Colcannon For A Hot Day

 No one feels like cooking when it's hot outside. Yet the idea of take out or sandwiches  is not that appealing. A better alternative would be quick meals that can be cooked up without any fuss.The Irish classic colcannon works well for this

Colcannon is one of my favorite dishes to make and to eat .It's  is a quick mix of mashed potatoes and spinach or cabbage with scallions and garlic for flavoring.

It;s taking any leftover potatoes frying them with a mix of butter or olive oil (or cream if you want the authentic Gaelic version) . I added fresh baby spinach leaves  but you can add steamed frozen spinach of you want. Shredded cabbage can be added too. Bacon or ham bits are always a tasty extra if you want to give it more oomph. As for garlic the powdered form works just as well.

I may try to make it with vegan bacon the next time.Still it's a simple dish. It can be made any time of the year and can go well with ham or corned beef. Again it's a great way of using up leftover mashed potatoes too.ANother plus is that it cooks up quickly and that's means less time in front of a hot stove ,especially on a hot day.

If you want an easy hot meal on a hot day then try colcannon.It's also a great way of repurposing leftover mashed potatoes and adding spinach or other greens to the meal. Try it for a tasty yet simple dish.

Souling Cakes

 Today is All Soul's Day , a time in the Christian calendar where people honor their relatives and ancestors long past. Ir was a common practice in Britain and Ireland to beg for little cakes and pies for a song or prayer for your gone loved ones. The tradition turned into Halloween but soul cakes remain the same. The recipes haven't changed in centuries.

Everyone may remember Sting's "Soul Cakes"  from his 2009 album "If On A Winter's Night". It was his version of a Peter , Paul and Mary song from 1965 which was based on the traditional British version. .Most "soulers" were poor and hungry. The wealthier townspeople gave them whatever fruit was lying around, apples pears, and  cherries,  However some were lucky enough to receive a small cake cookie or a tart filled with dried fruit. soul cakes then and now.Sheffield and Cheshire in England's northwest and central north respectively still carry on this tradition.It is also popular in Portugal where it's called Pao por deus and The Phillipines  where locals celebrate it as Panangaluwa. The soul cakes are blessed by a local priest and leftovers are either given to the poor or distributed amongst the families.  Here children promise to pray for the souls of the giver's dead relatives. Every cake eaten also freed the souls trapped in purgatory.This is done in Catholic and  even Lutheran parishes. The souling isn't limited to just today.It stretches out through the entire month of November.

There are four very good soul cake recipes if you're interested in souling (or you can distribute them at your local soup kitchen or food pantry) One of the easier is a shortbread style recipe. It's just one stick of softened butter mixed with four tablespoons of sugar and a cup and a half of flour.They're baked in rounds and decorated with fork marks, usually in a cross shape. Another soul cake recipe is a bit more substantial and somewhat zingy thanks to the addition of malt vinegar. Again this is buttery recipe, using two sticks of softened butter along with three and a half cups of flour .Nutmeg , saffron, cinnamon and and all spice spice it in a kind of medieval fashion. Two eggs bind it together . It's rolled out and then cut out with a glass. Powdered sugar is dusted on them while they're still warm.There are also Irish soul cakes which are more like small breads. These have yeast which produces a nice rise. Lemon zest and golden raisins give them color and flavor. For a heartier version make then with already made pie crusts, cut in circles and placed in muffin tins then fill with a mix of one cup of dried fruit,  two tablespoons of melted butter and two tablespoons of honey. These are just baked for fifteen minutes. You can get creative with these and use dried apricots, currents, cherries, raisins and Craisins - dried cranberries for the fillings.

This entire month can be dedicated to souling. Reward those with  these soul cakes, with their special flavors and symbolism, Remember those who have gone and celebrate their lives with these cakes and tarts.

Is Kelp The New Kale

There's a new green in town that may dethrone kale as the top veggie. It's seaweed and it's not only versatile and nutrient dense but also good for the planet. Eating it is good for us and good for Earth.

