Your Irish Granny’s Soda Bread

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This Irish Soda Bread recipe comes to me from friend Molly Sinnett, who answered my Facebook plea for an authentic loaf. Something passed down from an Irish Granny would have been ideal, and she totally delivered!

This is a complete departure from the soda bread I picked up last weekend in Carroll Gardens (Caputo’s Bake Shop, those are most definitely eggs in your dough…I’ll be back for your hot cross buns though!).

I was wary of using margarine in the recipe, with its hydrogenated oil; but, I didn’t exactly want to substitute butter when her recipe specifically says “don’t use butter!” So, I went with a stick of Smart Balance and crossed my fingers.

The secret to this loaf has to be the soured buttermilk–the crumb is perfectly tender and reminds me of a colossal scone. And I absolutely love scones. So very excited for a thick slice for breakfast tomorrow with my Irish Breakfast tea. Happy St. Pat’s everyone!

Granny’s Irish Soda Bread

(Thanks Molly!)

•  5 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
•  1 rounded tsp baking soda
•  1 rounded tsp baking powder
•  1 cup sugar
•  1 stick margarine, sliced into 8 Tbsps (I used Smart Balance)
•  6-8 ounces raisins (or more if you desire)
•  1 1/2 cups sour buttermilk (to sour add 1 tsp white vinegar and let sit at room temp 1/2 hour)

1. Mix together first 4 ingredients. Using a pastry cutter, blend the margarine into the flour and sugar mix. Add raisins.
2. Create a well, pour in the buttermilk and stir. Use hands to fully incorporate wet and dry ingredients.
3. Divide dough into 2 round loaves. Set in center of cake pans that have been greased and floured.  Cut an X into the top of each loaf and bake at 375 degrees for 45-50 minutes.

If You Give a Tot a Cookie…

Alce Nero Yogurt & Honey Cookies

You’re going to want an organic Yogurt & Honey Cookie from Italian company Alce Nero:

http://www.amazon.com/Alce-Nero-Organic-Cookies-350-Gram/dp/B004E92UDI/ref=sr_1_1?s=grocery&ie=UTF8&qid=1326304555&sr=1-1

I know parents can be cautious about introducing cookies & other sweets to their toddler, but I think I’ve found one parent & tot can share together. I grab these crunchy Italian versions of shortbread from our neighborhood Italian shop, Brancaccio’s. The ingredient list is short, identifiable & organic: wheat flour, brown sugar, extra virgin olive oil, yogurt, honey, baking soda/powder, salt.

One cookie has just over 1g (1/4 tsp) of sugar, equivalent to a child’s serving of Cheerios (here kid, have a snack that won’t spill all over the floor, stroller, Mom’s bag…). The label describes them as “delicious and light, ideal for a healthy breakfast.” Cookies for breakfast, I love the Italians.

Alce Nero also makes a whole grain Farro and a Kamut chocolate chip cookie that I’ll try next, when available. Seriously, good luck finding these. I included a link for purchase on Amazon, but they are on short supply. Apparently, Mario Batali sells this brand at his palatial food court, Eataly; but, word has it that his large orders leave a scant amount for smaller city shops. If anyone spots these in the borough of Brooklyn, give me a shout!

I'll take that cookie now!

Pickled Herring, Egg Salad and Bad Posture

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Pickled herring, egg salad and bad posture: 2012 is sure shaping up to be “Year of the Granny.” Since the new year, I’ve shared Shelsky’s pickled herring with my folks, made several batches of egg salad, and have resolved to go to bed in the 10pm range. I’m also up before dawn every day, so I’m earning that granny badge!

2011 took it out of me. I spent most of last year hunched over…my little person, the stove, strollers, my blackberry. I put all my energies into stay-at-home mothering with very little relief in the form of grandparents, babysitters or vacations (sometimes I’d convince myself that cooking without a toddler underfoot was very much like a vacation). Which brings me to tight budgets and living over a thousand miles from your family=really tough. But single-income economics was, and continues to be, a fun game of strategy for my husband and I. When you succeed at living simply it is a bit exhilarating. We really should run a weekend seminar on the ins and outs of stretching the dollar in this not-so-cheap city.

