St. Patrick's Day Eve

Here's a second round of food for tomorrow's St. Patrick's Day celebration, including Irish Soda Bread and Creamy Irish Potato Soup. Enjoy!

ST. PATRICK'S DAY SOUP

This is from GE Appliances, and begins, “What a tasty home-made potato soup, made with both Idaho and sweet potatoes.” Makes 4 to 6 servings in 20 minutes. The recipe originally calls for chicken broth or bouillon; I changed it to vegetable broth or bouillon.

To view this online, click here.

Ingredients

6 large Idaho potatoes, peeled and cut into pieces

2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into pieces

1 large onion, chopped

4 cups vegetable broth or bouillon

2 teaspoons thyme

1- 16 oz. container sour cream

1 stick butter or margarine

1/2 cup flour

2 cups milk

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Place potatoes, onion, broth and thyme into a 5-quart pot. Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer for 20 minutes or until potatoes are tender.

Melt butter in a medium size saucepan. Stir in flour with a whisk or wooden spoon to make a smooth paste.

Add milk, a little at a time, stirring to make the mixture smooth. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly until thickened. Season generously with salt and pepper. Add to the potato mixture.

Stir in sour cream.

Heat thoroughly and serve.

CREAMY IRISH POTATO SOUP

This recipe comes from Campbell's Kitchen; to view this recipe online, click here. The recipe starts off, "This rich and creamy potato soup is subtly flavored with celery and green onions. It's the kind of soup you'll want to savor slowly...even though it's ready in just 35 minutes." The recipe originally called for chicken broth, but I changed it to vegetable broth to make it vegetarian.

Prep. time: 15 minutes; Cooking time: 25 minutes; Serves: 5 servings (1 1/4 cups each)

Ingredients

2 tablespoons butter

4 medium green onion, sliced (about 1/2 cup)

1 stalk celery, sliced (about 1/2 cup)

1 3/4 cups Swanson® Vegetable Broth (Regular, Natural Goodness® or Certified Organic)

1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper

3 medium potato, sliced 1/4-inch thick (about 3 cups)

1 1/2 cups milk

Directions

Heat the butter in a 3-quart saucepan over medium heat. Add the onions and celery and cook until they're tender.

Stir the broth, black pepper and potatoes in the saucepan and heat to a boil. Reduce the heat to low. Cover and cook for 15 minutes or until the potatoes are tender.

Place half of the broth mixture and half of the milk in a blender or food processor. Cover and blend until smooth. Repeat with the remaining broth mixture and remaining milk. Return to the saucepan and heat through.

MASHED POTATOES WITH CHIVES

I absolutely love potatoes, especially mashed. This comes from the March 2008 issue of Vegetarian Times, and begins, “It really isn’t an Irish dinner unless there are potatoes. These can be served as a side dish, or combined with a stew to make a cottage pie: Simply place the stew in a pie dish, spread the potatoes on top, and place under the broiler until the potatoes are browned.” Serves 2 in 30 minutes or less.

To view this online, click here.

1 lb. Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch slices

3/4 cup low-fat milk

1 1/2 Tbs. butter

3 Tbs. finely chopped chives

1/4 tsp. grated nutmeg

Place potatoes in medium pot and cover with 1 inch water. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to medium, and simmer 8 to 10 minutes, or until potatoes are tender. Drain, and put potatoes through ricer or mash in medium bowl.

Heat milk and butter in small saucepan until butter is melted. Stir into potatoes along with chives and nutmeg. Season with salt and pepper.

nutritional information Per SERVING: Calories: 331; Protein: 8 g; Total Fat: 10 g; Saturated Fat: 6 g; Carbohydrates: 55 g; Cholesterol: 27 mg; Sodium: 404 mg; Fiber: 5 g; Sugar: 7 g; Gluten-Free

CABBAGE CASSEROLE

This comes from Healing Heart Foundation. The site has quite a few heart-healthy recipes; just go to their site (click here), then click “recipes” on the left-hand side.

This was the closest to an Irish dish that I could find on the site. Enjoy!

