The "Troubles" with Ireland; Belfast, famine and Potatoes

This Saturday we made our way to the north of the island, to the troubled city of Belfast. Belfast and the whole of Northern Ireland is euphemistically "troubled" because it has been plagued with warring peoples for centuries and continues to remain in strife. I am still a bit hazy as to why the people are still fighting but I will let wikipedia explain the situation rather than relay the still unclear bits of information I picked up on an hour long bus tour. To depict these troubles, citizens of Belfast have painted murals along walls, houses and apartments in the city.

I wish that I could say Ireland's troubles stopped with the petty disputes of man, but as any old European country can attest to, and our young nubile nation of America so eloquently verbalizes "if it ain't one thing then it's another." The Irish Potato famine troubled its people long before petrol bombs in the name of Jesus were the danger of the day. While men, women and children once starved when their precious potato crops died, they seem to be more than making up for their years of loss now. Potatoes are now abundant on this green island. Potatoes can be found whole, sliced, wedged, seasoned, mashed, diced and shredded in any grocery store, restaurant, gas station and convenient store across the nation. It is incredible. I thought I would share some of the potato recipes I have made while here.

Creamy Potato Spinach Soup
I just sort of made this soup up out of ingredients I had or could easily get when another plan fell through. It actually turned out to be pretty good, too!

ingredients:
onion
garlic-half a head?
olive oil
potatoes
chicken stock
milk
spinach leaves, cut into edible pieces
cream cheese
bacon

method:
Bring a pot of chicken stock to a boil. While stock is heating, peel and dice some potatoes. (I'm not sure of exact amounts in this recipe, so you might just need to guess--I'm pretty sure it will be fine regardless!)Add the potatoes to the stock and cook until soft and mashable.
While potatoes are cooking dice the onion and garlic. Saute over medium low heat until translucent. When potoatoes are soft, mash them and combine them with onion and garlic.
Separate cream cheese into little spoonfulls and add to the mash and stir to combine.
Now add the spinach. Stir spinach and allow to wilt.
Once properly wilted, add milk to your liking.
If you are a meat eater, and are a fan of bacon, I would definitely suggest adding bits of bacon to this soup. While the soup can definitely stand alone, the salty taste and crisp texture of bacon is are definite assets to this soup!

Shepard's Pie
Before I rekindled my relationship with FN, but after I arrived in Ireland, I decided to make an Irish classic-Shepard's Pie. Here is a pretty typical Irish recipe for this old staple.

Creamy Tomato and Gorgonzola Soup

Holy shizz. So remember a couple years ago when it became legally mandatory to post all of the sex offenders in a national sex offender registry? And it was like all the rage after an evening of watching How to Catch a Predator, to sit down with your loved ones and look up all of the sex offenders in your town, and to your horror, you'd find your mailman of 23 years, Gil, or Aunt Millie's wrinkled mug staring you in the face? You'd keep your fingers crossed hoping that it was only for taking a freak-a-leak behind the shed after three too many beers at the annual Labor Day picnic, but inside you were never quite sure? You were left wondering what your neighbors were doing in their spare time? Yeah, those were the good ole days...
Well I had the pleasure of reliving this great period in American history, just the other night, when I found myself asking "Do we ever really know our neighbors?" The answer to this, my friend, is not blowing in the wind. The answer, my friend, is NO. And so it begins...
Last week, my brother bought a treadmill off of Craigslist. This should have been my first clue that the night was going to be interesting. The word "Craigslist" alone is synonymous with weird. Like weird weird. Like the weird you only find in college dorm rooms. Like Bubble Boy weird. Anyway, you get the picture. Craigslist lived up to its reputation.

We drove up to the seller's house, (a frighteningly short drive), and Mr. Craig was waiting for us... Outside...
Before we even get to introductions,I can tell this guy is going to be awesome. Clad in a casual pair of distressed jeans, a screen printed t-shirt that said "affliction," this guy was nothing short of Leawood's John Gosselin. His outfit, coupled with his balding dome, had me feeling mortified for his children, and I sure as hell hope this doucher hasn't fathered eight of them.
He introduces himself as"Mike," which is also my brother's name and although I didn't know it then, served as the first of many comparisons he would make between the two of them.
We go downstairs to find the treadmill and my brother, Michael, attempts to make small talk. He is brilliant with small talk, a genetic gift he has inherited from my mother. However, I would not really call what unfolded before our eyes "small."In fact, Michael and I discovered some rather big issues about this man.

Michael: "This looks like a really nice treadmill."

Mike: "Yeah, that's not the only nice thing I'm getting rid of. I have got multiple huge flat screen t.v.'s, this massive house, and a portable,indoor sauna."

SMALL TALK TRANSLATION: I am a big loser. Let me attempt to impress you with these material goods, I have collected over the years.

