For those of you who like good food and Guinness




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  • 2012-03-24 11:20:27
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I was mildly surprised on Saturday when I walked into the Skapto 1 canteen and received a puzzled look from the woman behind the counter when I said "Happy St. Patrick's Day."  It is such a phenomenon in the States; how can I be so naive to think everyone around the world is Irish every March 17? Then again, I am talking a country that seems to have a holiday every week.  But St. Patrick's Day has always been one of my favorites; it's one day out of the year to recognize my Irish heritage and have an excuse to wear lots of green, my favorite color!  There are always a lot of parties that host a selection of drinks such as green beer, Guinness, Jameson and one of my favorites, Baileys.  The holiday also seems to be during the perfect time of the year when Spring has finally blossomed and everyone is in good spirits wearing "Lucky to be Irish" and "Kiss Me, I'm Irish" t-shirts.  And yes I have worn them both in the past. Since I could remember my mom has always made a traditional Irish meal of corned beef and cabbage on St. Paddy's Day.  To this day I never eat it.  As a child, even hearing the name of it made me squirm at the kitchen table as I begged my mother to make me mac n' cheese instead.  March 17 was always the evening of two dinners: the corned beef and cabbage for my mom and another ordinary dinner for my father, brother and I.  We were all satisfied. On St. Patrick's Day I skyped my parents and they were just telling me how they were going to celebrate; this entailed watching football and drinking beer.  That sounded about right.  But then my mom started to describe a new element to the St. Patrick's Day festivities I had never experienced.  It caught my attention and I was immediatey jealous.  Below, you will the find the recipe my mom decided to cook instead of her usual corned beef and cabbage.  Good choice mom. Succulent Beef and Irish Stew  [caption id="attachment_2082" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Irish Beef Stew"]Taken from www.partybluprintsblog.com [/caption] Cook time: 3 hours Serves: 6 INGREDIENTS: 2 pounds lean beef stew meat 3 tablespoons vegetable oil (divided) 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour 2 large onions, chopped 1 clove garlic, crushed 2 tablespoons tomato paste (dilute with 2 teaspoons water) 1 1h cups Irish stout beer 1 1h cups chopped carrot 1 sprig fresh thyme 1 pinch cayenne pepper Parsley to garnish Pepper -to taste Salt to taste DIRECTIONS:
  • Slightly coat beef cubes with 1 tablespoon vegetable oil. In a separate bowl, sift together flour, salt, pepper, and cayenne pepper. Dredge meat in flour mixture.
  • Heat remaining oil in a deep skillet or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Brown beef on all sides. Add onions and garlic to beef. Stir in tomato paste mix. Mix well. Reduce heat to medium, cover, and cook for 5 minutes.
  • Pour 1h cup beer into the pan. As it boils, scrape bottom of the pan with wooden spoon. Add remaining beer, carrots and thyme. Cover and reduce heat to low. Simmer for 2-3 hours, stirring occasionally. Add salt and pepper as preferred. Garnish with chopped parsley before serving.
Mouthwatering Irish Soda Bread [caption id="attachment_2083" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Irish Soda Bread"]Taken from www.adventuresinshaw.com[/caption] Prep time: 15 minutes Cook time: 1 hour, 10 minutes Serves: 12 INGREDIENTS: 3 cups all-purpose flour 1 tablespoon baking powder 1 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon baking soda· 1/3 cup white sugar 1 egg beaten 2 cups buttermilk 1/4 cup butter (melted) DIRECTIONS:
  • Grease 9x5 loaf pan and preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
  • Combine flour, baking powder, salt, baking soda, and sugar. Mix egg and buttermilk together. Add egg mixture to flour mixture until just moistened. Stir in butter. Pour into prepared pan.
  • Bake for 65-70 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center of loaf comes out clean. Coolon a wire rack. Wrap in foil for three hours (or overnight for best flavor).