| THIS WEEK'S FEATURES AND RECIPES:
> Article: A
"Traditional" St. Patrick's Day
> Wine Appreciation:
Murphy-Goode The Fume 2009
> Food Funnies:
Excuses for Not Eating Your Brussels Sprouts
S
E L E C T E D R E C I P E S :
* Phillips
Seafood Crab Cakes
* Corned
Beef and Cabbage
* Steak
with Spinach and Blue Cheese
* Pollo
Romano
* Guinness
and Onion Soup
* Potato
Casserole
* Sesame
Grilled Asparagus
* Sauteed
Bananas with Praline Sauce
Healthy Eating:
Low Carb: Cabbage
Lasagna
Diabetic: Penne
Casserole
Low Fat: Deep
Dish Fruit Pie
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This Week's Cooking Tips
Storing and Handling
Eggs:
* It's best to keep eggs in their
carton in your refrigerator to
be sure they stay cold.
* If desired, store eggs with the
large end up to keep the yolk
centered for more attractive
hard- and soft-cooked eggs.
* Uncooked eggs in the shell will
keep up to 5 weeks when properly
stored in the refrigerator.
* Unbroken egg yolks store best when
covered with a small amount
of water in a tightly covered
container. They'll keep for a day
or two in the refrigerator.
* Egg whites may stand safely at
room temperature for up to 30
minutes. Room-temp whites
will beat up fluffier for recipes such
as meringue. More
Cooking Tips
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This Week's Culinary
Quiz (Answer at the bottom of page)
What popular Irish dish is
made from shredded cabbage, onions,
mashed potatoes, and butter?
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Quote of the Week:
"Give an Irishman
lager for a month, and he's a dead man. An
Irishman is lined
with copper, and the beer corrodes it. But
whiskey polishes
the copper and is the saving of him."
- Mark Twain,
Life on the Mississippi
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UPCOMING FOOD HOLIDAYS:
March is: National Nutrition Month
National Frozen Food Month
National Peanut Month
National Sauce Month
National Flour Month
National Noodle Month
March 13 - National Coconut Torte Day
March 14 - National Potato Chip Day
March 15 - National Pears Helene Day
March 16 - National Artichoke Hearts Day
March 17 - National Green Beer Day
March 18 - National Oatmeal Cookie Day
March 19 - National Chocolate Carmel Day
March 20 - National Ravioli Day
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A "Traditional" St.
Patrick's Day
by John
Havel
Ask someone, especially a North
American, who hasn’t lived or
visited Ireland about what Irish
food is like, and nine times out
of ten, as they grope for answers,
they’ll mention corned beef and
cabbage. However, investigation
shows that, while corned beef and
cabbage is sometimes eaten there,
it’s probably eaten a lot less than
most people imagine: and it's definitely
not the Irish national dish.
To be sure, cattle were kept there
from very early times, but they
were kept mostly for their milk.
From the earliest historical times,
for routine eating, pork was always
the favorite. Those who did eat
beef, tended to eat it fresh: corned
beef surfaces in writings of
the late 1600's as a specialty,
a costly delicacy (expensive because
of the salt) made to be eaten at
Easter, and sometimes at Hallowe'en.
Many Irish people got their first
taste of beef when they emigrated
to America or Canada - where both
salt and meat were cheaper. There,
when they got beef, the emigrants
tended to treat it the same way
they would have treated a "bacon
joint" at home in Ireland. They
soaked the salt beef to draw off
the excess salt, then braised or
boiled it with cabbage, and served
it in its own juices with only
minimal spicing (a bay leaf or so,
perhaps, and some pepper).
Irish stew is an extremely old Irish
traditional meal that is still
very common to this day in Ireland
and is usually made on a Saturday
or a damp cold day to help heat
up the body. My grandmother made it
any time of the year (90 degree
days in August), so when everyone
else is sweltering in the "dog days
of summer", we would jokingly
call it "lamb stew weather".
Soda bread dates back to approximately
1840, when bicarbonate of
soda was introduced to Ireland.
It is a type of quick bread in which
baking soda has been substituted
for yeast. The ingredients of
traditional soda bread are flour,
baking soda, salt, and buttermilk.
Other ingredients can be added such
as raisins or various forms of
nuts. Soda bread eventually became
a staple of the Irish diet.
As an Irish national holiday for
many years, St. Patrick’s Day is
now celebrated throughout the world.
Celebrations usually include
obligatory green beer, green hair,
and - outside of Ireland - plenty
of corned beef and cabbage. If you
have a desire to break from an
American tradition, try an Irish
tradition.
