Mom's Shepherd's Pie from Allrecipes.com

My husband actually made this recipe as part of his St. Patrick's day extravaganza. (Once a year he sets his mind on having an authentic Irish dinner.) It's an easy to follow recipe but needs seasoning otherwise it's kind of bland.

Ingredients:

• 9 potatoes - peeled and cubed 
• 1 1/2 pounds ground beef 
• 1 (6 ounce) can tomato sauce 
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley 
• 1 dash Worcestershire sauce 
• 1/2 teaspoon salt 
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper 
• 2 (15 ounce) cans green beans, drained 
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour 
• 2 tablespoons milk

Preparations:

1. Place the potatoes and water to cover in a large pot over high heat. Boil for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, brown the ground beef in a large skillet over medium high heat; drain excess fat. 
2. To the ground beef, add the tomato sauce, parsley, Worcestershire sauce to taste, salt, ground black pepper and green beans. In a separate small bowl, mix the flour with the 3 tablespoons water and stir into the beef mixture. 
3. Stir all together well. Drain the potatoes, mash and spread over the beef mixture Place 2 to 3 vent holes through the mashed potatoes. 
4. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 25 minutes. Brush the milk over the potatoes for the last 5 minutes of baking.

Irish Heritage Cabbage

Okay, so St. Patrick's day has come and gone - and as my Grams would say "I'm running so far behind I can see myself coming up the hill in my rear view mirror." She'd agree that I'm not only sleep deprived but sorely running behind on everything including my blog.

Here's a recipe (from Allrecipes.com) for cabbage that's not only good for St. Patrick's day dinner but also Sunday dinner.

Ingredients:

• 2 slices Irish bacon, diced
• 1 medium head cabbage, cored and cut into wedges 
• 2 tablespoons melted butter 
• 2 teaspoons ground nutmeg 
• 2 cups water salt and pepper to taste 
• 1/2 cup red wine vinegar 

Preparations:

1. Preheat your oven's broiler. 
2. Place cabbage into a large pot. Add water and bring to a boil. Simmer over low heat until tender, about 15 minutes. 
3. Meanwhile, cook bacon in a skillet over medium-high heat until crisp. Drain and set aside. Drain cabbage, and drizzle with melted butter. Sprinkle with bacon and nutmeg. Transfer to a baking dish. 
4. Place under your oven's broiler until the top layer is lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Serve with salt, pepper and vinegar as desired.
   

Nigella's Irish Stew

Here's a stew that doesn't really seem like a stew....

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup parboiled barley
• 3 pounds rib lamb chops not less than 1 inch thick, trimmed of any fat
• 5 medium onions, chopped, or 12 boiling onions
• 5 medium carrots, peeled and chopped, or 12 baby ones, peeled
• 3 large parsnips, peeled and chopped
• 1 1/4 cups chicken stock
• 1 1/4 cups veal stock
• Salt and freshly milled black pepper
• Leaves from a medium rosemary sprig, minced
• 3 sage leaves, minced
• 1 tablespoon chopped parsley
• 8 medium potatoes, peeled and sliced about 1/4 inch thick

Preparations:

1. Cook the barley 20 minutes in boiling salted water, drain it, and reserve.
2. Preheat the oven to 325 F.
3. In a casserole in which you're sure everything's going to fit, brown the lamb. You shouldn't need to add any cooking fat to the pan. Remove the meat.
4. Add the vegetable to the casserole, turn them in the fat, and cook for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently, until slightly softened.
5. Meanwhile, combine the stocks and heat.
6. Remove the vegetables to a plate for a moment, then layer the casserole with the chops, the vegetables, and the parboiled barley, seasoning well with the salt and pepper and sprinkling with rosemary, sage, and parsley as you go.
7. Pour over the warmed stock and arrange the potatoes on top overlapping like a tiled roof, and season again.
8. Cover the casserole so that the potatoes steam inside.
9. Put in the oven for 1 1/2 hours, or until the potatoes are soft and the meat is thoroughly cooked.
10. If you want the potatoes browned on top, dot with butter and blitz under the broiler or in a turned-up oven when cooked.

Do not make this stew if you're really hungry because it takes forever to cook!

