Celtic Thanksgiving
Life
21/11/2008, Liz Patton
OK, for once we'll put away the music and focus more on other elements of the Celtic tradition. Now the American tradition of Thanksgiving, and even Christmas meals
has been around for 50 years. The turkey, mashed potatoes, and fixings are central to the meal... and get's really boring after a while. The Celtic nations have numerous
culinary ideas that don't get around very much, and I'd like to showcase a few here - just in time for the winter holiday season.
Meat:
Coq au Vin
This is a French recipe (remember, Gaul was one of the Celtic nations) that gets poultry on the table with a twist from a standard turkey. It takes about 4 hours, plus letting sit overnight in the fridge.
Ingredients
1 lb. onions, diced
4 chicken thighs and legs, or 1 (5 to 7-pound) stewing chicken, cut into serving pieces
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 to 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons water
6 ounces bacon, cubed
8 ounces button mushrooms, quartered
1 tablespoon butter
2 (750-ml) bottles red wine, preferably pinot noir
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 stalks celery, quartered
2 medium carrots, quartered
3 cloves garlic, crushed
6 to 8 sprigs fresh thyme
1 bay leaf
2 cups chicken stock or broth
Directions
Place the chicken pieces, a few at a time, into a large (1 or 2-gallon) sealable plastic bag along with the flour, salt and pepper and shake to coat. Remove the chicken from the bag to a metal rack.
Put bacon and 2 tablespoons of water to a large, 12-inch saute pan over medium heat. Cover and cook until the water is gone, and the bacon is crispy. Remove the salt pork from the pan and set aside, saving the fat.
In the same pan, using the remaining fat, add the onions, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and saute until lightly brown. Remove the onions from the pan and set aside. Do the same with the mushrooms and then put
onions, mushrooms and bacon in an airtight container and refridgerate.
Next, brown the chicken pieces on each side until golden brown, working in batches if necessary to not overcrowd the pan. Transfer the chicken into a 7 to 8-quart oven-safe container, idealy an enameled cast-iron Drtch oven.
Pour off any remaining fat and deglaze the pan with approximately 1 cup of the wine. Pour this into the Dutch oven along with the chicken stock, tomato paste, quartered onion, carrots, celery, garlic, thyme, and bay leaf.
Add all of the remaining wine. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
The next day, preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Place the chicken in the oven and cook for 2 to 2 1/2 hours, or until the chicken is tender. Maintain a very gentle simmer and stir occasionally.
Once the chicken is done, strain the sauce to a saucepan (to remove the veggies and herbs), and place the chicken in the oven to keep warm.
Place the saucepan over medium heat, and reduce by 1/3. Depending on how much liquid you actually began with, this should take 20 to 45 minutes. Once the sauce has thickened, add the onions, mushrooms, and pork
and cook for another 15 minutes or until the heated through. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary, remove from the heat, add the chicken and serve.
This is modified from Alton Brown's recipe
Veggies
Pumpkin Soup
Normally Pumpkin is a love them or leave them vegetable. But in the capable hands of the Breton's this variety of Squash becomes a miraculously tasting soup that will keep your guest guessing as to the nature of the flavors involved.
Ingredients
2 lbs Cooked Fresh Pumpkin or 3 Cups canned Pumpkin
3 Cups of Chicken Broth
3/4 Cup of Cream
1/2 Cup of Julienned cut Ham
1 Tbs butter
1 1/2 Tbs flour
2 Tbs Molasses
1/4 tsp cinnamon
pinch of ginger
pinch of nutmeg
salt
pepper
Directions
Melt the butter, and then stir in the flour over medium heat. Stir until a golden brown - making a rue to thicken the soup. Stir in the
pumkin and stock until smooth. Add remaining ingredients, continue to stir at a medium high heat for 20 minutes but do not allow to boil Serve immediately.
Neeps
An alternative to mashed potatoes, Neeps are basically mashed parsnips or rutabagas.
Dice and boil the vegetables in question until fork tender. Then mash, and add salt, butter, pepper, and maybe a little milk or cream.
Colcannon or Rumbledethumps
Fancy mashed potatoes from Ireland, there is a version where leeks are added to this basic recipe.
Directions:
2 lbs potatoes, washed
1/2 tsp salt, or to taste
1/4 tsp pepper, or to taste
1 medium head green cabbage, shredded
5 green onions, with tops chopped fine
1/4 cup butter
Preparation:
Boil the potatoes in salted water until tender. Drain, peel and mash. Season with salt and pepper. Keep warm. Cook the cabbage in boiling salted water until tender. Drain.
Sauté the onions in the butter in a large saucepan until tender. Add the cabbage and sauté until heated through. Mix with the mashed potatoes. Makes about 6 servings.
Bread
Quick Wheat bread
Who has the time to make a yeast bread anymore? This recipe is a cross between the flavor of a yeast wheat bread and the method of an Irish soda bread
and it only takes an hour to make.
Ingredients:
1 2/3c buttermilk or plain yogurt (or 1 1/2c milk + 2T white vinegar)
2 1/2c whole wheat flour
1/2c cornmeal
1t salt
1t baking soda
1/4c honey/molasses/sorgum ect.
or instead of that ratio of whole wheat and cornmeal try
1 1/2c whole wheat,
1 1/2c all purpose
and one egg
Directions:
Mix fairly well, but try not to stir it more than necessary or it will be tough and have lots of tunnels.
Bake in a 325 oven for about an hour or until a toothpick comes out clean
Desserts
Scottish Tablet
This is a kind of vanilla fudge. And no, candy making isn't that hard - you just have to pay attention to it all the time.
Ingredients:
2 cups granulated sugar.
1/4 cup butter.
3 1/2 tablespoons condensed milk.
3/4 cup water.
Directions:
Butter a heavy metal cookie sheet or marble pastry board if you've got one.
Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat, then add the sugar, water and milk. Stir until the sugar is melted.
Bring the mixture to a boil and insert a candy thermometer (makes it easier to monitor). Stiring constantly, boil until
it hits soft-ball stage, about 235-240 degrees F. This should take about ten minutes and the mix should turn to a caramel color.
Take off the heat and set on a heat-proof surface to cool for a few minutes. After about 5-10 minutes take your wooden spoon
and start beating it hard - this makes the sugar crystals smaller in the resulting candy. It should start to loose its gloss after
a while. When it stays matte when you stop stiring then pour it onto the prepared cookie sheet and let cool. You can cut it easiest
when it is still slightly warm. Store in an airtight container
For more recipes like these check out these Web sites:
http://www.celticconnection.com/Recipes.lasso
http://www.rampantscotland.com/recipes/blrecipe_index.htm
http://www.electricscotland.com/food/recipes/
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Plains/4527/celticrecipes.html
http://www.washingtonhotel.net/celticcb.htm
http://www.geocities.com/NapaValley/9412/index.html
http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/usrecipes/index.html
About the Author
Liz Patton is the founder of Celtic Music Nations, an avid Celtic musician and fan. She has played guitar and bass for over a decade, and occasionally dabbles in other
Celtic instruments like mandolin, bodhran, fiddle and tin whistle. She wrote and edited for the University of Texas at Arlington's student paper for two years.
She has an Associate's in Commercial Music from South Plains College, and a Bachelor's of Music from UT Arlington.
|