Irish Lamb Stew
1/2 cup flour
2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
3 pounds lamb for stew,
cut in serving pieces
3 tablespoons fat
1/2 cup sliced onions
Boiling water to cover,
about 2 1/2 cups
6 medium potatoes,
peeled and diced
2 carrots, scraped
and diced
2 or 3 white turnips,
quartered
Blend the flour, salt and pepper
and dredge the meat in the flour
mixture. Brown in the hot fat in
a skillet. Transfer to a heavy pot.
Cook onion in fat until lightly
colored, then add to the meat. Add
boiling water to cover meat, cover
pot tightly, simmer at low heat
1 1/2 to 2 hours. Blanch potatoes
by covering them with boiling
water; drain. Add potatoes, carrots
and turnips to stew during the
last 20 minutes. Cook until vegetables
are tender. To thicken sauce,
blend part of the flour mixture
used for dredging the meat with
sauce from the pot to make a thin
paste, add this to the sauce in
the pot, simmer until thickened.
Irish Soda Bread
Nonstick vegetable oil
spray
2 cups all purpose
flour
5 tablespoons sugar,
divided
1 1/2 teaspoons baking
powder
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon baking
soda
3 tablespoons butter,
chilled, cut into cubes
1 cup buttermilk
2/3 cup raisins
Preheat oven to 375F. Spray 8-inch-diameter
cake pan with nonstick
spray. Whisk flour, 4 tablespoons
sugar, baking powder, salt, and
baking soda in large bowl to blend.
Add butter. Using fingertips,
rub in until coarse meal forms.
Make well in center of flour mixture.
Add buttermilk. Gradually stir dry
ingredients into milk to blend.
Mix in raisins.
Using floured hands, shape dough
into ball. Transfer to prepared pan
and flatten slightly (dough will
not come to edges of pan). Sprinkle
dough with remaining 1 tablespoon
sugar.
Bake bread until brown and tester
inserted into center comes out
clean, about 40 minutes. Cool bread
in pan 10 minutes. Transfer to
rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.
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This Week's Wine Selection
Murphy-Goode The Fume 2009
Price: $13
The star of this line-up is the
delicious, exotic, fruit-forward
2009 The Fume, a blend of Sauvignon
Blanc from the North Coast
(primarily Lake County and Alexander
Valley). It offers abundant
notes of honeysuckle, orange marmalade,
fig and melons in a crisp,
fresh, medium-bodied, exotic, exuberant
style. It needs to be
consumed over the next year.
Serve With:
Scampi Fra Diavolo
===============
3 tablespoons butter,
divided
1/3 cup panko (Japanese
breadcrumbs)
1/2 cup chopped fresh
Italian parsley, divided
1 1/4 pounds uncooked
large shrimp, peeled, deveined,
tails left
intact
2 tablespoons extra-virgin
olive oil
1 1/2 cups thinly sliced
red onion
5 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 teaspoon dried
crushed red pepper
2/3 cup dry white wine
Lemon wedges
Melt 1 tablespoon butter in large
nonstick skillet over medium-high
heat. Add panko and stir until golden
and crisp, about 2 minutes.
Transfer to small bowl; mix in 2
tablespoons parsley. Wipe out
skillet.
Sprinkle shrimp with salt and pepper.
Melt remaining 2 tablespoons
butter with olive oil in same skillet
over high heat. Add red onion
and saute until beginning to soften,
about 3 minutes. Stir in garlic
and crushed red pepper and saute
1 minute. Add shrimp and saute until
barely opaque in center, about 1
minute per side. Add white wine and
simmer until liquid is slightly
thickened and reduced, about 2 to 3
minutes. Season to taste with salt
and pepper. Stir in remaining
6 tablespoons parsley. Transfer
to shallow bowl. Sprinkle sauteed
panko over all and serve with lemon
wedges.
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http://www.littlefivers.com =+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=
FOOD FUNNIES: Excuses for
Not Eating Your Brussels Sprouts
9. You've just lost too much skin
trying to grate them into
coleslaw.
8. "I'm saving room for another helping
of haggis and monkey
brain stew."
7. They just keep rolling off my
plate onto the floor ...
whenever I raise the
table to more than 30 degrees.
6. "I can't afford to, not now when
I'm so close to my goal of
having all of the arteries
in my body *completely* clogged."
5. "Mom, I just saw this movie called
'Invasion of the Pod
People', and I think
I've figured out where my little sister
came from."
4. They are clearly intended to serve
not as food but rather as some
sort of horrible practical
joke.
3. Brussel told me not to, and they
*are* his sprouts.
