THE POWER OF PORK!

Pork is a great meat. It is inexpensive, easy to prepare, makes great leftovers, and best of all, tastes delicious! I love both Pork Loin and Pork Tenderloin. A Pork Tenderloin is a boneless, narrow round cut of meat from the muscle that runs along the backbone of the pig. It is extremely tender and cooks in minutes. A Pork Loin is a cut from the back of the pig, either boneless or with bone. It is larger and flatter than the tenderloin, but still cooks very quickly. Pork can dry out quickly if overcooked. I came up with this apple stuffing, which also helps to keep your Pork Loin very moist. It is starting to feel like fall here in Ireland so this meal was perfect.

PORK TENDERLOIN WITH APPLE STUFFING

First, the stuffing, which can be made in the morning, and then assembled just before roasting.

APPLE STUFFING

Ingredients:

2 Gala apples (You can use any apples you have, but I like the texture and flavor of Gala's.), peeled and roughly chopped

1/2 Green Granny Smith Apple, peeled and roughly chopped; plus more of both cut into thick slices for bottom of roasting pan. You don't need to peel these slices.

1/2 cup finely diced celery

1/2 cup finely diced leeks--more leeks thickly sliced for the bottom of the roasting pan. Use white part only.

2 cloves garlic, finely diced

1/4 tsp. fresh thyme

1 tsp. fresh parsley, sage, chives, chopped

1 Tbsp. fresh marjoram, chopped

1 1/2 cups fresh white bread, cut into small 1" cubes

1/2 cup panko bread crumbs

1 cup apple juice

2 Tbsp. Olive oil, plus more for rubbing on the pork loin

2 Tbsp. butter

Salt/Pepper to taste, but don't skimp on the salt

Preparation:
To save on washing up I made the stuffing in the pan that I roasted the Pork in. Heat oil and butter in a roasting pan. When the oil and butter are bubbling, add celery, leeks, apple. Mix together and cook down for about 10 minutes, until just soft. Add garlic, herbs, salt and pepper and cook another couple of minutes. Add bread cubes, panko bread crumbs and apple juice and cook another 10 minutes stirring well to incorporate all ingredients. Taste for seasoning.

PREPARE THE PORK FOR STUFFING

Lay the pork on a cutting board and carefully slice down the middle to open the pork like a book, or a butterfly, hence the term, butterflying. Do not cut all the way through the loin. Generously salt and pepper the inside of the pork. Oil the bottom of your roasting pan and toss in the sliced leek and apple slices. Generously salt and pepper that, as well. 

Lay the butterflied pork on the bed of apple and veg, drizzle with olive oil, and evenly distribute all of the stuffing over the pork. Close the pork around the stuffing. Some of the stuffing may fall out, but that is ok. 

Using kitchen string, tie the pork to keep the stuffing in. Start by bringing the string all the way around one end of the pork. Tie a knot. With the long, loose end of string continue down the length of the pork about an inch, and then loop the string around the pork again, catching the string you have brought up the middle. Continue this until you are at the end of the pork. This is not a classic tying job, but does the trick! If the pork has just come out of the fridge keep it on the counter until it warms up. In the meantime, preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

I like to start roasting the pork at high heat and then reduce heat to finish. This helps to brown the pork and seal in flavors and moisture. The cooking time will depend on the size of your roast, but usually is about 20 minutes per pound. I now always use a meat thermometer to test doneness. 145 degrees is considered 'safe' and I like pork on the slightly pink, juicy, tender side, not overdone and dry. 160 degrees will cook the pork to a whiteness and very well doneness (aka dryness). 

After 15 minutes reduce oven temp to 325 degrees and cook the pork for another 30-45 minutes until you have reached the desired internal temperature.

I served the pork with steamed and buttered peas, carrots and leeks, very roasted baby new potatoes and the additional stuffing that fell out of the pork. Next day we had it with steamed broccoli, and a big garden salad. 

And finally I sliced it very thinly, cut some of the new Artisan Bread I have been making, topped the bread with Kerrygold Dubliner Cheese, slathered butter (Kerrygold, of course!) on both sides of the bread, and grilled the pork and cheese sandwich. No pic as we ate it too quickly!

Our first course went beautifully with this Pork Tenderloin with Apple Stuffing. We started with...

BUTTERNUT SQUASH SOUP WITH 

GREEN APPLE AND GINGER

I make butternut soup often as I like the rich creaminess and fact that you don't even need to add cream or butter to make it perfectly creamy and delicious! Adding the potato also helps to thicken the soup.

Ingredients:

4 cups butternut squash, peeled and roughly chopped

2 green Granny Smith Apples, peeled and roughly chopped

1 potato, peeled and roughly chopped; about 1 cup

1 shallot, chopped; about 1/4 cup (You can also use leek or onion, but I love shallots!)

1 clove garlic, chopped

About 1 inch of ginger root, peeled and diced; at heaping 2 large Tablespoons

1 fresh sage leaf

2 Tbsp. olive oil 

2 tsp. salt, or more to taste

Freshly ground pepper

1/2 tsp. ground dried ginger

4 cups (preferably) homemade chicken stock. Store bought works, too.

