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Assorted
Irish Recipes
Dumplings
For Irish Stew / Irish
Coffee / Irish Rack of Lamb / Irish
Ham and Potato Pie / Irish Hot Chocolate
/ Irish Potato Cassarole / Irish
Pancakes / Irish Oatmeal / Irish
Cream Balls / Irish Oyster Soup
Dumplings For
Irish Stew
1 cup sifted flour
½ tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. bacon drippings
1/3 to ½ cup milk
Sift dry ingredients
together, cut in fat and add enough milk to make a drop batter. Drop
by spoonfuls over top of stew. Cover kettle and let dumplings steam
15 minutes without lifting cover. The stew should be kept boiling. Serves
6.
Irish Coffee
1 cup (8-ounces) heavy whipping cream
3 T. sugar
6 cups hot black coffee
3/4 cup Irish whiskey
Using an electric
mixer, beat the cream with 1 tablespoon of sugar until soft peaks form.
Set aside.
Combine remaining
sugar, coffee and whiskey. Pour into Irish mugs and top with
lots of whipped cream. Serve hot.
Serves 4 to 6.
Irish Baked Parsnips
2 1/2 pounds parsnips
3 tablespoons stock (any flavor desired)
Salt and pepper to taste
Pinch nutmeg
1/4 cup butter or bacon fat
1. Peel parsnips, quarter, and remove any woody core. Place in a saucepan,
cover with water; bring to a boil and cook for 15 minutes. Remove from
heat and drain well.
2. Place parboiled parsnips in an ovenproof dish. Add stock and sprinkle
with salt, pepper and nutmeg. Dot with butter or bacon fat and bake,
uncovered, for 30 minutes on a low shelf in a 350*F (175*C) oven.
Serves 6 to 8.
Irish Rack of
Lamb
1 tablespoon pure olive oil
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 small branch rosemary
1/4 lemon, cut into a wedge
2 ounces Irish whiskey
1 pinch kosher salt
1 pinch cracked black pepper
3 ounces demi-glace (reduction of red wine, vegetables, and veal bones)
1 ounce brown gravy
1 tablespoon butter
1 (6-chop) rack of lamb
To make Irish Whiskey Rack Sauce, combine the oil, garlic, rosemary,
and lemon in a frying pan. Heat on high flame (do not brown garlic).
Pull pan away from flame. Add whiskey, return to flame, and add salt
and pepper. Add the demi-glace and brown gravy. Let reduce and add the
butter in slowly, off the heat to thicken the sauce. Keep warm.
Clean rack thoroughly (remove all silver skin). Season lightly with
salt and pepper.
Place sizzle pan upside down on the grill. Put lamb, meat-side-down
next to the sizzle pan with the bones resting on the pan. This will
keep the bones from burning. Make the cross-brand mark on the meat side,
then turn and cook for a few minutes on the bone side. Finish in oven,
if you prefer well done.
When presenting, cut the lamb into 2 pieces. Stand up and cross the
bones as if to build a tee-pee. Top with Irish Whiskey Rack Sauce
One serving
Irish Ham and
Potato Pie
6 large eggs
1/2 cup green onions chopped
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
3 cups cooked diced potatoes
1 1/2 cups (6 ounces) shredded Swiss cheese
1 cup diced cooked ham
1/2 cup finely chopped green bell pepper
1/2 cup half-and-half
1. Preheat oven
to 350*F (175*C). Generously butter a 9-inch pie dish.
2. Whisk together the eggs, onions, salt and pepper in large bowl.
3. Add potatoes,
cheese, ham, bell pepper and half and half.
Stir to blend. Pour into prepared dish.
4. Bake for 1 hour 20 minutes or until tested done when a knife inserted
in the center comes out clean. Cut into wedges to serve.
Makes 4 to 6 servings.
Irish Hot Chocolate
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup cold water
2 1/4 cups milk
3/4 cup half-and-half
1/2 cup Baileys Original Irish Cream liqueur, or to taste
Whipped cream and shaved bittersweet chocolate for garnish
In a large heavy
saucepan, combine the cocoa powder, the sugar, the vanilla, the water,
and a pinch of salt and heat the mixture over low heat, whisking, until
the cocoa powder is dissolved and the mixture is a smooth paste. Gradually
add the milk and the half-and-half, both scalded, and simmer the hot
chocolate, whisking, for 2 minutes. Stir in the Baileys. (For a frothy
result, in a blender blend the hot chocolate in batches.) Divide the
hot chocolate among mugs and top it with the whipped cream and the chocolate.
