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Cooking & Entertaining
> Irish Recipes
An Irish Dinner Menu
Sorrel Soup
1 pound sorrel
3 ounces butter
1 large onion, chopped
2 tablespoons flour
2-1/2 cups chicken stock
2 tablespoons bread crumbs
2 egg yolks
1/2 cup cream
salt and freshly ground pepper
Wash the sorrel well and chop it up. Heat the butter in a saucepan
and just soften the sorrel and onion in it. Shake the flour over
the vegetables and mix well. Let cook for about 1 minute.
Meanwhile, bring the stock to a boil, then add to the pan. Add the
bread crumbs, season to taste, and bring to a boil, then simmer for
about 1 hour, covered. (It can be liquefied at this point but
doesn't need to be.) Beat the egg yolks with the cream and add a
little of the hot soup to the mixture, stirring well; then add
gradually to the soup pot, stirring well, over the heat, but being
careful not to let it boil.
Note: If you can't find sorrel, use spinach, collards, or mustard
greens.
Main Course
Crusty Roast Lamb (Uaineoil faoi chrusta)
1 (4-lb.) shoulder of lamb
1 cup fresh bread crumbs
pinch of mixed herbs
2 tablespoons butter, softened
salt and freshly ground pepper
1-1/2 pounds potatoes, peeled and sliced
1 large onion, diced
1 large cooking apple, peeled, cored, and sliced
Wipe the lamb over, and cut criss-cross slits around top. Mix
together the bread crumbs, herbs, butter, salt, and pepper. Rub the
mixture onto top of the meat, pressing down well so that it sticks.
Fill the bottom of the roasting pan with the vegetables and apple,
mixing them and the seasoning well. Put the meat on top, then pour
the stock into the pan, but not over the meat. Cover loosely with a
piece of foil and bake at 400° for half an hour. then lower the
heat to 350°, and cook for a further 20-25 minutes to the pound.
Take off the foil for the final half hour, and check that the
vegetables are nearly cooked. Finish the cooking without the foil,
to let the top get brown and crusty.
Vegetable
Baked Parsnips Irish Style
2-1/2 pounds parsnips
2 ounces butter or bacon fat
3 tablespoons stock
salt and freshly ground pepper
pinch of nutmeg
Peel parsnips, quarter, and remove any woody core. Parboil for 15
minutes. Place in an ovenproof dish. Add stock and sprinkle with
salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Dot with butter and bake for 30 minutes
on a low shelf in a moderate oven. (Generally parsnips are baked in
the same oven as the main meat dish, whose cooking temperature
governs that of the parsnips.)
Vegetable
Kale with Cream
1-3/4 pounds kale
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons heavy whipping cream
pinch nutmeg
salt and freshly ground pepper
2 tablespoons stock
Wash the kale and strip the leaves from the stalks, then plunge
into briskly boiling salted water and cook until tender, 20-30
minutes. Drain well and chop finely. In a saucepan combine the
butter, cream, nutmeg, salt, and pepper; then add the kale and the
stock. Mix well and cook until well heated and the sauce is
slightly reduced.
Dessert
Irish Coffee Pudding
6 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 cup very strong coffee
1-1/2 ounces powdered gelatin
1/3 cup Irish whiskey
10 ounces heavy whipping cream
3 ounces crushed walnuts
sweetened whipped cream
Separate the yolks from the whites of eggs. In a bowl, cream yolks
with sugar. Heat the coffee until hot but not boiling; add the
gelatin and dissolve it in the coffee. Add this mixture to the
yolks and sugar. Beat well and put the bowl over a pot of boiling
water. Continue beating until mixture begins to thicken. Remove
from heat and when the bowl has cooled a little, place it over
cracked ice and continue stirring. When the mixture is on the point
of setting, whip the cream and fold it in. Add the whiskey. Lastly,
fold in the well-beaten egg whites. Pour into a soufflé dish that
has a double thickness of parchment paper tied around it; the paper
should come up 3 inches above the top of the soufflé dish. Oil a
jar or bottle and press it down into the center of the pudding.
Leave to set. Remove the paper collar by easing around the
circumference with a knife dipped in hot water. Remove the jar, and
fill the center with sweetened whipped. Decorate the sides of
pudding with the walnuts, pressing them in with the palm of your
hand.
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