Garnish: Finely sliced green apples with peel; fried sage leaves; sour cream or Green style yogurt.

Preparation:

Heat a large, heavy bottomed soup pan over medium high heat. Add oil and heat until nearly smoking. Add squash, apple, potato, shallot, garlic and cook for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until slightly browned. Add ginger root, sage leaf, salt, pepper and chicken stock. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until butternut squash is fork tender. Allow to cool and blend thoroughly until you have a very smooth consistency. The soup will be quite thick so you may add water, 1/4 cup at a time, until desired consistency. I like it thick, but not the consistency of baby food. 

This soup is good hot or cold. The ginger makes it quite spicy.

I HOPE YOU ENJOYED THIS EPISODE 

OF COOK WITH CINDY!

OUR KIDS ARE COMING TO IRELAND 

FOR A VISIT NEXT WEEK...

WE WILL SEE WHAT WE CAN COOK UP WITH THEM!

After 3 wedding dates canceled due to COVID,
Justin and Alison finally got married
this past January privately on the beach
at Key West. Here they are this summer
enjoying a concert at Boston's Fenway Park!

WWW.COOKWITHCINDY.COM

BEST EVER BISCUITS!

I found this recipe online (https://thecafesucrefarine.com/easy-cheddar-chive-biscuits/), but believe it originally came from a wonderful magazine published in Vermont called 'Cooks Illustrated'. This is a perfect biscuit recipe rendering a nice crust and velvety interior. 

 

CHEDDAR CHIVE BISCUITS

Ingredients:
1 cup very cold buttermilk
8 Tbsp. butter, plus one more for brushing when done
2 cups flour, more for counter
1 tsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. salt
1 1/4 cup finely shredded cheddar (I used a nice sharp, aged Irish cheddar.)
1/4 cup finely chopped chives, more for garnish (I didn't have time to garnish as Marilyn, my lunch guest was on her way!)

Here's my new friend, Marilyn French St.-George in front of
Ferocious O'Flaherty's 300 year old thatched cottage in Spiddal.
It is now rented as a vacation cottage.
In the 1841 Irish census 40% of the Irish population lived in a one room thatched
cottage, along with the family pig and a bunch of chickens. That's 3 1/2 million people.
Today it is believed that only about 2500 thatched cottages have survived.
A significant aspect of Irish heritage is disappearing.

Preparation:
Heat oven to 425 degrees. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper or spray liberally with cooking spray. Measure 1 cup buttermilk and place the cup in the freezer while prepping other ingredients; about 10 minutes.
Melt butter in a saucepan on top of stove (or you can use your microwave). Whisk flour, baking power, baking soda, sugar and salt in a large bowl. Add grated cheese and chives. Stir to combine.
Remove the buttermilk from the freezer and combine with the melted butter. Stir with a fork until butter forms clumps or globules. If globules don't form possibly your buttermilk wasn't cold enough. Return the mixture to the freezer for another 5-10 minutes. Stir again and butter globules should form. Add buttermilk mixture to dry ingredients and stir with a rubber spatula until all flour is incorporated and batter pulls away from the bowl. The dough should hold together nicely, but also be soft and pliant. It should not be wet. If it is wet, add more flour 1 Tbsp. at a time, stirring to combine until dough become stiffer.
Generously spread flour over your work surface.  Place the biscuit dough from the bowl onto floured counter and coat all roll around so all surfaces are covered with the flour. Gently knead 5-6 times (about 20 seconds). Flip dough over to make sure all sides are lightly coated. Pat into a 6 inch square that's about 1 1/2 to 2 " thick.
Cut as many biscuits as you can with a biscuit cutter. The number of biscuits will depend on the size of your cutter. You can also use a glass or I used the edge of my 1/2 inch metal measuring cup.
Place biscuits on prepared sheet pan. Knead scraps together a few times until they hold together. Pat into a circle and cut more biscuits.
Place in oven and bake until tops are golden brown and crisp; 10-15 minutes. Start checking at 8 minutes as everyone's oven is different and you don't want to overbake. Melt remaining tablespoon butter and brush on tops as they come out of oven. Sprinkle with more chives. I did not have time to do that as Marilyn was about to arrive!


I cut my biscuits quite small so this recipe made 12 biscuits
plus the scraps that I pulled together into a circle
and scored to make 4 small biscuits (top left).

With the biscuits I served Potato Leek Soup.
Go to: http://cookwithcindy.blogspot.com/search?q=potato+leek+soup 
for the recipe. I make this a lot in Ireland!

Last year we began converting one of our own sheds into an
Irish Cottage. It's sad that thatch is becoming a thing of the past in Ireland.
Next, I'm putting in a rose hedge.

 

Me and Marilyn at the top of the bog.

 

 



THAT'S IT TODAY FROM

COOL AND BLUSTERY IRELAND!

 

MORE IRISH FAVORITES COMING YOUR WAY SOON!

 

TUNE IN AGAIN...

 

WWW.COOKWITHCINDY.COM

COLD SOUP FOR HOT DAYS!

