Aunt Carol's Irish soda bread

So good toasted with a little butter - 
okay, maybe a LOT of butter!

All right, so it's a little early for St. Patrick's Day, but I have a friend who asked for this recipe.  Friend...ha...I used to babysit for her!!!  Crazy!!!  Anyhow...

My great-grandparents came over from "the old country" back in the early 20th century.  I don't know when; I haven't been able to figure it out on various genealogy sites (after all, it's not like there aren't a ton of Michael McCarthys or Mary Evans!).

I don't remember much about them...I remember their brogue, what they look like, that they had plastic on their couch, and a candy dish on their coffee table.  I don't remember them ever making this bread at all, but since I've had my own family and tried to incorporate our heritage into their lives, I make this bread once a year.  Okay, sometimes more, because it's delicious toasted for breakfast!!!

Enjoy the recipe, even if you aren't Irish!  Also notice that you say a blessing before you bake it...it's from the old country...what do you want?!?!

Irish Soda Bread

Preheat oven to 375F.

4 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup raisins
2 cups buttermilk

Grease cookie sheet, but do NOT use an air bake sheet!!  In a large bowl, toss flour, sugar, salt, and baking soda.  Stir in raisins.  Add buttermilk and stir with a fork until JUST mixed (holds together).

Put out onto floured surface,  knead 10-15 times and pat into an 8" round on greased cookie sheet.  Cut a cross into the top of bread, say a blessing, and bake 40-45 minutes, or until lovely golden brown.

....and what to put on them

My last post concerned the yummy rolls we make at our house.  We love to use them for burgers....we all have our favorite combinations.  My hubby's is a bacon cheeseburger with freshly-made onion rings and barbecue sauce.  It's truly delicious, but my favorite is a bacon cheeseburger with smoked Gouda and sauteed mushrooms and onions.  Yumm-o, as Rachael Ray says.

They are also fantastic the next morning sliced with butter and jam, or with a fried egg, cheese, and a sausage patty.  So much better than anything you can get at a familiar fast-food restaurant.

A family favorite is to make Sloppy Joes.  Not the kind from the can (which is perfectly acceptable in a pinch!), but homemade.  It's very simple, so don't worry.  This recipe comes from Cook's Country.

Sloppy Joes

1 onion, minced
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
1/2 tsp salt
2 garlic cloves, minced or put through a garlic press
1/2 tsp chili powder
1 lb 85% ground beef
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/2 cup ketchup
1 cup tomato sauce (you could use puree, or paste that you've watered down a bit)
1 Tbsp brown sugar
1/4 cup water
1/4 tsp hot pepper sauce

Heat oil in large skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering.  Add onion and salt and stir until covered with oil.  Reduce heat to medium, cover, and cook, stirring occasionally, until onion is soft, about 10 minutes.  If onion begins to burn after 5 minutes, reduce heat to low.

Add garlic and chili powder and cook, stirring constantly, just until fragrant, about 30 seconds.  Add beef and cook, breaking up meat with wooden spoon, until just pink, about 3 minutes.  Don't cook too long, or the meat will be dry and crumbly later on.

Add black pepper, brown sugar, tomato sauce, ketchup, water, and hot sauce.  Simmer until the Sloppy Joe sauce is slightly thicker than ketchup, about 8-10 minutes.  Taste and adjust the salt and pepper.  Serve with the buns.  We usually slice them in half, and kind of scoop out some of the middle so they're less "sloppy".

We serve these with raw veggies and dip, so we can use our fingers for everything!

Beautiful Burger Buns....

These are the best rolls we've ever made.  I "discovered" these on the King Arthur Flour website a few years ago.  I made the mistake of making them once and I have sunk myself because of it!  We simply do not buy rolls from the store anymore.  I have a mutiny on my hands if I even try.  We use them for buns for hamburgers, sloppy Joes, breaded chicken cutlets, and they are fantastic when toasted and spread with butter and jam for breakfast.  They are so good and so famous on our street, that one young man, when asked to stay for dinner, asked, "is your mom making those rolls?"  Kids come in and grab them and run out to play.

I make a double batch every time, because otherwise they barely last until dinner.  I have two breadmakers, so it's pretty easy, but it's a pretty easy recipe anyway.

