Cheddar, Chive and Stout Bread with Corned Beef and Roasted Cabbage Wedges

Yesterday I was reading a post  about cheddar chive beer bread on thekitchn and became inspired to make something for St. Paddy’s day. Then I thought- how can I make this into dinner? So I thought I would make an open faced corned beef sandwich.  After contemplating for approximately 3 minutes about making corned beef, I instead decided to go to our local market and buy some thinly sliced corned beef.

Here is the short rundown on corned beef, it’s salt cured and brined with spices- that’s what makes it what it is. You can get it in a can, which is the ground salted version- and is shockingly better than you might think- but not like fresh corned beef. Then there is the kind you can buy in the supermarket that is already packed in brine that comes with the seasoning packet. You can also make it from scratch following Alton’s instructions which will probably be fantastic but will take you days. It’s not so much hard, as it is time consuming. So if you are making this dish and you know of a good deli (Marczyk’s for me) maybe just buy it there.

So next, we are on to the bread. Oh my God, the bread. Is it possible that I have never had beer bread? Or was it just never this good? Either way, I am hooked. It was SO easy, and delicious! You mix everything in one bowl, and it comes together in minutes. From the first bite, all I could think of was ways to modify it. I love making bread with yeast so I have never really gotten on the quick bread train (at least not the savory kind) well- I’m here now. This bread is made with stout, white cheddar, and chives. The stout adds a light bitter flavor, which is delicious on its own and even better in the sandwich.

I have very fond memories of my dad making corned beef and cabbage growing up… I should really rephrase that and say, I have fond memories of the beef, the cabbage part, not so much. I remember it smelling a lot like farts and plugging my nose to eat the one piece I was required to choke down before I could leave the table.  Here is the thing about cabbage (and brussels sprouts and a number of other vegetables out there) they contain sulfur. When you over cook them- they smell like a fart. Now, they might not taste like it- but try explaining to your kids why they should eat something that smells like a fart- let me know how that works out.  I read about roasted wedges of cabbage on a few blogs awhile ago, and this seemed like the perfect opportunity to try it. IT IS DELIGHTFUL! The outer edges get crispy, and the inside is buttery and tangy. It’s almost impossible to overcook it (to fart stage) because you just watch the outer leaves and when they turn brown it is perfect! I finished mine with a little lemon, and it was a perfect addition to the plate.

Last thing before the recipes- the sauce. My dad used to put a mixture of brown sugar and mustard on our corned beef. I’m not sure where this tradition came from, but it was one of my favorite parts. I loved the tangy sweet flavor it added to the meat. This is a common pairing with ham, but I’m here to tell you, it should be on corned beef too.

This isn’t just a meal for St. Paddy’s day people- I’m going to make this every Tuesday.

Cheddar and Chive Stout beer- originally from the kitchn

Ingredients:

2 3/4 cups all purpose flour
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 (12-ounce) bottle stout (I used St. Peter’s cream stout because I love it)
1 cup grated Irish cheddar cheese (I used Tillamook vintage white cheddar because it’s the best)
1/4 cup chopped chives
1/4 cup Irish butter, melted

Method:

Preheat oven to 375° F. Line 8 1/2- x 4 1/2-inch loaf pan with parchment paper, or coat with butter.

In a mixing bowl, thoroughly whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Pour in the beer and mix until the dry ingredients are evenly moistened. Fold in 3/4 cup of the cheese and the chives.

Transfer the batter to prepared pan. Pour the melted butter evenly over top of the dough. Bake about 30 minutes then scatter the remaining 1/4 cup of cheese over the top. Return the loaf to the oven and bake 15 to 20 minutes longer or until a tester inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes.

Turn out and serve warm, sliced.

Roasted Cabbage Wedges:

 Method:

Preheat oven to 425

Remove any wilted outer leaves. Cut the cabbage into 8 wedges.  Place on a baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle liberally with salt and freshly ground pepper, and squeeze lemon juice over each piece (about 1 lemon).