It has become summery here in the beautiful southwest. I love our hot days and a bowl of cold soup makes for a light and refreshing lunch. Here are two recipes I think you will enjoy. The first I made for my new friend, Wendy Hinckle. We had such a fun afternoon eating, talking, and getting to know each other.

Thank you Wendy for coming into my life!

 

CHILLED WATERCRESS SOUP

The herb oil is on the right of the bowl. Just add a few drops
of oil and gently drag a knife through it to make a little design.

Ingredients:
2 big bunches watercress, tough stems removed
2 Tbsp. butter
2 medium russet potatoes, peeled and grated on the large holes of a box grater
2 medium leeks, white part only, thinly sliced (about 1 cup)
1 clove garlic
1 quart chicken stock
1/4 cup heavy cream
Salt/white pepper to taste
Finely chopped chives for garnish
Herb oil for garnish, optional


Homemade chicken stock has a ton of collagen from the
chicken bones, which is why it becomes gelatinous when cold.
It's also why it's so good for you!

Preparation:
Lightly chop the watercress. Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat, then add sliced leek and cook, stirring frequently, until soft; about 5 minutes. Add grated potatoes and chicken stock and bring to a simmer.

Russet potatoes have lots of starch so are perfect to help thicken this soup.

Cook until veg is soft; about 15 minutes, and then add watercress. Simmer for an additional 15 minutes to wilt watercress and meld flavors.

Cool to room temp, then puree in batches. Whisk in the cream. Taste and season with salt and pepper. I like to use white pepper as it completely blends into the soup and has a little more bite than black pepper. Chill several hours or overnight. Serve cold garnished with finely chopped chives and herb oil. I also added a chive blossom just for fun!

I love to please people with food!

TO MAKE THE HERB OIL:
Into a small blender combine 1/2 cup watercress leaves, 2 large basil leaves, a sprig of fresh sage, thyme, oregano and a few chives. Add 1/4 cup olive oil and Kosher salt and a little more white pepper. Blend until very smooth. If it is too thick add a bit more oil.

With the soup we had tomato caprese with reduced balsamic
and Sesame French bread toasts melted with Gruyere cheese.

Wendy gave me these adorable rabbit measuring spoons! They are ceramic with a beautiful gold design. Just what every RABBITT cook needs!

The next soup is one of my all-time favorite cold soups...

CLASSIC VICHYSSOISE SOUP

(CHILLED LEEK AND POTATO SOUP)

This recipe is very close to Julia Child's original, but Julia uses water instead of chicken stock, which makes the color of the soup lighter.

I plucked this image from the internet
as I forgot to take any pictures of my soup!

Ingredients:
1 large onion, peeled and chopped
2 Tbsp. butter
1 Tbsp. olive oil
3 large potatoes, peeled and diced (Again, I used Russets.)
6 large leeks, thoroughly rinsed and sliced; white parts only
1 quart chicken stock
Salt/white pepper to taste
1/2 cup heavy cream
Sliced chives for garnish

Preparation:
In a heavy bottomed pot, heat oil and butter over medium-high heat. Saute the onions until translucent; about 2 minutes. Add the leeks and saute until soft; 4-5 minutes. Add the potatoes and saute with the onions and leeks for a few more minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Add the chicken broth and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer for 30 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender. Cool soup to room temperature and then blend thoroughly until soup is very creamy. If it is too thick add a little more stock or water. I like this soup very thick and it gets even thicker when it cools completely as the chicken stock thickens and the russet potatoes give the soup great substance. Add the heavy cream and turn the heat back to medium and gently cook another 10-15 minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning. Cool for a few hours in the fridge or overnight. Serve garnished with chives. I also topped with a sprinkle of Truffle zest. Thanks Debby Vis for this wonderful spice. I love truffles and this tastes very authentic. Really delicious!

This fancy French soup is very easy to make!

Here's another shot nabbed from the internet,
but this is exactly as my soup looked...very thick and creamy!

ALL FOR TODAY.

THANKS FOR JOINING ME

FOR ANOTHER EPISODE OF:

WWW.COOKWITHCINDY.COM

NASTY STINGING NETTLES TAKE ON A NEW PURPOSE!

Nettles may be Ireland's most prolific weed. They are everywhere and if you like to garden, like me, sooner or later no matter how careful you are, you will be stung. Because I am such a sensitive creature I tend to get a very nasty lingering bright red painful, burning itch and sometimes the skin that has been touched even swells. Not nice!

But I just learned recently that the Irish have used nettles to make soup for years. When food was scarce they were a nice change from potato soup, but just as crubeens , which are pigs feet (Go to: http://cookwithcindy.blogspot.ie/search?q=crubeens if you want to make pigs feet yourself) are not so popular today, nettle soup is no longer a staple. I have mentioned the soup to a couple Irish friends and they get this wistful, far-off look remembering a nourishing and delicious dish from their past.

NETTLE SOUP

I garnished with a full-fat Irish plain yogurt.