Melissa Clark explored this in yesterday's New York Times Food section. As seen here , the entire section was dedicated to sustainability and eating to help the planet. Kelp is one of those plants that is low impact on the climate but high impact on diets. Ms. Clark traveled to Portland, Maine where the plant is surrounded by clean seawater. (Don't try this at home, especially if your shoreline is near a big city) Eating seaweed is nothing new.Different kinds such as sweet red dulse,inky alaria and ruffled sea lettuce have fed coastal communities for thousands of years. Traditional Welsh recipes calls for frying fresh seaweed in bacon fat while the Irish cook it with potatoes The Scots even bake it into breads and biscuits. Indigenous Americans were not immune to its'' possibilities and cooked all manners of seaweed, from brown to green to red. Of course most Americans have had their first taste with Japanese sushi, yet it's not the same as fresh. It hasn't caught on, probably because of  seaweed salad most sushi restaurants serve. It's cloying and damp, a far cry from what is originally cooked in Japanese households and restaurants.

Will kelp fly in American home kitchens?One of its' big pluses is that the cell structure won't break done during freezing , thawing and then refreezing. This is due to it developing in constantly changing tides and temperatures. Keep in mind that its' different from nori, kombu and  dulse. These have to be prepared differently. Ms. Clark puts it smoothies, soups and saute pans with a hit of chile and garlic.  She gives three different recipes. One is roast chicken with crunchy seaweed and potatoes. This is a sheet pan meal so the seaweed is baked til it's crisp and crunchy  not unlike kale - which you can sub in for it. Then there is creamy white bean and seaweed stew with Parmesan. It's a typical Italian bean soup spiked with dried kombu which is often used in Japanese soups. If you want something a bit more briny the last recipe is a lemony pasta with anchovies and kelp. Chiles give it bite. In this, kelp is pureed but you can also use kelp smoothie cubes. Think of it as a pesto thickened with an anchovy paste flavored with lemon zest,  garlic and chile peppers.It's an interesting concept that can work with any kind of pasta, preferably a chunky kind like rigatoni.

Will it help the planet to eat kelp and its cousins? Yes. Will it help your diet? Yes. Cooking and eating seaweed is a win-win situation. Try it not just for your sake but also for the planet's.

Making That Bread

With St Patrick's Day coming this Saturday , many home bakers , novice and experienced are planning on making Irish soda bread .It's one of the easiest breads to create. Then, surprisingly most breads are. They're an easy and fun bake.

Maybe Irish soda bread should be considered the gateway recipe for new bread makers.It is one of the easiest outside the packaged loaf mixes from Pillsbury and Krusteaz.Like cake, it  requires sugar, margarine,  and flour along with one egg. Irish soda bread does require just a teaspoon of the baking soda that gives it its' name along with buttermilk . Raisins are optional, but they do give it an added sweetness. There is some kneading but the best part is that it doesn't have to be proofed like yeasty bread dough. The baking soda acts as the yeast, allowing the loaf to rise.Irish soda bread is also considered a quick bread which is much easier to make., Banana bread and date-nut bread, two kitchen classics are other examples of quick no yeast breads.They both have dense heavy crumbs with very little air holes.Neophyte bakers may feel a bit anxious about making even this kind of loaf. Don't despair, There are some good mixes out there with Pillsbury leading the pack. Their mix can be made into loaves or muffins and come in a variety of flavors. Try the lemon poppy seed or cinnamon swirl.Krusteaz is another company that has some tasty and simple bread and cornbread  mixes, that include cinnamon swirl and fire roasted corn bread.

Once you've mastered quick breads you can now try your hand at yeast breads. What is the best yeast to use?You can't go wrong with Flesichmann's. One of  the bonuses of using it is that the website has a how too, along with info on what it is and what it does.Another good yeast for bread and rolls is King Arthur's. The company even sells sourdough starter. King Arthur 's also sells a variety of flours too, from wheat to gluten free to nut and coconut flours. Now comes the bread recipes.Start with one that has very few ingredients. The basic load recipe is one that requires active dry yeast, flour , and salt.The only liquid used is water which, along with the other dry ingredients .it makes for a nice light loaf.For the more adventurous there is Italian and French loaves that require their own pans. These sort of resemble corrugated roofing allowing the baker to make three loaves at a time.Some recipes call for the addition of olive oil or honey. When  you've mastered the craft think sausage or cheese breads.These are fun to make and the highlight of any dinner or picnic.

Bread is not that hard a recipe. Start with an easy one like Irish soda bread and work your way to the more challenging recipes. Once you start it'll be hard to quit.

Fine irish Eating

Mention Irish cooking and most will think of gallons of beer and fatty lamb stew.Yet  Celtic cooking is actually very refined.It's full of fresh ingredients, coming directly from the sea and streams that lace through it and the farms that dot it.It is a diet , that's actually quite's elegant.

