Real Irish Soda Bread

I just wish you could smell this! 

I recently came across this re-creation of a 19th century recipe for Irish Soda Bread on my favorite food website and of course I had to try it. As a brown bread lover, I usually use coarse whole wheat flour for this type of bread but curiosity, combined with not having any around compelled me to try it with all-purpose. The result was fantastic. The crust was nice and crisp, not what you would suspect from a quick bread. Like brown bread, this was substantial, the kind of bread you could eat with a soup or stew and call a meal. Yes, the crust loses its crunch after being stored for a day or so, but a toaster solves that problem. I ate a few slices of this bread fresh out of the oven slathered with butter and sprinkled with sea salt.  For the next day or two, I ate it toasted for breakfast.

As you can tell from the recipe this bread is the definition of quick. My oven barely had time to preheat before I had my shaped loaf all set up in my dutch oven and ready to go. And isn’t it pretty?  I still love my soda bread brown but I can tell I will be making this again.

What I loved even more than the recipe was all of the banter in the numerous comments to the accompanying article entitled “Irish Soda Bread, as it was Meant to Be” regarding the authenticity of using white flour for this type of bread instead of the coarse whole wheat flour which would produce what we call "brown bread". While there seemed to be little controversy over the fact that most soda bread in Ireland doesn’t contain sugar or dried fruit, the use of all-purpose flour in this recipe seemed to create quite a stir. The issue of whether or not white flour was more popular than whole wheat in the mid-1800’s and to whom it was available is discussed at length in the comments.  A few of the folks commenting seem to have significant knowledge on the topic of Irish food history.  If you are a food and history nerd like me, you might enjoy it.

Aside from eating soda bread, we were celebrating our Irish heritage last weekend at the Irish American Heritage Center's summer festival in Mayfair.  We decked the kids out in their Irish soccer uniforms (courtesy of our cousins) and enjoyed some food, music and Irish dancing. Isla was particularly captivated by the Irish dancers. Who knows? We may have a budding Irish dancer in that one.  If you have never been to the Irish American Heritage Center, you really should check it out.  They have a pub that is open most nights, a gift shop, event spaces, performances, a library, Irish dance classes and more. I highly recommend a visit.  

Watching an Irish dance performance. 

Roasted Kabocha Squash with Thyme and Honey

Kabocha.  Please don't peel it.  Eve only has six teeth and she can eat the skin no problem. 

My father-in-law and a group from the stores recently got back from a trip to Ireland. I haven’t had a chance to catch up with them yet but it sounds like it was the trip of a lifetime. I did see a few photos and it looks like the weather held up for them, and they were kept busy traveling around the country, seeing the sights and partaking in the local fare. Jealous as I am of their adventures, it’s tough not to enjoy the summer in Chicago, especially with little kids who are so full of spirit and energy. The rainy weather put a damper on our outdoor cooking plans for a few days so we improvised with some salads other easy to throw together meals.

Are you familiar with Kabocha squash? It’s a delicious Japanese squash that is similar to a Butternut but sweeter with a creamier texture. I usually pick one up from the Korean grocery store by my house but I've seen them at all kinds of stores, even Trader Joe's.  Perhaps the best thing about Kabocha is that you can eat the skin.  Even Japanese people eat it – which is a big deal because compared to Americans, the Japanese peel everything! Kids usually love Kabocha because it’s sweet and mild tasting. Like Butternut squash, the Kabocha is a very versatile vegetable.  Sometimes I make a Kabocha cheesecake pie instead of a pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving.  It’s also good in Thai-style curries, but the most common way we eat it at my house is simply roasted.  

Greek yogurt topped with roasted Kabocha, chopped almonds and honey. A beautiful, nutritious breakfast. 

Roasted Kabocha with Thyme and Honey

1 Kabocha squash, sliced with skin left on

2 tbs fresh thyme, chopped

2 tbs honey

2 tbs olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

Before mixing the slices up on the tray to make sure they are evenly coated. 

Preheat oven to 400F.

Place the Kabocha slices on a large baking sheet.

Drizzle oil and honey over the Kabocha slices and sprinkle with fresh thyme, salt and pepper.

Gently mix with your hands until all of the pieces are evenly coated.

Place baking sheet in the oven and cook for 12 minutes. Flip Kabocha slices and cook for another 12 to 20 minutes until Kabocha has softened (there should be very little resistance when poked with a toothpick or fork) and begun to caramelize.

If you are not eating this right away you can store it in the refrigerator for up to a week. 

There are so many ways to serve this. Here are some ideas:

Crostini - on brown bread with goat cheese, a drizzle of honey and sprinkled with sea salt

Breakfast - with granola, nuts or muesli and greek yogurt

Salad - with feta, arugula, Dijon vinaigrette and lentils or chicken

Dessert - as a topping for vanilla ice cream with miso caramel sauce

Enjoy! And enjoy your Holiday weekend! 

Cauliflower “Fried Rice”

Hello there! We've had such nice weather here in Chicago. Although summer doesn’t officially start for another couple of weeks, it feels like it’s already here. We bought a giant inflatable pool for the kids and finally planted some herbs and vegetables outside. I’ve lived in the Midwest long enough that I no longer really mind winter, I even enjoy some of its comforts, but summer is still where it’s at. I’m so excited to eat most of our meals outside and to pack picnic dinners for the park this year.  

Also, I LOVE our house in the summer. It’s hard to explain, but the layout makes it almost feel like you are outside when the windows are open. The house has old bones but it was redone before we bought it in 2012.  Now, instead of the traditional bungalow style with several individual rooms on the ground floor, it’s all open.  It’s breezy and bright, and usually full of the sounds of little ones going back and forth from the yard - all covered in sand and water.  Naturally, all of this makes it easier to enjoy cooking inside, even when it’s beautiful out there.

Recently, I made this delicious, yet almost embarrassingly healthy meal for myself.

It was a combination of prepared fish and vegetables that I bought at the Korean grocery store and a new creation, one that I will make again and again.  Cauliflower “fried rice”.  Truthfully, I wasn’t trying to be so virtuous. This recipe was born out of necessity.

I was all set with my prepared foods from the Korean store and some brown rice in the rice cooker.  I  chopped up a shallot, some garlic and green onion to make a quick fried rice when, 40 minutes later, the rice was still cooking and I was STARVING. I had some frozen riced cauliflower from Trader Joe’s in the freezer so I grabbed that and a frying pan, and got to work. Within about five minutes I had this lovely “fried rice” and my brown rice was still nowhere near ready.  

I could eat this stuff with an egg on it for breakfast, in a salad, with some Japanese curry (yum!), or Vietnamese pork chops, even meatballs and sauce.  It's unbelievably versatile.  

Here’s how you do it.

Cauliflower “Fried Rice”

Serves 4

1 tsp vegetable oil

1 tsp sesame oil

3 heads of garlic, minced

1 shallot, minced

3 green onions, chopped

Salt to taste

1 bag of riced cauliflower*, defrosted and drained if frozen

1 cup peas, defrosted and drained if frozen (I usually just run hot water over them to defrost)

*You can buy this either fresh or frozen at Trader Joe’s.  You can also make it yourself by taking a head of cauliflower and blitzing it in your food processor until the pieces approximate the size of grains of rice.

Heat oils over medium high heat in large pan. Add riced cauliflower and saute about 3 minutes.  Add garlic and shallot and cook about 2 minutes.  Add peas and saute until warmed through, about 1-2 more minutes. Add salt to taste.  Voila! That’s it.

Now go outside and play!