Wandering Gullet: Ireland
In the spirit of St. Patrick's Day, Wandering Gullet takes us to Ireland. Our meal was very brown: steak and onion pie with Irish soda bread. The soda bread is interesting because it relies on baking soda for leavening. No yeast means no proofing and minimal kneading. And the steak and onion pie is pretty much a steak pot pie. It's good, hearty food, perfect for a chilly day with surprise snow; not perfect for an evening busy with packing and tying up loose ends before I leave the country for two weeks. This dinner took a long time to prepare and cook.
Steak and Onion PieI purchased a crust for the top; I couldn’t find the roll-out or folded kind, so I got a pie shell in an aluminum tin plate and just sort of flattened it out. Also, there was way too much to fit into a 9” pan. I just left it in the Dutch oven (1 less dish to clean too!) and put the pastry crust on top of the bubbling filling. Needs lots more salt before adding the crust top. Cooks a long time, but is really good.
1 large onion, sliced
1/3 cup shortening
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1-1/2 teaspoons ground allspice
1-1/2 pounds boneless round steak, cut into 1-inch cubes
2 cups boiling water
1-1/2 cups diced peeled potatoes
1 cup diced carrots
1 cup frozen peas
Pie pastry (9 to 10 inches)In a Dutch oven, lightly brown onion in shortening.
Meanwhile, combine flour, salt, pepper, ginger and allspice in a plastic bag. Place meat cubes in the bag, a few pieces at a time, and shake well to coat.
Remove onion and set aside. Brown beef on all sides. Add water; cover and simmer for 1 hour or until meat is tender, stirring occasionally. Add potatoes and carrots; cover and cook for 10 minutes. Stir in peas and continue cooking until all vegetables are tender, about 10 minutes. Spoon meat mixture into a 9-in. square baking pan.
Roll pastry out to a 10-in. square; place over meat mixture and seal edges to pan. Cut several small steam vents in crust. Bake at 450° for 25-30 minutes or until pastry is browned.
Yield: 6-8 servings.
Mummy's Brown Soda BreadI measured the flours by weight, but had to add almost another cup of flour to make even a sticky dough. It was really messy to make, but easy once I added lots more flour. Great with butter and strawberry jam!
2 cups all-purpose flour (about 9 ounces)
2 cups whole wheat flour (about 9 1/2 ounces)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups buttermilk
Cooking sprayPreheat oven to 450°.
Lightly spoon flours into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flours, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl; stir with a whisk. Make a well in center of mixture. Add buttermilk to flour mixture; stir until blended (dough will be sticky).
Turn dough out onto a generously floured surface; knead lightly 4 to 5 times. Shape dough into an 8-inch round loaf; place on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Cut a 1/4-inch-deep X in the top of the dough (called blessing the bread).
Bake at 450° for 15 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 400° (do not remove bread from oven); bake 15 minutes or until loaf sounds hollow when tapped. Cool on a wire rack.
Yield: 1 loaf, 12 servings (serving size: 1 slice)
CALORIES 169 (10% from fat); FAT 1.9g (sat 0.9g,mono 0.1g,poly 0.2g); PROTEIN 6.2g; CHOLESTEROL 6mg; CALCIUM 10mg; SODIUM 355mg; FIBER 3g; IRON 1.7mg; CARBOHYDRATE 32.4g
Cooking Light, MARCH 2007
So, I'm leaving tomorrow for two weeks in Mexico. You probably won't hear from me, because I'll either be cowering in the villa in my bikini or too sunburned to type after falling asleep in my beach chair after downing too many Sols or pina coladas.
Maybe Red Momo will take this opportunity to wrest control of the blog and entertain you with his kosher culinary adventures, embarrassing stories about me, or anything else he feels like typing.
See you in April!