my favorite (non) Irish St Patrick’s Day dinner

In Ireland, corned beef and cabbage is about as Irish as spaghetti and meatballs. I guess this peasant meal is just an American way to celebrate Irish heritage. So, if you’re planning to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with a traditional non-Irish dinner this weekend, I have a couple recipes you should try.

First, you need to buy the best piece of corned beef you can find. This is of utmost importance to the entire meal, so splurge on a roast that’s the real thing. We’re fortunate to have several stores nearby that sell local beef. Beef from cattle raised without growth hormones or antibiotics on farms where they graze on natural native grasslands, pastures and forests. My favorite local store is New Seasons Market, and this is where I buy corned beef. Their corned beef is a beef brisket that is not overly salted or seasoned.

I’ve often wondered why some meats sold as corned beef are red and others gray, so I emailed the friendly people at New Seasons to find out. Within 24-hours, I received an email from Daniel Menashe, a customer advocate at the market, who took me to beef school.

According to Daniel, “Red corned beef is a more modern invention. It’s the result of adding potassium nitrate or sodium nitrite to the meat in order to preserve the red color. It may look prettier, but some folks take issue with the safety of these compounds, and most chefs and gourmands feel that they can rob the subtlety from a cured meat.” “Our corned beef is classic gray and proud of it.”

At New Seasons they use beef brisket because it’s the most tender and well-marbled.

He also explained where the term corn comes in. “The corn in ‘corned beef,’ doesn’t refer to the New World grain, but rather an Old English term for salt — a corn of salt used to mean the same thing as a grain of salt.”

To sum it up — “Brisket is best. Go for the gray. It has nothing to do with corn.”

Now that you know everything you need to know about corned beef, pick up a three pound piece of gray beef, perfectly cured with herbs and spices at your favorite local store, the best way to cook it is very slowly in a Dutch oven.

Corned Beef and Cabbage Stew
PRINTABLE RECIPE

3 lbs corned beef
24 oz Guinness (or other stout beer)
12 small red potatoes
4 carrots, peeled and cut into quarters
1 green cabbage, sliced into 8 wedges
4 Tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
Horseradish for serving

Place beef into a large (7 quart) oven-proof dish and add enough beer to cover the meat. You may need to add some water to fully cover the meat. Place a lid over the dish and place into a 325°F oven for about 3 1/2 hours.

Layer all the vegetables into the pot and bake for another 35 minutes or until the potatoes are fully cooked.

Lay out the vegetables onto a serving platter. Slice the corned beef, against the grain into thin slices and top with any cooking liquid that you desire. Sprinkle with fresh parsley and serve warm.

This soda bread is an absolute must served alongside the corned beef stew...

It’s only slightly sweet, but still feels and tastes like a treat with its super moist crumb and prominent flavors of orange and caraway.

The following recipe is the original Irish soda bread from Grand Central Baking Company, a fabulous local bakery here in Portland.

Grand Central’s Irish Soda Bread
Makes 8 pieces, or two large rounds
PRINTABLE RECIPE

4 cups + 2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1-1/2 Tablespoons orange zest
2-1/4 teaspoons caraway seeds
3/4 cup currants
14 Tablespoons (1-3/4 sticks) unsalted butter, cold
1 cup + 2 Tablespoons buttermilk, divided
Egg wash (1 egg whisked with 1 Tablespoon water and a pinch of salt)

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a high-sided mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer. Stir in orange zest, caraway seeds and currants.

Dice butter in 1/2-inch cubes. Use your hands or the paddle attachment to mix butter into dry ingredients until the texture becomes mealy. Cover mixing bowl with plastic wrap and chill overnight, or proceed with the recipe.

Add 3/4 cup buttermilk all at once, mixing just until the dough comes together, 30-35 seconds. Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl to incorporate any dry ingredients and add remaining buttermilk.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and divide into 2 chunks. Gently shape the pieces into dome-like disks and score each one into quarters.

Place disks on the baking sheet and brush liberally with egg wash. Put the baking sheet in the center of the preheated oven and bake 30-35 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through, until disks are shiny and golden brown.

You know what else is good with this dinner? Guinness. Yum!

Sláinte!

Lá Fhéile Pádraig Sona Duit! 

happy Pi Day

It seems as though I was in hibernation mode back on January 23, 2012 (Pie Day). Or maybe I was recovering from post holiday stresses. Whatever the reason for my failure to acknowledge Pie Day, today I’m celebrating Pi Day.

Maybe your Mom made these when she baked pies, maybe you make them for your kids, grandkids. If you’ve never had pie crust sticks, I’m really truly sorry. You must.

Although my Mom never made her pie crust from blending flour, salt, shortening, and water, she made us pie crusts sticks whenever she baked a pie. It wasn’t until I was an adult that she admitted to me that she used pre-made dough all those years. For this pie obsessed daughter, I was more than disappointed by her confession.

A couple weeks ago I used the fresh/frozen blueberries sitting in my freezer to make a pie for dinner at my in-laws. I used the new rolling pin and Silpat mat I received for Christmas last year.

