Luck of the Irish Soda Bread

Having married into an Irish family, St. Patrick's Day is kind of a big deal in our house. We all don our green, I put up the shamrock wreath, and my son sets a leprechaun trap. We keep it light and fun (no, I do not dye the toilet water green or leave a mess where the naughty leprechaun made his way through our house) and I see it as a welcome sign of spring. (Maybe not so much this year, as it continues to snow outside of my window.)

Despite our love of the holiday, in nearly 13 years of marriage, I have never baked a loaf of Irish Soda Bread. For many years we've been fortunate enough to enjoy a slice (or two, or three) at St. Patrick's Day celebrations with our good friends, Jess and Dave. Jess puts out a feast of corned beef and cabbage, Guinness stew, mashed potatoes, soda bread, Irish potatoes and more. My contributions have included a delicious cheddar and stout fondue, cupcakes with Irish Cream frosting, and homemade bread. It's been a wonderful opportunity to have the traditional favorites while also trying out some new recipes.

This year, we find ourselves at home for St. Patrick's Day (Monday's are so hard!). While shopping for tonight's corned beef and cabbage dinner, I found myself looking at the loaves of Irish Soda Bread in the grocery store. Mark made a point of asking this year that we have a loaf of the sweet bread at home to go with dinner. So, I reached out to buy a loaf and then stopped. Why not just make it? I love making bread. Colleen could help me, giving us a small mother-daughter project.

My decision was made. There is no time like the present -- I am baking some homemade Irish Soda Bread!

All in all, I think we did great. I found a recipe that seemed pretty straight forward on Allrecipes.com. It was easy to follow and resulted in a delicious loaf of Irish Soda Bread.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

New Year's Eve Party Time

New Year's Eve is my favorite excuse to try out those "splurge" recipes I collect throughout the year. You know the ones -- sounds delish, but maybe a little more effort or cost than your average Friday night get together warrants.

We have a wonderful tradition of ringing in the New Year with a group of families from our neighborhood. Each year we put the kids in their jammies and head over to the host house (taking turns hosting means each year is a little different... it helps keep it fresh and special). The days leading up today had texts flying back and forth with preparations... should we fry up wings? what dessert are you bringing? do we want to make a punch? I'll bring pepperoni bread... are you making your famous crab dip? Anticipation for a night of fun fills the air.

So here we are on New Year's Eve Day and I still haven't decided what to make. Yes, I'll do the standard pepperoni bread. My kids love it. But what will my "splurge" recipe be? I think I've narrowed down the choices. Hmmm. Now only to make a decision and get cooking!

Option 1: Prosciutto-Wrapped Shrimp w/ Bourbon BBQ Sauce (Food & Wine)

This sounds like my kind of appetizer. Shrimp, prosciutto, bourbon. Ok, really, you had me at bourbon. Yes, bacon-wrapped li'l smokies are always a fan favorite, but this takes it to a whole new, grown up, taste-sensation level.

Option 2:  Whiskey, Caramel, Marshmallow and Bacon Bark (endlesssimmer.com)

Here's a decadent dessert option. I already make what we call "cracker candy" which is saltines, butter, sugar, chocolate and almonds. It's simple, yet amazingly addictive. I am quite intrigued by this version. Will New Year's Eve be my incentive to finally try it out? And, I'm starting to notice a theme here...

Option 3: Bacon Wrapped Dates with Almonds

The other evening, we enjoyed a mini food tour of Philadelphia. The night found us enjoying burgers, frites and beer at Eulogy; tapas and sangria at Amada; and fried plantains and margaritas at El Vez. It was a wonderful night spent with good friends. Each of these restaurants offers "slurge"- worthy inspiration. But in keeping with the bacon/prosciutto theme, I've found this recipe for bacon wrapped dates with almonds. Always a favorite treat when at Amada.

Now, if only I could make a decision. Guess I'd better head to the grocery store and see where that leads me. 

Whatever special foods you enjoy tonight, Happy New Year's! Here's to a happy and healthy 2014!

Salsa, salsa, salsa

Back in my college days we used to crowd around a tv in the common room of our dorm to enjoy weekly episodes of Seinfeld.

