The Recipe Box

Irish Soda Bread

This is my grandma's recipe, but it is likely very similar to many out there.
* 4 cups flour. I like to use bread flour, or a 50-50 mix of unbleached flour and whole wheat, but it makes it REALLY dense
* 1.5 teaspoons salt
* 1.5 teaspoons baking soda
* 2 cups buttermilk

Mix all dry ingredient (Grandma used to sieve them a few times) in a large bowl, then make a well in the middle and pour all of the buttermilk in it, carefully.
With hands, gently mix until dough forms but don’t overwork it. Put dough on a floured surface and form into a round loaf. Kneed no more than three or four times. Really.
Place on oiled baking sheet. Pat down till about 2” high. Cut a cross (deep or shallow, it's up to you) on top.
Bake 400 F for 35 – 40 min depending on your oven.
Once you take it out of the oven, check it by knocking on the bottom. If it sounds hollow, it’s cooked.

A super easy recipe, and my first bread recipe.

Another good Challah or egg bread recipe:

570 Gr of bread flour
70 Gr white sugar
2 large eggs
40 Gr olive oil
240 gr water-depending on local conditions you may need a tad more or less.
10 gr vanilla
.75 t yeast
6 gr salt.

first mix 70 gr flour and 40 gr oil and set aside
mix the remaining flour, yeast,eggs water and vanilla in your mixer and knead at least 10 minutes
then add the salt and knead 5 minutes
then add the flour/oil mixture and need at least five minutes more (10 is better)

put up to rise for 1.5 hours or until double in bulk
then cut into two pieces. You can braid if you like or just make two loaves and let rise until double in bulk-around 1 hour

bake in 350 f oven for 20-30 minutes. Don't over bake. bread should be soft.

recipe comes from famous bakery in the Atlanta area.

Blue Corn Bread

I adapted this recipe from a cookbook. The original recipe called for regular cornmeal, but I prefer blue meal.

Bacon grease, enough to coat inside of cast iron pan
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup butter, softened
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1tsp baking soda
3/4 cup blue cornmeal ( I use Bob's Red Mill brand)
2 tsp baking powder
1tsp salt
1 cup all-purpose flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Melt bacon grease in cast iron skillet, coating bottom and sides.I use a #8 skillet.

Cream sugar and butter in bowl until smooth. Add eggs singly, beating well after every addition. Dissolve baking soda in the buttermilk then add to creamed mixture.
In another bowl combine cornmeal, salt, baking powder. Add this to the creamed mixture and stir until well blended. Add flour and stir.
Pour mixture into hot, greased pan. Bake for 20 min.

@Lolita1x2: I love soda bread, got a taste for it in Ireland.

I just made this when the nice large and firm peppers showed up in my grocery store. I like it on my eggs in the morning and of course with chips. It's better the next day after the flavors blend.

Pico de Gallo


1 Large can Petite chopped tomatoes drained
1 Small can Petite chopped tomatoes drained
4 Large Jalapeño peppers Chopped
2 Serrano peppers chopped
1/2 Green Bell pepper Chopped
1/2 Cup Cilantro Chopped
1 Tbs Garlic chopped
1 Tbs Basil chopped
1 Tbs salt

Quote:

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Originally Posted by 2Sharp

I just made this when the nice large and firm peppers showed up in my grocery store. I like it on my eggs in the morning and of course with chips. It's better the next day after the flavors blend.

Pico de Gallo


1 Large can Petite chopped tomatoes drained
1 Small can Petite chopped tomatoes drained
4 Large Jalapeño peppers Chopped
2 Serrano peppers chopped
1/2 Green Bell pepper Chopped
1/2 Cup Cilantro Chopped
1 Tbs Garlic chopped
1 Tbs Basil chopped
1 Tbs salt

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Please add the juice of one lime to this recipe. Sorry, I forgot to put that in. I was going by memory.

I'll put some quantities for the ingredients, but they are very flexible - I like the vegetables a lot so I put quite a bit, but in principle could be much different proportion and will be still really good, just slightly different taste

Ingredients

2lb beef or pork
4-8 onions (I use more)
1-3 carrots (I use more)
1-2 cups wine (generally dry white, or red works too)
1-2 bay leaves
1/2-2Tbs paprika (smoked aka pimenton works well too)
5-20 whole black peppercorns
a bit of oil if needed, say 1-3Tbs
salt to taste
fresh parsley if desired

Cut the meat in about 1" pieces if not precut 'stew meat', brown it in the oil, add the diced onions and carrots (I use whatever size but about 1/2" for onions and 1/8"-1/4" slice on the carrots), throw in the bay leaves, paprika and peppercorns and a little bit of water cover and let it simmer on low heat until the meat is ready (depending on the meat could be anything from half an hour to an hour even hour and a half), the vegetables are definitely ready by then. Pour the wine for the last 10-20min of cooking (or just pour it when it ready and cook it a bit longer). Sometimes I'd add tomato at the end (not much because there's acidity from the wine already, say half or up to one small diced or a Tbs canned or a tsp tomato paste).

It is best to leave overnight, serve over rice or mashed potatoes and garnish with parsley.

For extra points make it with venison - doesn't get better than that :)

Stew recipe.

What do you have available?

Toss it into a pot with some water.

Boil it until it is edible.

Eat it.

Scots Mince: If you like meat but also need that healthy fiber thing plus flavor,this should help. My Grandmother passed on the dish of "Scots Mince" to me and I then personalized it. It is a recipe of which can be easily tweaked with different ingredients or spices to change up and create other dishes and it's fairly economical . It is......
1 lb. Ground beef Minced
one whole Yellow Onion Minced
Fat of choice for browning
Approx 1 C. Steel cut Oats
Approx. 1C. Beef stock
Approx 1 C. Water
Salt,Pepper
Approx. 1 Tbl. sp. Rubbed Sage
P.S. I never measure so I am definitely approximating here.....Brown Meat and onions in fat adding Sage and Pepper during and keep mincing it during browning using your spatulas edge. Then add the uncooked oats and stir for a minute or two. Next add the stock and water,bring to a boil; and slap it on low and simmer covered till oats are cooked. When done it should be around the consistency of between a stew and gravy with fairly fine minced meat and onions. Salt to taste .


Traditionally we poured it over mashed potatoes and had a side of beans with it. I have found through experiment with this recipe the following for more recipe ideas......Used ground Breakfast sausage and then topped with either an egg or a pancake or two with a bit of syrup poured over it. I've made it curried by frying first the spices using a good quality Curry blend and then the onions and meat in browned clarified Butter and adding some red lentils. Any stock can be used and you can add or decrease the amounts of oats to meat depending what you like in taste and consistency . Any ground meat can be used an I have used ground lamb and ground turkey with awesome results. Veggies can surely be added. This is great peasant grub. It really is a meat lovers way of getting more fiber so yeah you can have your cake and eat it too sorta ha ! Enjoy. I also apologize for my weakness on format . I admit humbly that I don't know how to make the recipe columned like everyone else.

Night, just hit enter after each ingredient, like this.
Another line is started.
Every time. Or hit enter twice

for a new paragraph.