I made up the recipe and since making the soup have done some research to learn that often milk or cream is added. I thought this soup was perfect without it. There is something very satisfying about going into your back yard and gathering ingredients for dinner. I also learned that nettles are very good for you; high in iron, calcium, potassium, and also vitamins A and C.

Ingredients:
5 potatoes
3 leeks, white and light green part only
2 very big (gloved) handfuls nettles
1 Tbsp. butter
1 Qt. chicken stock (you could also use water or vegetable stock)
Crème fraiche, yogurt or sour cream for garnish
Parsley, chives or chive blossoms for garnish (My parsley has gone to seed so I did not use. I also did not want to add anything to alter the true nettle flavor so just used plain yogurt for garnish.)

I think next time I would add a clove or 2 of garlic. Again, I did not want to use it this time as I wanted to really taste the nettles. Some recipes also call for herbs: lemon thyme, marjoram...variations are endless. I even found recipes with oats or rice.

Preparation:
Pick the nettles carefully wearing gloves. Choose young leaves. Wash and remove leaves from the stem. I am not sure where you would 'source' nettles if you don't have acres of them growing in your back yard as I do here in Ireland, but you might get them at a Farmer's Market. Peel and dice potatoes.

Wash leeks thoroughly. Dirt collects in the leek layers so you may have to slice down the middle to get all the dirt out. Chop the leeks. Cook potatoes and leeks with salt and pepper in the butter for 10-12 minutes until potatoes are gently browned. Add chicken stock (vegetable stock or water) and bring to boil. Carefully drop in nettles.

Lower heat, cover and steam for about 30-40 minutes. As the nettles cook they lose their stinging quality. Cool completely and blend in a blender until smooth. Taste and correct seasoning.

I could not decide on garnish design so tried a couple different ones.

The soup is reminiscent of asparagus and spinach, but definitely has its own special flavor. The soup also has a bit of a spicy bite! Rich, quite thick and extremely delicious! I think Nettle Soup will become a staple in our Irish home!

Here's a ditty that impoverished Irish mothers would sing to their children when serving this soup:

"She fed them on potatoes and a soup made out of nettles

and a lump of hairy bacon that she boiled up in a kettle."

All for today from Spiddal, Co. Galway, Ireland!

 

You'll hear from me again soon!

 

www.cookwithcindy.com

MEAT AND POTATOES GET AN UPGRADE!

My good friend Paula's Mom, Betty recently had a birthday. I love birthday celebrations so we had a party in her honor. I know she's a meat and potatoes gal, but wanted to do something a bit more special.

Here's Betty admiring her cake adorned with pecans spelling
out the B-Day message. Very clever, Paula!

Paula made a fabulously moist and delicious carrot cake for dessert (can't wait to get that recipe!), but let's start with dinner. Our meal began with a bright, refreshing Spinach Soup...recipe courtesy of my friend Bonnie by way of Ree Drummond. Easy to put together and a perfect way to begin.

SPINACH SOUP

This soup has quite a kick so if you want to tame it down, just use less cayenne. It can be made a day ahead and is good cold, too.

Ingredients:
2 Tbsp. Olive Oil
10 oz. fresh spinach
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 medium onion, chopped
1/2 cup hot water
1/2 stick butter (4 Tbsp.)
1/4 cup flour
3 cup whole milk (I used 2 1/2 cups milk; 1/2 cup half and half)
2 tsp. kosher salt (or to taste)
1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper
Ground black pepper

Betty is ever smiling!

Preparation:
In a large skillet heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add spinach and garlic and cook, stirring constantly, until the spinach wilts, about 3 minutes. Add the mixture to a blender, pour in 1/2 cup hot water and pulse until pureed. Set aside.
In a large soup pot, cook the onions in the butter over medium heat until onions begin to soften. Sprinkle the flour over the top and stir to combine. Cook the roux for about 2 minutes, then pour in milk, stirring occasionally. Season with salt and pepper(s). Pour into the pureed spinach, then cook until thickened, another 5 minutes or longer if you want it thicker. I garnished the Spinach Soup with little drops of sour cream mixed with minced tarragon.

INDIVIDUAL MEATLOAVES WITH BACON CRISPS

For this recipe I used ground beef from Duncan and Susan Blair's Rio Santa Cruz Ranch here in Arizona. (http://www.riosantacruzgrassfedbeef.com/ ).

I doubled this recipe and it came out just fine, but here is the original which serves 4.

