Author: ajeanneinthekitchen

On her arm she had a garden trug filled with globe artichokes which she held up to show him. “Did you ever see anything as perfect, James? Such a blend of purple and green. They’re a different variety from all the green ones we have been growing. They are supposed to be more succulent. They’re certainly exquisite looking, aren’t they? They remind me of those porcelain ones we went near to buying in Paris”.

“A Marriage” from A Family Likeness ~ Mary Lavin

My next recipe, for Artichokes and Asparagus in a Cream Sauce, comes from an Irish cookbook with a literary twist. It is an Irish cookbook with the favorite foods of Irish writers and poets, called A Trifle, A Coddle, A Fry, by Veronica Jane O’Mara & Fionnula O’Reilly. Having my BA in English Literature, as well a Culinary Arts degree, and a passion for both writing and food, I thought this would be a fun little twist.

Ms. Lavin was an American born writer who moved to Dublin with her Irish mother at the age of 9. She lived and wrote in Dublin from that point on, until her death. She wrote of ordinary tales from ordinary people, and a lot of her writings featured her favorite foods. This recipe for Artichokes and Asparagus in a Cream Sauce was among her favorites. It reminded her of her family vacations in France. She said “artichokes always [made her] think of good times, when [they] all ate too much and didn’t care a bit”. (p. 188)

Artichokes and Asparagus in Cream Sauce

Of course, I took some poetic liberties and adjusted the recipe to make it more my own. Would you expect anything any different? 🙂

I used fresh asparagus, whereas Ms. Lavin suggested to use canned asparagus. Why on earth would I use canned vegetables when fresh is so much better????? Because I used fresh asparagus, I had to blanch them first. I blanched them in boiling water for about five minutes, or just until they were mostly tender. Then I ran them under ice cold water to stop the cooking process before cutting them into spears about one inch long.

2 cans artichoke hearts or bottoms, drained and rinsed

1 bunch asparagus

1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

6 TBSP butter, divided

4 egg yolks

salt & pepper to taste

2 TBSP lemon balsamic vinegar

1 shallot, diced fine

2-3 TBSP fresh tarragon, chopped

2-3 TBSP fresh parsley, chopped

Once the asparagus is cooked and cut, toss it together with the artichoke hearts.

Saute the shallots in 2 TBSP of butter for about 3-5 minutes, or until they are softened and translucent.

Then add to the asparagus and artichoke hearts.

To make the cream sauce, I actually made it like I would make a hollandaise sauce, since it is very similar. Melt the remaining butter in a separate container. Combine the egg yolks and cream together and place over a pot of boiling water. Add the melted butter to the cream and egg mixture, while stirring constantly so the eggs to cook or scramble, and keep stirring just until it begins to thicken. Then add the lemon balsamic vinegar, tarragon salt and pepper and parsley and mix in thoroughly.

Heat the vegetable mixture to make it hot, then pour the sauce over the vegetables and serve immediately.

Everyone loved this unique combination of vegetables and flavors, and you will too.

Have a great day and make everyday great. Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.

Well, actually, it was two geese on the roof, rather than one, but “Goose On A Roof” had a better sound than “Geese On A Roof”. 🙂 I think they were home shopping for the upcoming spring season.

It looks like they are discussing it.

Don’t you walk away from me when I am talking to you!

I think they made a decision.

I guess home shopping for the geese is just as stressful as it is for us. 🙂 Have a great day and make everyday great. Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.

As you all know by now, I had quite a feast for St. Patrick’s Day, and offered a wide variety of traditional Irish foods for the day’s events. One of the dishes I made was some baked cod in a creamy butter and chive sauce. Needless to say, it was a big hit. None was left over at the end of the feasting, which is ALWAYS a good sign. 🙂 I don’t think anyone was expecting fish, but everyone was glad I made it.

We love fish and eat fish often, particularly when we are traveling. Offering fish, and particularly cod on this day, was a light and refreshing option, since everything else was pretty heavy.

Baked Cod in a Creamy Butter Chive Sauce

The recipe called for salmon but I went with cod instead, and I am glad I did too. All of our guests were glad for the cod as well. I also added some sauteed shallots to the dish, to perk it up a bit more. Since we had a big menu, with a lot of different options, I cut my cod pieces in half and made them small.

