter and return to the oven. Increase the oven temperature to 190*C/375*F/ gas mark 5. Let the potatoes brown a bit. Sprinkle some parsley flakes on top and serve.
calories
302.37
302.37
fat (grams)
10.34
10.34
sat. fat (grams)
5.09
5.09
carbs (grams)
38.40
38.40
net carbs
33.63
33.63
protein (grams)
15.31
15.31
sugar (grams)
5.56
5.56
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Todd had the leftovers today for his dinner and he said it tasted even better than it had the other day when I made it. That is often the way with stews. They seem to taste better upon "ripening" overnight. Yum! I think the Irish would approve!
Every now and again, I like to enjoy a good burger. I have to confess however, I am not totally fond of Beef Burgers. In truth I would rather have a Turkey Burger.
Its a texture thing really . . . as soon as I get a bit of gristle or something even closely resembling it in between my teeth, my gag reflex kicks in. It is a problem I have mostly with beef or pork. I haven't experienced it with turkey yet.
Its awfully hard to enjoy eating something once the gag reflex kicks in. My mother used to try feeding me hamburger (s) when I was a child and it was a no go. I used to hide it under my plate, (only got away with that one once), under the carpet (that worked until my mother hoovered), and in the cold air vents. (Worked until Spring Cleaning kicked in.)
I would be told that I had to sit there until I ate it, and I would sit there all afternoon if need be, and on into the evening, patiently awaiting my opportunity to ditch it. (We had no dog. If we had, it would have been a lot easier!) My mom finally gave up.
I still don't really ground meat of any kind mixed into anything. I think I was the only child on the planet who could pick out all of the hamburger from a hamburger casserole, eating the pasta and sauce, but leaving the hamburger behind. (Yes I was that annoying!) Again, it was a texture thing.
I can eat and do enjoy meatballs now, and occasionally a Hamburger, but for the most part I leave them alone. I do enjoy ground turkey however, so more often that not, this is what we will have.
This is a recipe I found on the Hellman's site. The original called for the use of Chorizo sausage. I couldn't bring myself to use that, so instead I used their suggestions for an alternative, which was basically a spice mix.
You may think I am picky, and perhaps I am, but I think Chorizo tastes like dirty socks. (Not that I have eaten or tasted dirty socks because I haven't. To me it just tastes like what I imagine dirty socks to taste like.)
The end result was a very delicious Turkey burger, with lovely smoky flavours and a moist texture, as you can see from the photographs. I cooked them on our electric grill. Todd enjoyed his with a nice bun. I enjoyed it all on its own, both with sweet potato wedges on the side.
Yield: 4
Smokey Turkey Burgers
prep time: cook time: total time:
Delicious and moist with spicy smoky flavours. I served them on buns with slice tomato and lettuce, some cranberry chutney and a squirt of mayo, but they are equally delicious on their own without the bun.
ingredients:
- 600g lean turkey mince (1 1/4 pound)
- 100g fresh bread crumbs ( about 2 1/2 slices)
- 1 small onion, peeled
- 2 TBS fresh parsley, chopped
- 3 TBS mayonnaise
- 2 tsp English mustard
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp sweet paprika
- 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
- 1/2 TBS smoked paprika
- 1/4 tsp ground coriander
- 1/4 tsp oregano flakes
- 1/4 tsp ground cumin
instructions:
- Tip the turkey and bread crumbs into a bowl. Put the remaining ingredients into a small food processor and blitz until smooth. Add to the turkey and bread crumbs and mix well together with your hands. Shape into 4 large patties. Place onto a plate and chill in the refrigerator for about an hour.
- When you are ready to cook them, remove from the refrigerator and cook on a lightly oiled grill or in an oiled skillet for 8 to 10 minutes, until cooked all the way through and the juices run clear.
- Serve with your favourite accompaniments. We like toasted buns and sweet potato wedges.
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I added some mayo, some of my Christmas Cranberry Chutney, sliced tomato and shredded lettuce. (If you have gotten this far after reading about the taste of dirty socks and gristle, I applaud your tenacity!) Seriously though, they really are quite good. 'Nuff said.
I had my DNA done several years ago and discovered that I am 27% Irish. I was really excited about that. I had not expected that at all.
I have been celebrating Saint Patrick's Day with even more meaning ever since! (They do say that everyone has a little bit of Irish in them!)
You might be tempted to think that this bread has a history that goes back hundred and hundreds of years. It does not.
It, at best, only goes back to the mid 1800's when baking soda was introduced to the people of Ireland.
It is a traditional recipe having started in a very poor country. Most of the best recipes are, I think. Simple ingredients put together in fabulously tasty ways!
Leave it to the Irish to create a fabulous bread from simple ingredients like flour, soda, salt, sour milk or buttermilk and a tiny bit of butter.
The salt and the soda work together with the buttermilk to give a beautiful rise to this very simple bread.
The cross cut in the top was originally done to ward off evil spirits or the devil and protect the household. The Irish are very superstitious people. Its all a part of their wonderful charm.
Traditionally it would have been baked on a griddle or in an iron pot over a fire in an open hearth. One can imagine the warmth and love of family being deeply associated with this bread. It speaks to my heart.
It goes together very quickly and can be baked and on the table in about 45 minutes, which makes it the perfect throw-together bread for when you have un-expected company pop by.