Michael: "Oh cool. Well should we start to move this thing up the stairs?"
SMALL TALK TRANSLATION: Oh wow, this could be a long evening. Best to start it and get it over with.

Mike:"Yeah,yeah. You should move down to the light end and I will get the front."
SMALL TALK TRANSLATION: I feel threatened by your youth, and want to prove to you that I can still do things.

Michael: "Are you sure? I don't mind..."
STT: Please do not sue me when you herniate some discs mid-heart attack as you try to hold this thing
Mike: "No, no. I still got it. I look pretty good for my age, don't you think?"
STT: VALIDATION. NOW.

So they start to move this gigantic awkwardly shaped excuse for a good idea down the hallway and up the stairs when things start to get tense.My brother Michael is at the bottom of the stairs holding the majority of the weight while Mike is struggling mid staircase. Mike's face is getting very red. Mike's veins are starting to pulse. I am starting to have visions of this massive thing slip from Mike's grip, joy ride its way down the stairs, just shortly before crushing every bone in my eldest brother's body, having met his demise in his twenties on the carpet of this randomaniac's home. NOT GOOD.

Michael: "Is everything okay? Do you want to take a break?"
Mike: "No man, I got it. I'm just going to tie one end of this rope I found around the treadmill and the other around my neck..."

WHAT???!?!!!!??
So he is going to strangle himself before killing my brother? AWESOME.

So Mike, now wearing a leash, insists that he is okay and continues this Everest-esque trip up the stairs.

Then the thing gets stuck in the door frame. (A problem my brother brought up an hour earlier, which Mike brushed off...)
This is when things get interesting. Mike, who has taken to calling me "Les," now insists that I maneuver my way up the stairs, between them and the treadmill and start to unscrew the whole damn thing. I begrudgingly obey, we get the thing through the door and we are that much closer to having survived one of the scarier nights of our lives. Or so I thought. After we have the whole machine loaded into my brother's car- which nearly broke during the process, Michael is called back into Mike's house to look at pictures of his Russian girlfriend that Mike has printed off from the internet.

Mike: "Look at her! She is just average over there! Average!"
Michael: "Uh huh...wow..."
STT: maybe the less I say the faster I will be out of here?

Anyway, to make a long story somewhat shorter, I will just say we made it out alive, having learned quite a bit and grown as individuals. Incredible experience to say the least.
After returning to Michael's house I made a delicous creamy tomato and gorgonzola soup. The foodie connection to this whole story is that if you decide to make this soup, in all of its fiery red glory, just know that its color was the same as old man Mike's face when trudging up the stairs.

Ingredients:
Tomato juice
1 can tomatoes-any way you like
1 red pepper
1 onion
some garlic
gorgonzola cheese
some cream cheese
some heavy cream or milk

Saute garlic, onion and red pepper until onion is translucent. Pour in tomatoes and juice and bring to a simmer. Slowly add cheeses and stir to blend. When soup looks nice and blended add the milk. Serve with a grilled cheese or some crusty bread and indulge.

Papa al Pomodoro with Portabellos

My boyfriend and I made this one day over my fall break when my Oma came over for lunch. Upon seeing the two of us cooking, she promptly commented "Ahh! It iz so nice to see romaahnce in dee kitchen!"

I blushed like a red-headed seventh grader at a boy-girl party with poop on my shoe.

* 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, 3 turns of the pan, plus some for drizzling
* 4 to 6 cloves garlic, chopped
* 1 medium to large onion, finely chopped
* 1 (15-ounce) can diced tomatoes
* 1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes
* Salt and pepper
* 1 quart chicken stock
* 4 cups, about 1/2 pound, chopped or torn stale bread
* 2 (15-ounce) cans small white beans, such as Goya brand (smaller than cannellini beans)
* 1/2 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano to pass at table
* 10 fresh basil leaves, torn, optional
*Pesto
*Prosciutto

Directions

Heat a medium soup pot over medium heat. Add 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, garlic and 3/4 of the onion. Cook 7 to 8 minutes, then add tomatoes and crushed tomatoes and season with salt and pepper. Add stock and raise heat to make the soup bubble. Reduce heat to simmer and add bread and beans. Stir soup as it simmers until it thickens to a stew-like consistency. Turn off heat, adjust seasonings and ladle into shallow bowls. Top with grated cheese, prosciutto, an additional drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil or pesto and a spoonful of reserved finely chopped raw onions. Torn basil is an optional garnish.