6 pieces of cod

1 large shallot, diced fine

1 cup dry white wine

salt & pepper to taste

4 TBSP butter

1 cup heavy whipping cream

1/4 cup fresh chives, chopped fine

1.4 cup chopped parsley

beurre manie – equal portions of butter and flour mixed together as a thickener

Preheat the oven to 350* F or 180*C.

Spray baking dish with cooking spray.

Saute the shallots in butter for about 3-5 minutes, or until softened and translucent.

Spread the cooked shallots on the bottom of the prepared pan. Add the cod on top of the shallots.

Season with salt and pepper and add the butter on top of the fish. Then add the wine.

Bake for about 15 minutes.

When the fish is cooked, pour some of the juice into a pan, and add the buerre manie. Cook until the buerre manie is completely incorporated into the juice and the sauce begins to thicken. Add the chopped chives and parsley. Pour the sauce over the fish and serve immediately. This dish got rave reviews from everyone. It was a big hit.

Have a great day and make everyday great. Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.

When you see Robin’s, it is a sign that spring is coming soon. I have been seeing a few Robin’s out and about lately, so I think winter is coming to an end and spring is on its way.

Every season has its beauty. Enjoy all that you can. 🙂

The Irish Americans began to celebrate their homeland and culture in their home away from home, America. And of course, there was a celebratory meal in honor of their heritage – corned beef. Though, in Ireland, bacon was the meat of choice, NOT corned beef. Corned beef is an Irish American tradition. This was served with potatoes and the most affordable vegetable, cabbage. Corned beef and cabbage seems to be an American favorite for St. Patrick’s Day, though I admit, neither are my favorites, and I rarely cook them for St. Patrick’s Day. I will cook them, on occasion, just usually NOT for St. Patrick’s Day. But because I was having a big Irish feast, and because they are popular choices, I did prepare them this year, though with a definite twist.

Larry decided to bring out the smoker and smoked the corned beef for about four hours, then he put it in the slow cooker for another four hours. It came out so tender. Before smoking it though, he washed off most of the brine (the brine is the part we don’t care for) and made a mustard and pepper rub for it. I don’t have much of the details, since the smoker is Larry’s deal. But it came out so good.

Mushy cabbage is also NOT a favorite of mine, and so often the cabbage that is prepared for St. Patrick’s Day is brown and mushy. To me, it usually tastes as bad as it smells. I don’t mind cabbage if it is cooked right though. Since we were cooking the corned beef in a different way, I decided to cook the cabbage in a different way as well. So this time I roasted it in the oven. I think I might prepare it this way from here on out.

Roasted Cabbage

This is so easy and very tasty. It’s definitely a new way to enjoy an old “classic”.

1 head green, Napa cabbage, cut into wedges

salt& pepper to taste

olive oil

garlic olive oil or roasted garlic

Preheat the oven to 400*F of 200*C.

Oil a baking sheet with olive oil and place the wedges directly onto the oiled pan. Add salt & pepper and the garlic olive oil and/or the roasted garlic.

Roast for about 40 minutes or so, or until the edges are crisp and browned, almost caramelized. And that’s it. It couldn’t be much easier than that, but it was so good. It was salty, crispy and tender all at the same time, plus it is something different, which is always appealing to me. 🙂

Walk on the wild side and branch out. Do something different. It doesn’t always have to be done the same way all the time. Try new things. Try new ideas. Be creative. 🙂

Have a great day and make everyday great. Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.

After last week’s snowmageddon, it was a beautiful sunshiny day today. There is still plenty of snow out on the ground, but the sun is out, shining brightly, and the temperature is very nice. The snow has melted from the walkways and the paths, so it made for a beautiful, very pleasant walk. The ducks were enjoying the beautiful day too. For the most part, the lakes were quiet today, however, there were three Mallards, two males and one female, just out having a blast.

A friend of theirs invited them to come in and join him for a chilly swim too.

Carpe diem and enjoy everything you can. Have a great day and make everyday great. 🙂

The origins of Irish stew are somewhat shrouded in mystery, but it’s believed to have originated in the 17th or 18th century. At that time, the dish was often made by shepherds and rural farmers who had access to only a few ingredients but needed a nourishing meal to sustain them through long days of work. Guinness stew is a variation of the traditional Irish stew, and is found in most pubs around the Emerald Isle. The only real difference between the two dishes is the addition of Guinness Stout. Stewing the beef in Guinness stout beer tenderizes the beef and adds a robust, malty flavor to the stew.