As for family meals last year…a little blurry since I failed t0 document most of them on this here blog; but, I cooked plenty. It was budget-conscious and heavy on the Trader Joe’s supplements. (fyi, I fell hard for Trader Joes last year. If you don’t understand the appeal of TJ’s, please talk to me. We schlep there and back on the subway like pack mules for a reason. Even though I hate every second of the schlepping part. Their canned smoked trout whipped up with Hellman’s original mayo is some of the best white fish salad I never knew I could make (granny badge earned!)

I guess what I’m trying to say is, I was really, really tired last year. We ate, but hardly slept. Facebook-ing was far easier than blogging, and there was some good stuff on TV (Parenthood, Breaking Bad, Dexter). Cooking for my family was a lot of muscle memory, but I usually found some small joy in each meal. Especially watching my toddler’s face when taking the first bite of a new food. When she liked it, pure joy, and relief. When she did not, and spat out the food, and proceeded to scrape her tongue of any lasting, horrible flavor, it still made me smile.

So 11.5 months to go to fix my slouch, create new recipes, and share the successes here. And if you don’t hear from me for an extended period of time, I sure as hell hope I’m somewhere on vacation.

June is for Birthdays, Babies and Bellies (full of ice cream)

Ingredients: Bananas

Strawberry and Fresh Mint

38 weeks into pregnancy and the ice cream cravings have finally hit hard. Vanilla Haagen Dazs with smashed Chocolate-Vanilla “Trader” Joe-Joe’s followed a solid week of Dr. Pepper floats.

My birthday dinner at Purple Yam (Ditmas Park, Brooklyn) concluded with Halo-Halo, a Philippine iced desert with sweet beans, palm seed, cocogel, agar agar, coconut sport and jackfruit topped with flan and purple yam ice cream. Wowzers. Forget about 8-ingredient desserts at home. I whipped up the following (pictured) in 5-10 minutes from 1-2 ingredients.

The Banana Ice Cream recipe has been floating around the blogosphere and I was psyched to puree something in the food processor other than my usual hummus. Strawberry and Fresh Mint Pops were an excuse to play with the Zoku Pop maker and experiment with homemade mint simple syrup. Not to mention, you can find teeming quarts of Jersey strawberries, 2 for $10, at most farmer’s markets in the area. And they are just about perfect.

Banana Ice Cream (sans cream)

• 3-4 very ripe bananas, sliced and frozen in a single layer
• A food processor

1. While still frozen, add banana slices to the food processor. Pulse until the bananas clump; using spoon, scrape banana clumps evenly around blade and continue to process until smooth.
2. Magically, the clumps turn into a creamy, soft-serve-textured icy treat. Scoop and serve.

Strawberry and Fresh Mint Pops

• 2 cups chilled, or frozen and thawed ripe strawberries
• 1/4 cup mint simple syrup (recipe below)
• 2-4 Tbsp cold water

1. In a blender, add strawberries and syrup and puree. Add water and puree until the mixture is thin enough to be poured into any ice pop molds.
2. Pour into molds and freeze. Pops frozen in the Zoku are ready to eat in 10 minutes.

Fresh Mint Simple Syrup

(Good for a month in the fridge. Add to iced tea, bourbons, rums, melons and berries with tasty results.)

• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 2 cups water
• 1 bunch mint–fresh from the farmer’s market is best–rinsed well

1. Mix sugar and water in small saucepan (2 qt) and heat over med-low while stirring until dissolved. Syrup is ready when it goes from cloudy to clear. Remove from heat.
2. Rub mint leaves between hands for a few seconds to release minty oils. Add a large handful of mint leaves to the pan of syrup; submerge leaves with spoon and let steep 30-60 minutes.
3. Remove mint leaves. Transfer syrup to a glass Pyrex measuring cup and let cool. Store in an airtight glass bottle in refrigerator.

