A COUPLE MORE IRISH DELIGHTS!

We've had such a beautiful few months in Ireland, but it is time to return to America. I have a couple more Irish taste treats I want to share with you before we travel next week. First...Blackberries. Blackberry vines grow everywhere in Ireland and this year was a bumper crop. 

BLACKBERRY CHUTNEY

I've been on a pork schnitzel kick. This time I coated the pork with Dijon mustard, Panko bread crumbs, Salt/Pepper and lots of caraway seeds. The Blackberry Chutney was the perfect accompaniment.

Ingredients:

2 cups blackberries

1/2 cup sugar

1 small shallot

1 clove garlic

2 Tbsp. red wine vinegar

1 Tbsp. water

Salt/Pepper

Preparation:

Put all ingredients in a saucepan. Simmer over low heat until shallot and berries have softened. Taste and adjust seasoning. This chutney was excellent with the Caraway Pork Schnitzel and local, organic Rainbow Chard. 

I also recently made BLACKBERRY SYRUP and served with Irish bangers and home made pancakes. 

To make the syrup, place 2 cups of blackberries, 1 Tbsp. water, pinch of salt, and 1 cup of sugar in a saucepan over medium heat. Cook for about 20 minutes until blackberries are softened.  If the syrup is too thick add more water, 1 Tbsp. at a time until you have the right consistency. Taste for sweetness. Depending on how sweet your berries are you may need to add a bit more sugar. Cool. Push through a fine mesh sieve to make a completely smooth syrup. 

My friend Brenna Reilly made me a big batch of beautiful plain yogurt; so smooth and creamy. I want to start making this yogurt myself as it was infinitely better than store-bought. I added about 1/2 cup Blackberry Syrup to 1 1/2 cups yogurt and made some very tasty parfaits with home made granola.

For contrast I used blueberries for the fruit.

Here is one more idea using Black Pudding, aka Blood Pudding, and sometimes referred to as Blood or Black Sausage. Blood Pudding is made throughout the world and each region has their own spicing, but one ingredient they all use is blood, either dried or fresh. I made Blood Pudding this year with dried blood. Here is the stuffing recipe...

BLOOD PUDDING STUFFED CHICKEN BREAST

Served with peas and butternut squash seasoned heavily with cinnamon and nutmeg.

Ingredients:

3/4 cup diced onion

3/4 cup diced celery

1 clove garlic, diced

2 sage leaves, about 1 tsp. finely chopped

1 tsp. fresh marjoram

3 Tbsp. fresh parsley, chopped

2 Tbsp. butter

Small piece, about 1 inch of chicken fat

2 Tsp. salt

3 blood pudding patties

1 cup fresh bread crumbs

Splash of red wine

Preparation:

Melt 2 Tbsp. butter in a heavy-bottomed skillet. Saute onion and celery for about 5 minutes over medium heat. Do not brown. Add garlic and continue cooking for another couple of minutes. Add herbs and cook for another 2 minutes. Remove from the pan. Add the chicken fat and increase the heat and cook 3 blood pudding paddies until very crisp on both sides. Blood pudding has a fair amount of fat, which is why 2 Tbsp. of butter is enough to keep the stuffing very moist. Crumble the blood pudding and return veg to the pan. Add 1 cup fresh bread crumbs and a splash of red wine. Stir to mix thoroughly.

Clean the chicken breasts. I used boneless, skin-on breasts.  Remove some of the fat; a small piece to fry the blood pudding and a few small pieces to top the chicken breast with before cooking. 

Place about 2/3 cup stuffing on a lightly oiled pan. Lay the chicken breast on top of the stuffing. Dot the top with some chicken fat. Liberally salt and pepper the chicken.

Preheat oven to 350F and roast chicken for about 25 minutes until skin is nicely browned and internal temp is 165 degrees. 

And, lastly, we eat a lot of lamb when we're in Ireland; Roasted Leg of Lamb, Lamb Chops, especially the thick-cut Loin Chops, and also Lamb Mince. This is a simple LAMB BURGER, but instead of placing the burger in a bun, I sliced thick pieces of eggplant, dipped into an egg-bath and then coated with Panko bread crumbs. I sauted the eggplant until nice and crispy and used as the burger bun. Of course you could not pick this Lamb burger up and eat with your hands. A knife and fork was necessary. They were very yummy!

THAT'S ALL FOR TODAY...

IT'S ANOTHER BLUSTERY IRISH DAY.

HERE IS THE VIEW OF OUR BACK YARD 

OVERLOOKING GALWAY BAY.

WE WILL SOON BE BACK IN SUNNY, SOUTHERN ARIZONA WITH A VERY DIFFERENT VIEW!

WWW.COOKWITHCINDY.COM

IRELAND'S UNIQUE ELIXER!