Ingredients:
1 medium onion, finely chopped (about 1 cup)
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 cup fresh bread crumbs (I generally grind crusts and ends of bread and keep in my freezer so have a nice mixture of different types of crumbs available.)
3/4 cup whole milk
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
3 Tbsp. finely chopped flat leaf parsley
1 1/2 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp. Tabasco
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1 1/2 lb. meatloaf mix (Since I was doubling I used 2 lbs. of Rio Santa Cruz grass finished beef and 1 lb. of store-bought ground pork.)
1/4 cup ketchup
2 Tbsp. white or cider vinegar
4 bacon slices, cut into 1 inch pieces

Preparation:
Put oven rack in middle of oven and preheat to 400 degrees. Line a shallow baking pan with foil.
Cook onion and garlic in oil in a skillet over moderate heat, stirring frequently, until just softened, about 4-5 minutes.
Stir together bread crumbs, milk, eggs, parsley, Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco, salt/pepper in a large bowl. Gently combine meat mixture, then add to bread crumb mixture along with onion. Using your hands gently knead until just combined. Mixture will be fairly moist.
Using a 1 cup measure, drop slightly rounded cups of mixture onto the baking sheet and lightly pat to form 4 domes.
Stir together ketchup and vinegar and spoon over mounds. Bake meatloaves about 25 minutes (meat thermometer reads 155F).
While meatloaves are baking, cook bacon in skillet over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until crisp, about 7 minutes. Transfer with a slotted spoon to paper towels to drain.
After meatloaves have baked, remove from oven and turn on broiler.  Broil meatloaves 2 to 3 inches form heat until glaze is slightly caramelized. Watch carefully as all that sugar in the ketchup can "catch" quickly.
Serve topped with bacon.

With the (not so little) Individual Meatloaves I served an interesting twist on mashed potatoes and a slightly different variation of peas, which in our household growing up, always accompanied meatloaf, but were usually frozen or canned.

MASHED POTATOES WITH CARROTS AND LEEKS

Betty is a fantastic dinner guest!...great conversationalist and ate everything on her plate!

Ingredients:
1 leek (white and pale green only), coarsely chopped
2 lb. potatoes (I used one potato--Yukon Golds--per person so had left-overs)
2 carrots, cut into chunks (My grocery store was offering beautiful purple, gold and orange heirloom carrots so I used one of each.)
1/2 stick unsalted butter
3/4 cup whole milk
3/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper

Preparation:
Wash chopped leek well in a bowl of cold water. Leeks hold their dirt so you really need to scrub them. Drain well. Peel potatoes and cut into 2 inch pieces. Cover with cold water in a saucepan and bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer until potatoes are very tender, about 18-20 minutes. Drain and return potatoes to saucepan. While potatoes are simmering, cook carrots in a saucepan of boiling salted water until just tender, about 5-6 minutes, then drain. Cook leek in butter in a medium skillet over moderate heat, stirring occasionally until very tender, about 6 minutes. Add milk, salt, pepper and simmer stirring for 2 minutes. Add leek mixture to potatoes. Coarsely mash with a potato masher, then stir in carrots. I really liked the look of the colored carrots with the potatoes and all the flavors came through beautifully.

Finally, for Betty's birthday meal, we had...

SNOW PEAS WITH LEMON TARRAGON BUTTER

Ingredients:
1 1/2 Tbsp. unsalted butter
1 tsp. finely grated fresh lemon zest
3 tsp. finely chopped fresh tarragon
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1 lb. snow peas, trimmed (Tearing the tough tendril off each pea is a tedious job, but well worth it. If you don't trim them they can be quite tough and fibrous.)

Preparation:
Stir together butter, zest, tarragon, salt, pepper. Cook snow peas in a steamer basket until crisp-tender, about 2 minutes. Drain well. Transfer hot snow peas to a bowl and mix in lemon herb butter. Toss to coat.

That's going to do it for today's special birthday meal. HAPPY BIRTHDAY all over again Betty Ann!

I am very excited to share with you next time, another cut from the Rio Santa Cruz Ranch... ARM ROAST! I had never heard of Arm Roast, but it is exactly what you'd think...a relatively thin (in roast terms) cut from the upper front leg (arm) of the cow. It's a cut you want to slow roast and I braised with wild mushrooms and reduced red wine sauce...Yummy!

Next time, I'm also going to share a very special visit, with behind the scenes shots, I had with a local Arizona butcher!

 EXPERIMENT!

LEARN!

DISCOVER!

LOVE!

The possibilities with food are endless...

www.cookwithcindy.com

Here's a shot of Betty and her family from 1965. My friend Paula will be born later that year!

Irish Flavorites!

My husband and I just returned from 2 glorious weeks in the west of Ireland in a little village called Spiddal. We own a guest house there which is rented throughout the year. In October, we make an annual pilgrimage to do repairs, yardwork, big clean, spiff up, etc. It is truly a labor of love and this year we only had one day of rain in 14! Quite unusual for Ireland in October. Our kitchen window overlooks the ocean. Here is a shot of the sun setting over Galway Bay.

I do a lot of cooking and baking in IRE. It is rare for us to go out to eat, although there are some wonderful restaurants in the area. Cooking in Spiddal is challenging as I have no recipe books, very few utensils or measuring cups, baking dishes...it's a pretty stripped down kitchen and you never quite know how things will turn out, but that is half the fun! I'm going to start with some oat cookie/ cakes that were delicious and almost seemed healthy!

I am calling these cookie/cakes as they were thicker than cookies
and nearly had the consistency of a cake; almost like a scone.

The apples (and butter!) kept them nice and moist.

