Although I am not fond of green beer, I love Saint Patrick’s Day. Just to remind everyone, Saint Patrick’s Day, colloquially St. Paddy’s Day or Paddy’s Day, is an annual feast day which celebrates Saint Patrick patron saints of Ireland, and traditionally celebrated on March 17.
How did this escape me? Why was I not ready? I blame myself!
Making a great Pie starts weeks in advance by making a great corned beef!
Click on the picture above and you will find a very simple recipe on how to make your own corned beef, However, this isn’t the end of the process as you will need to cook the beef and the best way is very slowly.
boiling helps to shred the beef and reduce the intensity of the taste!
Whether making my favorite my ‘el magnifico’ CHIMICHANGAS or Corned Beef Pie, cooking over a long slow heat makes all the difference.
Week 4: one of the secret ingredients added
I can’t resists a little sherry, rye whisky and brandy to help sweeten the final effort…
Stay tuned, we bake on Saturday! ( recipe to follow)
Laura has done a wonderful job on keeping herself trim and fit. However, every once in a while her weight falls too far and emergency steps need to be taken. It is what the Polynesians call “going thin.”
After a week on Jenny Craig, we like to have a special Saturday Lunch to enjoy, celebrate and plan for the week ahead. However, before preparing lunch, we make the 2 mile walk to Farmer’s Market in San Luis Obispo to buy tomatoes, pistachios, onions and …. artichokes! Laura took this picture of me at our favorite local coffee shop, the Nautical Bean.
Now… this is an Artichoke!
This will be Sunday’s lunch served with Garlic Butter!
No one can read ‘Oliver Twist’ and not want to help the young urchin boy who asks, ‘more gruel, please.’ The word ‘Gruel’ ,and rhymes with cruel, has been used as a derogatory term — I have heard — one chef using to describe a competitor’s culinary efforts.
Be this as it may, a bowl of gruel has come to us down through history as a dish served during tough economic times and depravation. For most recipes, gruel consists of a mixture of grain and water, but sometimes milk. Like ‘bread pudding’ it has been maligned and ignored , but it can be so much more.
If like my bride Laura and your tastes move away from hot breakfasts of oats, you may leave now.
It has been discovered that in the days of David Copperfield and Oliver Twist, Gruel consisted of three main ingredients: rolled oats, boiled milk and cooked onions. I am sure there was some salt as salt has been inexpensive throughout the ages. I find this an interesting base from which to develope a variety of recipes…. ranging from hearty stews to soups to a very pleasant breakfast. I’ll let you know how it finally turns out.
So next time someone asks you to try their recipe for Gruel… it just might surprise you!
I tend to fixate on a meal or a dessert and tweak it until I get it just right… and bread pudding is no exception. Frankly, I am sure everyone I know is ready to run me out of town with all my talk and preparation on this wonderful dessert. However, there is one secret I haven’t shared… a wonderful by-product… a cordial.
The word‘liqueur’ and ‘cordial’are often used interchangeably… simply they are alcoholic drinks flavored with fruits, flowers, herbs, spices, cream and other nice things. Most alcoholic drinks flavored with fruit are considered ‘cordials.’ The cordial made in my bread pudding is the result of soaking white raisins and dried blueberries in a mixture of : 1/2 sherry, 1/3 rye whiskey and a small amount of brandy. The result is a slightly familiar and sweet sipping drink usually consumed after the meal. You’ll love it… ‘cordial’, after all, is derived from the Latin word for heart.
‘Fortified’ wines are those with added alcohol, but I really don’t see the difference today as so many wines have raised their level of alcohol. As for a wine with an added boost, my favorite is a ‘Kir’... champagne with a splash of creme de cassis.
Well, Laura loves pasta and cheese. She also adores scallops! So, what better way than to put some of her favorite food groups together for a wonderful Valentine’s meal! I am a bit tired now, so I’ll hold off posting the recipe… but let’s just say … it was wonderful! I made a special Alfredo sauce that was excellent.
This is a time not just for your special valentine … but for all the valentine’s in your life young and old. Hopefully my eldest will get something nice this weekend and my middle daughter received something today and I gave my youngest what she really wanted… chocolate!
