Old Pueblo Almanac

“If they want to be, everyone is a little bit Irish on St. Patrick’s Day”- “Mad Doc”

St. Patrick is the Patron Saint of Ireland and March 17, the day of his death, is
celebrated as a religious and cultural holiday. It is likely a larger celebration among Irish
descendants (and others) in the US than it is in Ireland. Don’t be neglecting to be
wearing your green, and shamrocks, and drinking some Guiness, won’t ya’ now?
Here’s a couple 'ole' St. Paddy's Day recipes for you.

 

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Traditional Irish Stew is made with lamb (or mutton, which is lamb that is at least a year
old), but an “Irish-like” stew can be made with beef. Also traditionally, Irish stew
included only potatoes and onions, but feel free to add carrots, parsnips, leeks, or celery
if you are so inclined. It is a stew, not a soup, so should be nice and thick; don’t cut
meat and veggies into tiny pieces! Adding Guiness to the stew is also not traditional,
but hey, whatever greens your leprechaun. You can cook in a slow cooker or hot pot
(also not traditional) but it’s almost as easy to just make it on the stove.
3 lbs stew meat (beef, lamb or mutton)

 

Irish Stew

2 lbs potatoes quartered
2 cups chopped carrots
1 med onion chopped
1T minced garlic
2 T olive oil
¼ cup all purpose flour
4 cups beef broth
¼ cup tomato paste
½ t dried thyme (optional)
1 cup Guiness (optional)
Salt and pepper
Chopped parsley for garnish (optional)

 

1- Heat olive oil over medium head in a large pot. Season meat with salt and
pepper. Brown the meat for 3-4 minutes per side and remove to plate. Continue
until all meat is browned.
2- Add the onions to the pot and cook for 5-7 minutes until tender; add garlic and
thyme and cook for 30-60 seconds
3- Return meat to pot, and flour and stir to coat meat and onions/garlic.
4- Add Guiness, broth, tomato paste, potatoes, carrots. Stir and bring pot to a
simmer.
5- Cover the pot. You can simmer on the stove, or hot pot or slow cooker, or cook
in a preheated 350 degree oven for 2-3 ours until the meat is tender. Drink the
rest of the Guiness (and maybe another). Garnish with parsley and serve with
soda bread. Enjoy!

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Irish Soda Bread

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Another traditional Irish food is soda bread which uses baking soda instead of yeast for
rising. English bakers in the early 1800s paired backing soda with hydrochloric acid(!)
to start the volatile reaction, but later discovered that Buttermilk was more tasty and less
dangerous. As with Irish stew, the basic tradition of a peasant food as been gussied up
with raisins, banana, sugar and other seasonings, but we’ll just stick to the basics here
to go with our Irish stew. You, Colleen, are free to do as ye’ please, lass!

3 cups all purpose flour
1 ¾ t of kosher salt
1 1/8 t baking soda
2 ½ cups buttermilk (low fat is fine)

1-Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Cover Dutch oven (cast iron or enameled) with
parchment paper
2- Combine dry ingredients in a bowl and whisk for a good minute. Add buttermilk and
stir with rubber spatula until dough is fully moist. For chewy soda bread coning for
another half minute.
3- Pour into the Dutch oven and smooth into boule. Score deeply with sharp knife.
4- Cover with lid and bake for about 45 minutes. Remove lid and bake for 12-15
minutes more to internal temp of ~210 degrees. Cool on wire rack for about ½ hour,
slice and enjoy.

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I know 3 Irish jokes, none of which are politically correct, or overly kind to the Irish. Buyme a Guiness, and perhaps I will tell you!