Saturday, April 16, 2011

Luck of the Irish





Time flies when you're having fun, or when you're really busy, or aren't inspired to get on your blog and write. I guess all of these have been true at different points in the past six months. Sorry.

But the important thing is that I'm back! And thank you to the one (Brian) or more faithful readers that have been keeping up with my blog anyway. :)

Alright, well, even though I haven't been blogging, the good news is that I've still been baking/cooking.

Okay...To the topic!

So, about a month ago was St. Patrick's Day. And for a few years now, Brian has been dreaming about making some good old Irish food on that day to celebrate. You know, to honor his Irish roots. He's half Korean, one quarter German, and the rest is mostly British with a little bit of Irish in there somewhere... But that little bit is enough reason to celebrate. So this year, we decided that we were going for it. So, he found a recipe for some Irish stew and calconnon (mashed potatoes with bacon and cabbage). And another recipe for some chocolate Guinness ice cream. And to make things more merry, we decided to invite some friends and make it a potluck.

Well, the recipe was very straight forward, you just need plenty of time to cut veggies and let the stew cook. And instead of boiling cabbage for the mashed potatoes, frying it in bacon grease was much better. As for the ice cream, be sure to weigh the amount of chocolate you're adding, (don't just eye-ball it in a measuring cup) or it may be too little. And when the recipe tells you to stir the mixture over an ice bath. Do it. dairy and beer do not mix well, and the extra stirring helps everything come together better. The result, was a perfectly smooth chocolaty ice cream, with a hint of Guinness. Even a non beer drinker like me could appreciate this. Sorry, no picture of the ice cream.

So, with good food, good friends, and a little Irish jig thrown in there, I guess you could say that night, we felt like some of the luckiest people in the world. Did it have anything to do with the luck of the Irish? Why don't you try the recipes and find out for yourselves?

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Beer-Braised-Irish-Stew-and-Colcannon/Detail.aspx

http://www.chow.com/recipes/11506-guinnessmilk-chocolate-ice-cream

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