Washington County Weekend Post e-edition
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/115917
In Good Taste with Sheryl Popp Stirring up St. Patty's Day - a wee bit cubed 5 parsnips, peeled, sliced in 1/2" pieces and cubed 2 white onions, chopped 2 Tbls. chopped thyme leaves 2 Tbls. chopped rosemary leaves 1/2 cup frozen green peas Mashed potatoes, as needed, for topping Preheat oven to 300º. Put the lamb in a roasting pan and roast until an instant-read thermometer registers 140 degrees, about 2 hours. Remove from oven to a cutting board and let stand for 2 hours. Trim off fat and cut into 1/2inch squares. In a med. sized pot over med. heat, mix the beef base with water and bring to a boil. Add the port, reduce the heat and simmer for 15 minutes. While the mixture is simmering, add garlic. Place carrots, celery, parsnips and onions in a large saucepan. Stir in the lamb and beef broth mixture. Cook until the vegetables are al dente. Distribute mixture evenly into 12 shallow heat-proof dishes and sprinkle with chopped thyme and rosemary. There should be about 2 Shepherd's Pie ounces of liquid in each 1 5 lb. boneless leg of lamb dish, or about a 1/21 Tbl. beef base inch deep. Sprinkle with 2 cups water green peas. Pipe 1 1/2 cups port mashed potatoes 4 cloves garlic, sliced thin through pastry bag to 5 carrots, peeled, sliced in cover the mixture. Raise 1/2" pieces and cubed the oven temperature to 6 stalks celery peeled, 400º. Put the dishes sliced in 1/2" pieces and M y husband, Timothy Patrick, was born on St. Patrick's Day. He is his parents' first born. His mother is Irish, and she and her four sisters grew up with the reputation of having their own little coven. It was a rumor they themselves spread, and mightily enjoyed. On the occasion of her mother's 90th birthday party, my mother-in-law bought her two daughters and her two daughter-in-laws their very own pointy black hats to wear at the luncheon. I make corned beef and cabbage for Tim every year, but no one needs a recipe for that. And I've published Guinness stew too. My goal today is to offer up a few different recipes for the holiday, beginning with my favorite, shepherd's pie. I saw a version that I scribbled down while watching Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, and it was available on-line. The Irish restaurant Guy Fieri was visiting was in Honolulu. Too funny! The recipe is rated easy, but it is time consuming. There was only one review available for it, and it's from a Wisconsinite! Read that before buying five pounds of lamb. 20 • Washington County Post Retail • 3 - 17 - 13 into the oven and bake until the tops of the mashed potatoes are browned. Remove from the oven and serve with a pint of beer. On line review: This is a great fun recipe! I love the individual serving dishes. I did change it up, being from Wisconsin, COW country I used BEEF! My family loved it, as well as I fixed it for a church group. The presentation was cool. And it was very easy to make. And YUM!! A touchdown for sure. You could make this in a pie pan if you wanted, perhaps to serve your family. But my family got a kick out of their own boats. Will definitely make this again! Another recipe from the food network that really caught my eye was this pudding recipe. This one is from the Barefoot Contessa, but recommended for St. Pat's. I'm wild about it because I love rice pudding and it won't break my Lenten diet restrictions. And wow, rum. What more can I say? I read the first page of the billion reviews on this, and everyone rated it super-tasty. The only disagreement was some said it was too soupy. Naturally, then a bevy of contradictory reviews followed. Rum Raisin Rice Pudding 3/4 cup raisins 2 Tbls. dark rum 3/4 cup white basmati rice 1/2 tsp. kosher salt 5 cups half-and-half, divided 1/2 cup sugar 1 extra-large egg, beaten 1 1/2 tsps. pure vanilla extract the party, and they were a huge success. Mary found a similar recipe on-line, as well as a few others she felt were a step away from the usual. I agree, and I think I must try the bangers and mash. (It sounds as though In a small bowl, com- one would have enough bine raisins and rum. gravy to make more Set aside. Combine rice sausages and potatoes.) and salt with 1 1/2 cups Irish Soda Bread water in a medium heavy-bottomed stainMuffins less steel saucepan. 2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour Bring it to a boil, stir 1/2 cup + 1 Tbl. sugar, once, and simmer, cov- divided ered, on the lowest heat 2 tsps. baking powder for 8 to 9 minutes, until 1/2 tsp. salt most of the water is 1/4 tsp. baking soda absorbed. (If your stove 1 tsp. caraway seeds is very hot, pull the pan 1 egg halfway off the burner.) 1 cup buttermilk Stir in 4 cups of half- 1/4 cup butter, melted and-half and sugar and 1/4 cup canola oil bring to a boil. Simmer 3/4 cup dried currants or uncovered for 25 min- raisins utes, until the rice is very soft. Stir often, In a large bowl, comparticularly toward the bine flour, 1/2 cup end. Slowly stir in the sugar, baking powder, beaten egg and contin- salt, baking soda and seeds. In ue to cook for 1 minute. caraway another bowl, beat egg, Off the heat, add the remaining cup of half- buttermilk, butter and and-half, vanilla, and oil. Stir into dry ingreraisins with any dients just until moisremaining rum. Stir tened. Fold in currants. well. Pour into a bowl, Fill greased muffin cups and place a piece of three-fourths full. plastic wrap directly on Sprinkle with remaintop of the pudding to ing sugar. Bake at 400° prevent a skin from for 15 minutes or until forming. Serve warm or a toothpick inserted chilled. near the center comes Co-worker Mary Jones out clean. Cool for 5 hosts a St. Patrick's party minutes before removevery year. Her husband ing from pan to wire Dave is part-Irish. Last year, rack. Serve warm. a friend brought Irish soda bread muffins to share at True Bangers and Mash with Onion Gravy 4 links pork sausage 2 lbs. potatoes, peeled and cubed 1/4 cup butter 2 Tbls. milk (optional) 1 tsp. dry mustard powder salt and ground black pepper to taste 1 Tbl. butter 2 lg. onions, chopped 6 cups beef broth 2 cups red wine Preheat oven to 200º Cook sausage links in a skillet over medium-low heat until browned on all sides, about 5 minutes per side; transfer to an oven-safe dish and move to preheated oven to keep warm. Place a potatoes into saucepan over med. heat, cover with water, and boil gently until tender, 10 to 15 minutes. Drain and allow to steam dry for a minute or two. Mix in 1/4 cup of butter, milk, dry mustard, salt, and black pepper; mash until fluffy and smooth. Set aside. Melt 1 Tbl. butter in a skillet over medium-high heat; cook onions until translucent and just starting to brown, about 8 minutes. Pour in beef broth and red wine; boil mixture down to about half its volume, about 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. To serve, place a sausage onto a serving plate