Stewing is an ancient method of slow cooking meats that has been used throughout the world.  Traditional Irish stews also known in Gaelic as ballymaloe or stobhach gaelach.  These stews were traditionally made with the cheapest and most readily-available ingredients using mutton (less tender sheep over two years of age) or lamb meat (neckbones or shanks) and root vegetables such as potatoes and onions with water.  As with any good recipe, there are many variations, depending on where you are. In the southern regions of Ireland, barley is added as well. Today, both stews are made with beef as well as lamb or mutton, but traditionally they were made with lamb or mutton. In the US, beef is used more often than lamb.

Guinness stew was one of my menu items for my Irish Shindig. My Irish Shindig Being American, with a lot of Irish roots, I made it with beef, instead of lamb, though we do eat a lot of lamb too. In fact, I have some lamb down that I will be cooking sometimes this week.

Guinness Stew

2-3 lbs beef or lamb cubed

flour to coat the meat

oil for cooking

salt & pepper to taste

1 onion, diced medium

3 carrots

3 parsnips

2 cups mushrooms, quartered

1 TBSP garlic

2-3 bay leaves

4-5 sprigs fresh thyme

2-3 sprigs of fresh rosemary, chopped

1 can of Guinness stout

2 cups beef broth

1 TBSP Dijon mustard

1 TBSP tomato paste

1 TBSP Worcestershire sauce

1-1 1/2 lbs red potatoes, quartered

1 cup pearl onions, skins removed

Coat the cubed meat in flour and salt & pepper. Get a large soup pot very hot, then add the oil and the coated meat. Cook until the meat is browned, for about 5-7 minutes, stirring frequently. Once the meat is thoroughly browned, remove it from the heat and set aside for later.

Add the vegetables into the pot, adding more oil if necessary. Cook for about 8-10 minutes, or until the vegetables have softened.

Combine the Guinness beer, beef stock, garlic, thyme, bay leaves, mustard, tomato paste and Worcestershire sauce, then add to the vegetables, and and bring to a boil.

Re-add the meat, cover and reduce the heat to a simmer. Cook for about 1 1/2 hours, stirring frequently.

Add the potatoes and the pearl onions and continue to cook for an additional 30 minutes or so, stirring frequently. Adjust the seasonings as needed. You want both the meat and the potatoes to be very tender.

I almost always serve my Guinness stew over mashed potatoes. They just go together perfectly, and the potatoes will absorb the liquid and the flavors of the stew. This is easily a meal in itself. Nothing else is really needed. But because I was making it a big feast, I had quite a bit more on my plate, both literally and figuratively. No one EVER leaves my house hungry. 🙂

Have a great day and make everyday great. Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.

We celebrated St. Patrick’s Day early at our house, and celebrated it yesterday, instead of today, though we will be celebrating again today as well. I cooked up a big Irish feast, using a lot of recipes from my Irish cookbooks. Yes, I have quite a bit of Irish in me, as well as Scottish and Welsh and just about everything else Northern European too.

All of my recipes came from some of my many Irish cookbooks. The menu for the day was:

1. Guinness Stew
2. Smoked Corned Beef
3. Cod in a cream sauce
4. Roasted cabbage
5. Mashed potatoes
6. Roasted vegetable salad with a lemon vinaigrette
7. Artichoke hearts and asparagus in a tarragon cream sauce
8. Potato yeast rolls Irish Potato Yeast Rolls
9. Cherry Chocolate Florentine fingers Chocolate Cherry Florentine Fingers
10. Pineapple cake, made by Lauren

and a chocolate Guinness cake, made by Priscilla.

It was indeed a feast, shared with good friends, good food, good conversations and good laughs. I’d say we celebrated the day just how it was supposed to be celebrated. My Irish and Celtic ancestors would be proud.

Don’t worry. You will get all the recipes for everything. I just like to space things out a bit. You know, create a little anticipation. All in good time. 🙂

Have a great day and make everyday great. Stay safe, don’t drink too much green beer, and stay well. ‘Til next time.

Top o’ the morning to ya! It’s St. Patrick’s Day. This is a day of celebration for anyone who is of Irish, or of Irish decent, or anyone who just wants to be part of the festivities, even if only for the day. Today, March 17th, is celebrated as the day of the Irish wherever there is a large Irish population, but here in the United States, it is a really big deal. Why do we celebrate it though?