OAT COOKIE/CAKES

Ingredients:
1 cup coarse whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cups oats
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 1/2 sticks softened Irish butter (I love Irish butter!)
1 cup raisons
2 small apples, cut in pieces
1 cup sugar
2 eggs

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. This is another tricky detail as my oven in Spiddal is calibrated in numbers from 1 to 9 rather than degrees, but the conversions are not that hard to figure out. On my oven 350 degrees is between 4 and 5. Here is a standard conversion chart:
275°F = 140°C = gas mark 1
300°F = 150°C = gas mark 2
325°F = 165°C = gas mark 3
350°F = 180°C = gas mark 4
375°F = 190°C = gas mark 5
400°F = 200°C = gas mark 6
425°F = 220°C = gas mark 7
450°F = 230°C = gas mark 8
475°F = 240°C = gas mark 9

Mix all dry ingredients in a bowl. Add the raisons and apple to the dry ingredients--the flour mixture coats the raisons and apples so when mixed with wet ingredients they don't clump up. In a separate bowl cream together softened butter and sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, and beat after each addition. Mix the creamed butter mixture into the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly until just held together. Drop by heaping tablespoon on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes. Let them cool a few minutes before removing from pan and then place them on a rack to cool completely. These were great with a pot of tea!

I was watching a cooking show one night and saw an interesting recipe for potatoes. In Ireland potatoes are ubiquitous and often served several different ways at a meal: boiled, mashed, and fried. This recipe is a little different and went well with steamed carrots we had just dug from Sarah's garden mixed with frozen peas and lamb chops from Mr. Feeney, our local butcher.
SMASHED NEW POTATOES WITH HERBS AND GARLIC

Ingredients:
16 new, small white potatoes, scrubbed, left whole with skins on
2 cloves peeled, but whole garlic
Big sprig of rosemary
Salt/Pepper
4 Tbsp. butter
1/2 cup grated cheddar (I used a nice local Irish cheddar, but any cheddar will work.)
4 Tbsp. chopped Herbs-chives, parsley, sage, additional rosemary, thyme--your choice

Preparation:
Cover potatoes with salted water. Bring to a boil and cook until tender. Drain. Discard rosemary. Chop garlic and smash potatoes and garlic with a large fork or potato masher. Do not mash completely; leave them a little chunky. Add 4 Tbsp. butter, 1/2 cup grated cheddar, salt/pepper, and herbs of choice. I used the above herbs. They recommended tarragon and parsley on the show which sounds great, but I didn't have any tarragon growing. Put the potatoes in a shallow baking dish (you may want to dot with a bit more butter and sprinkling of cheese)  and reheat until very hot, about 15-20 minutes. Very simple, but the herbs and cheddar are a nice twist. Now on to...more potatoes!

COLCANNON
This is an old fashioned Irish traditional way to serve potatoes and as with almost every recipe has variations. I like to make it simple with cream and lots of butter mixed into the mashed potato and steamed cabbage. It can also be made with steamed kale, green onions, regular onions or leeks. This time I did add some leeks because they are in season and I had a ton of them on hand. As I said we just raided Sarah's garden so the root veg were plentiful. In Hungary, my Mom's homeland, there is a dish called Kaposzta's Kocka Galooshka, which is a cabbage and noodle dish. Very similar, but here in IRE the potatoes replace the noodles...of course!

Ingredients:

10-12 potatoes, peeled and rough chopped

1/2 cabbage cut into big chunks; don't skimp on the cabbage. If it is small, use the whole head.

1 leek cut into thin slices, white part only

1/4 cup cream or milk

2 Tbsp. salt

5 Tbsp. butter

Salt/Pepper to taste

 

Preparation:

Place peeled and cubed potatoes in a pot. Cover with water and add 1 Tbsp. salt and bring to boil and cook until fork tender; about 15 minutes. Drain well in colander. In same pot add cabbage and leeks. Cover with water; add 1 Tbsp. salt. Bring to boil and cook until tender; about 10 minutes. Drain. Mash potatoes in a glass pyrex type bowl or dish. Add cabbage and leeks. Stir in 5 Tbsp. butter and 1/4 cup cream or more if potatoes are not creamy making them really rich and delicious. This can be made ahead of time and reheated. Leftover colcannon also makes great potato pancakes in the morning or if you just want to fry the cakes without going to the fuss of adding egg and flour they hold together nicely; probably because of so much butter!

 

Just a quick word about PARSNIPS. They are not either mine or my husband's favorite veg, but since we had so many freshly dug I decided to make a whipped parsnip dish with butter and cream. I am calling it PARSNIP CREAM. To make: peel parsnips and cut into cubes. Cover with salted water. Bring to boil. Drain well in colander. Whip (this was not easy as I don't have a mixer, but whipped by hand with a fork) until creamy. Add butter, a little cream and salt and pepper. Again, very simple, but delicious. They also made wonderful cakes the next morning for breakfast. Just drop a heaping tablespoon in olive oil and form the cake with the spatula and your fingers. Cook until brown and turn and brown the other side. I served these parsnip cakes topped with Irish smoked salmon and poached eggs with white pudding which is the oppositie of black pudding; kind of like a spicy sausage, but contains no pigs blood as does black pudding.