Seared Scallops and Bolognese Balls

Seared Scallops on Polenta with Asparagus

Clockwise from top: The Meatball Shop's Bolognese balls with pesto, braised collard greens, Spicy Pork Meatballs with spicy meat sauce, asparagus over polenta

When I ask friends about weekday dinner menus, I often hear one of three strategies:

1. Throw some fish or chicken in a pan and microwave some veggies…
2. Throw some fish or chicken on the Foreman grill and microwave some veggies…
3. Take out.

Add in some nights of cereal, frozen pizza, and salads and I’m following the same formula.  This week’s meal satisfaction to effort ratio was especially favorable…

Top photo: Thursday’s dinner. Seared Day Boat scallops (sweet & sustainable) with polenta and asparagus. Time commitment: 10 minutes–a 4-minute sear, a 6-minute steam, and a 5-min quick-cooking polenta. Tip: get a partner to stir the polenta while you sear and steam.

Bottom photo: Saturday’s dinner. Take out from The Meatball Shop (Stanton and Allen). Includes the weekly special Bolognese balls in a pesto sauce, and spicy pork balls in a spicy meat sauce, and a side of braised collard greens. Added leftover polenta and asparagus from Thurs. Time commitment: about 2 minutes in the microwave. Tip: Be prepared for a really heavy plate and, quite possibly, more leftovers.

Brooklyn’s Little Russia by the Sea

Potato-Mushroom Vareniki with Crispy Onion

Cabbage Vareniki

Although the crispy fall air has already settled on Brooklyn, I’m honoring the final day of summer with photos from the last great beach weekend of ’09. Our small group met up in Brighton Beach, a seaside neighborhood in Brooklyn with a vibrant Russian community and boardwalk culture.

The first stop was Cafe Glechik (3159 Coney Island Avenue), a Ukranian restaurant we hit up for vareniki (dumplings), smoked and pickled noshes, borscht and a flaky Napoleon layered with a caramel custard.

Onward to the boardwalk and Cafe Volna (3145 Brighton 4th St) for beer–the Russian import Baltika. Surrounded by salty air, the native Russian tongue and men in track suits shooting vodkas, it was a poor-man’s vacation to the Black Sea.

Our final stroll was down Brighton Beach Ave to locate a little piece of history. My grandma Florence lived in Brighton Beach as a child where her parents ran the grocery store, George’s Dairy, on Brighton 3 Street. At that time the neighborhood was predominantly Jewish. My Great-Grandmother Efrosina, “Nanny,” ran the store and spoke fluent Yiddish along with her native Romanian and about three other Eastern European languages. So we journeyed to Brighton 3 Street for some photos, and left with some Russian vodka.

Sweet Farmer's Cheese Vareniki with sour cream

Pickled Herring

Baltika

Brighton 3 Street

Ukrainian Borscht

Brighton Beach Boardwalk

Sausage

Bird-toting customer at Cafe Glechik

Boardwalk Love

Dining Out: The Month in Pictures

Shopsin's: Banana pancakes (dare I ask for the nuts they forgot)

Vanessa's Dumpling, Eldridge Street: Vegetable dumplings and pork sesame pancake

Momofuku Milk: Cereal-milk ice cream with caramelized cornflakes

Lobo, Cobble Hill: Tulsa on the menu!

Baoguette, Grammercy: Pork Bahn Mi

Baoguette: Literally a $5 foot long, but a really good one

Lahore, Crosby Street: Pakistani, frequented by cabbies and myself

Lahore's Vegetarian Lunch: Lentils, spinach and okra (camera phone not doing justice)

Terrace Bagels, Windsor Terrace: Weekend special half whitefish salad, half lox

Barks Dogs, Park Slope: The Bark Dog with pickled hot peppers and the most delicious buttery, toasted bun!

Vegetarians Hide Your Eyes: Behold the Doner Kebab

The Yatagan Doner Kebab Sandwich

It is finally here! Moving week is upon us! I’ve been dancing around boxes in our kitchen for weeks. Now I’m simply out of moves and prepared to eat out until next Saturday. This is probably a good time to confess that I’m still taking food photos with my Blackberry. The USB cord for our camera is currently packed in one of 20 boxes. Bear with.