 

Padraic O'Griallais having a 'taste' of Poitin. Padraic is a
6th generation distiller. The Distillery is named
after his great, great, great grandfather, who started
 distilling in Ireland's west--Connemara--in 1848.

POITIN is a clear, white spirit, distilled from malted grain and other local ingredients. It is truly Ireland's drink, and has now received Geographical Indicative Protection, meaning Poitin can only be produced on the island of Ireland, if it's to be called Poitin. The word Poitin comes from the Irish word 'pot' or 'pota', which refers to the small pot-still generally used by Poitin distillers. For many years it was illegal to make Poitin, although it was commonly made throughout the country in remote, rural back fields and bogs. In 1997 it became legal to produce, but with lots of red tape and licensing requirements. The Micil Distillery is the first distillery to open in Galway in over 100 years. 

The old family still.

The recipe is the original from the family and all ingredients are local, including 'bogbean', which adds a certain something. This Poitin is smooth with deep rich flavors, similar to Italian Grappa; almost smoky, it lingers beautifully on your palate. I love it and this is the best Poitin I have tasted. Although, the others I have tasted have been produced in those back fields so may not have the distinction of Micil. Not to insinuate that local family distillers of Poitin for home consumption would make any lesser of a product, as I'm sure they have also been distilling for generations. Micil also makes a very fine, award-winning gin, also their own recipe, with complex flavors of hand-picked Connemara botanicals including heather, bog myrtle and bogbean. 

And here is the still used today.

To learn more about this interesting Irish tradition and the fabulous story of Micil Distillery, go to: www.micildistillery.com

My husband,  Jerry and I had the pleasure to spend 2 wonderful hours with Padraic at the Distillery. I had the opportunity to taste not only the two types of Poitin (one is peated), but also taste the gin, and a taste of a 6 week old whiskey that the Distillery will be offering in the future. If his whiskey at only 6 weeks is as good as it was, I can only imagine the flavors after aging. 

I wanted to try to pair the Poitin with tasty bites that are also uniquely Irish. Here are two hors d'oeuvres I came up with to start. It will be necessary to have many more Poitin tastes to continue developing recipes!

BLOOD PUDDING WITH CASHEL BLUE 

CHEESE AND TOASTED WALNUTS

First, the Blood Pudding...I am not going to get into the whole recipe, but if any of you would like it, I am more than happy to email it to you. I made Blood Pudding a few years ago here in Ireland with fresh blood, but this time I used dried blood. Here's the link to the first batch...

http://cookwithcindy.blogspot.com/search?q=blood+pudding

I got this dried blood online.

I got the fresh blood from a local butcher (not in Spiddal),
but have been sworn to secrecy as it is illegal to sell blood
in Ireland. The butcher did not charge me, so
I don't believe we broke any laws, but my lips are sealed!

I prefer using the fresh blood, rather than the dried. Both the flavor and texture were better, but the dried blood made a fairly good pudding. This little canape would also be just fine made with blood pudding from the store. The combination of flavors and textures worked and the blue cheese held up nicely to the Poitin.

I've had fun trying to come up with the perfect name for this canape. Which is better..."Blood and Blue" or "Blue Blood"; probably neither!

Toast rounds of bread. Crisp the blood pudding in a heavy bottomed skillet with a little oil over medium high heat until outer crust is very crisp. One of the things I like about blood pudding is that very crunchy exterior, which contrasts nicely with the creamy interior. Put a piece of blood pudding on each toast round, top with Cashel blue cheese and 1/2 walnut. Put under broiler on low heat until the cheese melts.

I also made an hors d'oeuvres using semi-sun dried tomatoes soaked in herbs and olive oil. Simply throw a few into a food processor with some of the oil and process until blended, but not completely smooth. Top with some fresh basil. These strong flavors also worked very well with the Poitin.

THAT'S IT FOR TODAY.

NEXT TIME I'M GOING TO TALK ABOUT ANOTHER WAY I HAVE RECENTLY USED BLOOD PUDDING....

AND ALSO A COUPLE IDEAS TO USE 

THE ABUNDANCE OF BLACKBERRIES.

UNTIL THEN...KEEP ON LOVING, LIVING LARGE, AND ENJOYING THE THRILL OF DISCOVERING NEW TASTES!

WWW.COOKWITHCINDY.COM

HEALTHY SWEET TREATS!

Well, sort of healthy. Everything is relative. My friend, Brenna Reilly's husband is vegan and I wanted to make him a treat. I found this recipe for vegan ice cream online. They called it Vanilla Vegan Ice Cream. The coconut flavor is so pronounced that you really don't taste much vanilla. I have re-named it Creamy Coconut Vegan Ice Cream. This is a no-churn recipe, which works for me since I don't have an ice cream maker here in Ireland (yet!). The health aspect of this recipe is that it includes a whole zucchini plus 1 cup of raw, organic unsalted cashews. Those ingredients sound so unlikely, but they work. You sweeten the ice cream with Maple Syrup. 

