Irish Soda Bread

Yes, St. Patrick's Day has passed us by, but Irish soda bread can still be baked and eaten any old time of the year!  I did make this a few days previous to St. Pat's, but didn't start my blog til a couple days ago.  While the paper recipe is still here, I thought I would transcribe it to the blog, so it's searchable and handy for the next time we want to make it.

I prefer the American-style bread, which includes a little more sugar and raisins.  When I was younger, I did not like raisins in bread.  My kids currently feel the same way.  But somewhere along the way I decided I DID like them.  In this bread they are GREAT.  They add a little bit of juiciness to an otherwise dry bread.  There are different colors of raisins, and I encourage experimentation.  Since as far as anyone knows, we only go around this good green Earth once, so why NOT try colorful raisins?

Second important thing to note is the use of CAKE or PASTRY flour.  Flour is made from different kinds of wheat, some are harder and some are softer.  The softer wheats have a lower protein content, and therefore bake lighter.  All-purpose flour is a blend to reach a certain ratio of protein that works well in most recipes.  As you gain more experience with baking, you will start to understand why pastry flour is needed in some recipes and how it performs.  The opposite would be BREAD flour -- heavy, more proteins.  Some kinds of wheat also make flour that are appropriate for pasta.  Oh, the wonderful world of wheat!

Third note is buttermilk.  That is just not something I use regularly enough to have on hand in the fridge, so I usually "clabber" regular milk.  For every cup of milk, add a tablespoon of lemon juice or vinegar, and let it sit on the counter for about 10 minutes.  The acid will clump or "clabber" the milk to be something like buttermilk.  It will not be as thick, but it will do the job.  The job that buttermilk does is to react with the baking soda and powder in this recipe that adds air and tenderness to the bread.  It's very necessary.  Without the right kind of flour and the buttermilk, you might bake a nice brick with raisins in it.

3 cups sifted cake or pastry flour (sifting adds to air and lightness, too)
4 Tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 cup raisins
1 1/3 cups buttermilk (or clabbered milk)

Add all the dry ingredients to a bowl and stir.  Add raisins and buttermilk and stir gently to combine.  I say gently because I use scooping motions to press the mix together, turning and scraping the bowl to incorporate all the dry bits.  Don't undo all your hard work from sifting and using light flour by beating the mix to death!  Over-mixing will toughen your dough.

When the sticky dough is just combined, turn it out on a floured surface and knead it up to 10 times to smooth it out.  Prep a 9" round cake pan with a circle of parchment paper in the bottom.  Perfect circles are not required.  Spread the dough to fill the pan and mark the top with a really cool "X" using a knife and cutting not more than 1/4" deep.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 65 minutes.  Cool on a wire rack.  This bread does not keep well, so eat it within a couple days (no problem, right?).  Store it in a cool, dry place out of the light.

Bonus -- great with coffee!

Shepherd's or Cottage Pie

One of the best things my mom made while we were growing up was mince and totties (which should actually maybe have been called tatties), which was about the same thing as shepherd's pie.  True shepherd's pie is made with lamb, so the appropriate name for beef or chicken would be "cottage pie".  I have read different versions of this with varying spices and other additions, and have come up with my own version.  I like my cottage pie with beef and will test a chicken or turkey version soon.

Also, my husband really wanted this in a pie form with crusts like a chicken pot pie.  We tried this and I think with the potatoes, it's just too much.  The meat mixture alone in a pie crust would probably be great, either in a pie dish or as empanada-style hand pies.

Mashed potatoes:

4-5 small to medium Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and chopped

1/2 stick (4 Tbsp) of salted butter (Kerrygold is my favorite)

1/4-1/3 cup milk

Additional salt to taste

Meat mixture:

canola oil

1/2 medium sweet onion, diced

1 cup carrots, chopped into small pieces.  You could use shredded or crinkle cut carrots and chop those.

1 tsp minced garlic (I like the kind in a jar)

1 tsp salt (I like sea salt or pink Himalayan)

1/2 black pepper (from a grinder for optimal freshness)

1 pound ground beef  (could also try substituting ground lamb, ground turkey, or diced chicken breasts)

2 tsp Worcestershire sauce

2 tsp Dijon mustard (yellow mustard works in a pinch)

1/3 cup beef or chicken broth (my mom would have used Oxo cubes and water)

up to 3 Tbsp flour

1/2 cup peas

Additionally:  cheese, preferably cheddar, either pre-shredded from a bag or chunks cut off a block.  The amount depends on how much you like cheese.

First, boil salted water in a large pot for the potato pieces.  Potatoes are done when a fork passes through the cooked chunks easily.  Drain away the water and mash the potatoes with butter, milk, and salt.  You may need more or less milk at this point.  If you like thinner potatoes that spread on top of the dish easily, maybe add a little more.  If you like them thick, hold back the milk til you've seen what the butter has done.  Alternatively, you can whip these in a stand mixer.  Taste the mixed product before adding extra salt.

For the beef mixture, heat a tablespoon of canola oil over medium heat in a pan.  When it's heated a bit, add the diced onions and carrots.  Sautee these until the onions turn translucent and the carrots soften.  Add the garlic, salt, and pepper.  When these are evenly distributed, add the beef.  Brown the meat, chopping it in to smaller pieces with your spoon or spatula.  Incorporate the veggies and let the flavors mingle.  When the meat is fully browned, you can now add the Worcestershire sauce, Dijon mustard, and broth.  Mix these in evenly to the meat and veggies, still cooking over medium heat.  Now you can add a bit of flour to thicken the mixture and make it into a"gravy".  Add a tablespoon at a time and mix it in well -- flour can clump in liquids.  Also, check thickness after each tablespoon --avoid OVER-thickening the broth.  You may only need one or two tablespoons of flour.  If it gets too thick, you can add more broth or water.  When it looks satisfactory, turn off the heat at this point and mix in the peas -- I just toss in frozen ones.

Heat your oven to 350 degrees F.  Assemble the dish in two layers in a glass baking dish, 8X8 or 9X9.  You can add cheese to this in a couple ways: between the beef and potato layers, on top of the potato layer, or in fun chunks pressed through the layers.  I have tried all of these and I liked stuffing chunks of sharp white cheddar in the baking dish after I layered in the meat and potatoes.  It's like a glorious treasure hunt of cheesy surprises when you go to eat it.  But it is easier to use a bag of shredded cheese, so do what feels right to you.  So, with your cheese plan in place, layer the meat mixture in the bottom of the dish, and then cheese and potatoes in the order that you wish. Bake uncovered for about 20-25 minutes, til the meat and gravy is bubbly and the cheese appears melted.  

Kilt and a stout brew are also optional, but would probably round out the experience.  Ith gu leòir!