Top of the Morning

I'm not Irish. I'm a mutt with lots of euro-ancestors, German, Scottish, but not Irish. Thankfully on St. Patrick's Day, we all get to be Irish! I got my green on. Last night I made two traditional Irish foods - corned beef and soda bread. (The beef is from Grandpa Ed's farm.) The recipes are below. We also had cauliflower-gratin because Jeremy and Jordan aren't fans of cabbage. I suppose potatoes would be more fitting, but we don't have any left (the voles ate most of our potato crop last year).

Corned Beef

16 oz beef brisket

6 c water

1 Tbs mustard seeds

1 tsp salt

1 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp pepper

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground allspice

1/4 tsp ground cloves

2 bay leaves

Place all in a large, heavy pot, cover and bring to boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer until cooked through - about 1 to 1 1/2 hrs. Remove meat and let it rest for 10 before cutting. Serve with some of the liquid for pouring over.

Brown Soda Bread

Cooking spray

2 ½ c whole-wheat flour

½ c all-purpose flour

½ c steel-cut oats

2 T brown sugar

1 T wheat germ

1 t baking soda

1 t baking powder

½ t salt

2 c low-fat buttermilk

1 large egg, lightly beaten

Preheat oven to 325 F. Coat a loaf pan with cooking spray. Line pan with parchment paper and coat the paper with cooking spray. Combine flours and the next 6 ingredients (through salt). In a separate bowl, combine buttermilk and egg; pour into flour and stir until just combined. Spoon batter into prepared loaf pan. Bake 1 hour and 5 minutes or until toothpick test comes out clean. Invert bread on a wire rack; cool completely. Remove parchment paper and slice.