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Planning your St. Patrick’s Day menu? Below you will find an easy dessert that consists of just four ingredients (more, if you like add-ins like raisins and nuts), and requires no baking. It’s a bit lumpy and bumpy which makes me love it all the more; it’s Irish biscuit cake, a popular favorite in Ireland and the groom’s wedding cake for the royal wedding of Prince William and the lovely Duchess Kate.

Before we dive into the biscuit cake, here are a few ideas for your St. Patrick’s Day feast.

Guinness Beef Stew

Irish Brown Bread

Guinness Ice Cream Float

Smoked Salmon Dip

Irish Whiskey and Brown Sugar Salmon

As long as you don’t call anything a car bomb, you’ll be all set.

Back to the biscuit cake, which could not be easier. I used a recipe from Kerrygold, omitting the hazelnuts because I forgot to buy them.

chocolate chips

First you’ve got chocolate.

golden syrup

And then there’s golden syrup. I got this in the Irish section at our local grocery store. I am guessing that grocery stores across the US don’t have Irish sections (which makes me even happier to live in Dorchester), so you can also use honey or corn syrup. I’d recommend finding golden syrup though, as it has a lovely, slightly burnt caramel flavor. Someone had to lick the spoon. . .

golden syrup

The final two ingredients are Kerrygold butter and rich tea biscuits. Thankfully, the recipe only used about half the sleeve, which means we have biscuits for tea for the rest of the week.

rich tea biscuits

To make this dessert, you simply need to melt the butter, chocolate, and golden syrup together, either in the microwave or over a double boiler, then fold in broken biscuits. You can also add nuts and raisins, depending on your preferences. It’s that simple.

Once the ingredients are combined, pour into a wax paper lined container, and let cool until completely firm.

image

Cut into bars, and enjoy this sweet little tea treat.

image

Are you planning on any St. Patrick’s Day recipes this week?

Tags: chocolate, dessert, easy dessert, easy recipe, Food, Ireland, recipes, St. Patrick's Day

Spring definitely feels like it’s on its way here in Boston! We had the windows open for much of the weekend, and it was lovely to feel fresh breezes blowing through the windows. I love the change of seasons and the hope that March brings just as much as I love St. Patrick’s Day and my birthday season. Chilly nights still call for warm comfort food, and Sunday dinner was a delicious Guinness beef stew that I put together  without a recipe.

Guinness

Ingredients:

1,14.9 ounce can of Guinness

1 pound of stew beef

1 cup of beef stock

3 cups chopped red potatoes

2 cups baby carrots

2 cups butternut squash

2 cups peas and pearl onions

3 tablespoons tomato paste

3 tablespoons flour

3 tablespoons butter

garlic powder, black pepper, parsley, and sea salt to taste

stew beef in Guinness

I started by marinating the stew beef in Guinness, garlic powder, black pepper, sea salt, and parsley. It smelled so good! While the beef marinated, I prepped the veggies, saving time and money by using frozen peas and butternut squash.

When I was ready to get this all-day recipe going, I started by removing the beef from the Guinness marinade and dusting it with flour. I added the beef to an already-browning roux and cooked the beef on all sides until browned. Then I poured in the Guinness marinade and scraped up all of the beef bits from the bottom of the pan. I layered the veggies in, poured in beef stock, and added the tomato paste, stirred, and cooked on very low for five hours.

red potatoes

butternut squash

peas and onions

The result was a rich, flavorful, filling dinner that went perfectly with my favorite brown bread. The Guinness base of the stew added so much depth; this is definitely a Sunday dinner winner and a great option for St. Patrick’s Day.

Guinness Beef Stew

I can’t believe it’s Monday already. I’m a little overwhelmed already by my workload for the week but excited because my fantastic father-in-law arrives from Ireland on Wednesday. We’re having a party for him Friday night, and I can’t wait to be with family and friends to celebrate him.

What are you looking forward to this week?

Tags: beef, Food, Guinness, Guinness beef stew, Ireland, St. Patrick's Day

A sauce so delicious you want to put it on everything? This is it. Last summer our friends hosted us at a fantastic July 4th barbecue. It was hot and sunny, we had spent the earlier part of the day on the boat (Just over 2 months til boating season!), and we were relaxing around the fire pit with fun friends and amazing food. Venezuelan friends of our friends brought a green sauce that they apparently are asked to bring to every party. I’m not even sure what I was supposed to put it on, but once I tasted it, I wanted to put it on everything, so I did.

Fast forward to February, this cold and dreary month where things have been stressful in this household, to say the very least. The summer sun and sea can’t come fast enough; at least then when our nasty neighbor is making me sick with her smoking I can go sleep on the boat!

I had a random craving for steak last week, and this green sauce popped into my head again. A quick Google of “Venezuelan green sauce” brought me to this page, which features a recipe for Guasacaca. I didn’t know the name, but going by the way the sauce tasted, the ingredients sounded right, so I decided to make it. guasacaca ingredients

Guasacaca is a vibrant green sauce that combines avocados, green peppers, garlic, onion, vinegar, and oil with generous amounts cilantro and parsley. The vinegar gives it a little tang while the herbs make it bright and flavorful.

oil and vinegar

To my Guasacaca, I also added two Thai green chili peppers, not Venezuelan, I know, but I wanted a little bit of heat. It was a good decision.

guasacaca

For Thursday night dinner, I picked up four small sirloin steaks at Foodie’s Urban Market, which is dangerously close to my South End office. They have such a great selection of all sorts of food, wine, and beer, and while it’s pricey, it’s also handy for picking up one or two items during the week.

sirloin steak

I simply prepped my steaks by seasoning on both sides with sea salt and pepper and grilling them to perfection on my grill pan. I topped the steaks with the Guasacaca and served with mountains of steamed spinach and baked sweet potatoes, both of which found their way dipped in the Guasacaca as well.

steak with guasacaca

This meal was perfect, a mix of winter and summer and a delicious way to brighten up a challenging week. The addition of a Chilean red wine on the side definitely didn’t hurt.

How are you keeping warm and hopeful for brighter days this February?

Ingredients: (adapted from original recipe posted on on Venezuelan Food and Drinks)

1 medium onion, roughly chopped

2 green sweet peppers, seeded, deveined, and roughly chopped

2 ripe avocados, peeled and seeded

2 cloves garlic

2 spicy green chili peppers

Half a bunch of fresh parsley leaves

Half a bunch fresh cilantro leaves

A third cup red wine vinegar

1 tablespoon salt, or to taste

Pinch of black pepper

1 cup olive oil

Add all ingredients except for the olive oil to food processor and puree until smooth. Slowly stream in olive oil until combined completely.

Serve this sauce with meat, fish, vegetables, chips, crackers. . . it’s so delicious it goes well with just about everything.

Tags: comfort food, dinner, Food, Guasacaca, meal planning, meals, recipe, steak

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