An Irish supper

Tom is out tonight at a retirement party for fellow teachers, and this is what I made for supper. Both are new (to me) recipes. The bread comes from Les' cooking blog, and the soup from an old Saveur magazine article on Irish foods. The soup is quite like Gladys Taber's Leek and Potato Soup (scroll down on the page), just using scallions rather than leeks. Being Irish myself, I could just about live on bread and potatoes! You might think it strange to have soup and warm bread for supper on the last night of spring, but it is cloudy and cool, and I have a little fire going in the woodstove. It is really much like an Irish evening.

Irish Soda Bread

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1/3 cup white sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 cups buttermilk
1/4 cup butter, melted

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan.

Combine flour, baking powder, sugar, salt and baking soda.
Blend egg and buttermilk together, and add all at once to the flour mixture.
Mix until just moistened.
Stir in melted butter.
Pour into prepared pan.

Bake for 65-70 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the bread comes outs clean. Cool on a wire rack. Wrap in foil for several hours, or overnight, for best flavor.

My notes: I used 1/2 whole wheat flour and 1/2 white.
I put a little lemon juice in a 2-cup measure, and added milk.
I baked it in an 8 x 8 pan.
Part way through I turned the heat up to 350º.


Irish Potato and Spring Onion Soup

Chop an onion and scallions.
I picked 7 scallions, and used both the white and green parts.
Saute in 2 T. olive oil.
Chop four cups potatoes and cook in four cups water.
Add onion/scallion mix, and then put the whole thing through a food mill (or blender or food processor).

I couldn't have been more pleased with this meal. Both soup and bread were perfectly delicious.