The rolling pin makes rolling out dough a dream. I miss my pastry cloth though. In spite of the generously floured surface I made for it, the dough was determined to stick to the Silpat mat.

I’m seeing these mini pies in mason jars lately, and I so want to make some. 

Megan at Not Martha blogged about these back in 2008...

Where, oh where have you been all my life, tiny pies?

If, like my Mom, you’re using a store bought or other non-homemade crust, do me a favor and just try this once and tell me it’s not as easy as... well you know... pie.

Pie Crust Recipe

Makes two 9-inch crusts

PRINTABLE RECIPE

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup Crisco shortening

1/2 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

1/4 cup very cold water

1. Combine flour and salt in the bowl of a food processor.

2. Add shortening and butter.

3. Blend together until you have small grains. About 5-10 seconds is all it will take.

4. Prepare a container with some ice water. From that, measure about 1/4 cup.

5. Sprinkle the cold water through the tube of your food processor and mix until dough forms.

6. Divide the dough into two balls, place each onto a sheet of plastic wrap and flatten into a disk.

7. Refrigerate the dough for about an hour before you roll it out.

8. Roll out dough on a well floured surface using a well floured rolling pin. 

9. Once you’ve created a circle that’s 2-3 inches wider than the pie pan you intend to bake in, roll the dough around the floured rolling pin and carefully transfer it to the pan. Press it into place and remove any access dough (so you’ll have dough for pie crust sticks). 

Keeping all the ingredients cold is key to a successful crust. Another tip: preheat the oven to 400°F and bake the pie (with filling) for 15 minutes to set the crust. Then turn the oven down to 325° and bake your pie for an additional 45 minutes to an hour, depending on what filling you’re using. This will keep the bottom crust from being soggy.

To make pie crust sticks, simply roll out whatever dough you have leftover, place it in a pie pan, sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar, and bake for about 10 minutes at 400°F.

Happy Pi Day, and happy pie baking!

Wynonna

It’s official! Ms. Wynonna, our golden-laced wyandotte, is an international model. This morning I sold this image of her to an ad agency in London who is creating promotional materials for a small boutique hotel in Marseille, France.

How will a chicken represent a hotel? That’s what I was wondering. A bit of online Googling, and I found Mama Shelter in Paris.

They’re opening a second location next month in Marseille. Apparently, that’s where our girl comes in.

It’s about time Wynonna started contributing in some way around here. While our other hens are busy laying eggs, Wynonna appears to be oblivious to the fact that she’s a hen. As far as I can tell, she has never laid an egg. It’s okay, she’s found her niche in life. Along with modeling for a photography workshop, posing for various local photographers, she can now add another line to her resume... French Supermodel.

sheepherder’s bread

I never tire of the stories my husband shares about his childhood. When he was just ten years old, his father died unexpectedly, leaving his mother with four young children. In spite of the hardships that followed, many of my husband’s fond memories revolve around the delicious homemade foods his mother made. One of those memories was of a shepherd’s bread, and the tradition his family practiced whenever it was served. This slightly sweet bread was baked in a cast iron Dutch oven, leaving circular indentations from its lid on the top crust. Before my mother-in-law served this bread to her family, she gave their loyal border collie the first slice.


When I asked my mother-in-law for this family recipe, she included a 1976 article from Sunset magazine where I learned about its history. Her shepherd’s bread was originally baked by the Basques, people who live in a tiny region that straddles the border of Spain and France. If you want to know more, you can read about them here.

“Tending their flocks in the remote Western rangelands, Basque sheepmen had to cook for themselves, and they had to make do with a minimum of portable cooking equipment. A Dutch oven became essential for cooking hearty soups and stews — and even for baking bread. They buried the pot in a pit full of hot embers.” 

“A poignant camp custom: Before serving, a herder would slash the sign of the cross on top of the loaf, then serve the first piece to his invaluable dog.”

Many years later, some Basques still bake these dome-shaped loaves of bread, but now they do so at home in their conventional ovens. The recipe my mother-in-law used was one that was supplied to Sunset magazine by Anita Mitchell. Anita won the bread-baking championship at the National Basque Festival in 1975.

To make this bread, you’ll need a 10-inch covered Dutch oven (I used my 5.5 quart Le Creuset).

Mixing ingredients for bread dough is so satisfying! If you look closely, you can see bubbles from the yeast mixture working its magic.

This image was taken after the first kneading. Ten whole minutes of kneading was a very calming, meditative experience for me.

This is after the second kneading, and before the dough rises slightly higher than the Dutch oven lid.

This is what the bread should look like when you take it out of the oven. Tap the bread. Does it sound hollow? It’s done!

If you used a cast-iron Dutch oven, you’ll have circles from its lid on the top of your loaf, which would  make this even more beautiful!

My favorite part! Bailey got the first slice. She’s so cautious — she sniffed it, licked it, gently took it from my daughter’s hand, then placed it on the porch and looked up at Isabel with those sweet, innocent brown eyes as if asking for permission to eat it.

