Ireland

On March 17^th, I felt we had no choice but to honour Ireland in our culinary tour.

Being a Sunday, and the last day of March Break, and St Patrick's Day....why not start the day with an Irish coffee? While Shawn and I were in Ireland last fall, I learned how to make Irish coffee at the Jameson Distillery Museum....and of course, we had a half bottle of Jameson in the “bar”.

                     

So, first drag yourself out of bed and put the coffee on to brew. While it is brewing, make yourself as presentable as you deem fit. Pour hot coffee into you mug (a clear one if you have it), about ¾ full. Add a small teaspoon of brown sugar and stir. Add 1oz (really.....it is morning after all) of Jameson Irish Whiskey. Pour some cold cream (½ & ½ works.....full 18% will do if that is all you have....) into your chilled cocktail shaker. Shake it up until thickened, and spoon onto the top of your coffee...it should look just like a freshly poured pint of Guinness. Go sit by the fire (or window, or back into bed if you must) and enjoy. Repeat as necessary.

I have had these recipe cards that I had picked up at the Guinness museum in Dublin, and I have hung onto to them for the last year and a half, waiting for a reason to use them....well there's no time like the present!

For dinner we had Venison & Guinness Stew with Champ Potato, for dessert Guinness Chocolate Mousse, and of course a couple of pints of Guinness to wash it all down.  The cans of Guinness we get imported from Ireland are not quite the same, but will do.Fortunately, we are expert Guinness pourers....we have certificates somewhere to prove it....AND even an authentic Guinness pint glass that a friendly barkeep in Sligo “gave” Shawn.

Shawn and the boys donned there Irish rugby shirts, Iain broke one of our Jameson glasses (what kind of karma do you get from breaking a glass we so carefully brought home from Ireland with us ON St Patrick's Day?) and we dug into dinner...and then promptly went to bed.

Venison & Guinness Stew

(my variation, inspired by my recipe card)

This recipe fed the four of us dinner and lunch the next day

• 1 lb of venison, chopped (recipe card called for ½ pound stewing beef)
• 1-2 large carrots chopped
• 2 stalks celery chopped
• handful of white mushrooms, quartered (recipe called for parsnip....who actually keeps parsnip in their fridge?)
• 1L thick stock (beef....or venison if you happen to have it, we did!)
• sprigs of fresh thyme & rosemary
• 1 can of Guinness (ummm.....recipe called for only 200ml, I didn't read that until after)

 Stir fry the meat, add the vegetables and cook until tender, then pour in the Guinness (go ahead, use the whole can, you bought a 4-pack, right?) Reduce by half (will take awhile of you used the whole can, if not, it should take the amount of time it takes you to drink the remains of the can)

Add the stock and herbs and simmer slowly for 1 ½ – 2 hours. Serve with champ potato.....which is really just mashed potatoes with spring onions in them, I made mashed potatoes with butter and sour cream, them added in 3 shopped green onions.

Guinness Chocolate Mousse

Serves 6...generous servings!

• 10 (yep, 10) eggs, separated (as in yolks from whites, not 4 from 6, or 5 from 5)
• 350g dark chocolate
• ¼ lb butter
• ¼ cup sugar
• 100ml Guiness (did you use, or drink the whole can from the stew? Better open another one.....)

Melt chocolate and butter, stir in the Guinness. Beat yolks and sugar until light and fluffy.

Beak whites until soft peaks form. Mix chocolate into yolk mixture until well combined. Fold in whites until all is smooth. Transfer to serving glasses and chill.

Was great topped with whipped cream (slightly under whipped) and cherries.