Nigella's Chocolate Guinness Cake

Here's a recipe for a deep chocolate cake that's easy to make. Instead of frosting this, we sprinkled powdered sugar on it. The cake is sweet enough that you don't need the frosting.

Ingredients:

1 cup Guinness
1 stick plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
2 cups superfine sugar
3/4 cup sour cream
2 eggs
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

Preparations:

1. Preheat the over to 350 F, and butter and line a 9 inch springform pan.
2. Pour the Guinness into a large wide saucepan, add the butter — in spoons or slices — and heat until the butter's melted, at which time you should whisk in the cocoa and sugar.
   
3. Beat the sour cream with the eggs and vanilla and then pour into the brown, buttery, beery pan and finally whisk in the flour and baking soda.
   
4. Pour the cake batter into the greased and lined pan and bake for 45 minutes to an hour.
5. Leave to cool completely in the pan on a cooling rack, as it is quite a damp cake.
   
6. When the cake's cold, sit it on a flat platter or cake stand and sprinkle with powdered sugar.
   

Irish Soda Bread

Prior to this week, I can honestly say that I'd never heard of Irish Soda Bread and when I did hear about it - I didn't really want to make it!

But alas, I did and was pleasantly surprised at how good it was. I used the following recipe but keep in mind that while it says ONE loaf pan, I would most definitely split into TWO loaf pans or you'll be cleaning the remnants up off the bottom of your oven.

Ingredients:

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/3 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 2 cups buttermilk
• 1/4 cup butter, melted

Preparations:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan.
2. Combine flour, baking powder, sugar, salt and baking soda. Blend egg and buttermilk together, and add all at once to the flour mixture.
3. Mix just until moistened. Stir in butter. Pour into prepared pan.
4. Bake for 65 to 70 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the bread comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack. Wrap in foil for several hours, or overnight, for best flavor.

Corned Beef and Cabbage in a Crock Pot

Top of the mornin' to ya! What would St. Patrick's day be without corned beef and cabbage?

Here's a recipe from: http://familyfun.go.com/recipes/slow-cooker-corned-beef-and-cabbage-678648/

Ingredients:

• 4 cups hot water
• 2 tbsp. cider vinegar
• 2 tbsp. sugar
• 1/2 tsp. freshly ground pepper
• 1 large or 2 medium onions, cut into wedges
• 1 2-lb. corned beef round or brisket, packaged with spices
• 8 small white or yellow potatoes, scrubbed and cut into quarters
• 1 head of green cabbage (about 1 1/2 lbs.), cored and cut into 10 wedges
  

Preparations:

1. In a 6-quart electric slow cooker, combine the water, vinegar, sugar, pepper and onions, mixing well. Place the corned beef in the mixture. Scatter the potatoes over the top and along the sides.
2. Cover and cook on the High heat setting 4 hours. Remove the lid and scatter the cabbage wedges over the top. Cover and continue cooking on High 3 to 4 hours longer, or until the beef is tender. To serve, carve the beef into slices and serve with the cabbage and potatoes, with some of the cooking liquid spooned on top of the beef to keep it moist. Makes 6 to 8 servings.
   
   

St. Patrick's Day Dinner - Bangers and Mash

In honor of the fact that St. Patrick's Day is this week and my husband had a random craving, here's a recipe for bangers and mash. For those of you who aren't exactly what that is - it's simply Mashed Potatoes and Sausages that's typically eaten with mustard.

Ingredients:

• 2 packages of 5 Bratwurst Sausages


• 5 lbs of potatoes


• 1 cup Half n' Half


• 2tbsp Olive Oil


• 1/8 cup of butter

Preparations:

1. Peel and boil potatoes until soft enough to stick a for through and break.


2. Drain potatoes.


3. Mash potatoes (I use my Kitchen Aid and skip the whole "mashing" process)


4. Add butter and Half 'n Half to mashed potatoes.


5. Fry sausages in oil until both sides are evenly cooked.


6. Salt and Pepper potatoes.


7. Dish up mashed potatoes and top with sausage and mustard (if you're feeling a wee bit Irish).

Servings: 4
Calories: ALOT