I’m not Irish but both of my kids have Irish blood running through them which I figured that means I’m Irish by proxy. Even if I’m not Irish, I have red hair (thanks to a box), freckles and hazel eyes. I certainly could tell someone that I had an Irish heritage and they would believe it.
However, in this great melting pot of the USA, it doesn’t really matter does it? We celebrate all different heritages; that’s what a true melting pot does, although I have yet to see Norse Day with a lutefisk fest (ummm yuk). For this green holiday, one that celebrates all that is good about Ireland, I recommend you whip up this stew.
It is classically the epitome of all that represents comforting Irish food. And this dish is bathed in the iconic Guinness stout beer. Typically you see this type of stew made with beef in the Americas, but in Ireland they are more likely to eat lamb (beef can easily be substituted if desired) plus it has potatoes two ways. Continue reading “Guinness Irish Lamb Stew” »
I am so excited for this month’s Secret Recipe Club reveal, the first one of 2013! If you haven’t heard of this great ‘secret santa’ type group, you should check out their site. Gurl, you wouldn’t believe who’s blog I got this month. That’s right it was steaknpotatoeskindagurl.
Not surprisingly, the first recipes I sought out were steak recipes. Okay, would you believe that Desiree, Desi, Des didn’t actually have any steak recipes on her site? She even joked about it, her only steak reference was a guest post that she did!
I about died laughing when I realized that! So I sought out her tag cloud and next to menu planning and restaurant reviews she had plenty of chicken recipes. Desi’s White Chicken Chili really stood out to me. It’s January, it’s cold, and chili is the perfect recipe to chase away cold snowy days in Montana.
It’s one week after Thanksgiving, how are you doing on your leftovers? Have you gobbled them all up, did you stash some in the freezer for later? This year there was only three of us and the smallest organic fresh turkey I could buy was nearly 14 pounds. That’s a lot of turkey for 3 people, even for my large appetite family. Needless to say, leftovers abounded.
The day after Thanksgiving I always boil up the bones and make turkey stock for turkey reinventions. Only this year, I didn’t do much innovating. My baby boy was here and he had offered to help me paint his old room to convert it to an office/studio for me. That took up more time than I planned…mostly because college kids on vacation don’t start functioning until after noon, sigh.
Anywho, I ended up a week later with some turkey and a lot of stock. It would have been easy to make a turkey noodle/vegetable soup, turkey chili, turkey pot pie, etc. You know the usual’s. But I wanted to do something different(ahh, the bloggers bane).
Plus I’ve been missing some friends from school, one of my friends, Richard (a fun-guy) is a mushroom (fungi) freak, see what I did there…! At lunch one day he told me that when he was dating, if a girl didn’t like mushrooms, it was a deal breaker for him. So I’m dedicating this recipe to my fungi/fun-guy friend Richard.
You won’t find a cream of mushroom soup as mushroomy as this one which should make Richard a happy fun-guy (ok, I’ll stop with the pun). It’s a combination of multiple recipes that I cogged together, it gets it’s wine and leek influences from Ina Garten, the dried mushroom and sage idea from Smitten Kitchen and I like how Elise at Simply Recipes chopped up her mushrooms first, making the soup a perfect cross between creamy and toothsome.
I finished mine with a crouton of stuffing. I simply cubed cold stuffing and browned it on each side in a little butter. The poultry seasoning in the crouton was a perfect match with the sage and thyme in the soup and it added that crunchy texture that a smooth soup just cries out for.
Ever wish you could get a do over? Where you could magically go back in time and right the wrong? Burnt biscuits…do over. Doing 80 mph in a 65 mph zone…sorry Mr. Policeman…do over. How about that conversation where you should have had a great comeback, but it only comes to you later. Wouldn’t it be great to go back and say that clever and oh so witty comment…do over!
I haven’t figured out the whole time space continuum, not that smart. Plus I know me, I’d be just like one of those dumb asses in the movie and change all of history by recooking my biscuits, or avoiding a speeding ticket or actually being super clever and witty at the perfect time. I’m also the goof who wouldn’t be able to go back again and make it right and put history back like it should be. Time traveling would be a bad idea for me.
I may not have a time machine or a blue police box (Dr. Who reference for you non-geeks) to take me back in time (the world should thank me), but I can cook and do recipes over and over. After all that’s how we perfect them.
I’m inviting you to climb in my imaginary time machine and go back nearly three years ago with me. We are going back to T KW’s first ever post. Oh how proud I was of that! I put my little WordPress blog together, took step by step pictures (I just got my brand new Nikon D5000 and I was photo crazy) (I also need to point out here that I thought a better camera would take better pictures, I gave no credit to the person taking the photos) and with a push of a button…err more of a click of a mouse I was published!
Anyone who’s ever blogged knows the feeling I’m talking about. My poor co-workers, I made every single person that I could drag into my office read my post. Oh and look at my pictures, don’t they look soooo good! Don’t you just want a bowl of that creamy chicken noodle soup NOW.
