St. Patrick's day feast

     Usually for St. Patrick's day, we make corned beef and cabbage.  This year, however, we attended a housewarming party (Thank you, Lyz and Zander!) the day before and had our St. Patty's day fix.  So what could we make that was still in the Irish theme?  Shepherd's pie and Irish soda bread, of course!

Traditional Irish Shepherd's Pie from http://www.food.com/recipe/traditional-irish-shepherds-pie-302120#

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 lb ground beef or 1 lb lamb
1 large onion, finely diced
3 -4 large carrots, finely diced
1 cup frozen peas
3 -4 sprigs fresh thyme, finely chopped
2 tablespoons flour
1 tablespoon butter
1 glass red wine
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 cup stock
1 large quantity mashed potatoes (estimating 1L or 6 cups, fresh or leftover)
1 egg, beaten
grated parmesan cheese (optional)

Procedure:

1. Pre-heat oven to 200C/400°F.


2. Saute carrots in the olive oil until starting to get tender.


3. Add in the onions and saute for a minute or two then add the meat.


4. Season with black pepper and thyme.


5. Cook until browned then drain fat.


6. Add the butter and peas.


7. Sprinkle with flour and stir through.


8. Add tomato paste, wine and Worcestershire sauce.


9. Let this reduce slightly then add the chicken stock. Allow to reduce down until you have a thick meaty gravy. Season to your taste.


10. Remove from heat. Grease an oven proof dish** (9x13 works for me, as does an oval baker) with butter and add the sauce.


11. Spoon or pipe the mashed potatoes over top. Brush with egg and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese if using.


12. Bake for about 20 minutes or until the potato is nice and browned on top.

13. Serve as is or with some crusty bread to mop up that yummy sauce!

Shepherd's pie in a cast iron

Delicious!

    This recipe took a bit of work but was totally worth it.  I made it with buttermilk mashed potatoes (see http://insearchoftheperfectmacaroniandcheese.blogspot.com/2012/12/buttermilk-mashed-potatoes.html for the recipe) and grass-fed ground beef.  The nice thing about the cast iron (as always) is that I didn't have to transfer anything into a casserole dish.  I just covered it with mashed potatoes and stuck it in the oven.  

Irish Soda Bread from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything

Ingredients:

About 1 1/2 cups buttermilk
4 cups AP flour
2 tsp salt
3/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp baking powder
Butter or oil for greasing the pan

Procedure:

1) Preheat the oven to 375 F.

2) Combine all the ingredients and process in a food processor to combine.  Add enough milk or yogurt to make a soft but not-too-sticky dough.  Process for 30 seconds or until the dough is smooth and elastic.  Let the dough rest for a few minutes.

3) Butter a baking sheet or baking pan and shape the dough into a round loaf.  Stash the top with a razor blade.  Bake for at least 45 minutes, or until the loaf is golden brown and sounds hollow when you thump the bottom (the internal temperature will be almost 200 F).  Let cool thoroughly.  This bread does not keep well; plan to eat it within a day of making it.  Store wrapped in waxed paper.

Irish soda bread

Alas, I ate all of the soda bread from the recent batch before
I could take a picture, so I found these from a previous batch.
I'm pretty sure this is soda bread!!

     I actually made this recipe the day before as something to bring to our party.  It was a big hit.  And super easy to make!  Gotta love quick breads!  As a quick note, Mark Bittman also includes instructions as to how to make this without buttermilk and without a food processor, but I just decided to simplify it into the recipe you see above.