Boiled and yet delicious

I don't often eat beef any more but with The Day yesterday, I thought I'd do a pot of corned beef, cabbage and tatties. It's terribly easy. (It's easy if you buy your beef already "corned.")

Cut the beef into big chunks and boil it up in water. No need for salt but you might add some pepper, rosemary, a bay leaf or two.

Simmer the whole pot until the beef is tender, then add in the tatties...maybe some onions and carrots, too. Last thing in is the loosely cut-up cabbage, which doesn't take long to cook. Let it all simmer another 15 minutes or so.

Serve it with some lovely fresh soda bread and a pint of the black stuff. Corned beef and cabbage is not traditionally Irish--I also like to boil up a pot of colcannon--cabbage, tatties, bacon and some butter...maybe a little greens (like kale).

Boiling meat is popular in many rural cultures because you could use older and tougher meat.

It's Pi Day...but I haven't any

March 14. 3/14. Pi. Get it?

All I know is that I have no pie.

I do, however, have cake.

My daughter--who is the best kid ever--made me a birthday cake while she was home for spring break. She started her cake-making adventures years ago with boxed mixes and canned frosting. Then she moved on to cake mixes and homemade frosting.

This cake is a moist chocolate two-layer--from scratch. And it is iced with a rich cream cheese/butter frosting, with just a hint of nutmeg.

Delicious, not too sweet, very rich and flavorful.

Birthday cake will have to do on Pi Day. We'll have Pie later in the week.

And speaking of later in the week, I've got a nice corned beef to make for Thursday. Some colcannon, a loaf of soda bread and a gallon of the black stuff.

That sounds like a good St. Patrick's Day, I think.

Haggis En Croute

It has been so long since I've posted here that I need to go back a bit and tell you about the whiskey-soaked celebration that was Burns' Night.

I have no idea what inspired me but I determined to celebrate it with some friends this year. We all brought small bottles of whiskey and I made what actually passed for haggis.

Well, sort of. If you squint your eyes and aren't too much of a purist. It had all the unmentionable offal parts--most of them, anyway--but instead of stuffing it all into a stomach, I rolled out a thin and buttery crust.

I baked the whole thing in a cast-iron pan and it came out piping hot and quite edible. Served it with a couple of different kinds of mustard, with chippy sauce and a green salad.

Haggis en croute--it's either a brilliant modern take on a classic cultural mainstay or it's an abomination. Either way, it was awfully tasty.

Why Pagans Should Get Busy

This article in TIME suggests that the "foodies" among us are poised to help revitalize and drive the environmental movement. Lately the news has been full of scary stories about Monsanto and genetically-modified alfalfa, and many of us have been feeling kind of helpless. As Michael Pollan has pointed put more than once, food legislation is a rather cloak and dagger affair in this country. That's ironic given how so much media attention is being given to this issue lately, and how passionately many people feel about eating healthy food.

So, news flash: people who enjoy food and care about food safety are often the same people who care about the environment. You can't grow good crops or raise healthy livestock if you destroy the land with pesticides and toxic waste, after all; you can't get safe salon out of polluted oceans. Clearly the best people to help raise awareness about these interconnected issues are foodies, and environmentalists.

Or, ya know, PAGANS.

So I want to suggest that more of us step up and get involved in strengthening this movement. Of course maybe you're already well-informed, and you support your local farm markets and buy organic and maybe you even grow your own vegetables or raise chickens. But are you working to help others and your community gain access to healthy foods and better information about nutrition? Are you researching the laws regarding food safety in your area? Are you finding out how to stop that old orchard from being razed and sold to developers, or how to start a community garden program in your community? The possible ways to engage in this movement are endless.

What are YOU doing? What would you like to see happen? Let us know.

A cool gluten-free blog...

And it has plenty of links to other gluten-free blogs!

I've been wanting to try more gluten-free recipes, especially given a request from the local cafe I bake for.

So, here it is: Life of My Mouth.

The writer is young, sassy, and definitely a foodie.

PS

On second thought, I'd make that 1/3 C of shortening. To be honest, I just plop in a heaped-up wooden spoon of the stuff.

Corn Bread

Dear Peg (but really Todd),

Here is the recipe I use for cornbread.

Preheat oven to 400

Plop 1/4 C or slightly more vegetable shortening into a cast iron frying pan. We use the little one mostly--gives a fatter cake of bread. Heat the pan on top of the stove on very low and let the shortening melt. You can use lard or other animal fat for this part--that's traditional. I don't though.

Meanwhile--
stir together
1 C plain flour
1 C yellow plain cornmeal (did you know it also comes in self-rising?)
4 t baking powder
1 scant t of salt
Some folks add a little sugar to it, but I don't. If you want to try that, add about 1/4 cup.

Make a well in the middle and add in 2 beaten eggs, 1 C buttermilk.

Stir it up.

Pour most of the liquid shortening into the batter and stir it up, but here's the most important part of making good cornbread. Make sure there is a lot of liquid fat left in the pan. It should puddle in the bottom, not just gently grease bottom and sides. This will give you a crispier crust and the satisfying thwack of turning the cake onto a wooden board when it comes out of the oven.

The batter doesn't need to be perfectly smooth--it should be a little lumpy. Pour it into the pan and put it in the fast oven. It will be done in 20-40 minutes depending on the size of the pan.

When you take it out of the oven, turn it out immediately onto a wooden board or counter and then plate it up. Really whack it down and the cake will pop out with an unbroken crust.

Add butter.

Perhaps beer.

Also, a bowl of beans or some soup or...

You get the point it is good with everything.

Love,
Byron