Chili

To me, chili is synonymous with away football games in the fall. In fact, this chili is not unlike a life-saver. On these "football Saturdays," my mother and I often wouldn't see my brothers and dad for hours on end. Aside from the occasional scream, whoop, or holler that would emerge from the basement, we could have been on the moon and not known a difference. If it weren't for hourly chili refills, I probably would remember my male family members in little bits and pieces, like soldiers who are constantly leaving for war, or an uncle that stops by only when out of money or jail, and is never to be seen again for the next five years. A tad dramatic, I know, but I'm telling you, the spirit of "Football Season" overcomes these men like the Holy Spirit at a fundamentalist convention. Praise the Lawd!

Chili

Equal parts canned beans and canned diced tomatoes (usually 3 each). I like to use all different types of beans like butter, red, black and chili beans, to give the soup some variation and color. Sometimes, in a rather Jessica Seinfeld-esque way, I will even puree some beans and mix it in with the tomatoes for a thicker soup.

1 package lean ground turkey
1 Chili Seasoning packet
sour cream (optional)
shredded cheese of your choice (optional)
shredded coconut (optional)
tortilla chips (optional)

In a skillet, cook turkey over medium-high heat. While "browning," (the leaner the turkey, the lighter it will remain), combine beans, tomatoes, and seasoning packet in large pot and bring to a simmer.

When turkey is fully cooked, add it to the pot of soup. Add the rest of the ingredients to taste. It is insanely easy!

Broccoli Cheese Soup

This soup, from The Greasy Skillet, was surprisingly delicious, despite its humble name and ingredients. This could be one of my favorite meals to date! I paired this soup with a freshly baked loaf of Asiago Cheese bread.
4 tablespoons of butter.
3-4 carrots shredded
3-4 ribs of celery diced
a 16 oz. bag of frozen chopped broccoli. I've also used a 10 and 12 oz. bag, depending what I find in the store.
1 cup of diced onion
3 cans of chicken broth
3 cans of cream of potato soup
1 lb. of Velveeta diced
8 ounces of sour cream
salt and pepper to taste

Melt the butter in a large pot. Saute the celery, carrots, onion, and broccoli for 10-15 minutes.
Pour in the chicken broth and cream of potato soup.
Allow the soup to simmer for 30 minutes.
Add the Velveeta and stir until it's melted.
Right before serving add the sour cream and stir until it's blended with the soup.

Serve the soup with some nice crusty bread

Sweet Potato Rosti and Butternut Squash Pear Soup

Autumn is definitely in full swing. Leather jackets, boots, and plaid flannels are finally back! For no explained reason,other than the general magical transformations that come with the changing of the seasons, Saturday football and Thursday night television are all of the sudden important parts in my weekly routine. To fully immerse myself in the wonders of the season, I have been cooking hearty meals with ingredients from someones farm or patch or something. YUMZ.

Sweet Potato Rosti 750g Sweet potatoes, peeled and grated Olive oil, for frying 1 Small onion, finely chopped 1 Clove of garlic, finely chopped 200g Goats cheese (or any other – stilton also works well 2 Small eggs, beaten Salt and ground black pepper

1. Squeeze the liquid out of the grated potato and place into a bowl.
2. Lightly fry the onion and garlic in the oil, until they have softened and turned a golden colour. Add to the potato.
3. Add the eggs and half the cheese to the potato mix and season as required.
4. Divide the mixture into six, and mould into cakes with your hands.
5. Place the cakes onto a greased baking tray, and drizzle each with a little olive oil.
6. Bake in the oven at 210 degrees C for 20 minutes, or until they are golden brown and cooked through.
7. Remove from the oven and scatter the remaining cheese on top. Brown for 5 minutes under the grill, and serve immediately

While cooking tonight, I had this song stuck in my head:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M11SvDtPBhA

I know. Embarrassing.
Peel and chop pears.

"My tummy's turnin' and I'm feelin' kinda homesick. Too much pressure and I'm nervous, and the taxi man turned on the radio and a Jay-Z song was on, and a Jay-Z song was on, and a Jay-Z song was on..."

Incredible lyrics, I know.

In a 4-quart saucepan melt the

butter over medium-high heat, and add and sweat the onions. Add squash and pears and sweat those too a bit.

"So I put my hands up, they're playin' my song, and the butterflies fly away, noddin' my head like yeah, movin' my hips like yeah, and I know I'm gonna be okay..."

Pour in the stock, enough to submerge solids. Add sprig of rosemary and bring to a simmer and cook until squash is fork tender about 15 to 18 minutes.

"Yeah, it's a party in the USA, it's a party in the USA..."

Remove rosemary. Puree with immersion blender. Add a touch of cream and season, to taste.

"It's when the DJ played my favorite jam and a Britney song was on... So I put my hands up, they're playin' my song..."

Enjoy.

"It's a party in the USA..."

No matter how much you hate to admit it, the girl's got pipes. Plus, I'm glad somebody's partying, I've about had it with all of this economic talk. Lets just party in the USA...