2. It's not Tuesday.
... and the #1 Excuse for Not Eating
Your Brussels Sprouts ...
1. "Unless they're wrapped in cream
cheese, breaded, deep fried and
dipped in sauce, it
really isn't worth it."
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Free Recipes and Cookbooks =+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=
Phillips Seafood Crab Cakes
=======================
1/4 cup bread crumbs,
preferably homemade
1 egg, beaten
1 tablespoon mayonnaise
1 teaspoon Worcestershire
sauce
1 1/2 teaspoons dijon
mustard
1 1/2 teaspoons melted
butter
1/2 teaspoon lemon
juice
1/2 teaspoon parsley
flakes
1/2 teaspoon Old Bay
Seasoning
1/8 teaspoon dry mustard
8 oz. crab meat
In a large mixing bowl, combine
all ingredients except for crab meat.
Gently fold in the crab meat, but
be careful not to break up the lumps.
Shape into cakes. Pan fry or bake
at 375F degrees for 12-15 minutes or
until evenly brown on each side
and reaches an internal temperature of
165F degrees.
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Corned Beef and Cabbage
=====================
5 lb. corned beef brisket
1 large onion stuck
with 6 whole cloves
6 carrots, peeled and
halved
8 medium potatoes,
washed and quartered
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 small bunch parsley
1 head cabbage (about
2 lbs), quartered
Horseradish Sauce:
1/2 pint whipping cream
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
2-4 tablespoons prepared
horseradish
(Whip cream until it stand in peaks.
Fold in mayonnaise
and horseradish.)
Put beef in a large pot and cover
with cold water. Bring to
a boil with the lid off the pot.
Add thyme, parsley and onion.
Turn to simmer and cook for 3 hours.
Skim fat from top as it
rises. Add cabbage, potatoes, and
carrots. Simmer for 20-30
minutes until cabbage is cooked.
Remove the meat and cut into
pieces. Place on center of a large
platter. Strain the cabbage
and season it heavily with black
pepper. Surround the beef with
the cabbage, carrots and potatoes.
Serve with horseradish sauce.
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Free Recipes and Cookbooks =+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=
Steak with Spinach and Blue Cheese
=============================
1 (1-inch-thick) boneless
beef top loin (strip) steak (1/2 pound)
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 teaspoon unsalted
butter
1 small shallot, thinly
sliced
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon Blue cheese
5 ounces baby spinach
(10 cups)
1 1/2 teaspoon fresh
lemon juice
Pat steak dry and sprinkle all over
with a scant 1/2 tsp salt and
1/4 tsp pepper. Heat oil and butter
in a 10-inch heavy skillet over
medium heat until foam subsides,
then cook steak, turning once, until
well browned, 7 to 10 minutes total
for medium-rare. Transfer to a
cutting board and let stand, uncovered,
10 minutes.
Add shallot to skillet and cook,
stirring, until softened, about
3 minutes. Add cream, blue cheese,
and spinach and cook, scraping up
brown bits from bottom of skillet
and turning spinach with tongs,
until spinach is wilted, about 2
minutes.
Stir in lemon juice and salt and
pepper to taste. Thinly slice steak
and serve with spinach.
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Pollo Romano
===========
4 skinless chicken
breast halves, with ribs
2 skinless chicken
thighs, with bones
1/2 teaspoon salt,
plus 1 teaspoon
1/2 teaspoon freshly
ground black pepper, plus 1 teaspoon
1/4 cup olive oil
1 red bell pepper,
sliced
1 yellow bell pepper,
sliced
3 ounces prosciutto,
chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 (15-ounce) can diced
tomatoes
1/2 cup white wine
1 tablespoon fresh
thyme leaves
1 teaspoon fresh oregano
leaves
1/2 cup chicken stock
2 tablespoons capers
1/4 cup chopped fresh
flat-leaf parsley leaves
Season the chicken with 1/2 teaspoon
salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper.
In a heavy, large skillet, heat
the olive oil over medium heat. When
the oil is hot, cook the chicken
until browned on both sides. Remove
from the pan and set aside.
Keeping the same pan over medium
heat, add the peppers and prosciutto
and cook until the peppers have
browned and the prosciutto is crisp,
about 5 minutes. Add the garlic
and cook for 1 minute. Add the
tomatoes, wine, and herbs. Using
a wooden spoon, scrape the browned
bits off the bottom of the pan.
Return the chicken to the pan, add
the stock, and bring the mixture
to a boil. Reduce the heat and
simmer, covered, until the chicken
is cooked through, about 20 to 30
minutes.
