Irish-American Soda Bread

Foolishly, I signed up to provide snacks for Sophia’s Montessori preschool class on St. Patrick’s Day. My initial thought was to bring something green and easy... zucchini bread, cucumber spears, grapes.

However, Sophia recently reminded me that her teacher, Bridget and Bridget’s mother, Gertie (the afternoon preschool teacher), are actually Irish and have been teaching them Irish dancing at school. In fact, Bridget is a first-generation Irish-American.

Now, the pressure is on! I realized I have to make some sort of quasi-authentic Irish snack for school next week.

So, in preparation, I started experimenting with Irish soda bread. Tonight’s recipe, from the King Arthur Flour Web site, is an Americanized version, calling for raisins, caraway seeds and plenty of sugar, including a milk and sugar glaze. The only change I made to the original recipe is the omission of caraway seeds. Sophia would love them, like everything else, but I doubt they’d have broad appeal among her pickier peers.

The bread is absolutely delicious... sweet, fluffy and moist. My pan was a bit too small (8.5" x 4.5" vs. 9" x 5"), so it overflowed a bit into the oven. I’ll need to buy a few new pans in order to make enough for next Tuesday, but otherwise it was a scrumptious success.

Lentil Soup

Tonight I did a bit of the “secret cooking” I mentioned in a previous post. To get ready for a great week, and to use up some leftover ingredients from last week’s menus, I made this most wonderful lentil soup.

If you do not own Great Food Fast: 250 Recipes for Easy, Delicious Meals All Year Long, by Martha Stewart Living Magazine, I highly recommend you rush out and buy it tomorrow. Why? Simply put, this is the perfect cookbook! Perfect? Yes, perfect.

First, it’s organized by season, encouraging you to cook with what is fresh, flavorful and affordable. Next, it features a full-page color photograph for every single recipe. Amazing! I love to see what a dish is supposed to look like, and I’ve found I’m much more likely to experiment with a new recipe if I can see what the final product looks like. If that wasn’t enough, for each recipe you get hands-on prep time, total cooking time, and, in the back of the book, complete nutritional information. Lastly, every recipe is intended to be simple and fast, making it the ideal cookbook for everyday meal planning.

Great Food Fast was also a gift from my mother-in-law, Lorraine, and it has made a huge impact on how I cook on a day-to-day basis. It has encouraged me to get out of the rut of making the same five or six weeknight meals without forcing me to spend too much extra time in the kitchen. I have given this to almost everyone I’m close with because I think it’s so wonderful. Buy one now! (No, I do not work for Martha Stewart).

So, the soup. I started making this because a) lentils are an inexpensive protein for lunches and b) it’s a great use of just a little bit of leftover bacon. I’ve modified the recipe only slightly, adding a 14 oz. can of diced tomatoes when adding the chicken broth, water and lentils, for additional veggie oomph and flavor. Also, if you decide to make this, spring for the imported tomato paste that comes in a toothpaste-like tube... much more intense flavor (Sophia likes to sample it every time I make this) and it doesn’t require you to deal with the inevitable leftovers from the little can.

The soup has wonderful, smoky flavor, is hearty enough to satisfy Benji and makes a generous enough pot for lunch twice during the week for all three of us. An instant favorite!

Homemade Butterscotch Pudding

This afternoon Sophia and I were reading a children’s magazine, and there was a picture of a little girl with her kitten, named Butterscotch. This, of course, got us to talking about food, and we realized that a) we had no idea what butterscotch was and b) Sophia had never had butterscotch pudding.

Fast forward several hours... the kids are in bed and I’m casually looking up butterscotch pudding on epicurious, curious myself about its key components. Faster than you can say J-E-L-L-O, Ben’s out on a late-night grocery run for heavy cream and whole milk. [Full disclosure: this “late-night” run was at 7:00 PM... remember, we’re tired new parents!]

The resultant pudding was absolutely sinfully delicious! Nothing like boxed butterscotch pudding, the flavor was much more subtle and yet rich. It was remarkably easy, and I thought tasted like the very best things about cookie dough... brown sugar, butter and vanilla! We couldn’t even wait for the pudding to cool, but ate it immediately while it was still warm (yum!).

I have to say, this is only my second time making pudding from scratch, but it’s so easy, I wonder at the popularity of boxed mixes. It took all of 10 minutes (not including the grocery run!). 

And, yes, there is plenty leftover in the fridge for Sophia to sample Friday.

Grandma Lee’s Meatloaf with Mom’s Salad

Apparently this week’s theme is All-American cuisine. Tonight, I made several family favorites, recipes from the Grandmas Lee: my Grandma Lee, named Virginia Lois Lee, and Sophia and Joseph’s Grandma Lee, and my mom, Diana Kay Lee.