Most Irish start the day off with a hearty bowl of steel cut oats. These are different than regular oats because the whole grain or groat is used.They also healthier too, preventing such diseases as high blood pressure, heart disease and obesity. For a lusher, tastier first meal the Irish love to fry up slabs of Irish bacon, a cross between American and Canadian bacon, blood sausages and black and white pudding. This last is a marriage of oatmeal sausage or white and blood pudding, usually a sausage created from pork fat, ground beef and pork blood. Eggs are added as are vegetables such as tomatoes and mushrooms to round it out.The British aren't the only ones who serve high tea. The modern Celts are fond of the practice and many Dublin hotels offer it.The Irish have tea three times a day, the first at eleven AM, then at three PM for afternoon and six PM for high tea. Teabreads and scones along with fine jams and lemon curds are also served.

Irish dinners reflect both the sea and land. Fine dining in the Emerald Isle can feature the catch of the day. Salmon is abundant here and dinners may include the fish with leeks or made into elegant croquettes served with a cream sauce, Mackeral is another fish , popular in dining rooms.It's cooked a variety of ways, some involving local ingredients such as leek and rhubarb There is also the wildly decadent Ballymaloe Hot Buttered Lobster where the shellfish is served with a wine laced butter sauce and herbs such as parsley,watercress and fennel .Lamb and mutton are other staples , long used in Gaelic cookery. Crusty lamb shoulder is popular, as it is wrapped in a combination of breadcrumbs, pinched herbs and butter. The Irish make a rack of lamb fit for a Celtic king, with three sauces : mint chutney, onion sauce and red current sauce. This newest generation of Irish chefs are discovering a country classic, dulse seaweed that fed many of the  Irish during the Potato Famine of 1840.It's now a ubiquitous ingredient in many upscale restaurants in Dublin and Cork. Meals are finished with fruits and cheeses , products of local farms.

Irish cooking is full of lavish and rich ingredients and flavors. The Irish create magical and amazing dishes from these ad turn them into unique and elegant dishes .It is the food of kings  = Celtic ones.

Ireland 's Culinary Star Cooks Bright

Ireland has always been the butt of culinary jokes.Yet this amazing island has produced some of the best beef ,fish and dairy along with world class fruits and vegetables.Now the Emerald Isle has another reason to attract foodie's,the chef Kevin Dundon.He is changing the face of Euro cuisine while honoring timeless Gaelic recipes. Chef Dundon has an easy laidback style.He's not competitive like Bobby Flay or in your face like Guy Fieri.He has the quiet ,low key yet comfortable attitude of Brit chefs Nigella Lawson and Tamasin Day Lewis.His public TV show is a gentle how to with breathtaking scenes of the Irish seascape and landscape.He goes about his kitchen ,much like a cooking instructor conducting master class . He uses everyday ingredients ,nothing exotic or fancy.It can be hearty dishes like an apple pie or a simple lobster dish made without the usual bells and whistles. This doesn't mean that he hasn't turned himself into a brand.Check out his website and you'll see some pretty expensive equipment(although truth be told it's on a par with Farberware).Mr. Dundon probably uses the pots and pans himself.He also sells some very impressive knife sets ,which are a must for anyone using his recipes.His site has the added plus of those recipes. His are quietly elegant as in his chicken crepe bake or his Eton mess,a traditional British dessert .They are also divided into seasons, new and old Irish along with family. Anyone can make these from novice to master chef.The results will be the same good food using basic ingredients. Kevin Dundon may not have the flashiness of some chefs He one ups them with his low key style and high quality recipes and style.A true Irish gem? Yes and probably the newest gem of Euro-cuisine,

Hearty Bowlfuls

Now that the weather is once again becoming crisper and nippier, it's time for a good bowl. Not that kind that involves nine pins but bowls of thick, nutritious goodness. Any dish that you can scoop into a big one is perfect, be it chowder, gumbo or stew. They make you feel warm and cozy, the perfect comfort foods on frosty nights.

Chowders are wonderful for any November lunch or dinner. Although it really isn't the season for seafood you can still make a hearty clam or shrimp one using frozen seafood.(although there are some fish stores that do sell freshly caught clams during this time). Corn chowder is another great chill chaser.It is easy to make along with being hearty and filling. You can add some thickly diced potato chunks along with bacon to make it rib sticking and more flavorful. Gumbos are another bowlful of substance and taste. Although they're a little more involved than chowders you can still create an easy one . Again seafood is the traditional way to go however there are also chicken varieties too that have just as much fire and punch.