Makes about 4 1/2 cups, serving 4 to 6.
Irish Potato
Cassarole
2 cups peeled and
shredded potatoes
1/2 cup melted
butter
2 eggs, beaten
1 teaspoon
minced onion
1 teaspoon
salt
1/4 teaspoon
paprika
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup shredded
sharp Cheddar cheese
Preheat oven to
350°F (175°C). Butter a 1.5 quart baking dish.
In a medium
bowl, combine the potatoes, butter, eggs, onion, salt and paprika. Mix
well.
Place potato
mixture into the prepared baking dish and pour milk over top.
Bake in the
preheated oven for 40 minutes.
Sprinkle top
with cheese, return to oven and bake until cheese melts and is slightly
browned.
Makes 6 servings.
Irish Pancakes
Irish pancakes are
traditionally served on Shrove Tuesday, the last day before the Lenten
fast begins. In the times when the Lenten fast and abstinence forbade
not just meat but butter, cream, eggs, and fat, these pancakes were
a way to use up any of those ingredients in the larder. Served with
meat, they were the last hearty meal before Lent.
1 cup flour
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
8 tbsp. butter or margarine (use sticks at room temperature, not whipped)
1 cup buttermilk
1 egg
butter or margarine (small amount)
Possible toppings:
Sugar
Butter
Honey
Jam
Sift dry ingredients
into a bowl.
Beat egg and buttermilk together.
Add egg-milk mixture to the dry ingredients and beat until batter is
thick.
Allow batter to sit for up to two hours.
Heat a griddle or frying pan and grease it lightly with butter or margarine.
Spoon batter onto hot pan.
Cook until bubbles rise to the top and underside of the pancake is golden
brown.
Flip the pancake over and cook until the second side is golden brown.
Yield: 10-12 pancakes
Irish Oatmeal
2 1/2 cups water
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup steel cut oats*
1/4 cup millet
Golden raisins
Dried cranberries
Sliced almonds
Half-and-half or milk for accompaniment
In a medium saucepan, add water and salt. Bring to a boil then stir
in oats and millet. Reduce heat to low. Cover and allow to cook, simmering
gently, for 15 to 20 minutes until grain is tender and water is absorbed.
It is not necessary to stir the oatmeal as it is cooking.
Spoon into serving bowls and top with raisins, dried cranberries and
almonds and drizzle with half-and-half or milk.
Serves 3 to 4.
* Steel cut oats
are the secret to the firmer, heartier texture of this cereal. Steel
cut oats are readily available through most health food stores.
Irish Cream Balls
I got this recipe years ago from a man I used to work with. His wife
made them for us as a holiday treat, and we wasted no time in gobbling
them down. Try and hide them and forget about them for about a week
to let the flavours develop. You could also coat them in cocoa, icing
sugar, or more vanilla wafer crumbs instead of coconut.
Ingredients:
1 package vanilla wafer cookies
1/2 cup Irish Cream liqueur
1/4 cup milk chocolate
1 cup coconut
Directions:
Crush the vanilla
wafers - a food processor is the fastest for this.
Melt the chocolate
and add to the crushed wafers, along with the liqueur.
Roll into
small balls and roll in coconut to coat.
Refrigerate
to set, then pack in containers and keep refrigerated.
Irish Oyster
Soup
This old recipe
from Ballymoney in County Antrim is wonderfully rich--and extravagant
in its oysters, reflecting Ireland's generous use of the fabulous bivalve
from as far back as mesolithic 5500 BC. You can certainly get away with
fewer--say, a pint instead of a quart of shucked oysters. Serve hot
as a meal to 6-8 people.
2 large potatoes,
unpeeled
3 Tablespoons of butter
1/4 lb. salt pork, diced
4 cups milk
bouquet garni (a bay leaf and green herbs tied together or in a tea
ball)
salt and pepper
36 fresh shucked oysters, juice reserved
Garnish: chopped parsley
Cook the potatoes in boiling salted water until just tender. Meanwhile,
bring the milk to a boil, remove from heat, dunk in the bouquet garnie,
and let infuse. Then saute the diced salt pork in a little butter over
low heat until it is just cooked through.
When the potatoes
are done, peel and mash, then whip in the hot herbed milk. When the
salt pork is tender, add the pieces, drained of their grease. Season
to taste. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly, then add the oysters
with their liquid. Simmer for a few minutes. Taste for seasoning and
stir in the rest of the butter. You can make a nice presentation from
a tureen at the table--or just ladle into bowls in the kitchen and serve
at once, garnished with chopped parsley.
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