Patrick was not actually Irish, according to experts. Born in the late fourth century, he was captured as an adolescent and ended up enslaved in Ireland. He escaped to another part of Europe where he was trained as a priest and returned to Ireland in the fifth century to promote the spread of Christianity. Several centuries later, he was made a saint by the Catholic Church and like other saints had a day dedicated to him, which was March 17th. He became Ireland’s patron saint, and even when religious strife broke out between Catholics and Protestants, was claimed by both, says Mike Cronin, historian and academic director of Boston College Dublin.

The Shamrock was used to explain the Holy Trinity to the people of Ireland, and thus became the Irish symbol for God, The Son and The Holy Spirit. The three leaves of a shamrock are also said to stand for faith, hope and love. A fourth leaf is where we get the luck from.

Irish people came to America and brought their culture with them. St. Patrick’s Day observances date back to before the founding of the U.S., in places like Boston and New York City. The first parade was held in Manhattan in 1762.

While the day was marked with more of a religious framing and solemnity in Ireland until well into the 20th century, in America it became the cultural and boisterous celebration it is today, marked by plenty of people without a trace of Irish heritage.

It was because people in Ireland started seeing how the day was marked in the U.S. that it became more of a festival in the country of its origin rather than strictly a religious observance, Cronin says, pointing to the parades, parties and other festivities that are held.

So whether you are Irish or not, celebrate the day, and make the most of all the fun. Have a great day and make everyday great. Stay safe, DON’T drink too much green beer and stay well. ‘Til next time.

The Irish love to bake. They bake all kinds of things from breads to cakes to fruit loaves. There is always something baking in all the cottages and small farmhouses across the Emerald Isle. Sometimes things are made in a skillet, or in a pot, or even an open hearth, but there is always something good cooking in Irish kitchens across the land.

Baking the simple things is something almost everyone in Ireland does, but it is considered a gift if you can make yeast breads. “These bakers are much admired, for they have a talent that goes to the heart of skillful cooking and can recognize the warm, pleasant feel of the kneaded dough when it is ready for proofing”. (p. xii – The Little Irish Baking Book, by Ruth Isabel Ross.

I will be making the bulk of my Irish feast today. I’ll be starting it all in just a bit. I decided on only making one dessert though, the Cherry Chocolate Madeline Fingers Chocolate Cherry Florentine Fingers since Priscilla is making a chocolate Guinness cake, and this will only be a small Irish shindig. But I did make my rolls yesterday. Since they are a yeast roll, I wanted to make sure they had time to rise and to cook without any pressure if they do not. I will heat them up in the oven before we eat. I made some Irish potato yeast rolls.

Irish Potato Yeast Rolls

These rolls are so good, and only require a few simple and basic ingredients.

3/4 cup cooked potatoes

1 1/4 tsp salt

2 TBSP dry activated yeast

2 TBSP sugar

2/3 cup warm water

4 cups flour

1/2 stick butter

2/3 cup warm milk, NOT hot

1 egg, beaten

milk for glazing

Mash the cooked potatoes, adding a little milk if necessary, until they are smooth and creamy.

Mix the yeast and the water, and 1/2 the sugar together and let set for at least about 10 minutes, or until it becomes frothy.

Combine the flour, salt, 1/2 the sugar, butter and mashed potatoes together.

Beat the egg, then mix with the warmed milk. Add the egg and milk mixture to the yeast mixture and combine well.

Make a well in the center of the flour mixture, then add the yeast and liquid mixture. Stir it all together, from the inside out as much as you can then knead the dough together until it forms into a ball. Knead for about 8-10 minutes. Place in large clean bowl and let rise for about 1 hour or until it doubles in size.

Preheat the oven to 400* F or 200*C.

Once the dough has risen, turn it out onto a work surface and roll it into balls. I made mine small, but you can shape the dough balls into any size you like. Place the dough balls onto a baking sheet sprayed with cooking spray and/or parchment paper, and let rise again for about 20 minutes.

When the dough has risen again, brush the dough balls with the milk and bake for about 20-25 minutes, or until lightly golden brown. I topped mine with a dash of parsley too before baking. Let them cool for a bit, then spread with butter, or even better, Irish butter, and enjoy.

I have lots more Irish food coming your way, so stay tuned. Erin Go Braugh! We will actually be celebrating St. Patrick’s Day twice this year. I am having our Irish shindig today, and then we will celebrate again with Erik and Shannon tomorrow.

Have a great day and make everyday great. Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.