I intend to use the dough to make pepperoni rolls (a West Virginia favorite!) for our youth group tonight.  You just make a batch and see if you aren't convinced to avoid store-bought rolls forever!

BEAUTIFUL BURGER BUNS
makes 8-12, depending on size.  I make 10 per batch because I still have some young kids.

3/4-1 cup lukewarm water (watch your dough!)
2 Tbsp butter
1 large egg
1/4 cup sugar
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbsp instant  yeast

Mix and knead all the ingredients to make a soft, smooth dough.  Cover and let rise in warm spot until nearly double, about 1-2 hours.  When I make it in the breadmaker, I set it on dough, which is about 1 hour, 50 minutes.

Heat oven to 375F.  Gently deflate dough and divide into pieces.  Form into balls, and slightly smush.  I do not usually use flour when doing this.  I dip my hands into water.  It seems to make the buns a better shape.  They're delicious either way, but for burgers, it works better if they stay a little flatter.  You'll get the hang of it as you make these again and again.  And you will!

Set buns on a greased sheet, cover with a clean, lint-free towel, and let rise for about an hour, until visibly puffy.  I usually smush them a little more right before I put them in the oven.

Bake for about 15 minutes, or until golden brown.  LET COOL on a wire rack before you cut them.  That's an important piece of the bread baking process, you know.

Enjoy!

Mexican night

Every Wednesday at our house is Mexican night.  Hmmm...maybe I should say Tex-Mex night.  I'm pretty much as "gringo" as you can get (Irish/northern European), but lived in Texas for a couple of years.

When hubby and I were first married, we didn't have a lot of money, so we'd have Margarita night every Friday.  We'd pull out the couch, get a movie, have homemade margaritas, and some sort of Tex-Mex.  It was like a little trip away every Friday!

Once we had children, it continued to be popular for several reasons - no babysitter needed, and then when the kids were old enough to eat, they got to dip pretty much everything.  If you don't have kids, they love to dip things.  Heck, I love to dip things!  Salsa, sour cream, queso...yumm-o!

Usually we keep it pretty simple, using store-bought soft tortillas, seasoned ground beef, and queso in the teeny slow-cooker I have.  Yes, I use Velveeta, and no, I don't feel bad about it.  It's delicious and so creamy!!  However, every once in a while, I get inspired and fry my own corn chips and taco shells.  It has ruined us forever for store-bought taco shells!

It's very simple to do, but takes a bit of effort and care.  Just buy the best, thinnest corn tortillas you can find (we have a Global Food store near us, with plenty of ethnic food).  To make tortilla chips, just cut a stack of tortillas into six or eight pieces, depending on the size you want.  Set up a draining station - several layers of paper towels on top of a few layers of newspaper is what I usually use.  Make sure your salt shaker is also right there.

Heat a shallow pot with a few inches of cooking oil (I've used vegetable oil, coconut oil, and shortening.  All are fine) to 350F.  Watch your pan.  Heating oil past 400F is extremely dangerous.  DO NOT LEAVE THE STOVE AT ANY POINT!!!!  You also want to fill it no more than half-way.  When the oil is hot, carefully place 8-12 chips in.  Let cook for a few seconds, then flip.  Watch your temperature.  You want it to stay right around 350F.  Turn down the burner if you must.

Scoop out with a "spider" or slotted spoon and drain on paper towels.  Shake salt on immediately and let cool before you eat.  Place some more chips in and continue until you have enough.  Keep your friends and family out of the kitchen or you'll have to make lots more!

For taco shells, it's about the same.  You just need two sets of tongs.  Heat oil as before, set up draining station as before, and here we go.  It's a little hard to explain, but basically, you gently bend a corn tortilla in half (a curvy half - like a taco shell!).  Set one half into the oil and hold it down with one set of tongs, keeping the non-cooking part of the shell up with the other set of tongs.  Let cook only until the bottom is just set, then flip and hold open again until that side is completely cooked - just look at it - it will become a great golden brown color.  Then flip again and finish cooking the other side.  You do it this way so that you don't overcook the first side and end up burning the "bottom" of the taco.  Keeps you on your toes.

Pull out to drain upside-down on the paper towels, and sprinkle with salt.  Enjoy.  And you will never enjoy store-bought shells ever again.  So sorry.

We will continue to revisit Mexican night....I mean, don't you want hubby's margarita recipe?  It's delicious....