Cooking Creations: Winner Winner Irish Dinner!

Tonight my in-laws came down for dinner. It being St. Patrick's Day, I wanted to make a traditional Irish meal. My first thought was corned beef, cabbage, and carrots. Brad, who has been to Ireland, said that the folks he talked to said corned beef is to Ireland as turkey and dressing is to America. I decided I needed to do more research. I found a howcast on YouTube entitled "How to Celebrate St. Patrick's Day Like an Irishman" (I really like howcasts, don't know how seriously to take them though). Wikihow also has some tasty sounding options.



 I decided to start with a lamb stew and soda bread. I called around to local grocery stores to find lamb, specifically shoulder stew meat. After finding out the average price was - brace yourself - $17.99 a pound!!!! - I decided that this cheap American would have to substitute with beef shoulder. I browned the beef, cooked the onions with the brown bits, added dark ale and thyme, and let it all simmer together. Carrots, potatoes, and a fresh parsley garnish completed this heartly stew recipe.



                                                                              


I have always wondered when perusing Irish soda bread in the store: Is that a cake? The raisin studded loaves always look like soft and sweet coffee cakes. Searching online I found a site dedicated to pure soda bread. No raisins, no yeast, no butter, no sugar. I used their whole wheat recipe with one slight modification. I added 1/2 tablespoon of caraway seeds. If they said on the site that caraway is a no-no please don't tell me. The bread was dense and delicious and so very easy to make.





 Now with two traditional foods down, I needed a salad. Something more modern too. Ireland's pubs have been having a food revolution to entice taste buds. Many great recipes flowed across my screen and then I saw the words Bacon Apple Salad. Oh yes and I dare say yes again. I fried the bacon,and cooked the apple in the drippings. The dressing was a combination of sour cream, farmhouse cheese, cider, and cider vinegar. All that warm goodness atop cold, crisp romaine was almost to much.




 The complete meal was perfect. Simple ingredients treated in just the right way. Irish eyes definitely smiled today.. Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

Cooking Creations: Potato and Chicken Pockets

Potato and Chicken Pockets for the Potluck

I love any and all gatherings that involve food.  One of my favorites though is the church potluck.  Members of the congregation bring forth a bounty of their best dishes.  They include chocolate pies, cheesy macaroni, and my my all of those salads.  Tried and true recipes prepared by folks who have often times been cooking for longer than I have been alive.  My stomach is growling just thinking about it.

My first adult contribution to a potluck was at the annual Pisgah Baptist Church picnic.  I decided to make a dessert, and I had all of the ingredients to make banana bread.  It came out looking exactly like I imagined and I left it to cool.  It wasn’t until minutes before we had to leave that I discovered I had mixed up the baking powder and baking soda.  Too prideful to show up empty handed, I sliced the bread up and covered it with a blizzard of powdered sugar.  Thankfully no one asked me what I had prepared for the meal.  Sorry to anyone who is just finding out who made that awful stuff that you had the misfortune to meet back in ’07. 

I have since been a bit uneasy about cooking for a potluck.  Granted I am a much more attentive and talented cook now, but my banana bread blunder still looms large in my memory.  Often I have taken the no-cook approach and arrived with a veggie tray or fruit salad.  That sounds pretty silly considering the more challenging menus I prepare for us at home, parties and catering jobs.  Now with Classic Creations Cooks starting to take off, it is time I face my potluck food fears. 

Today we had our first church potluck since moving here to Fulton.  This, in my skewed view, was my chance to make up for past food transgressions.  I made a recipe of my own invention:  Potato and Chicken Pockets.  These half moon pouches of creamy mashed potatoes, shredded chicken, and mild scallions would please even the pickiest palette.  As I prepared each little pocket, I prayed that my dish would be well receive because I was bringing my best. An empty plate and a few questions about the tender crust after the meal helped solidify this recipe’s place in my repertoire and a hopeful future for potluck contributions. 

Potato and Chicken Pockets  makes 38 pockets

1 cup shredded white meat chicken

2 cups mashed potatoes

¼ cup finely chopped scallions

Homemade pie crust, enough for 3 bottom crusts (I use a part wheat recipe)

Flour

1 egg, lightly beaten

Tools

medium bowl

large spatula

rolling pin

2 inch round cookie cutter

teaspoon

small bowl of water

pastry brush

greased baking sheets

1.   Preheat oven to 375. 

2.  In a bowl, mix the first three ingredients for filling.  Set aside. 

3.  Flour work surface and roll out the crust to 1/8 inch thick.  Cut out as many circles as possible. Remove and combine crust scraps to make more pockets.

4.  Place a rounded teaspoon of filling onto each circle, slightly off center.  Dampen fingers with water and fold each circle completely enclosing filling.

5.  Place pockets onto baking sheets.  Coat each pocket with an egg wash using pastry brush.

6.  Bake for 18 minutes or until golden on top.  Plate and serve

Note:  Pockets are best served warm, but are ok room temp.  They can be prepared in advance, frozen, and reheated in the oven.

Learning Everything Tip:

Pastry dough tends to dry if left out for long periods of time.  If your crust seems to be drying, place a lightly dampened paper towel over it.