Cooking or Cancun?

Spring break! WOO HOO!!! Cancun, here I … Oh wait! I’m not 22 anymore! Instead I
stayed home and did some cooking. I’ve never been a fan of breaks so I thought this week was
worthy of a journal entry. My favorite holiday is St. Patrick’s Day. My mom’s maiden name is
McGinnis so I am an Irish girl. … And I am damn proud of it. It’s where I get a lot of my
stubbornness.

I am normally not a beer drinker but I make one exception each year for St. Patrick’s Day
and enjoy a Guinness. This year I had some fun in the kitchen. Last semester, in Chef Andy’s
Menu Planning class, I wrote an Irish menu and just had to try some of the courses. I’m thinking
I could be on to something for International Cuisine too. The menu for St. Patrick’s Day
consisted of: Whiskey-glazed corned beef, roasted root vegetable soup, reuben rolls, black-n-tan
mac & cheese & Irish car bomb cake.

The whiskey-glazed corned beef intrigued me. I don’t love corned beef in general but I
figured I would give it a shot. I cooked the corned beef in the crock pot, low and slow for 10
hours with the seasoning that comes with it. About 15 minutes before service, I brushed on the
glaze and put it under the broiler for 2 minutes, just enough time for the glaze to thicken and start
to darken. Pulled it out and reglazed and put it back in. Repeated until the glaze was gone.
Perfect!!!

The soup was an adventure too. I’ve never done anything with rutabaga or parsnips.
Following my instincts, I did a medium dice on the carrots, parnips and rutabaga. Seasoned and
roasted them in the oven for 30 minutes. Sautéed the onion and celery enough to soften but not
brown. Added everything to the stock pot with a quart of broth. Brought that to a boil and
reduced to a simmer. Simmered for 30 minutes and then pureed. The flavor was outstanding!

Black-n-tan mac & cheese was incredibly good. I don’t think I will ever make macaroni
& cheese without boiling the pasta in lager beer. You could actually taste the beer in the pasta.
Liam was less than thrilled! I think this was the first and only time he passed on mac & cheese.

I did a little baking during spring break too. I made an Irish car bomb cake. Guinness in
the cake batter, whiskey in the ganache & Bailey’s Irish Cream in the frosting. You get the idea!
My cooking got rave reviews! And don’t question the validity of those reviews. I can always tell
when my family doesn’t like my cooking. Not one part of this meal was wasted.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Black bean lentil chili

In 2018, my family moved from Wisconsin to Colorado. It was the most challenging move I have ever made. I had a plan for when we got into town. Surrounded by boxes, I knew we needed a recipe that we could put together with very few things unpacked. Chili, to the rescue! It's a Wisconsin tradition when it gets cold out to heat up the house with the sent of chili.  1 lb. Ground chuck 1 lb. Ground sirloin 2 cans Black beans, drained 1 can Corn kernels 1 can Fire roasted corn 1 can Stewed tomatoes Ground black pepper, to taste 1 Tbsp. Minced garlic 3 Tbsp. Chili pepper  1 tsp Cumin seed 1 tsp Paprika  1 tsp Chipotle 12 oz. Dried lentils, rinsed 6 cups Vegetable broth Brown the ground meat with garlic in a saute pan. Transfer to a crock pot. Cook on high for 30 minutes. Add garlic, spices and the canned vegetables and 3 cups of vegetable broth. Turn to low. Let simmer for 8 hours. When there is 2 hours left of the cooking time, turn back to high. Ad...
Read more

Bourbon Glazed Candied Bacon

Image
Closest thing to heaven! Every holiday ... A Tuesday brunch ... It's becoming a staple in my household. Bacon is awesome to be begin with. This recipe takes it to a whole new level. Candied bacon! The perfect balance of sweet vs. spicy.  Last year was my first attempt at candied bacon. I found two recipes that weren't quite right. Originally, I used 2 tsp of cayenne red pepper. That was way too spicy. This year, I was going to cut it down to 1 tsp, my sister thought that was still way too much so we tried 1/2 tsp which turned out perfect.    1 lbs Applewood smoked bacon 1 cup packed light brown sugar 1/2 tsp cayenne red pepper 1/2 Tbsp black pepper  2 oz. Jack Daniels Bourbon Line a sheet pan with foil. Place a wire rack on top of the sheet pan. Lay bacon in single layer on the rack. Be careful not to overlap the bacon for even cooking. Mix all other ingredients in a bowl. Spread the mixture on each piece of bacon evenly. Bake for 35 minutes at 350℉. The first time y...
Read more

Pasta From Scratch

I know we haven’t done this week yet. I’ve been waiting for the pasta week. If I were to ever open a restaurant it would most likely be Italian. I can’t wait to make pasta from scratch. My aunt Diane and I made it once when I was a pre-teen and it turned out horrible! Very gummy … Yuck!!! I really hope we get to make different variations of pasta. Spinach fettuccine is my absolute favorite! I’d love to make a pesto sauce from scratch too. Ravioli sounds good too, with lobster! Andrew said he wants to work with me on the lasagna. I’m game. I like lasagna. I’ll be sure to get a béchamel sauce in there too. Andrew said we will make different shapes of pasta. At home, Liam and I play ‘Restaurant’ all the time. Sometime he is a baker, other times he is a chef-er. He loves that I am in culinary school and we talk all the time about how a restaurant functions and what to do if someone orders food that you don’t have on hand. This is an organic conversation I had with him, fitting...
Read more