 



I think the most exciting thing I made in Ireland this year was a roasted duck. They were on sale at the market for 9 Euros and I couldn't resist. I asked the  butcher what kind of duck it was and he said FREE RANGE...that didn't give me much information, but I have never cooked a duck anyway so didn't have much to go on. It was absolutely delicious, but my technique was imperfect. Here is the roasted duck which was yummy, but the flaw was not completely rendering the fat under the skin.



I have since done some research and am going to try this again at home and let you know how it goes. The 2 biggest errors were: #1. I cooked at high heat and I believe the recommended method is long, slow heat; and #2 (and I KNEW this!!) I did not score the skin. Oh well, as I always say, the fun is in the doing and it won't always be perfect, although I must say that the orange sauce I made for this plump duckling was scrumptuous so you'll be hearing about that soon. After our first duck dinner, I cooked the duck two different ways: Duck Risotto (out of this world!) and a rich root vegetable soup made with duck stock. Not to mention the duck made about 2 cups of duck fat which was used in all sorts of ways for flavoring and frying.

Until next time, this is Cindrina (that's my Irish chef name) saying goodbye from Spiddal, County Galway.

LIVE LARGE, COOK BIG, GET CREATIVE IN THE KITCHEN.

PLEASE TUNE IN AGAIN SOON FOR ANOTHER EPISODE OF:

WWW.COOKWITHCINDY.COM

P.S. Thanks again to all of you who have been following my quest for the position of Chief World Explorer for Jauntaroo. For those of you who do not know, I did not make the final five. Your support meant the world to me and I had a blast along the way!

 

 

Festival of Soups!

Most people this time of year are making Christmas cookies and I usually would be, too, but this is a different Christmas season for us as my Dad has not been well so we have put many of our traditional Christmas customs on hold while spending much time with him. I decided to spend this very special Winter Solstice day making soup, which I find comforting, relaxing and satisfying. I know you are aware that today--December 21, 2012 marks the end of the Mayan calendar and I believe offers a powerful day of new beginnings and hope for mankind and our beautiful earth. This will be my last blog of 2012 and also is the first time I have blogged twice in one week!

SPLIT PEA SOUP

This is one of my favorite winter-time meals...so hearty, healthy, and filled with rich goodness. I made the ham stock earlier in the week so although I made 3 different soups today, because I had the stocks for two of them made it was fairly easy to put them together.
For the stock:
Take the last of the ham off the bone and cut into small dice. I purposely leave about 2 cups worth of baked ham on the bone when I plan to make pea soup. In a big soup pot, cover the ham bone with water--about 1 quart. Add mirepoix--3 stalks celery cut in chunks, 2 carrots peeled and sliced in thick pieces, 1 onion roughly diced.  Add 1 tsp. of ground bay or 2 whole bay leaves. I am out of whole leaves so used the ground. 1 tsp. dried thyme and 1 tsp. sage. If your ham was fairly salty do not salt, but add liberal amount of black pepper. You can always season with salt when cooking the actual soup if it needs it. Bring to a boil and then turn down to simmer and cook for about 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Strain and cool stock if you are using at a later date as I did. Cooling also allows you to skim off extra fat from your stock which comes off easily using a spoon to slide off the top of the stock once it has cooled. The stock will now be in a gelatinous/jelly form. Leave some fat as it helps flavor and season the soup.

Ingredients:
3 cups split green peas
1 quart ham stock
1 small onion, finely diced
1 clove garlic, finely diced
1 large carrot, finely diced
1/2 tsp. dried sage
1/2 tsp. dried bay
Salt/Pepper

Preparation:
Place split peas in a collander. Rinse and clean peas...that means sort through them under running water. Sometimes you will find a stone mixed in with the peas. In a soup pot add peas to ham stock and bring to a boil. Turn down to simmer and cook peas for about 1/2 hour. Add carrot, onion, garlic and 1/2 tsp. dried sage and 1/2 tsp. dried bay. Cook for another hour+ until peas are very tender and start to get mushy making the soup thick. Stir soup mashing peas into side of the soup pot. Add 2 cups diced ham and cook another 15 minutes until warmed. This soup freezes well.

CREAM OF POTATO LEEK SOUP

I make this soup every year when we're in Ireland. Generally the first night we are there I make a French chicken (recipe is in a previous blog--go to www.cookwithcindy.com and at top left 'SEARCH FOR RECIPES' and search for French chicken) and from this I make the stock and then finally the potato leek soup. Cooking equipment in Ireland is minimal so when we're in Spiddal the soup does not get blended, but mashed with the back of a spoon. I like it chunky, but today I used a blender to get a velvety creamy texture.