Here’s the recipe:

Sheepherder’s Bread

PRINTABLE RECIPE

Makes 1 very large loaf

3 cups very hot tap water

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup sugar

2 1/2 teaspoons salt

2 packages active dry yeast

About 9 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 Tablespoon vegetable oil

In a large bowl, combine the hot water, butter, sugar and salt. Stir until butter melts. Let cool to warm (110° to 115°F) Stir in yeast, cover and set in a warm place until the mixture is bubbly, about 15 minutes.

Add 5 cups of the flour and beat with a heavy-duty mixer or wooden spoon to form a thick batter. Stir in enough of the remaining flour (about 3 1/2 cups) to form a stiff dough. Turn dough out onto a floured board and knead until smooth, about 10 minutes, adding flour as needed to prevent sticking. Turn dough over in a greased bowl, cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 1/2 hours.

Punch down dough and knead on a floured board to form a smooth ball. Cut a circle of foil to cover the bottom of the Dutch oven. Grease the inside of the Dutch oven and the underside of the lid with vegetable oil.

Place dough in the pot and cover with the lid. Let rise in a warm place until dough pushes up the lid by about 1/2 inch, about 1 hour (watch closely).

Bake, covered with the lid in a 375° oven for 12 minutes. Remove lid and bake for another 30-35 minutes, or until the loaf is golden brown and sounds hollow when you tap it. Remove from oven and carefully turn loaf out onto a rack to cool.

I cut a slice this morning, spread some unsalted butter on it, and drizzled it with a little homemade honey. I immediately had a doggie looking up at me with those sweet brown eyes!

when truth is funnier than fiction

Today’s local news headlines read like a list of Portlandia skits...

‘Squirrels gone wild’ chomp West Linn cars

Beef heart delivered to wrong Portland house

‘Wonder Woman’ car found after KGW report

2 alligators, turtle, cat escape OR garage fire

Wonder Woman scours the streets of Portland in search of her stolen car.

“I guess some would theorize,” said Sgt. Pete Simpson, “that somebody from the Hall of Doom is trying to steal Wonder Woman’s ‘lasso of truth’ or bullet proof bracelets out of it. “There’s just some lines you don’t cross,” Simpson said. “You don’t steal a superhero’s car.”

Sometimes reality writes the best stuff!

Portlandia’s Portland

According to the comedy sketch, Portlandia, Portland, Oregon is populated with ultra-liberal, tattooed, pierced, artsy, environmentally conscious hipsters. We all shop in community owned co-op stores, travel only by bicycle, and eat exclusively organic, locally produced food. 


Apparently we’re living a liberal utopian dream...

“Portland's almost an alternative universe. It's like Gore won. The Bush administration never happened. In Portland, it's almost like cars don't exist. They ride bikes, double decker bikes, they ride unicycles, they ride the tram, they ride skateboards.”

“In Portland you can go to a record store and sell your CDs.”

“In Portland, you can put a bird on something and call it art.” 

“It's the city where young people go to retire.”

Does this lampooned dream of the 90’s actually offer something better? Only time will tell. It is nice to be in the cultural spotlight anyway.


Every city has its annoying features. Here are a few of Portland’s: There’s a guy at every freeway off ramp begging for money. You can’t walk anywhere in the city without being asked to sign petitions or give money to save one thing or another. There are way too many creative types here, many who will sell their creativity for under market value, which makes it difficult for those of us making our living as creative professionals. Constant rain gets kind of annoying after the first month. 


Some of the great things about living in Portland: Within an hour you can drive to the beach, wine country, or the mountains. Local, organic foods are abundant. There’s a Starbucks on every corner. We have awesome hiking and biking trails. You can stroll through Portland and go from prim, proper and pristine to wild and weird within a few short blocks. You’ll find farm animals living in the city on 50x100 lots!

And we have the best doughnuts evah...

Valentine idea for kids

I remember it like it was yesterday. Valentine’s Day is fast approaching. We need to make Valentines for 28 kids in 2 days (or if you’re a procrastinator, 2 hours). 

What you’ll need:

Pink and/or red construction paper

Googly eyes

Glue

Brown yarn

Rubber stamps

Ink pad

Single hole punch

Tootsie roll pops in red or pink wrappers

Plastic bags or other packaging

Step 1: Cut heart shapes out of construction paper. You can make them any size you want. We made ours around 4” high.

Step 2: Use rubber stamps and ink to create a message on the inside of the heart.

Step 3: Make a small hole with your hole punch. Tie a piece of the brown yarn through it to create the mouse’s tail.

Step 4: Grab two googly eyes and place them as shown.

Step 5: Draw on a nose and a few whiskers.

Step 6: Fold the heart/mouse down the center and place a Tootsie Roll Pop inside.


Now that I think about it, string cheese would have been good. I’m not sure what a Tootsie Roll Pop and mouse have in common. Candy seemed appropriate at the time.


We put both mouse and Tootsie Roll together in a small clear plastic bag. You can probably come up with something better. We ran out of time.

Happy Valentine’s Day!