Bake for 30 minutes until the outer leaves and edges are browned. Dress with more lemon (if you love lemon like I do) and serve.

Brown sugar mustard sauce:

In a sauce pan combine ¼ cup dark brown sugar with 1 Tbs yellow mustard. Cook over medium until the brown sugar is dissolved. Taste and add more mustard if desired.

Sandwich building:

I made the bread first and let it cool. Then I roasted the cabbage. While the cabbage was roasting I cut the bread into ½” slices and put them on a baking sheet. I put them in the oven to toast lightly while the cabbage was finishing. Then I topped them with a few slices of corned beef, a drizzle of the sauce, and a few slices of Swiss cheese When the cabbage was done I turned on the broiler and broiled the sandwiches until the cheese was bubbly and just starting to brown.

A few notes:

Happy St. Paddy’s day everyone! Don’t drink the green beer, drink a stout instead, and then use any leftovers to make beer bread!

I mean it about the quick bread- you should expect to see more posts, and soon.
I am thinking fresh dill from the garden, or maybe buttermilk walnut bread? I’m getting pretty excited about it.

Is it St. Paddy’s or St. Patty’s? St. Patricks? I’m not going to lie- i put all of these in here to make this post searchable. Don’t judge.

-Sue

Lemon Poppy Seed Pound Cake

This recipe has been a long time coming. I have had a crush on all things lemon, and all things poppy seed for most of my adult life.  I have enjoyed lemon poppy seed cakes and muffins at more places than I care to admit. I have also made many a box mix and I wasn’t even ashamed because they were good. Then…I made this, and I swear I will never go back. While zesting lemons is a bit tedious, that’s the only even remotely hard part about this recipe. This recipe comes from Joy the Baker, one of my go to sources for delicious baking related recipes. I have made many things from her blog and they have all been absolutely fantastic. I did make a few modifications to this; the most major was adding the poppy seeds. The other thing I omitted was the lemon syrup brushed over the cake at the end. When I made these, I made 8 loaves at once, I tried the lemon syrup on the first round of 2 and I just didn’t love it. The syrup is made with lemon juice, water, and sugar that is cooked down- when lemon juice is cooked down I think it has a tendency to taste a little bit too much like minute-made lemonade from concentrate and a little bit less like fresh bright delicious lemon. I opted to not include brush the remaining loaves with the syrup and I still think they were fantastic and amazingly moist and lemony. If you decide you want to use the syrup, check out joy’s site for instructions.

I should also divulge that this is not actually a pound cake at all. A pound cake is literally made from a pound of butter, a pound of flour, and a pound of sugar. This doesn’t have anywhere near that much butter in it, but don’t worry there are still plenty of other fatty delicious things. In my mind I define a pound cake as a loaf of dense, super moist, cake; which is exactly what this is. Low fat? No. Delicious? Yes!

Modified from Joy the Baker’s Lemon Cake

Ingredients:

2 2/3 cups flour

2 ½ tsp. baking powder

Pinch of salt

2 1/3 cups sugar

1 ½ tsp vanilla extract (*see note)

6 large eggs (*see note)

2/3 cup heavy cream

Zest of two lemons, finely grated

1 stick plus 7 Tbs (15 Tbs) of unsalted butter, melted and cooled

1 Tbs plus 2 tsp. Poppy Seeds

Method:

Preheat oven to 350. Butter two 8 ½- 4 ½ inch loaf pans, dust the insides with flour and tap out the excess.

Sift together, flour, baking powder, and salt.

Zest the lemons. Combine the lemon zest with the sugar in a large bowl and working with your fingers, rub them together until the sugar is moist and full of lemon fragrance.