I got the original meatloaf recipe from my mom on the phone yesterday. The recipe card reads: “Maw Lee’s Meatloaf” and it’s dated 1967, the year my parents got married. It’s so simple but remarkably delicious, and one of my favorite weekly meals growing up. There are probably as many meatloaf variations as there are families. Our people surround the meatloaf with potato and yellow onion wedges and carrot pieces and add some water to the bottom of the pan. Yum.

This is the first time I’ve made traditional meatloaf. My only other foray into meatloaf was a pancetta-covered turkey meatloaf of Giada's, which is amazing, but not “real” meatloaf. I think tonight’s meatloaf had great flavor, but was perhaps a bit too dry.

I also made a simple salad with organic mixed greens, English cucumber, grape tomatoes and Mom’s most delicious celery seed dressing. It’s salad dressing like you’ve never tasted before—very Midwestern. What makes it taste Midwestern? Sugar and cider vinegar. Just the smell of it makes me nostalgic. 

A very homespun meal and a loving tribute to the wonderful Grandmas Lee.

U.S. Senate Bean Soup

I am a huge fan of the St. Vrain Historical Society’s annual Pumpkin Pie Days. In fact, I have been known to insist that it’s my favorite holiday. Yes, I know it’s not actually a holiday, and no, it’s not really my absolute favorite, but it definitely ranks.

What is Pumpkin Pie Days? During Pumpkin Pie Days weekend, the Boulder County Fairgrounds main building is filled with dozens of stalls crammed with antiques, and the fine women and men (mostly cute grandmas and grandpas) of the St. Vrain Historical Society serve a wonderful meal of vegetable and bean soup, buttered rolls and pumpkin pie with whipped cream (Ben, you’ll be pleased to know that I rewrote this sentence just to avoid the Oxford comma!). The meal is fabulous, and I wait all year for this most favorite of Longmont public events.

In an effort to approximate the wholesome soup of PPDs, I turned to my favorite resource for classic all-American recipes—The Joy of Cooking. The closest recipe I found is U.S. Senate Bean Soup. Why the funny name? This soup has been on the menu of the U.S. Senate every day for over 100 years!

Of course, I modify the recipe to make it as close as possible to the PPDs soup. First, instead of using a ham hock, which usually yields very little meat, I save the end of a spiral cut ham in the freezer. To make the soup, I thaw the ham, cube as much meat as can be removed and use the remaining hock to make the broth. Much better ham flavor and more satisfying pieces of ham. I also add carrots, use more water than recommended for a thinner soup, leave the peels on my potato and leave the beans intact when the soup is done (as opposed to mashing as recommended in the recipe).

The batch I made this evening is for lunches this week. I feel like we need hot, homemade food for lunch at least every other day, so I try to make some kind of soup each week, often on Sunday—for some reason, we call this practice of cooking on Sunday for the upcoming week “secret cooking.” (The other days we have sandwiches and veggies, leftovers or, on really special days, Elia’s burritos!)

The soup is so delicious, so hearty and wholesome and so reminiscent of my wonderful Pumpkin Pie Days! Now, where’s my pie?

Black Beans & Rice

There are very few things that I make without a recipe... I’m just more comfortable and have more fun in the kitchen without the pressure of having to be inventive. This is one of the few things I just whipped up one night and continue to make with whatever I have around.

For this dish, I prepare jasmine rice, then add chopped cilantro and fresh lime juice while the rice is still warm. I serve the rice with canned black beans that I’ve rinsed and seasoned with cumin, garlic powder and salt. Tonight, I had some extra pieces of smoked ham, so I added those to the beans.

We usually have some mild picante sauce on top, and I served the beans and rice with steamed broccoli. A staple dish that is simple, inexpensive and full of fresh flavors.

Pork Chops, Fingerlings & Artichokes

After a luxurious Saturday evening out at Terroir in Longmont with new friends, I felt we needed a delicious but simple dinner tonight while we prepare for a new week. Even though I work from home, I’m still prone to the Sunday night blues, and a healthy, home-cooked dinner is a good way to turn my mood around. 

I sautéed center-cut boneless Coleman pork chops in butter and olive oil (from Joy of Cooking), then simmered them quickly in a pan sauce I had in the freezer. For side dishes, I roasted organic Colorado fingerling potatoes in olive oil and kosher salt and steamed artichokes.

I don’t remember the source of the pan sauce... it was leftover from a dinner in early January. I need to find it soon because it was delicious!

[Pan sauce mystery solved! Mom made it with a pork tenderloin when she was here taking care of us right after Joseph was born. The recipe for pork tenderloin with apple dijon pan sauce is from About.com. Thanks, Mom!]

A simple but beautiful meal and a perfect end to a wonderful three-day weekend.