Bread, potatoes and stout for St. Patrick’s Day
St. Patrick’s Day menu calls for bread, potatoes ... and just a little stout
Nutty, hearty and at its best slathered in the Emerald Isle’s trademark golden butter. Irish brown bread is a special loaf indeed.
If you’ve been lucky enough to enjoy this classic while in Ireland, chances are very good that you’ve developed a taste for it.
“It’s world-renowned,” writer Imen McDonnell says of Irish baking. “I think people leave here with the memory of that brown bread and butter very, very often.”
Originally from the United States, McDonnell lives with her husband and son in rural Ireland where they run a family farm.
She documented traditional cooking skills and enduring recipes in The Farmette Cookbook (Roost Books, 2016) and has been sharing tales of farm life on her blog, Farmette, since 2009.
“In the Irish countryside, the spirit of St. Patrick’s Day really lives on,” McDonnell writes.
When she first moved to Ireland, she says it took her some time to adjust to the low-key nature of the festivities. While in the cities, there are parades and other celebrations, she and her family typically mark the day by collecting fresh shamrocks, going to Mass and enjoying a feast for lunch.
“It is a national holiday, but it’s also a religious holiday. In the countryside, everybody just takes it easy … but it’s nice. It’s just really different from corned beef and cabbage, and dyeing the river green. It’s a lovely day.”
BEST BROWN BREAD Makes: 1 loaf
¾ cup (180 mL) all-purpose flour
1 tsp (5 mL) sea salt
1 tsp (5 mL) baking soda
2 cups (500 mL) coarse-ground whole-wheat flour (such as Bob’s Red Mill stone ground Whole Wheat Flour)
2 tbsp (30 mL) butter, room temperature
1½ cups (375 mL) buttermilk 1 large egg
1 tbsp (15 mL) honey
1. Preheat the oven to 400 F (205 C).
2. In a large bowl, sift together the all-purpose flour, salt and baking soda. Mix in the wholewheat flour. Rub or cut in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse bread crumbs.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, egg and honey.
4. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and pour in the liquids. Mix together with a spoon. The dough will be wet and sticky.
5. Pour into a greased loaf pan and cut a line down the middle.
6. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes, pop the bread out of the pan and cover with a tea towel. It tastes best on the same day, but it will last for two or three days.
Scullery notes: If you prefer, you can form a round with the dough and place it on a floured baking sheet or pour it into a well-oiled cast-iron pan. Cut the traditional cross though the centre, and bake for 40 to 45 minutes.
BOXTY Serves: 4
6 medium potatoes
¼ cup (60 mL) all-purpose flour
1 tsp (5 mL) sea salt
1 tbsp (15 mL) butter
(or sunflower oil) Fresh herbs, chopped, for garnish
1. Peel the potatoes. Line a colander with cheesecloth and place over a large mixing bowl. Using a box grater, grate the potatoes into the colander. Gather the corners of the cheesecloth together and squeeze the liquid from the potatoes into the bowl. Put the dry grated potato in another bowl and discard the liquid.
2. Add the flour and salt to the grated potato and mix gently.
3. Melt the butter in a heavy iron pan, and pour in the potato mixture to make an even layer, about ¾ to 1 inch (2-2.5 cm) thick. Cook over medium heat until nicely brown on one side, about 15 minutes; flip the whole boxty cake and cook on the other side for another 15 minutes or until brown. It’s much better to cook the boxty slowly than too fast. It should be crisp and golden on the outside and cooked through on the inside.
4. Remove from the heat, cut into quarters, garnish with herbs, and serve with crème fraîche, applesauce or just on its own.
OYSTERS AND STOUT
Serves: 6 (3 oysters each)
18 raw, fresh oysters, shucked
Sea salt and ground black pepper
Lemon juice Tabasco sauce
6 pints Irish stout
1. Open the oysters and arrange on a platter filled with crushed ice, making sure to keep any sea water in the shells. Season as you wish with sea salt, black pepper, lemon juice and Tabasco, then tip into your mouth. Follow each oyster with a hearty glug of stout, if you can manage it!