I may have scaled back on my blogging but I just couldn’t scale back on The Secret Recipe Club, you know because clubbing is so much fun It had to happen, at some point, I was going to be assigned a Vegan blog. I was pretty sure that I wouldn’t have an issue, but the family…well, as along as I didn’t get weird on them they probably would be okay.
Actually I’ve had a vegetarian blog, Thrifty Veggie Mama and made bean burgers that McGyver and the I really enjoyed. So the leap to a Vegan meal I thought would be easy enough…my only rule was that I wasn’t going to buy anything that I most likely wouldn’t use again.
The humble little bean, one of the cheapest and most musical foods you can buy. For years the only beans in my life were navy beans, green beans, chili beans, refried beans and the horrid lima bean (never liked them as you can tell). What child didn’t sing the praises of the bean?
Beans, beans, the magical fruit, the more you eat the more you toot. The more you toot the better you feel so eat beans at every meal
My sister and I would roll with laughter after singing the little bean ditty, then we would make tooting noises of our own…immensely funny! Who am I kidding, I’ve never stopped singing that song, as a matter of fact I taught my children it (along with some others that probably shouldn’t be shared) and we would laugh and make tooting noises and laugh some more.
Sometimes it tough to think with family activities, the dogs, the TV blaring, the dishwasher and washer and dryer going..all that din one can hardly hear themselves to think. I think that is why my clever ideas most often come to me when I’m riding my bike or when I’m in the shower. The throaty purr of the motor and the sound of water cascading down creates such a lovely white noise that clears the mind and allows more creative thought.
So it was, I was in the shower (a little to early for me to be riding yet) and the idea of what to do with my leftover corned venison and cabbage came to me. Reuben’s are always a favorite way to use leftover corned beef, only I didn’t quite want to do the same thing, so a little variation came to my mind. Instead of sauerkraut I used the leftover cabbage and then served some cooking liquid on the side for dipping. Hello French Dip Reuben.
There is something so delectable about taking a crusty piece of bread, dipping it, letting those crunchy bits of bread soak up the jus, softening it up so that when you bite into it you get a burst of the broth and some crunch. It’s so satisfying to eat a messy sandwich.
The slurpy, tender and crunchiness of the sandwich carried over for me into my next leftover transformation. I ditched the French Dip concept and became French Onion Soup inspired (is there a trend). Really this is no recipe, I just chopped up the leftover cabbage, potatoes, carrots and onions (we were out of corned venison by then…wish I would have had a bigger roast), dropped a rye toast and a slice of Swiss cheese on it, broiled it and viola! A gorgeous soup that was simplicity itself.
In a small bowl mix the mayonnaise, ketchup, relish and dash of Worcestershire sauce. Butter one side of each slice of bread, put bread together butter to butter side. On the side of the bread facing up, spread it with the sandwich sauce, then layer the corned beef on top, add the cabbage and finally the swiss cheese.
Start with a cold pan, turn to medium heat, griddle cheese side down first. Griddle until the bread turns a golden brown, any where from 3 to 5 minutes on the first side and 2 to 3 minutes on the reverse side. Serve warm with a warm cup of broth.
Notes
I like to warm up my corned meat and cabbage prior to putting them on the sandwich.
Bluefish. Is a mild flavor highly sought after sport fish. It is found in most climates, in Australia it’s referred to as Tailor and in South Africa it’s called, Shad.
Boar. A.K.A. a wild pig. It is also the ancestor of the domestic pig. It is still widely popular in Europe and Asia both for game hunting and eating.
Boar’s Head. The boar once upon a time was a feared animal and a menace, in pre-Christian times boar hunts and feasts were part of pagan Yuletide events. It involved into a Christian celebration, the Boar’s Head Feast in which a flaming boar’s head was brought to the table to celebrate Christmas.
It was a lovely day in February, unusual for this time of year, especially in Montana. It was overcast, but I think the clouds were acting more like a warm blanket, keeping us all cozy down here on earth. There was a touch of spring in the air; I cruised the backyard and noted that some of my bulbs were coming up, evidently I wasn’t the only one feeling spring like. It was a day that I actually wished that I had something to do outside, something to plant or to weed or mow. A very unusual thought for me since I am typically not an outdoorsy gardening type of person. I had undoubtedly been bitten by a bit of Spring fever!
I love photo props. Some of you other bloggers apply the KISS principle (keep it simple stupid), but me, I can’t help myself, I keep finding adorable little things. I really love vintage things (including McGyver). My children will attest to my love for vintage items, I think I spent a good portion of all my money in Europe on antiques and what-nots. Thinking of Tongeren…
Ever make something and it turned out horrible? Disgusting? Inedible? The first time I made this soup, it ended up ranking right up there with one of the worst dishes I’ve ever made, maybe even worse than the first time I tried making Yakisoba.
It had to happen, at some point, I was going to be assigned a Vegan blog. I was pretty sure that I wouldn’t have an issue, but the family…well, as along as I didn’t get weird on them they probably would be okay.
