Irish Potato Farl

Oh. my. gosh.First of all, Happy St. Patricks day! I wanted to try a traditional Irish Recipe for my St. Pattys day breakfast this year, little did I know it would be the easiest recipe I have ever attempted, .and seriously one of the best things I have ever tried. Behold, Irish Potato Bread Farl. Apparently it's a breakfast staple in Northern Ireland a part of something called an Ulster Fry. An Ulster Fry, according to Wikipedia, is a full Irish breakfast, usually fried (go figure), consisting of bacon, eggs, sausage, soda bread, and potato farl. Now, I have never been to Ireland, but apparently they eat quite well! The Potato Farl is delightfully crisp on the outside and smooth and creamy on the inside. It reminded me a bit of a less oily hashbrown, but a million times better. I messed with the recipe proportions because I only had three little potatoes left over, which yielded 1 1/3 cups mashed potatoes. The recipe source I used said that the amount of flour can vary, just add bit by bit until a soft dough forms. A good rule of thumb is use half as much flour as potato. So, for example, I had 1 1/3 cups mashed potatoes, so I used a scant 2/3 cup flour. The finished product is supposed to be savory and is often served with onions and mushrooms. But I like my breakfast on the sweet side so I topped it with butter and syrup.

It was delightful, and, dare I say it, I liked it better than pancakes! And that is something because I LOVE pancakes! Next time you have mashed potatoes, definitely set a few aside for a hearty potato farl, and Happy St. Patricks day!

Irish Potato Farl

from foodista.com

Ingredients

2 cups hot boiled potatoes

Scant 1 cup flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon butter + more for griddle

While hot, mash potatoes well with salt and butter. Gradually work in flour in smaller increments until a soft dough forms. Dough should be a little tacky but workable.

Divide and roll/press into a circular shape about 9″ and 1/4″ thick.

Cut into 6 or 8 ‘farls’ (wedges). Grill in a hot, greased griddle or pan until well browned on both sides.

So. So. Good.

Have a Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Linking up at Prairie Story Recipe Swap, Full Plate Thursday with Ms. Helen, Designs By Gollum, Family Friendly Friday's, I'm Lovin It, Everything But the Kichen Sink, and It's A Keeper Thursdays.

Another Mexican street food recipe! Every heard of vaselote? I hadn't either until Jose introduced me to this heavenly corn snack, and now its one of my faves! It's Mexican comfort food at it's best. It is sold everywhere in Mexico going by the name vaselote or esquite. By either name... its good! You can order it however you like, off the cob, on the cob, extra chili powder, with lime juice, without lime juice, less mayo, more mayo, extra cheesy or less cheesy (but who would ever want anything LESS cheesy???). I didn't have time to actually grill the corn, so in order to give it that charred smokey taste, I used canned corn and put it in a dry skillet and charred it a bit over high heat. You can use queso fresco or queso cojita. Queso fresco is milder and moister, queso cojita is more crumbly and has a bit stronger flavor. I set out all the ingredients and let people put them together however they wanted. Scrumptious corny goodness... Ole!

Vaselote

Ingredients

Corn

2 cans sweet corn

1 tablespoon butter

1/2 tbsp salt

Drain corn well, heat a heavy bottomed skillet over high heat. When skillet is hot add corn. Cook stirring often until corn is lightly browned (if some pieces get a little charred this is good as it adds to the flavor!). When corn is light brown, add in butter and salt. Stir often until butter is melted. Remove from heat.

Add Ins

Salt

Sour cream

Mayonnaise

Queso fresco

Lime juice

Chili powder

Salsa Valentina (or Tabasco sauce)

I would recommend that each person serve themselves so that they can add whichever ingredients in whatever quantity they would like.

My favorite combination.....

For each individual vaselote, put 1 spoonful of mayo or sour cream in the bottom of a small dish or glass. Top with one cup of corn. Top corn with more mayo/sour cream, queso fresco, chili powder and a bit of salsa and about 2 tsp of lime juice. Mix well. Top with a bit more queso and chili powder. Serve.

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Martha's Rosemary Almonds

Today I love... long flowy summer dresses like this one, frozen cookie dough, my bread machine and puppies!

Does it get any cuter???

Now, for something I love everyday..... snacks.... little delicious morsels I can nibble throughout the day. Extra bonus if the snacks are nutritious and not chock full of sugar. These rosemary almonds are full of good for you things and are wonderfully addictive! I clipped the recipe from Martha Stewart Living a few months back and have made them quite a few times since then. The first time I made them I used dried rosemary as I didn't have fresh on hand. However, when I discovered that the italian restaurant down the street has a HUGE rosemary plant out front, I decided to try them with fresh rosemary :) (It's a really big plant, I'm sure they don't mind my borrowing a branch every now and again). Fresh rosemary, if you have it, makes for a more flavorful snack but the dried is pretty darn good too. Enjoy, and happy snacking!

Rosemary Candied Almonds

Recipe from Martha Stewart Living, May 2010

Ingredients

2 tbsp sugar

Coarse salt

2 tbsp unsalted butter

2 tbsp honey

2 cups raw almonds

2 tbsp fresh rosemary

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Stir together 4 teaspoons sugar and 1/2 tsp salt. Set aside. Heat butter and honey over medium-high heat in a large skillet until bubbling. Remove from heat.

Add almonds and rosemary, toss to coat

Transfer alomd-rosemary mixture to a parchment or foil lined baking sheet (don't scrape excess syrup from skillet, it will make them too gooey). Sprinkle almonds with sugar/salt mixture. Roast almonds until fragrant, 8-9 minutes.

Remove from oven and sprinkle with remaining 2 tsp. sugar and 1/2 tsp salt, toss to coat. Let cool completely.

If your not going to eat them soon, they can be stored in a tightly sealed tupperware in the freezer for up to one month. That is a month's worth of yummy munching!