If serving immediately, add the
capers and the parsley. Stir to
combine and serve. If making ahead
of time, transfer the chicken and
sauce to a storage container, cool,
and refrigerate. The next day,
reheat the chicken to a simmer over
medium heat. Stir in the capers
and the parsley and serve.
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Guinness and Onion Soup
====================
2 tablespoons extra-virgin
olive oil
5 cloves minced garlic
8 cups thinly sliced
onions
Gray salt
1 tablespoon fresh
thyme leaves, chopped
1/4 cup sherry vinegar
1 1/2 cups dark beer
(recommended: Guinness)
6 cups beef stock
6 slices country bread
cut 1/2-inch thick, toasted
1/2 pound Irish Cheddar,
sliced thin
Heat the olive oil in a large skillet
over high heat. Add garlic and
cook briefly to release aroma. Add
onions, season with salt and cook
for about 5 minutes stirring often.
Reduce heat to low and cook for
about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally
until the onions are golden
brown.
Add the thyme, vinegar, and beer.
Reduce beer by half and add the
beef stock. Bring to a simmer and
cook for 10 more minutes.
Preheat the broiler. Transfer soup
to an ovenproof serving dish or
individual ovenproof soup bowls.
Top with toasted bread slices and
sliced Cheddar. Broil until cheese
melts and starts to brown slightly.
Serve piping hot.
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Potato Casserole
==============
2 cups mashed potatoes
1/2 cup sour cream
salt and pepper
1 small onion, sliced
thin
1 small bell pepper,
sliced thin
4 tablespoons butter,
divided
1 1/2 cups grated Cheddar
4 medium potatoes,
cooked
6 slices bacon, cooked
crisp
Preheat oven to 350F. Spread mashed
potatoes evenly on bottom of
casserole dish. Layer sour cream
evenly over top. Add salt and pepper
to taste. Saute onion and bell pepper
in 1 tablespoon of butter;
evenly layer over top of sour cream.
Slice potatoes and layer over
onions and bell peppers. Melt remaining
butter and drizzle over
potatoes. Finally top with cheese.
Bake for 25 to 30 minutes. Remove
from oven and crumble bacon over
top.
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Free Recipes and Cookbooks =+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=
Sesame Grilled Asparagus
=====================
Wooden toothpicks or
bamboo skewers
1 pound asparagus
2 tablespoons dark
sesame oil
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tablespoons sesame
seeds
Salt and black pepper
In a shallow pan, soak skewers in
cold water for 1 hour, then drain
and set aside.
Preheat grill to high. Snap off
the woody bases of the asparagus and
discard. Skewer 4 or 5 asparagus
spears together, using the toothpicks
or 2 bamboo skewers, forming a raft
shape.
In a small bowl, combine the sesame
oil, soy sauce, and garlic and
stir with a fork to mix. Brush this
mixture on the asparagus rafts on
both sides. Season the asparagus
with a little salt and lots of
pepper.
When ready to cook, place the asparagus
rafts on the hot grate and
grill until nicely browned on both
sides, 2 to 4 minutes. Sprinkle
with the sesame seeds as they grill.
You can serve the asparagus as
rafts or unskewered.
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Free Recipes and Cookbooks =+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=
Sauteed Bananas with Praline Sauce
=============================
1/2 stick (1/4 cup)
unsalted butter
4 bananas, halved lengthwise,
then crosswise
1/4 cup packed light
brown sugar
1/2 cup heavy cream
Pinch of ground cardamom
3/4 teaspoon fresh
lime juice
vanilla ice cream
Heat 1 tablespoon butter in a 10-inch
heavy skillet over moderately
high heat until foam subsides, then
saute half of bananas, cut sides
down first, turning over once, until
golden, 1 1/2 to 2 minutes total.
Transfer with a slotted spatula
to 2 dessert bowls. Heat 1 tablespoon
butter and saute remaining bananas
in same manner, transferring to
2 more bowls.
Melt remaining 2 tablespoons butter
in skillet over moderate heat,
then add brown sugar, cream, cardamom,
and a pinch of salt and simmer,
stirring occasionally, until sauce
is slightly thickened, about 2
minutes. Remove from heat and stir
in lime juice. Spoon sauce over
bananas and ice cream.
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This Week's Culinary Quiz
Answer: Colcannon
It can contain other ingredients
such as milk, cream, leeks,
onions, chives, garlic, boiled ham
or Irish bacon. At one time
it was a cheap, year-round staple
food. An old Irish Halloween
tradition was to serve colcannon
with prizes of small coins
concealed in it, as the English
do with Christmas pudding. This
is still done today and small amounts
of money are placed in the
potato.
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