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Home > Archive > Mar 13, 2008

We Speak Fluent Blarney'
By Bev Rankin
We love the holidays! St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated March 17, and in Ireland it is celebrated as a religious holiday honoring St. Patrick. Today, St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated by people of all backgrounds in the United States, Canada, and elsewhere to commemorate this Irish culture.  In fact, if you were come to our home around March 17 you would likely see a sign that reads, “We Speak Fluent Blarney,” which illustrates how much fun we have with this particular holiday.  When our children were small, they loved the tradition of pinching people who were not wearing the color green and made sure they wore something colored green the entire day. Now, however, as grown ups they are more interested in preparing some fun Irish food (sort of Irish) and having friends over for a fun evening. During my working days, our law office employees even brought Irish pot luck dishes to share with everyone in the office at lunch time. My older grandchildren have even had parties where everything they ate was green! I can’t begin to imagine how much green food coloring was used with the other ingredients!
No matter how you celebrate this holiday, fixing and sharing some Irish food is indeed fun and great tasting. Why not get adventurous this March 17 and serve up something Irish?

Corned Beef and Cabbage
5 pounds corned brisket or beef
6 peppercorns, or packaged pickling spices
3 carrots, peeled and quartered
3 onions, peeled and quartered
1 medium-sized green cabbage, quarter or cut in wedges
Melted butter (about 4 tablespoons)
Place the corned beef in water to cover with peppercorns or mixed pickling spices. Cover the pot or kettle, bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 5 hours or until tender. During the last hour, add the carrots and onions and cover again. During the last 15 minutes, add the cabbage.  Transfer meat and vegetables to a platter and brush the vegetables with the melted butter. Serve with boiled potatoes, cooked separately. I love making this recipe using the crock pot! Don’t think this is something you have to tend all day, because when put in a slow cooker, you get the same great flavor.

Irish Brown Bread   
2 cups whole wheat flour
2 cups while flour
1/2 cup toasted wheat germ
2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. cream of tartar
1 stick unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
2 cups buttermilk
Whisk together flours, wheat germ, salt, sugar, baking soda and cream of tartar in a large bowl until combined well. Blend in butter with a pastry blender or your fingertips until mixture resembles coarse meal. Make a well in center and add buttermilk, stirring until a dough forms.  Gently knead on a floured surface, adding a little more flour to keep dough from sticking, until smooth, about 3 minutes. Shape into one large flattened ball. Transfer dough to a 9-inch round cake pan which has been sprayed with a vegetable spray. Using a sharp knife, cut several air vents in the top of the dough. A large “X” would work fine. Bake until loaf is lightly browned and sounds hollow when taped, 30 to 40 minutes. Cool in pan on a rack for about 10 minutes and then turn onto serving plate. Cut into wedges to serve.

Not-so-Irish St. Patrick’s Day Cake
1 package white cake mix
2 (3 ounce) packages lime gelatin
1 cup boiling water
1/2 cup cold water
Topping
1 cup cold milk
1 (3 1/2 ounce) package vanilla instant pudding mix
1 (8 ounce) carton frozen whipped topping, thawed
green sprinkles
Prepare and bake cake according to package directions, using a greased 13-inch x 9-inch baking dish. Cool for 1 hour. In a small bowl, dissolve gelatin in boiling water; stir in cold water and set aside. With a meat fork, or wooden skewer, poke holes about 2 inches apart into cooled cake.  Slowly pour gelatin over cake; refrigerate until cake is completely cool and gelatin is set. In a bowl, whisk milk and pudding mix for 2 minutes or until soft set. Fold in whipped topping.  Spread over cake. Decorate with sprinkles. Cover and refrigerate until time to serve. When I make this cake, I use 2 round cake pans and then before frosting, I remove them from the pans, add a little of the frosting between the layers and then frost entire cake.  It is really pretty on a serving plate.

As a reminder, I will be teaching a community education class on bread making on Saturday, April 19, 2008 at the La Verkin Elementary School in La Verkin, from 10 a.m. to noon.  Pre-registration is a must and will be open on a first come, first serve basis.  Please e-mail me at Bevsbread@yahoo.com for a registration form.  (If you don’t have access to the internet, please call me at 435-635-3366.)  The fee will be $7.00, at the door, to help defray costs.  I will be showing you how to make Bev’s basic recipe with all its many varieties.  There will be door prizes and lots of taste testing.  Recipe books will be provided for the recipes demonstrated.  Farmers Market is working with me so that you can purchased the type of yeast I use without traveling to St. George and also they are providing some of the door prizes.
Bev Rankin is a master food preserver and master gardener and has taught bread-making for more than 20 years. She now lives in La Verkin, Utah. If you would like to submit a recipe to Bev she can be reached by e-mail at bevsbread@yahoo.com

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