This soup needs adorning...chopped chives or parsley, but it is pouring out today and I did not want to venture into the rain to chop herbs. It still tastes great, but will look better with garnish.
Ingredients:
1 quart rich chicken stock
3 leeks, cleaned and sliced, white with only a little green part
6 potatoes, I used Yukon golds, peeled and cut into pieces
1 tsp. salt, 1/4+ tsp.white pepper (I am ALSO out of white pepper so used black. I prefer white for extra heat and the fact that it does not interfere with the color profile of the soup. I know that may sound weird.)
1/2 cup Half and Half

Preparation:
Put all ingredients into the soup pot with the stock. I also had this stock prepared ahead so it made things easy today. Bring to boil and then reduce to simmer and cook about 1 hour until potatoes are very tender. Cool completely. Taste and season appropriately. Blend in batches. Add 1/2 cup Half and Half and reheat. I am going to serve this soup with grated extra-sharp cheddar. I think a drizzle of roasted red pepper cut with a little cream cheese and cream might also look and taste great. Let me know what  you come up with!

The third soup I made today was Turkey with vegetables and a blend of brown and wild rice. I used the turkey carcass from the Thanksgiving turkey that I cut off the bone and stuffed and rolled and also used the bones from the roast Thanksgiving turkey. Cooking the soup stock twice gives the stock a richer and deeper flavor and it only takes about another hour.

 

TURKEY SOUP WITH BROWN AND WILD RICE

Ingredients:

For the stock:  Mirepoix. This time since I had the tops of leeks from the Potato Leek soup I used them instead of onions, 2 carrots and 3 stalks celery. I also added 1 tsp. dehydrated onion and 1/2 garlic, 1 tsp. each of ground bay, thyme, and sage,1 tsp. salt and 1/2 tsp. black pepper. Cover your chicken carcass with about 1 quart of water. Add all other stock ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook for about 1 1/2 hours. Strain and cut meat off the bone. I used about 1 1/2 cups turkey. My husband usually lights into the cooked veg as a snack!

Soup Ingredients:
1 quart turkey stock
3/4 cup brown rice
1/4 cup wild rice*
2 carrots, peeled and sliced thin
3 stalks celery, diced
1/2 cup frozen peas
1 1/2 cups turkey meat in pieces
1 tsp. dehydrated onion; 1/2 tsp. dried garlic

Preparation:
Add 1 cup brown/wild rice, herbs and onion/garlic to turkey stock. Bring to boil and then reduce to simmer and cook rice for about 1/2 hour. Add diced carrots, celery and cook for another hour. Add 1/2 cup frozen peas and 1 1/2 cups turkey and cook another 15 minutes. This soup freezes well, too.

* I know you probably know that wild rice is not really rice at all, but an aquatic grass related to rice, but more like a cousin than a sister. It grows naturally and in abundance in Minnesota. I was recently in Minneapolis at a board meeting for a nonprofit group I belong to (www.beechwoodinc.org) and bought some local wild rice from Northland Products, a native American company that hand harvests this wild rice. It is nutty and delicious!

www.northlandvisions.com

One more soup tip...last week I was making CREAM OF MUSHROOM SOUP, but realized I didn't have any cream or milk to make the roux. Instead I made the roux

--(Roux:  3 Tbsp. butter melted; add 4 Tbsp. flour; stir constantly over medium heat to cook flour pressing on flour to make a smooth paste; add 1/2 can evaporated milk and keep stirring for another 5 minutes)--

using evaporated milk which gave this soup a fabulous flavor. For stock I used 2 cups of rich chicken stock and 2 cups of mushroom stock made from dried wild mushrooms (porcini, oyster, shitake or whatever you have on hand--I actually buy these dried mushrooms at Big Lots, very inexpensive).

Bring 2 cups water to boil, add several handfuls of dried mushrooms and a little salt. Turn off heat and let sit for a couple hours or more. Strain. I do not use the dried mushrooms in the soup as they are sometimes a little tough, but do use them in other ways. This time, I chopped very finely and mixed with pasta, shrimp, red sauce, to make a mushroomy marina sauce.

Back to the soup...Use a large box of button mushrooms. Clean and slice. Add mushrooms to the chicken/mushroom stock and cook for about 45 minutes. Add the roux. Stir until well belnded. Viola!

Christmas is 4 days away and I want to share my Christmas dinner menu with you. This year it is all about Dad and I am making many of his old-time, old-fashioned favorites.

Starters:
Little Smokies wrapped in Crescent dough
Deviled Eggs with various toppings
Baked Kielbasa

Main:
Baked Ham with Raisin Sauce
Mashed Sweet Potato with Mascarpone/Marshmellow Fluff drizzle
Steamed Peas and Onions
Buttermilk Cheddar Biscuits

Dessert:
Rich and Velvety Chocolate Cream Pie

MERRY CHRISTMAS

AND HAPPIEST OF NEW YEAR'S

TO YOU ALL!

 

THANK YOU FOR SHARING MY FIRST YEAR OF BLOGGING. I HAVE LOVED WRITING ABOUT FOOD AND ALSO LOVE HEARING BACK FROM YOU!

 

ENJOY EVERY MOMENT...IN THE KITCHEN AND OUT!

 

UNTIL NEXT YEAR...CHEERS!

 

www.cookwithcindy.com

 

This is from last year's Christmas table--roasted asparagus
with olive oil and sea salt,
eggplant rollatini with home-made simple red sauce and baked ham!
My Mom made the cute pot-holder!