Add the eggs and whisk them into the sugar, beating until they are thoroughly incorporated. Whisk in vanilla extract. Then whisk in the cream. Continue with the whisk and gently stir in the dry ingredients in 3 or four additions. Fold in the melted butter in 3 or 4 additions until it is completely combined. Last but not least, fold in the poppy seeds.

Fill two buttered and floured loaf pans 2/3 full.

Bake for 55-60 minutes or until a tester comes out clean. You can tent them lightly with foil if the tops are becoming too browned; I did this at about 35 minutes.

A few notes:

Note on the vanilla- I know I have mentioned it before, but my absolutely favorite vanilla extract is Sonoma syrup companies’ vanilla bean crush extract. It has amazing flavor and lovely little specks of vanilla bean in it. The only thing better would be actual vanilla bean, which if you do choose to use, use ½ of a bean and add the caviar from the bean into the recipe along with the lemon zest to infuse the sugar.

Note on the eggs- You should always use large eggs when you are following a recipe.  Eggs are graded and weighed before they are distributed. Large eggs weigh 2 to 2.25 oz, extra large are 2.25 to 2.5, and jumbo are  2.5 oz. and above. Almost all test kitchens and restaurants will be using large eggs, not jumbo or extra large. While it may or may not make a major difference, baking is very scientific and little things like this can alter the outcome.

I had a thought after completing this recipe. While I didn’t like the syrup with the cooked lemon juice, If you do decide to try the syrup method I would recommend making the simple syrup and THEN adding the lemon juice, to preserve the true lemon flavor.

Another note, even if you have nonstick loaf pans, you still should butter and flour them. This may seem excessive, but I swear once you do it, you will be amazed at how easily those loaves pop out. This is also my preferred method with cake making as well.

Are you wondering why I made 8 loaves at a time? I offered to make these for my parent’s upcoming church coffee hour. One of the main reasons I chose this recipe is because it freezes easily. Carefully wrap each loaf and freeze for up to 3 months. To thaw, just place on a counter at room temperature.

-Sue

Banana bread- with chocolate chips

Banana bread is delicious; there is no doubt about it.  Your mom probably made it for you, and you probably already have a recipe, but this is mine, along with a few tricks I’ve learned along the way.  This one also includes chocolate chips because my boyfriend’s favorite thing is bananas and chocolate…and let’s be honest, what quick bread wouldn’t be improved with a little chocolate?

Recipe:

1 cup sugar

½ cup butter

2 eggs

2 tsp good vanilla extract

3 ripe bananas, mashed

2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

3 finger pinch of salt (or about a 1/4 tsp if you must measure)

1 tsp cinnamon

½ tsp freshly grated nutmeg (or dry if you don’t have fresh)

1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

The only things you should need to make this recipe are a good wooden spoon and an old fashioned potato masher.

Peel and mash the bananas first, using the potato masher (or a fork if you are unfortunate enough to not own a potato masher).

Cream the butter and the sugar with the wooden spoon. It should look like this when it’s creamed. Yes, you can do this without a mixer.

Next add the eggs and the vanilla, mix until blended and smooth. Then add the bananas and mix again until smooth. Add one cup of the flour along with the soda, salt, and spices, mix, then add the other cup of flour. Fold in the chocolate chips.

Pour (or scrape really) into a greased loaf pan.  Smooth the top if you like, but no need for perfection, it will bake beautifully.

Bake at 350 degrees for 60-70 minutes or until a wooden skewer comes out clean (chocolate on it doesn’t count).

Now isn’t that just the most beautiful banana bread you have ever seen?

A few notes:

1. Banana bread gets pretty brown on the outside, as do most sweet/quick breads. You might look into the oven and think it looks burnt, but be sure to test it with a wooden skewer. A little bit of crust is a good thing.
2. Freezing bananas is the best trick ever. When they start to go bad, or even after you think they’re bad, throw them in a ziplock bag and put them in the freezer.  When you need them, just pull them out about an hour before you are going to use them, peel them, throw them in a bowl and let them get mushy.

-Sue