These are all Irish or Irish-American recipes. I remember my mom making my Irish Great-grandmother’s Soda Bread recipe for us on St. Patrick’s Day when I was a kid. She also made Corned Beef and Cabbage every year.
Irish Soda Bread
3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking-soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups (about) buttermilk
Preheat oven to 425°F. Flour a cookie sheet. Mix together flour, baking soda and salt in a large bowl. Stir in enough buttermilk to bring the dry ingredients together in clumps. Shape dough into a ball. Turn out onto a floured surface and knead just until dough comes together. Shape dough into a round about 2 inches thick, and place on the cookie sheet. Cut a large X in the top of bread. Bake until golden brown, about 35 minutes. Cool completely.
Corned Beef and Cabbage
1 Corned beef brisket with spice packet
5 large potatoes cut into chucks
1 small bag of pre-cut carrots
1 large head cabbage, cut into small wedges
Put corned beef in a large pot and cover with water. Add the spice packet. Cover the pot, bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer for about 50 minutes per pound of brisket or until tender.
Add potatoes and carrots. Cook until the vegetables are almost fork tender. ( I recommend adding the carrots earlier, because they take longer to cook than the potatoes.) Add cabbage and cook for 15 more minutes.
Remove meat. While the meat is resting place vegetables in a serving bowl and cover with some of the broth in the pot. Slice the meat and serve.
You can usually find corned beef in the meat section of your grocery store around St. Patrick’s day.
Apples Amber
Pastry dough for a single-crust pie
4 cooking apples, about 1 pound, cored and peeled
2 tablespoons water
Juice of one lemon
3 large eggs, separated
4 ounces sugar
Prepare the pie crust in a pie dish and set aside.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Grate the apples with a coarse grater or a food processor. Add the 2 tablespoons of water to a small heavy pot, heat until it steams, add the apples, and cook over medium heat until reduced to a puree. Remove from heat.
Beat the egg yolks slightly. Add the lemon and three-quarters of the sugar to the apple puree, then add the egg, and stir well. Spoon the mixture into the pie shell and bake for twenty minutes.
While the pie is baking make the meringue topping. Beat the egg whites, adding the remaining sugar gradually. Whip until stiff peaks form. When the pie has baked twenty minutes in the oven, remove it and spread the meringue over the top of the pie, to the edges of the crust. Return to the oven for another 10 minutes, or until nicely browned.
Serve hot or cold.