This is a small batch recipe, designed for the smaller family. With there only being two of us, it just makes sense.
I like to break it apart into quarters at the cross . . .
Here you can see the wonderful texture of it . . . . don't be tempted to use too many raisins.
Today we enjoyed it warm with some jam and butter. It went down a real treat! Boy there are times when my heart longs for a nice big sweet mug of milky builder's tea. Instead I had it with apple spice tea.
Yield: Makes one small loaf
Small Batch Irish Soda Bread
prep time: 15 minscook time: 35 minstotal time: 50 mins
Quick, easy and delicious! A down sized recipe for the smaller family.
ingredients:
- 140g plain flour (1 cup)
- 1 1/2 tsp sugar
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
- 1 TBS cold butter
- 35g raisins (1/4 cup)
- 1 large free range egg yolk
- 120ml buttermilk (1/2 cup)
instructions:
- Preheat the oven to 220*C/425*F/ gas mark 7. Line a small baking tray with baking paper. Dust the baking paper with some flour. Set aside.
- Whisk the flour, sugar, salt and soda together in a bowl. Cut the cold butter into bits and drop it into the flour mixture. Rub it into the flour with a snapping motion using your fingertips. Mix until it resembles coarse bread crumbs. Stir in the raisins. Whisk together the egg yolk and the buttermilk. Add all at once to the dry mixture and quickly stir together with a fork, just until combined. Tip out onto a floured board and knead gently. (It may be quite sticky, just add a bit more flour if necessary.) Don't over-knead. Shape into a 4 inch round and pop onto the flour dusted baking tray. Cut a deep cross into the top using a sharp knife without cutting all the way through. Only cut about half way down.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 35 to 40 minutes until golden brown and the bread sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom.
- Serve warm or at room temperature.
NOTES:
If you think it is browning too quickly, cover lightly with foil.
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This bread is tender and dense, with a lovely crisp crust. It will keep for several days, but you won't have it around that long. Trust me on this! If you are looking for a full sized Irish Soda bread, you can find my recipe for a large plain loaf (sans raisins) here.
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The recipe I am sharing today is one which I have been eyeballing for a long time. Its fresh and exciting, yet uses very simple ingredients.
We are in the process of down-sizing. (Which is taking ever so long to do.) as a part of that process, I am going through all my books, trying to decide which to keep and which not to keep. One Good Dish, by david tanis, is one of the books I have been trying to make up my mind about. Although I had lots of pages marked with slips of paper as recipes I wanted to try, I really had not tried any.
This is one of the recipes I had marked as wanting to try. I just never seemed to have all the ingredients in the house at the same time . . .
The main ingredient are these small sweet cucumbers. I get mine at Costco. I kept forgetting to pick them up when I went. Finally I remembered. I love these cucumbers. You can peel or not as you wish. For this recipe I peeled.
Once you have them peeled, you will want to cut them lengthwise into halves or quarters as you wish. A really good knife set makes short work of this. I like to use these lovely knives from the MyKtchn Premium Black Ceramic Kitchen Knife Set.
They're lovely and sharp, and not really heavy. I've been using them for a while now and have been really impressed with their performance.
Once you have the cucumbers peeled and quartered, you just toss them in a bowl along with some salt and pepper to season, and shaved garlic. I use the vegetable peeled from the above set of knives to shave it. Or you could try cutting it really thin with a sharp knife.
The fact is you do want it very thin. It adds some sharpness and of course flavour, but since it is used raw, you really don't want big chunks of garlic. Thin works best.
It will pickle a bit in the vinegar and lime juice . . .
The recipe uses white wine vinegar. I confess I only had Rice Wine Vinegar and so that is what I used and it worked fine. I thought them quite tasty.
It also makes use of some fresh herbs. Tender earthy thyme leaves and chopped fresh dill.
Don't be tempted to over-do the herbs. They should each only give a subtle flavour. Thyme can be very over-powering. Dill not so much . . . if you are not fond of dill, you can use fresh flat leaf parsley or tarragon. I love tarragon.
Finally the use of red pepper flakes gives a bit of heat to the dish. If you don't like things too hot or spicy, you might want to cut back on these. Altogether however, these flavours all work very well together and you end up with one very tasty dish indeed!
Yield: 4 - 6
Dilled Cucumber Spears
Proof positive that tasty needn't be complicated, difficult or take a long time to execute. These are quite simply delicious.
ingredients:
- 1 1/2 pounds small cucumbers (Kirby's or Persians)
- fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
- 3 cloves garlic, peeled and shaved
- 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
- 1/2 tsp fresh thyme leaves
- 2 TBS white wine vinegar
- 1 TBS chopped dill, tarragon or parsley
- the juice of 1 lime
instructions:
- Peel the cucumbers. Quarter them, lengthwise. Put them into a bowl and season generously with the salt and black pepper. Add the garlic, red pepper flakes, thyme and vinegar. Toss together well. Leave to marinate for at least one hour. Add the chopped dill and lime juice just prior to serving, tossing again.
- These will keep in the refrigerator for a couple days, but not much longer if you want them really crisp.
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I still haven't made up my mind if I am going to keep this book or not. I have a few more recipes flagged, but unless I think it is a book I will refer to often, I think it is destined for the charity bin. We will see. The jury is still out. Happy Tuesday!
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