Midweek Meals: Beat the winter cold with these comforting, classic Irish recipes

Bia blasta from the comfort of your own kitchen, with vegetable soup and soda bread; steak and Guinness pie; Corkonian tripe and drisheen; and a no-cook cream tart

Modern takes on some Irish classics

Irish country soup

recipe by:Darina Allen

Rich, hearty and filled with vegetables, this soup is the perfect solution for a cold winter evening - enjoy with homemade bread

Servings

4

Preparation Time

 10 mins

Cooking Time

 15 mins

Total Time

 25 mins

Course

 Starter

Cuisine

 Irish

Ingredients

• 175g un-smoked streaky Irish bacon

• olive or sunflower oil

• 150g potatoes, peeled and chopped into 5mm pieces

• 50g onions, finely chopped

• 1 small garlic clove (optional)

• 450g very ripe tomatoes, peeled and diced or 400g tin of tomatoes and juice

• salt

• freshly ground pepper

• ½-1 tsp sugar

• 750ml homemade chicken stock or vegetable stock

• 50g cabbage, finely chopped

• chopped parsley, to garnish 

Method

1. Remove the rind from the bacon if necessary.

2. Prepare the vegetables

3. Cut the bacon into 5mm dice approx. Blanch the bacon cubes in cold water to remove some of the salt. Drain and dry on kitchen paper.

4. Sauté in a little olive or sunflower oil until the fat runs and the bacon is crisp and golden. Add potatoes, onions and crushed garlic. Sweat for 10 minutes and then add diced tomatoes and any juice. Season with salt, pepper and sugar. Cover with stock and cook for five minutes.

5. Add the finely chopped cabbage and continue to simmer just until the cabbage is cooked. Taste and adjust seasoning. Sprinkle with lots of chopped parsley and serve.

Traditional Irish White Soda Bread

recipe by:Darina Allen

Soda bread only takes 2 or 3 minutes to make and 30 - 40 minutes to bake, scones will be ready in just 10 minutes. It is certainly another of my 'great convertibles'. We have had the greatest fun experimenting with different additions and uses.

Servings

1

Preparation Time

 20 mins

Cooking Time

 45 mins

Total Time

 1 hours 5 mins

Course

 Baking

Ingredients

• 450g plain white flour

• 1 level tsp salt

• 1 level tsp bread soda sour milk or buttermilk to mix – 350-400ml approx.

Method

1. First fully preheat your oven to 230ºC/Gas Mark 8.

2. Sieve the dry ingredients into a large bowl. Make a well in the centre. Pour most of the milk in at once. Using just one hand to mix with your fingers stiff and outstretched, like a claw, mix in a full, circular movement from the centre to the outside of the bowl, adding more milk if necessary. The dough should be softish, not too wet and sticky.

3. When it all comes together, turn it out onto a well-floured work surface. WASH AND DRY YOUR HANDS.

4. Then with floured hands, tidy it up and flip over gently. Pat the dough into a round, about 4cm deep and cut a cross on it (the traditional blessing), then prick in the four corners to let the fairies out of the bread, otherwise they will jinx it!

5. Transfer to a baking tray.

6. Bake in a hot oven, 230ºC/Gas Mark 8 for 15 minutes, then reduce the heat to 200ºC/Gas Mark 6 for 30 minutes or until cooked. If you are in doubt, tap the bottom of the bread, when it is cooked it will sound hollow.

7. Cool on a wire rack.

Nathan Anthony’s slow cooker steak and Guinness pie

This rich pie is perfect on a cold day.

Servings

6

Preparation Time

 10 mins

Cooking Time

 8 hours 25 mins

Total Time

 8 hours 35 mins

Course

 IEC-recipe-root

Ingredients

• 800g beef steak or rump (or 1kg brisket), chopped

• 440ml can of Guinness

• 200ml beef stock

• 1tbsp tomato purée

• 1tsp dried rosemary

• 1tsp dried thyme

• 1tsp dried oregano

• 1 bay leaf

• 1tbsp brown sugar

• 2 carrots, roughly chopped

• 1 red onion, chopped

• 1 celery stick, chopped

• 1 heaped tbsp cornflour

• 3 garlic cloves, crushed

• 1 sheet of ready-rolled puff pastry

• 1 egg, beaten, to glaze the pastry

• Salt and pepper, to taste

• Tenderstem broccoli, and carrot and parsnip mash, to serve (optional)

Method

1. Throw all the ingredients, except the pastry and egg, in the slow cooker.

2. Cook on high for four hours or low for seven to eight hours. Discard the bay leaf.

3. Preheat the oven to 200°C. Top the beef filling with the puff pastry, tuck it round the pie, then brush with the beaten egg.