My Dad used to give my husband, Jerry, a gallon of Maple Syrup every year for Christmas from Putnam's farm in Charlestown, NH. It is the best Maple Syrup I've ever tasted! The coconut milk and coconut oil make the ice cream rich, creamy, and delicious.

CREAMY COCONUT NO-CHURN VEGAN ICE CREAM

Ingredients:

1 (13.5 oz.) can full-fat coconut milk; white solid coconut cream only.

1 cup raw, unsalted cashews, soaked in advance, drained and rinsed

1 large zucchini, ends removed, peeled and chopped (about 2 cups)

3/4 cup maple syrup

1/4 cup melted coconut oil

1 1/2 tbsp. vanilla

1/4 tsp. salt

Preparation:

The night before you plan to make the ice cream, put the can of coconut milk in the refrigerator. This will harden the solid white coconut cream, which is all you are using. Do not add the liquid milk. Next day, using a slotted spoon remove the coconut solids from the can. You should have about 1 cup of solids. Soaking the cashews in advance gives the ice cream a smoother, less gritty texture. Either soak overnight or do a quick soak by pouring boiling water over the cashews for a couple hours. 

Add all ingredients to a high-speed blender or food processor. Slowly begin to blend and when it looks like the ingredients are coming together, blend on high speed for 60 seconds. I knew I was going to be close with the amount of ice cream in my high-speed blender and should not have put them all in at once, but I did. When I moved into high speed mode, the contents starting spewing out both the top and bottom. Quite a mess! Coconut ice cream everywhere! I then cleaned up the mess; cleaned out the blender (only lost about 1 inch of the ice cream) and blended in smaller batches until the right consistency was formed. 

Pour the ice cream into a container. Cover and freeze for 8 hours or overnight. Before serving, remove from the freezer for about 20 minutes so the ice cream becomes scoopable. 

Our dinner with Brenna and John unfortunately got postponed so I will make it again when we get together! Jerry and I had to eat it ourselves. 

Jerry enjoying his ice cream with JoJo fast alseep.

THE NEXT SORT OF HEALTHY DESSERT...

FLOURLESS PEANUT BUTTER 

CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

I found this recipe in my new Nigella Lawson cookbook-Simply Nigella. I don't know if she came up with this recipe, as there are tons of the same recipe online, but these cookies were simply delicious, very peanut-y and the chocolate turned the entire concoction into a Reeses peanut butter cup taste and texture. The cookies are delicate. I had planned on freezing them to eat them frozen from the freezer, but they never made it to the freezer! Why are they healthy? Peanut butter, in the right amount, is good for you. Tons of protein. Dark chocolate is also good for you. I am not one who is concerned about consuming flour, but for those who are, there is none in this recipe. And, finally, very little sugar. 

Ingredients:

3/4 cup plus 1 Tbsp. creamy peanut butter, such as Skippy*

1/2 cup light brown sugar

1/2 tsp. baking soda

pinch of salt

1 extra large egg

1 tsp. vanilla

1/4 cup bittersweet chocolate chips or break up 1/2 of a good quality chocolate bar.

*Skippy is not available here in Ireland so I used Kelkin, which has no sugar added. I am sure any smooth peanut butter would work.

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a bowl, beat together the peanut butter, brown sugar, baking soda, and salt. Beat in the egg and vanilla extract, but not too vigorously. Just mix them. Stir or fold in the chocolate chips or pieces. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Place heaped tablespoons  of the cookie dough onto the lined sheet, placing them about 2 inches apart. Bake for 10 minutes until they are slightly darker around the edges. They will look undercooked, but will be the perfect texture once cooled. Leave on the baking sheet for 10 minutes as they are quite fragile when first coming out of the oven. Transfer to a wire rack to cool. This takes another 10 minutes. Nigella says, "I tend to cave in after 5"; we did, as well!

Our son, Justin and his new wife, Alison were just here for a lovely visit. We stayed pretty close to home, but did take some nice long, drives. Here they are in front of a very cool pub, just west of us in Beal an Daingean. In Ireland a hooker may not be what you think.

In this case it is a pub. Galway Hooker is also the third oldest brewery in Ireland making a variety of great quality craft beers, ales, and stouts. An artisan brewery nestled in the stunning surrounds of the Wild Atlantic Way, which is where our house is located. 

The original Galway Hooker is a traditional fishing boat, designed for its sturdiness in rugged seas. 

We have only a few weeks left in Ireland 

and it's with tears in our eyes 

that we are getting ready to leave 

this beautiful country!

But lots more food, fun, and cooking ahead!

Until next time...

Justin, Jerry, and me overlooking the back 40 and Galway Bay.

www.cookwithcindy.com