1/2 head cabbage

2 C cooked brown rice

1/2 C whole wheat couscous

1 12oz. can tomato sauce

1/4 C raisins (optional)

1 can chopped tomatoes

1/2 C fresh or frozen corn

1 tsp fresh lemon juice

1 T brown sugar or brown rice syrup

1/4 tsp each: cardamon, coriander, curry powder, pepper, garlic powder and a pinch of allspice

1/8 t ground cloves (optional)

Slice cabbage diagonally. Pour hot water over it to make it limp. Drain. Mix rice, couscous, raisins and corn and set aside. Mix tomato with all other ingredients and spread 1 C in the bottom of a large ceramic casserole lightly coated with non-stick spray. Cover with layers of the cabbage and the rice mixture. Top with the rest of the tomato mixture and cover with foil. Bake at 325° F. for 30 to 45 minutes, until bubbly. Serve hot with whole wheat bread and a salad.

This dish is similar to a savory stuffed cabbage, but the difficulties and disasters of stuffing have been avoided. For a fancier dish, the rice mixture can be rolled into cabbage leaves and skewered with a toothpick. Green peppers can be stuffed instead of using cabbage.

4 servings, each: Calories 567, Fat 3.79 g (5% cff), Carbohydrate 10.02 g, Protein 15.98 g (11%)

IRISH SODA BREAD

I think I probably have run across a dozen or more recipes for Irish Soda Bread, most of which seem to be a slight variation of the bread. This one comes from a long-since-forgotten-emailing-list.

4 cups flour

1/4 cup sugar

1 tsp baking powder

2 tbsp caraway seeds

1/4 cup butter

2 cups raisins

1 1/3 cup buttermilk

1 egg

1 tsp baking soda

1 egg yolk, beaten

Mix the flour, sugar, and the baking powder into a mixing bowl. Stir in the caraway seeds. Cut in the butter until the mixture looks like coarse meal. Stir in the raisins. Set aside. Combine the buttermilk, egg, and baking soda. Stir into the flour mixture just enough to moisten the dry ingredients. Turn onto a floured board and knead lightly until the dough is smooth. Shape into a ball and place in a greased 2 quart casserole dish. Brush with egg yolk. Bake at 375 F for one hour. Cool the bread for 10 minutes before removing from the casserole dish.

BAILEYS MOUSSE CHEESECAKE

This comes from The Baker Chick's e-newsletter. If you haven't signed up for Audra's newsletter yet, you really should! (Yes, that's a subtle recommendation.)

This recipe, which yields 1 7-inch cheesecake, can be found online at http://www.thebakerchick.com/2015/03/baileys-mousse-cheesecake/.

Ingredients

For the Crust:

1/2 cup white sugar

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

3/8 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (Note: 1/2 cup minus 2 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder)

1 pinch salt

1/4 cup butter, melted

For the Topping:

2 8-ounce packages cream cheese, room temperature

1/2 - 3/4 cup Bailey's

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/3 cup chocolate chips, or melted chocolate or shaved chocolate for topping.

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375F.

In a medium-sized bowl, stir together the sugar, flour, cocoa powder, and salt. Add the melted butter and stir until moistened. Press the crust mixture into a 7-inch springform pan* and bake for 10 minutes.

While the crust cools, whip the cream cheese on high until smooth. Add 1/2 cup of the Bailey's and the vanilla extract. Taste the mixture, and add the remaining 1/4 cup of creamer if desired, 1 tablespoon at a time until desired sweetness is reached.**

Transfer filling into cooled crust and smooth with an offset spatula. Sprinkle with chocolate chips, or drizzle with melted chocolate or chocolate shavings. Cover with plastic wrap and chill for several hours, until the filling has set. (You can speed this up in the freezer.)

Notes:

You can use a 9 inch springform pan, but I would make 1 1/2 times the recipe.

*The more liquid you add to the filling the looser it will be. I added the full 3/4 cup and it was perfectly creamy and dreamy, but if you prefer a bit more solid texture add a little less.