Perhaps the most traditional of Irish baked goods would be soda bread. Despite this obvious fact, I had never ventured down the magnificent road of soda bread-making until now. After a few {gentle} requests, I decided to get my feet wet this week with a beautiful and simple Avoca recipe…a traditional, bare-bones plain soda bread, which turned out wonderfully, and begged me to make more.

Because this bread can literally be made in minutes, I decided I would experiment by adding in a savoury ingredient or two as well as trying my mother-in-law’s favourite “spotted dog” variety. For the blog, I settled on this combination of wild garlic and flax seed, whose flavours (and health benefits) speak nicely together and are just strong enough to contend with the heavy texture of the soda bread itself.

First, we needed to go down to the wood to forage for wild garlic, which grows madly in our few acres of mossy damp soil that lies untouched on the River Shannon. This wild herb has long lush leaves similar to the Lily of the Valley, but has a distinctive garlic or chive scent. After cultivating a few handfuls of fresh stems, we made a quick trip to the local natural food store to replenish our store of flax seed in our pantry.

I’m a colossal fan of flax. It is considered a superfood and has tremendous benefits because it is loaded with omega-3’s and antioxidants. Some even say it is one of the most powerful plant foods on the planet. All I know is that it tastes kinda nutty (love a nutty) and if it can make us healthier, why not add it to an already well-appointed soda bread?

As we ambled through the woodland acreage, we spotted the wild garlic making its home next to tree roots, ferns and ivy…

We gathered the bright green leaves and brought them home for a wash and a fine chop

Then it was time to mix up all the ingredients, pat it into a round and cut a deep cross on it

(to keep the fairies out!)

 

I find it is best fresh out of the oven slathered with our farmhouse honey butter, but any butter will do…in fact, it really doesn’t need anything….just break a piece off and enjoy.

Here’s the recipe. I hope you enjoy it as much as we do.

Slan Abhaile,

Imen

Photos & Styling by Imen McDonnell. Assisted by Sonia Mulford Chaverri.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tags: butter honey, flax, food, foodie, I Married An Irish Farmer, Imen McDonnell, ireland, Irish, Soda bread, Sonia Mulford Chaverri, spotted dog, wild garlic

Once there was a little boy named Fionn who lived on a farm

on a green, green island in the blue, blue sea.

On Fionn’s farm there were a handful of happy cows, a few clucky chickens,

and a gigantic garden filled with the most tremendously tasty vegetables.

But little Fionn did not like vegetables.

He would not eat them.

Never.

Ever.

Since it is “Pancake Tuesday” in Ireland, I am sharing with you a lovely recipe for sweet carrot pancakes which our little boy fashioned last year after we pulled our first round of carrots from the garden. It is now virtually the only way to get him to eat these yummy vegetables. I thought it would be fun to share an excerpt from a children’s picture story I wrote last spring and brought all the way to the Bologna Book Fair , hoping I could meet with a publisher who I could very politely persuade to publish it.  Little did I know, the book fair was focused on books that were already sold and shopping rights to other parts of the world and/or television and film. Didn’t sell the book, but definitely learned a lot and got to enjoy at least one brilliant bowl of Bolognese!

The story, which is about a small Irish boy named Fionn who lives on a farm and won’t eat his vegetables, includes our son’s clever recipe for carrot pancakes at the end of the book.

His carrot pancakes go a little like this….

First, you’ll need to find the freshest, most brightly-coloured organic carrots {preferably pulled from your very own garden} and with mommy’s help, grate one or two along with a little bit of sweet orange zest…

Mix it into your pancake batter, making sure you can see all the fun orange bits, of course

Pour em’ onto your griddle and wait until they bubble up and turn golden on both sides. We like to garnish with home-made cinnamon + vanilla butter and icing sugar, but you can use pure maple syrup or golden syrup or anything your heart desires….

Happy Pancake Tuesday!

Slan Abhaile,

Imen

Photos & Styling by Imen McDonnell. Assisted by Sonia Mulford Chaverri.

Tags: Bologna, carrots, expat, farm, food, foodie, Imen McDonnell, ireland, Irish, Married an Irish Farmer, Pancake Tuesday, Sonia Mulford Chaverri