So, today I had one of my “envy cravings.” This phenomenon is rooted in the inability to eat and enjoy what one prepares for her clients. This evening I prepared a leg of lamb for an uptown dinner party. And, keeping in line with the Freudian theory of envy–feel free to psychoanalyze–I headed straight for The Doner, the biggest conglomeration of lamb I have ever laid eyes on.

The Doner Kebab (or Döner Kebap, literally “rotating roast”) is a Turkish national dish made of meat cooked on a vertical spit and sliced to order. Uncooked meat (often lamb or chicken) is stacked and pressed before sliding on a spit for “broasting.” Because it cooks vertically, it bastes itself to create an exceptionally charred, crispy exterior. Yatagan restaurant (MacDougal Street, Bleecker/W. 3rd) serves its $5.50 Lamb Doner Kebab sandwich in a warm pita with onion, tomato, lettuce and choice of sauce (I choose the yogurt-garlic tzatziki).

Far from heart-healthy or sustainable, you won’t be standing in line for doner behind Dan Barber or Alice Waters. Actually in many countries the Doner Kebab is viewed in the same light as our Golden Arches, fast food best suited for a drunken binge. But as an occasional indulgence, I am a fan. I even eat them sober.

Village Au Revoir

Here’s a short compilation of favorite dining and drinking spots we plan on hitting up before the big move to Brooklyn. All 10 destinations are less than 10 minutes from our front door…for 25 more days.

Without a doubt, I’m anxious to get acquainted with the dining scene that awaits us in the new hood; but, like any new relationship, it’s going to take effort. Many first dates. For now, I’m going to enjoy the fruits of my labor, having–through much trial and error–identified consistently tasty & cheap destinations in and around the village.

So cut & paste this handy list into your memo pad, and you will never be hungry again when bound by West 4th, Houston, 2nd Ave and 7th Ave.

1. Joe’s Pizza (Carmine, Bleecker/W. 3rd): Plain Pie and its glorious crust
2. ‘Ino (Bedford, 6th Ave/Downing): Truffled Egg Toast, delicious coffee & OJ
3. Dosa Cart (Washington Sq Park South): Mixed Vegetable Uthappam (pancake) with all the condiments
4. The Dove (Thompson, 3rd/Bleecker): Happy Hour! The Olympia, French Lavender
5. Bianca (Bleecker & Bowery): Fritto Misto, Lasagna, Tagliatelle alla Bolognese
6. The Olive Tree (MacDougal, 3rd/Bleecker): Middle Eastern Platter, Hot Borscht
7. Crosby’s (Relocating from Elizabeth, Bleecker/Houston to ??): The Suzy Special, weekday lunch
8. Great Jones Cafe (Great Jones, Lafayette/Bowery): Spicy Bloody Mary, Burger, $3 draught happy hour
9. Jane (Houston, Thompson/LaGuardia): Brunch! Benedict Johnny, Challah French Toast, Bloody Mary
10. Sea Thai Restaurant and Bistro (2nd Ave, 4th/5th St): Drunk Man’s Noodle

2009: Still Year of the Pig

Welcome 2009! After an extremely tame night of revelry, my first craving of the new year was not coffee, advil and a greasy spoon, but a Cuban sandwich. However, considering the zero-degree windchill, I was open to other sandwich options on our arctic hike back home. Walking down the sunny side of Rivington Street, we saw some open tables at ‘Inoteca, Italian sandwich heaven. We shared a meal of some of our ‘Ino and ‘Inoteca favorites from years past, the Truffled Egg Toast, Gamberetti with Pancetta Agro Dolce, and White Bean soup. And no time like the present to indulge in a pork trend of 2008, the porchetta sandwich. ‘Inoteca uses Vermont Quality Meats pork, and serves it hot on thick slices of ciabatta with parsley-pickled onion salad, tomato relish and grated fresh horseradish (that I confused for grated cheese until my nostrils started burning). As you can tell from the photo, my mouth beat out the camera to capture this one.