St. Patrick’s Day Meal from my sis

Mondays are my busiest day of the week, and I had nothing prepared to post for St. Patrick’s Day. My sister Heather has bailed me out. She called earlier and was telling me about the Irish soda bread she was baking with dinner. I begged her to stop in her tracks and email me the recipe, along with commentary, so I’d have something to post! So, here’s her email, and Heather, it’s horribly unfair that you got all the craftiness in the family.

My St. Patrick’s Day Menu:
(from Heather in Michigan)

*A wonderfully traditional corned beef brisket that has been slow cooking all day in the crock pot- it is literally falling apart- yummy!
*Boiled potatoes with some root vegetables (Again, very Irish!)
*and Mom’s Irish Soda Bread

Since we do not imbibe of the green beer- which I sincerely doubt is really very Irish anyway and likely an American adulteration- I’ll probably just make some green kool-aid to appease the kids who’ll want something green to drink!

Do you remember Mom making that Irish Soda Bread? That is a fond memory of mine as she made it often when we were young, along with her Boston Brown Bread that she baked in those coffee cans. She was really a very good baker- I also recall her awesome cream puffs…. mmm- getting hungry here- it’s almost dinnertime. Mom really enjoyed baking when we were still quite small. But, back to the Day- St. Patrick’s! I could not make anything else but Corned Beef and Irish Soda Bread today- perhaps in honor of our Irish grandmother, Mary Kincaid- or just because that Irish Soda Bread is so very, very good, right out of the oven, with a crusty top split into a cross, soft and warm inside- sliced and slathered with butter!

If you get a chance- you should make it again- here’s Mom’s recipe (culled from the old church cookbook I still have):
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Irish Soda Bread

4 cups sifted flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ground cardamom
1-1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 cup shortening
1-1/3 cup buttermilk
1 egg
1 tsp. baking soda

Sift 1st five ingredients together, blend in shortening. Add baking soda to buttermilk then mix in the egg. Form a well in the dry ingredients and add liquids to dry ingredients quickly. Knead dough gently to form a round loaf. Place in a greased and floured loaf pan and cut a cross in the top of the loaf. Bake in a 350 oven for 50 minutes. Cool in pan for 10 minutes before turning out.

Enjoy!
Heather
p.s. Are you wearing green today?