Gettin' Patty

St. Patrick’s Day is my third favorite holiday. Maybe it comes from spending almost 10 years in a school with “The Fighting Irish” as a mascot. Maybe from having an Irish first name. Or that my favorite color is green. Maybe, since I was supposed to be born on March 17th, my love of St. Patty’s was preordained!

Whatever the reason, St. Patrick’s Day is yet another wonderful reason to have a folks over for a themed dinner and plenty of drinking. Enter The Kid, who, despite having an 8am exam the next morning, helped make a respectable dent in my Irish beer supply.

Rounding out the guest list were The Raccoon and Roomie.

For the main course I made Colcannon a traditional Irish dish (it even has it's own theme song!), the recipe for which I got from the delightfully old-school “Vegan Handbook”

1-2 pounds of potatoes, diced
2 parsnips, peeled and diced
2 leeks, green & white parts, sliced thin
1 cup unsweetened soymilk
1 small head of cabbage, diced (about 4 cups)
2 tablespoons vegan butter
½ teaspoon mace
1 tablespoon cheater garlic
1 teaspoon sea salt
½ teaspoon fresh ground pepper

Cook the potatoes and parsnips in boiling water until tender
While those are cooking, combine the milk and the leeks in a small saucepan. Simmer until the leeks are soft (but be careful not to boil the milk too much or it will start to separate).
In a larger sauce pan, melt the butter over medium-high heat. Add the cabbage and cook until very soft.
Drain the potatoes and parsnips. Add the garlic, mace, salt, and pepper to the pot and mash very well. The mix should be very creamy.
Add the milk and leeks. Mash again to distribute the leeks.
With a large serving spoon, mix in the cooked cabbage.
Serve warm with a side of cooked veg, a glass of the very interesting DogfishHead Red&White, and a slice of the following bread.

Guinness Bread
note that this bread is technically not vegan since Guinness uses isinglass to clarify their beer. I’m not the kind of vegan who cares about things like that, especially on St. Patrick’s Day.

2 packages of dry yeast
½ cup very warm water
1 tablespoon sugar
6 ounces Guinness Extra Stout
2 tablespoons agave syrup
1 tablespoon vegan butter
2 ½ cups whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon caraway seeds
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ginger
1 ½ cups (scant) white flour

Mix the sugar and yeast with the water in a medium-sized bowl and set aside.
Heat the beer, butter, and agave in a small pan. When warm, add to the yeast mixture and stir well.
Add the whole wheat flour to the yeast-beer mixture and beat with a fork until combined and sticky. Stir in the caraway seeds, salt and ginger. Mix well to evenly distribute.
In half-cup increments, add the white flour, mixing & kneading well between each addition.
Once all the flour has been incorporated, knead the dough until it no longer sticks to your hands (about 3 minutes).
Shape into a round loaf and place in a well greased 9-inch round cake pan. Cover with a damp towel and let rise somewhere warm for about an hour. (I let it sit on top of the oven while I made the soda bread).
Bake the risen bread at 350 for 30 minutes or until it sounds hollow when you flick it with your finger.


Though we didn't eat any of it on St. Pat's, I also decided to make a vegan soda bread. When I start baking - especially when there's alcohol involved - it's sometimes hard to stop.


Soda Bread

also from "Vegan Handbook"

2 cups whole wheat flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoons caraway seeds
¼ cup currants
1 cup unsweetened soymilk + 1 tablespoon lemon juice

Mix the soymilk and lemon juice. Set aside.
In a large bowl, sift together the dry ingredients. Add the caraway seeds and currants.
Pour the now-curdley milk mixture into the dry ingredients and mix well until it turns into dough.
Knead the dough right in the bowl, adding flour as needed until it no longer sticks to your hands (about 2 minutes). Shape into a round loaf.
Place into round, greased baking pan (the smallest one you have). With a floured knife, cut an ‘X’ into the top of the loaf.
Bake at 350 for 40 minutes. Let cool about 10 minutes in the pan before re-cutting the cross on top and breaking it open a little bit to fully cool

(thanks to The Kid for helping with the last step)

And to finish the meal, My Goodness, My Guinness Spice Cake

2 cups dark brown sugar

1 cup hot water

1 cup room temperature Guinness Extra Stout

2 tablespoons vegan butter

2 cups of dark raisins

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon cloves

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

3 cups whole wheat flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

In a medium-sized sauce pan, combine the sugar, water, stout, butter, raisins, salt, and spices. Bring to a rolling boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Let cool to room temperature.

Note: Oh. My. Goodness. This mixture is seriously amazing. Like can't-stop-licking-the-pan, fighting-over-who-gets-the-spoon amazing. There are some potentially deadly stout caramels in there somewhere. The Kid suggested turning it into pecan pie. In my opinion, Guinness should be as much a kitchen staple as salt & pepper.

Sift together the flour, powder, and soda in a large bowl. Add the cooled stout mixture to the bowl and stir well. Pour into a 9x11 glass baking dish. Bake at 350 degrees for about 35-40 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean. (Mine actually got a little bit dark around the edges so next time I may try a metal pan or playing around with the baking time/temperature).

Then end result of my Irish feast? A room full of smiling eyes and a sink full of completely cleaned plates.

Slainte!