St. Paddy's Day Soda Bread

You know those ultimate comfort foods that instantly trigger a feeling of warmth? Irish soda bread is one of my comfort foods. It brings me back to sitting at my grandmother's kitchen table, among the scent of baking potatoes and corned beef (which I insisted was called beef corn), snacking on a loaf of homemade soda bread. My grandmother, a native of the Emerald Isle, makes an amazing bread. But being the raisin fanatic that I am, I always wanted more raisins. Must be my sweet tooth. I realize that adding raisins to my loaf makes me an Irish impostor. But my blood will tell you otherwise, so I'm not ashamed to add more than the called-for amount of raisins to my bread.  I added a touch more buttermilk than was called for but kept the baking time at an hour, just to ensure the inside would remain moist. 

On this year's St. Paddy's I prepared the soda bread for eight friends. The evening was filled with a whole lot of Irish imitation... Guinness stew, Guinness floats, and you guessed it... Guinness. We all anticipated going out to continue the celebration, but instead stayed parked on my couch enjoying good food and good company. It's rare that I get so many friends together in one room. So I sat back, sliced myself another piece of soda bread, sipped my stout, and reflected on how much I love cooking for my friends.

Irish Soda Bread
Adapted from the Food Network

5 cups sifted all-purpose unbleached flour
3/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 pound (1 stick) butter
2 1/2 cups raisins (or 3 c if you're a fanatic like me)
3 tablespoons caraway seeds
2 1/2 cups buttermilk  (I probably added an extra 1/8 of a cup)
1 large egg, slightly beaten

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Generously butter 2 (9 by 5-inch) bread pans.

Stir together the sifted flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and baking soda. Cut in the butter and mix very thoroughly with your hands until it gets grainy. Stir in raisins and caraway seeds.

Add the buttermilk and egg to the flour mixture. Stir until well moistened. Shape dough into 2 loaves and place in the pans.

Bake for 1 hour.

Granilla

A few weeks ago, some friends and I completed a three week detox. You know, no meat, dairy, gluten, soy, sugar, salt, caffeine, or alcohol. Right... cleansing, torturous, same thing. And while by no means am I a proponent of meatless or sugarless eating for the long haul, it did feel fantastic to get back to clean eating. I found some delicious recipes, shed the holiday guilt, and rediscovered my love for brussel sprouts. Not all bad.

That said, the detox ended. Sayonara celery. Helloooo... granola? Yes, for the those veggie-filled three weeks, I was craving granola. And while I could have made a detox-approved version, it just wouldn't have been the same. You just can't get it crunchy enough without the right amount of oil and honey. So hour 19 into return to toxicity, my kitchen was filled with the sweet smell of toasting pecans and baking cinnamon. The kitchen was also brimming with two anxious ex-detoxers as well as one ecstatic fiance, doing a celebratory dance over his long-awaited end to Meatless Mondays.

Granola: the perfect return-to-food food. Though did I mention we had previously eaten leftover BBQ pulled pork (that we willfully avoided on Super Bowl Sunday)? Or that the aforementioned fiance may or may not have run to the store for an emergency tub of vanilla ice cream (without contest from the granola fiends)? Oh, well I should. But because we are heart-conscious at heart, we subbed the majority of oil with honey and fresh blended pineapple. It was gone in three days.

Granilla
Adapted from Apples & Onions

4 cups rolled oats
2 cups raw nuts (I like a combo of pecans and almonds)
2 cup raisins
A few shakes of cinnamon (don't ask me how many shakes I shook)
1 tsp nutmeg
Dash of allspice
Dash of ground clove
1/4 cup canola oil
1 cup cup honey
1 cup fresh blended pineapple
1 giant tub of vanilla ice cream (semi-optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix together the oats, nuts, raisins and spices in a (very) large mixing bowl. Pour in oil, honey, and pineapple and mix together with a wooden spoon until all ingredients are coated and small clusters begin to form.

Lay parchment paper (or a smear of olive oil) over 2 baking sheets and lay granola flat. Bake for 25-30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes with wooden spoon.

When slightly crunchy, turn the oven off but leave the granola in the oven with the door propped open. The mixture will dehydrate and become even more crispy. Check on it every 5 minutes until it's at your preferred level of crunch.

Serve over a bowl of creamy vanilla ice cream (and again atop your morning oatmeal). The granola will keep for about a week (if you let it) if stored in an airtight container.