Irish Week: Irish Soda Bread and Irish Coffee

Irish soda bread is an essential part of Irish cuisine. My grandmother, who was born and raised in Ireland, apparently has a great soda bread recipe, but I couldn't get my hands on it, so I used a Martha Stewart recipe instead.

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, plus more for pan

4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for kneading

3/4 cup sugar

3/4 cup raisins

2 tablespoons caraway seeds

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 1/2 cups buttermilk

2 large eggs

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a baking sheet.

2. In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, raisins, caraway seeds, baking soda, salt, and baking powder. In a separate bowl, whisk buttermilk, eggs, and 2 tablespoons butter. Stir the wet mixture into the dry ingredients to form a dough.

3. Knead dough on a lightly floured surface until smooth, about 4 minutes; add more flour as needed to prevent sticking. Form dough into a 9-inch round; place on prepared baking sheet. Brush loaf with remaining tablespoon butter. Using a sharp knife, score an X on top of loaf.

4. Bake until skewer inserted in center comes out clean, 45 to 50 minutes. Cool on wire rack before serving.

If I didn't have to go to work, I would have eaten a couple slices of soda bread slathered in butter and drank Irish coffees for breakfast. I had never been a huge fan of Irish coffee, but then my little sister took me to The Buena Vista Cafe back in December. Their Irish coffee blew my mind. Here is the official Buena Vista Irish coffee recipe.

Hot coffee

2 sugar cubes

2 oz. Irish whiskey

Whipped cream

1. Fill glass with very hot water to pre-heat, then empty.

2. Pour hot coffee into hot glass until it is about three-quarters full. Drop in two cocktail sugar cubes.

3. Stir until the sugar is thoroughly dissolved.

4. Add full jigger of Irish Whiskey for proper taste and body. 

5. Top with a collar of lightly whipped whipping cream by pouring gently over a spoon.

6. Enjoy it while piping hot. 

So, with my choices in coffee beans, coffee brewing method, and Irish whiskey, I definitely made the snobby version of an Irish coffee. Against my will, Portland has made me a coffee snob. When I shop for coffee these days, I know what region I want it to be from and I know I want it to be roasted locally. Gag. And as for the brewing method, the only way I have to brew coffee in my house is a French press. At this I do not gag because the French press makes the best coffee. Period. And it's no harder to make French press coffee than drip or whatever else. Lastly, the whiskey. I intended to buy Jameson's, but I happened to read an article today about the best Irish whiskeys. Since I obviously wasn't going to use all the whiskey for Irish coffee, I may as well buy something I will enjoy straight. Right? Right. So Redbreast Single Pot Still 12-year it was.

Instead of eating soda bread and drinking Irish coffee for breakfast, I ate and drank them for dinner. And man was it a good meal. Mmmmm. Long live the Irish.


Bon appetit.

Milanesas Napolitanas and a Fernet Cocktail

Remember when I made grillades and grits, I mentioned that I had a lot of beef round steaks left?  And I also mentioned that the only things I know how to cook with beef round steaks are milanesas and chicken fried steak?  Here are the milanesas.


I used to date an Argentine.  He first made milanesas for me when we lived in DC, and I fell in love.  I had eaten chicken fried steak before, but milanesas feel lighter than chicken fried steak.  I don't know why, but they do.


Then when I lived in Buenos Aires, I ate them on a regular basis.  The restaurants serve HUGE slabs of milanesas.  I capitalize huge because they were seriously huge, like 12 inches across.  It's the type of thing you split between two people.  And there are a million different types of milanesas.  They're not always beef, and they can be topped with all sorts of things.


They are best served, and traditionally served, with french fries, but I didn't feel up for frying both beef and potatoes on the same night, so instead, in an attempt to make the meal more complete, I made milanesas napolitanas: milanesa topped with ham, cheese, and marinara.


About 3 lbs beef round steak, or any thin cut beef
3 eggs
About 2 cups plain bread crumbs
Salt
2 large cloves garlic, minced
Dried thyme
Vegetable oil (I used peanut, not a vegetable)


Deli ham
Cheese (Port Salut or muenster is best.  I used muenster.)
Marinara sauce


1.  Tenderize the steaks by pounding them with a meat mallet.  I used a hammer again because I don't have a meat mallet.


2.  Lightly beat the eggs with a fork and add salt, garlic, and thyme. Mix.


3.  Pass the meat through the egg mixture, and then through the bread crumbs, coating well.  A note here, I have no idea the quantity of bread crumbs I used.  I had the canister next to where I was breading the steaks, and when I needed more, I added more.  That said, I think 2 cups is a decent guess.


4.  Fry in oil until done, usually a couple of minutes on each side.


5.  Place on a towel and let the oil drain.


6.  Set the oven to broil and let preheat a little (I should have put this step sooner in the process, but I forgot and I don't want to renumber, and besides, when you broil you don't really need to let the oven preheat that much).


7.  Place the number of milanesas you want to eat on a cookie sheet or broiler pan.  Put a slice (or two) of ham on the milanesa and a slice (or two) of cheese on top of that.  Make sure some of the milanesa still shows so that your presentation will be pretty.


8.  Broil the milanesas until the cheese is bubbling and browning.


9.  Place on a plate and top with a spoonful or two of marinara.


10.  Eat.

To accompany my meal, I made a Fernet cocktail.  Fernet is a very argentine thing to drink, though it got really popular in the states, at least in San Francisco.  Last winter when I was visiting SF, my brother-in-law made me take a shot of Fernet.  I was disgusted.  Fernet is so not something you shoot.  But, to my point, it is very argentine so I thought it would be a good thing to go along with my milanesas.

2 parts gin
1 part fernet
1 part vermouth


Combine in a cocktail shaker with ice, shake, and strain into a martini glass.  It should be garnished with a twist of orange, but I didn't have any oranges.


I fried up quite a bit of meat making this meal.  I don't think it's worth frying one portion of anything.  And, something I should have mentioned earlier, milanesas save really well.  You can throw them in the freezer, and then put them straight in the oven from the freezer, and they'll taste pretty damn good.


I didn't freeze any, as that would defeat the purpose of clearing out my freezer, but I did eat them throughout the weekend.  One really good way of eating them is in a sandwich, like this.

That is one huge sandwich cut into three pieces.  You heard me; it is NOT three sandwiches, damn it.


Bon appetit.