4. Pop the ovenproof slow-cooker pot (without the lid) into the oven for 25 minutes until golden and crisp. If your slow-cooker pot isn’t oven-safe, decant the filling into an ovenproof pot, cover with the pastry, brush with the egg and bake as above.

5. Serve with Tenderstem broccoli, and carrot and parsnip mash, if you like.

6. Tip: To get the pastry the right size, put your slow cooker lid on top of your puff pastry sheet and cut round it before adding to the slow cooker.

Tripe and onions, with drisheen

The Farmgate Cafe at the English Market, Cork has been serving traditional tripe and drisheen for over 30 years.

Servings

4

Preparation Time

 10 mins

Cooking Time

 2 hours 0 mins

Total Time

 2 hours 10 mins

Course

 Main

Cuisine

 Cork

Ingredients

• 1 lb (450g) tripe

• 1 large onion, peeled and sliced

• Salt and freshly ground pepper

• Cold milk (full fat!) - sufficient to cover

• Thyme

• Bay leaf

• Irish (English) Mustard – to taste

• Corn flour or roux

• Parsley – chopped

• Drisheen – optional

Method

1. Put the tripe into a saucepan, cover with water and a lid, then bring to the boil then simmer for around 1 hour (approx.).

2. Discard the liquor in the pot, add the sliced onion and cover with cold milk, bay leaf and thyme.

3. Simmer gently for 1 hour approx. until the tripe is tender.

4. At this stage remove thyme, bay leaf etc, season with salt and pepper and mustard. 

5. To thicken the sauce, use either some corn flour, or roux. If using cornflour, approximately a dessert spoon, made into a paste with some water, add to pot, and stir.

6. Serve with a knob of butter and some chopped curly parsley, and either some buttered white soda bread, or steamed jacket potatoes on the side.

7. With drisheen

8. We add drisheen at the end to our tripe and onions.

9. Peel and slice drisheen, as much or a little as you want, add it to the tripe, and heat through before serving. Sprinkle with generous amount of chopped curly parsley and a knob of butter.

Irish cream tart

This dessert is one of the most luxurious no-bake treats you can make.

Servings

12

Preparation Time

 20 mins

Total Time

 20 mins

Course

 Dessert

Ingredients

• For the base

• 300g digestive biscuits

• 35g cocoa powder

• 150g unsalted butter, melted

• For the filling:

• 175g dark chocolate

• 175g milk chocolate

• 50g unsalted butter

• 300ml double cream

• 150ml Irish cream liqueur (I use Baileys Original)

• For the tipping:

• 125ml double cream

• 25ml Irish cream liqueur

• 2 tbsp icing sugar

• Grated milk chocolate

Method

1. In a food processor, blitz the biscuits and cocoa powder to a fine crumb, add the melted butter and pulse a few times until well combined. Transfer to a 23cm loose-bottomed tart tin and press firmly into the base and sides.

2. Filling In a large bowl, add the dark chocolate, milk chocolate and butter. In a small pan, add the double cream and Irish cream liqueur and heat until just before boiling point. Pour over the chocolate and butter and whisk together until smooth.

3. Pour the filling into the biscuit crust and chill in the fridge for around 3 hours until set.

4. Carefully remove the biscuit crust from the tin and transfer to a serving plate.

5. In a large bowl, whip the double cream, Irish cream liqueur and icing sugar together to form soft peaks. Transfer to a piping bag with a piping nozzle fitted and pipe swirls over the tart. Grate some chocolate over the dessert before serving.

6. This cake lasts 3+ days in the fridge.