The most traditional bowl dish is stew.Thanks to the crock pot, stews can be made early in the day and served piping hot at dinner time. The most traditional is lamb stew which can be slow cooked with a hint of sweetness for a North African vibe or with potato chunks and parsley for a more traditional Irish meal. Of course there is also beef stew along with chicken stew. Both call for creativity. For the beef you can add anything from ordinary ketchup to red wine to amp up the taste. For the chicken, think about a splash or white wine to eggplant to a dash of oregano. Serve both with regular or Midwestern dumplings instead of bread or rolls..

This is the season for warm hearty bowlfuls. They can come in the form of chowders, gumbos or stews . All are different yet all have the same goal, to drive away that November chill.

Food Of The Auld Sod

Irish food is usually put into the same category as British food - ugh. Yet this island is rich both in beef and seafood, lamb and dairy. Irish food is taken from ancient recipe sand local farms. The combination is a rich melding of tastes and flavors, traditions with a modern twist. This is what makes modern Irish foods tasty and rich.

Modern Irish cooking or Nouvelle Irish cuisine consists of a lot of the island‘s salmon and trout along with mussels and oysters. These are served with the traditional greens of cabbage and kale. The early Irish had a more land based diet of cattle, sheep and fowl. This is true today in some regions where rich stews and roasts still rule. Pork plays an important part in the cooking , especially in the breakfasts. Pork sausage figures in th traditional one as does white and black sausages, eggs and tomatoes. The Irish also like their sausages cooked with fatty or streaky bacon along with potatoes and onions. Bacon figures heavily in some dinner dishes as well.

The Irish love sweets too. In fact they are the purveyors of the world’s best chocolate , Butler’s, founded and still based out of Dublin. The Irish are excellent bread bakers and sometimes make sweet ones for dessert. Honey, one of the oldest ingredients in Irish cuisine, is used frequently (it was first used to flavor mead for the tribesmen) as well as oats and apple. Tarts are popular as after dinner treats. One, the sinfully rich Connemara tart is made with cream eggs and apples and then dusted with cinnamon and nutmeg. Guinness makes an appearance in Guinness Cake, a kind of fruitcake that is redolent with raisins. Apple duff, mentioned in James Joyce’s Ulysses is a rich variation of a baked apple but it's encased in puff pastry and served with cream..

Irish cuisine is as ancient and rich as the Gaelic heritage itself. Traditional ingredients are blended together to form cooking that is both traditional yet modern . It' s not just simply corned beef and cabbage but much much more. It’s as varied and a textured as the country’s history and literature.

Butler's The New Best Chococlate

The other day I wrote about Butler's Chocolates as one of the new things to watch on the foodie scene. It is an amazing shop, different from Godiva yet similar in some ways. It's also a great place to stop in for a coffee or an ice cream.

Butler's originated in Dublin in 1932 on small little street called Lad Lane. Marion bailey was an expert chocolate maker and began to sell her creations in the small sweet shop, Like today's recipes she used only the best Irish butter, imported chocolate and fresh fruit san d nuts. later in 1959, Seamus Sorenson bought it from her yet still kept the original headquarters in Lad Lane. over th e last fifty years it expanded its facilities moving from the original area to Pearse Street then eventually opening a factory in Clonshaugh Dublin,. They went first to New Zealand and then to , of all places, my local mall in Northern New Jersey. I'm glad they did though.

Butler's has become my new favorite candy. I love the dark bitter chocolate bars filled with praline and whole almonds as well as their "gift" chocolates, a free bonbon when you ordered coffee. It's has a smooth caramel center, and a creamy, milky chocolate exterior. I can't wait to go tonight to buy their fudge and brittle. The iced mocha lattes are the best, having the consistency of a rich chocolate milk shake. it;'s a quick pick me up when you're bargain shopping.I''m also in live with their Grand Marnier mousse cake , a perfect round or orange liqueur flavored mousse on top of a moist chocolate cake round.

Be lucky if you live in the Bergen County region of New Jersey . You;re only a stone's throw away from some of the best candy in the world. If not , then take a trip to Dublin to experience this amazing chocolates or visit their web site.