Ireland

Ire-land! Ire-land!

Ireland is another country on this list that is special to me. In fact, of the 30 countries on this list I have lived in 4 of them! I lived in Cork, Ireland for a year in 2006! 

In thinking back to my time in Ireland, I have fond memories of the beer and a great local pizzeria in Cork, but generally no particular food dishes which stood out. To be fair I don't recall Ireland as being a difficult place for vegetarians. Having all the great Quorn branded meat subsitutes was always useful and while I occasionally got a strange look, I always felt there was something on the menu I could eat. It could be though that I was more focused on the beers there tho....

In looking at the menu for Ireland, I got very excited. This was a good hearty wholesome menu which was perfect on this slightly chilly night.

Entree/Side: Spinach and Potato Bake

Of course there was a potato dish,  being Ireland, it would have to be in there.

Up first on the menu was the potato and spinach dish. The thing I loved most about this dish is that 99% of it came directly out of my garden. The potatoes, garlic, spinach and herbs were about as fresh as they could be.

Once again I opted to un-veganise this dish and used cream and butter.

I used a red potato (heather?) variety which helped to make this super creamy. 

Saying mixed herbs in a recipe always feels so ambigous so to clairfy, I used italian parsley, thyme and rosemary in my dish which were super yum. This was full of flavor and really delicious.

Main/Entree: Irish Stew

I mentioned above that this was a bit of a cooler evening and so having a hearty soup/stew was just the ticket. I made a few minor changes and substitued swede for turnips and also split the potatoes called for in half and used kumara (purple/golden variety) for the remainder.

I also used olive oil instead of sunflower. It was a light version so wasn't too heavy in terms of changing the taste.

Side: Soda bread

I love making breads but always worry that mine come out too dense, but I don't think that is a concern when it's a soda bread you are making.

Again, I opted to un-veganise this recipe and used a regular unsweetned, probiotic yogurt for the moisture component. I also did a lightly brushed wash of milk over the top to help make a lovely golden crust.

Main: Blueberry pancakes

Ok, I have to say I don't get this recipe. Not literally - I mean I understand the recipe itself but I'm not sure how blueberry pancakes fit into Ireland. I remember when I lived there we made pancakes for shrove Tuesday which is a Catholic holiday (I think). While it was a fun thing to do, I'm not sure it's very Irish - but what do I know?

Anyways, I found searching for buckwheat a suprising challenge. Maybe it is because I once again left my shopping to the last minute. Countdown has a suprising variety of flours but no buckwheat. In any event, I found this LSA mixture which has buckwheat in it and so thought it would be a great subsitute.

It was only when I went to cook that I again realised this was a vegan recipe. Vegan pancakes? While it's not a lack of milk that's the challenge here, I was unsure how these would go sans eggs.

Again, I unveganized it and used normal yogurt and everything looked ok in the pan. Except when i went to flip these it was a disaster. It just didn't work - they fell apart. I eventually gave up, scraped everything back into the bowl, mixed 2 eggs and then added them in. Once eggs were back in the mix they came together lovely. While you could taste/tell that these were healthy, I quite liked the mix of LSA in there and would be inclined to do a 50/50 combination of flour / LSA with all my future pancake recipes.

As the pancakes were sweet, we had these as a bit of a dessert. They were a lovely way to cap off the meal. Since I continue to break the vegan feel, I used whipped cream (from a can too!) as a topping with the pancakes. It took me back to being a kid and loving whipped cream on my waffles in the morning. Yum oh yum!

So, that's Ireland. Dinner is served....