Hearty fare for the hunter
While some Crees have already taken a goose in the south, others are just gearing up to hit the blinds to enjoy this year’s Goose Break.
Before that first kill, our hunters may need something warm to come home to or leftovers to take to the blind. The following recipes, from An Irish Country Cookbook by Patrick Taylor and Dorothy Tinman, are both hearty and heart-warming.
While you might not think of Irish fare as a go-to-meal while waiting for the geese, you could easily substitute moose or caribou for the beef in a steak-and-mushroom pie. Kedgeree – a dish made from rice, smoked fish and vegetables and Guinness gingerbread – offers all kinds of ingredients that will comfort a chilled soul patiently awaiting this spring’s kill.
Irish food is all about country comfort. It uses loads of meat and fish paired with simple vegetables and carbs. Just like you don’t need to eat Irish to be Irish, neither do you need to be Irish to eat Irish.
Steak and Mushroom Pie
I think this is easier and quicker than a Steak and Kidney Pudding, and it is also good served with mashed potatoes. Serves 4
2 8 oz / 227 g mushrooms
1 lb / 455g stewing beef, trimmed and cut into 1- in/2.5-cm pieces
2 tbsp all-purpose flour
2 tbsp vegetable oil
2 onions, chopped
30 oz / 885 ml beef stock, plus extra as needed
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 package frozen puff pastry, about 1 lb / 455 g, thawed, or Quick Flaky Pastry (recipe follows)
1 egg yolk and a little milk to glaze
Prepare the kidneys by removing the outer membrane and cutting away all tubes and fat or gristle, then slice into ⅜-inch / 1-cm pieces. Dust the beef in the flour. Heat the oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat. Add the beef in several batches and brown it on all sides in the hot oil. (If you add it all at once it will not brown.) Add the kidneys and fry for 2 or 3 minutes.
Remove from the pan and fry the onions for a few minutes. Now return the meat and kidneys to the pan, sprinkle the remaining flour on top, add the beef stock and Worcestershire sauce, and simmer gently, covered, for 1½ hours. You want the gravy to reduce and thicken but watch that it does not all disappear. If it reduces too much just add some more stock. Now test for tenderness and season with salt and pepper to taste.
Preheat the oven to 425°F/220°C. Place the steak and kidney mixture in a 7-inch pie dish and allow it to cool. Roll out the pastry to a shape that will cover the filling and crimp round the edges; trim off the surplus. Brush with the egg-and-milk mixture and make a cut in the centre of the lid to allow the steam to escape. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes or until the pastry is risen and golden brown.
Quick Flaky Pastry
If you prefer to make your own pastry, here is one that I like to do.
Makes 1 pie case or 1 pie top about 7 inches / 18 cm in diameter
4 oz / 113 g lard or margarine
6½ oz / 184 g all-purpose flour
½ tsp salt
a pinch of baking powder
4 tsp cider vinegar
2 oz / 60 ml ice water
Chill the fat in the freezer for several hours. In a large bowl combine the flour, salt, and baking powder. Chop the lard or grate it using a coarse cheese grater, and mix it into the flour (or you can briefly process it in a food processor). Mix the vinegar and a little water together and stir into the flour. Don’t add too much water to begin with, as you can add more later, if needed. Rest the pastry, wrapped in cling film, in the refrigerator for about 1 hour before rolling out. Then roll out on a very well-floured work surface and chill in the refrigerator until needed.
Kinky’s Note:
- If you use whole-wheat flour for the rolling out, it adds a nice, crunchy texture to the pastry.
- If you are blind-baking a pie shell I think it is preferable to use a metal pie tin, as it gives a crisper finish than baking in a ceramic or glass dish. You can always transfer it to a ceramic or glass dish when adding the filling.
Kedgeree
This is very good with either my Irish Wheaten Bread or Guinness Bread. Doctor O’Reilly likes it for breakfast nearly as much as he likes my kippers but it is also a very appetizing lunch dish. Himself is very fond of it and he told me that this was one of those dishes that came from India in Victorian times and had originated as a means of using up leftovers from the previous evening at breakfast time before there were refrigerators.
Serves 6 to 8
1½ lb / 680 g
undyed smoked haddock (or use half salmon and half haddock)
19 oz / 560 ml water
2 bay leaves
1½ oz / 42 g butter
1 onion, finely chopped
8 oz / 227 g long-grain basmati rice
1 heaped tbsp medium curry powder
3 tbsp heavy cream
3 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
2 tbsp chopped scallion
juice of ½ a lemon, plus lemon wedges for serving
freshly ground black pepper
3 large hard-boiled eggs, quartered
Bring the fish, water, and bay leaves to the boil in a large saucepan and simmer gently for about 10 minutes. Drain the fish, reserving the cooking liquid as you will use this to cook the rice, and discard the bay leaves. Now flake the fish into bite-size chunks and make sure that no bones remain.
Melt the butter in a large frying pan and fry the onion gently, but don’t let it colour. Add the rice, curry powder, and reserved liquid and cook for the time recommended on the packet, adding more water if necessary.
When the rice is cooked, add the cream, parsley, scallion, lemon juice, pepper, and finally the flaked fish. Stir gently and place the hard-boiled eggs on top. You can keep this warm in a very low oven, covered with a lid, for about 20 minutes. I like to put it in a silver chafing dish and leave it on the sideboard so that everyone can help themselves at breakfast time.
Guinness Gingerbread
Makes 1 cake
10½ oz /298 g all-purpose flour
1 tbsp ground ginger
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice or Chinese five-spice powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
8 oz / 227 g butter, softened
8 oz / 227 g brown sugar
2 eggs plus 1 egg yolk
9 oz / 265 ml molasses or treacle
6 oz / 180 ml Guinness, flat
Preheat the oven to 350°F/180°C. Grease and flour a 9-by-5-in / 23-by-12-cm loaf tin. Sift the flour, ginger, pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together into a large bowl. In a separate bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar together until fluffy. Add the eggs and yolk, and then the molasses and continue to beat until well mixed. Gradually add the flour mixture alternating with the Guinness; do not over beat. Pour the batter into the prepared tin and bake for 50 minutes to an hour, until well risen and firm to the touch.
Allow the cake to cool in the tin for a few minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely, covered with a damp tea towel. Now you can of course eat it right away, and it really does make a nice dessert served with cream or ice cream. However, if you wrap the gingerbread in parchment and leave it in an airtight tin for a day or two, it will become more moist and delicious. Some people enjoy this with butter.
Kinky’s Note: If you find that your brown sugar has gone hard and you need to use it immediately just put it in a microwave-safe container with a piece of damp paper towel and a lid. Then microwave it on high for about 30 seconds and test it for softness. If it is still hard just give it another 30 seconds. To soften brown sugar that you do not need to use right away just put it in an airtight container, add a piece of well-moistened paper towel, cover, and leave it until the sugar absorbs the moisture. Then remove the paper and replace the lid.