Yes, this was long ago. Before the time of a tv in every room. Before the time of On Demand, Netflix and streaming. We are talking the early days of email and listserves. We thought our phone was "smart" if it had caller id. But, I digress....

The point here is that those Thursday evenings in the common room were a sacred, social event. Watching shows such as Seinfeld as a group, we developed our own language -- much as today's college students' language is influenced by texting and tweeting, ours was colored by "Seinfeld-isms." No soup for you! It's really quite refreshing. Vandelay Industries. The list goes on, but one of my favorites is "salsa, salsa, salsa." Saying this one little phrase just makes my mouth happy. So does one bite of this roasted tomato and black bean salsa.

Roasted Tomato and Black Bean Salsa
This is a forgiving recipe.  Love bell peppers? Chop one up and throw it in there! Don't like beans? Leave them out. Want a little extra heat? Add a splash or two or two of hot sauce (I have at least three different types in my fridge at all times) or more diced jalapeño. If you are in the mood for sweet crunch, add some corn. I'm looking forward to the summer, when we can roast up an ear of fresh corn on the grill and add that into the mix.

1 can diced, fire roasted tomatoes, drained
1/2 can black beans, rinsed and drained
3 or 4 plum tomatoes, diced
1/2 sweet onion, diced
1 jalepeno, seeded and finely diced
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
juice from 1/2 lime
1 tsp. ground cumin
kosher salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

If you don't want soupy salsa, take the time to pour your canned tomatoes into a mesh sieve to drain excess liquid. Mix all ingredients together and enjoy!

Cocktail Party Food

Last night we had a great time visiting with old friends and getting to know some new ones. It's nice to feel connected to our neighbors and the parents of our kids' classmates.

Jessica put out quite a spread of delicious food and drinks and many of the guests brought tasty treats. I contributed two appetizers: pepperoni bread and crab empanadas.The pepperoni bread is quite easy to make (especially if you use frozen pizza dough). The empanadas take a little more work, but I found a few shortcuts that made a big difference in preparation time without sacrificing taste or presentation. The biggest shortcut is using frozen puff pastry, rather than making the traditional empanada dough (a combination of flour, salt, butter and water). My other trick is to doctor up jarred salsa in place of a from-scratch mango relish.

Pepperoni Bread
1 package frozen pizza dough, defrosted and risen
1/4 lb. sliced pepperoni
1/4 lb. sliced mozzerella (you can use shredded cheese)
1/4 lb. sliced provolone
2 Tbs. grated pecorino romano
egg wash

Roll out the dough to form a rectangle. Spread half of the pepperoni and cheeses over the dough, leaving a 1/2 inch border. Lightly wet the edges and roll up the bread into a loaf shape, folding under the ends to help seal in the cheese. Repeat with second dough. Place onto baking sheet, brush with egg wash and bake in a 350 degree oven for about 30 minutes, repeating the egg wash after 15 or 20 minutes.

(forgive me, the poor quality of this photo is because it's from my phone)


Crab Empanadas with Mango Salsa
2 packages frozen puff pastry, thawed
1 Tbs. olive oil
1 sweet onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 jalepeno, seeds and ribs removed, chopped
1 lb. picked lump crab meat
8 oz. goat cheese
big handful chopped Italian parsley
1 tsp. thyme
a few splashes of Tabasco (I used the garlic flavored version)
salt and pepper to taste
Mango Salsa*

Heat olive oil and saute onion and jalepeno over medium heat for about 5 minutes to soften, adding garlic in last minute. Set aside. In mixing bowl, combine remaining ingredients (except salsa) with the onion and pepper mixture.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Working with one sheet at a time, roll out puff pastry, sealing any tears with water. Using 3-inch cookie cutter, cut circles. (I was able to get 9 circles from each sheet of pastry). Fill each circle with approximately 1 Tbs. of filling. Moisten edge and fold over pastry to form a half-circle, pressing together edges to seal. Place on baking sheet and brush with egg wash. Bake for about 20 minutes, until starting to brown.

Serve with mango salsa.

* I purchased a mango-habanero salsa that was quite spicy. To sweeten it up a little, and play up the tropical flavors of this dish, I added some diced mango.

Note: This makes more filling than needed, even for 4 sheets of puff pastry. For a tasty treat, try tossing the remaining crab mixture with pasta.