Sustainable St. Patrick’s Day Recipes: Green Your Green Food

This St. Patrick’s day post comes from our friends at TakePart.com (by Danny Jensen):

St. Patrick’s Day brings out the Irish in everyone, so this year, go the extra green mile and cook up some sustainable St. Paddy’s recipes to fuel your green beer soaked revelry. My Irish ancestry certainly shines a little brighter around this time of year, and nothing transports me back to Ireland more quickly than digging into fresh baked Irish soda bread, mouth-watering corned beef and cabbage, or a slice of heavenly chocolate Guinness cake. Okay, so I don’t think I actually had the cake while studying on the Emerald Isle, but I never complain when my friend Sarah whips one up. So, don your leprechaun hat, put on your “Kiss me I’m Irish” T-shirt and get cooking!

Irish Soda Bread

Soda Bread is a classic staple of the Irish diet (okay, maybe not as much as the potato), and a fun and easy way to try your hand at baking bread. This recipe from Alice Waters’ The Art of Simple Food calls for buttermilk, so find a diary near you that sells milk from grass-fed cows, which is much healthier for you, the cow and the planet. Finding local flour can be a bit of a challenge, but the number of small-scale growers and mills is growing all the time.

3 3/4 cups unbleached all purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
2 cups buttermilk

Read on for the rest of this recipe and recipes for Corned Beef & Cabbage and Chocolate Guinness Cake!

1. Preheat oven to 450°F.

2. Measure flour, salt and soda and mix together in a large bowl.

3. Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour in 1 1/2 cups of buttermilk. Stir, adding more buttermilk if needed; the dough should be soft, but not wet or sticky.

4. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead just enough to bring the dough together. Turn it over and pat it into a round loaf about 1 1/2 inches high.

5. Place on a baking sheet and cut a cross into the top of the loaf with a knife. Cut fairly deeply into the bread, being sure to cut all the way to the edges; this helps the bread to rise properly.

6. Bake for 15 minutes, then lower the temperature to 400°F and bake for another 30 minutes or until done. To test, tap the bread on the bottom. It will sound hollow when done.

Corned Beef and Cabbage

I know my vegetarian friends will wince when they see this one, but I have a hard time resisting the lure of corned beef and cabbage. So, to keep this recipe green, find a beef supplier near you that provides locally and humanely raised, grass-fed meat. And if you wanted to skip the meat entirely, I’m sure no Irishman or woman would fault you for substituting potatoes for the corned beef. Or you could try this vegan corned beef recipe.

This classic recipe comes from The Irish Cook by way of the Mother Nature Network -

Large, lean cut of brisket (mine was about 2 ½ pounds)
Savoy cabbage, 1 head cut into several pieces
Potatoes, 6 or 7 large white
Carrots, 5 or 6 large washed well since you are not peeling (I peeled mine)
White Onions, 2 large or several boiling onions
1 tsp. of onion powder
1 tsp. of garlic powder
1 bay leaf, torn
Salt and pepper to taste
Cold water

1. Put brisket in the bottom of the slow cooker

2. Place potatoes, carrots and onions on top of brisket

3. Season with onion powder, garlic, bay leaf, salt and pepper

4. Pour cold water to just below the top of vegetables

5. Cook on low for 8 hours

6. Place cabbage on the top of vegetables

7. Cook for another 2 hours

Chocolate Guinness Cake

My friend Sarah had the nerve to move to London and take her amazing Chocolate Guinness Cake with her, so I suppose I’ll have to hack through Nigella Lawson’s version, which may be where she got the idea in the first place. You can find organic eggs, dairy ingredients and (hopefully) flour locally by using the Eat Well Guide. And while you won’t be able to find the Guinness locally, unless you happen to live in Ireland, buying in bulk is always a green way to go! Or better yet, find a brewery near you and use their stout.

For the cake:
Butter for pan
1 cup Guinness stout
10 tablespoons (1 stick plus 2 tablespoons) unsalted butter
3/8 cup unsweetened cocoa
2 cups superfine sugar
3/8 cup sour cream
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

For the topping:
1 1/4 cups confectioners’ sugar
8 ounces cream cheese at room temperature
1/2 cup heavy cream.

1. For the cake: heat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9-inch springform pan and line with parchment paper. In a large saucepan, combine Guinness and butter. Place over medium-low heat until butter melts, then remove from heat. Add cocoa and superfine sugar, and whisk to blend.

2. In a small bowl, combine sour cream, eggs and vanilla; mix well. Add to Guinness mixture. Add flour and baking soda, and whisk again until smooth. Pour into buttered pan, and bake until risen and firm, 45 minutes to one hour. Place pan on a wire rack and cool completely in pan.

3. For the topping: Using a food processor or by hand, mix confectioners’ sugar to break up lumps. Add cream cheese and blend until smooth. Add heavy cream, and mix until smooth and spreadable.

4. Remove cake from pan and place on a platter or cake stand. Ice top of cake only, so that it resembles a frothy pint of Guinness.

Yield: One 9-inch cake (12 servings).

takepart by finding all your St. Patrick’s Day ingredients locally using the Eat Well Guide.