Shamrock Green Irish Soda Bread & Avocados for St. Patrick's Day

St. Patrick's Day is on this week and I was asked if I thought about using Avocados for St. Patrick's Day.  Well I never thought of it before but hey they are green and tasty so Why NOT?   Since Avocado Toast is trendy these days I thought I would put my own spin on it an make some Green Irish Soda Bread for the Toast part.  I added super ripe Avocado slices and topped it with salt, pepper and  some great Dubliner Irish Cheddar and some Pea Shoots.  All of those things go together fantastically.   My spin on the Irish Soda Bread was to add freshly chopped Parsley and Green Onions, kind of a touch of Asian and French influence, but I considered adding spinach to color the whole bread but the Onions and Parsley were a lot easier and added lot's of flavour.  The recipe for my Shamrock Irish Soda Bread is below.  You don't need to activate yeast or knead it or let it rise so it's a pretty easy bread for a 1st timer or someone without a lot of time to make bread.  It should take about an hour in total to make this bread and that includes baking.


Think about adding Avocados to your St. Patrick's Day Menu.  It's not Traditional but it's Delicious and good for you.   

Shamrock Green Irish Soda Bread

Ingredients:

1 - 1/2 cups Whole Wheat Flour
1-1/2 cups All Purpose Flour
1 tsp Salt
1 tsp Baking Soda
1 egg
1 - 1-1/2 cups of buttermilk
2 green onions
1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley

Directions:

In a large bowl sift flour and salt and Baking soda and set aside.  In a measuring cup add a large egg and add the buttermilk and chopped parsley and finely chopped green onions and mix well.

Slowly pour the buttermilk mixture into the dry ingredients until the mixture mixes into a dough ball.  

Shape into a ball and place on a parchment lined baking tray or you can use a Dutch Oven to bake.

Score an X into the top of the bread with a sharp knife.  You can also use some of the buttermilk mixture to brush the top of the bread before putting it into the oven.

Bake at 400F for approx. 45 min or until the top and bottom are golden brown.

Let cool on a baking rack for a few minutes before slicing.   For a Avocado Toast, toast the bread slices in a toaster or on a grill and then add the toppings.
Top with Avocado Slices, Salt, Pepper, Irish Cheddar Cheese and a few Pea shoots and drizzle with good Olive Oil.   

I made Soda Bread last year but made it slightly different, I used half Whole Wheat this time and eliminated the sugar so that I could make it more savoury.

For that recipe and my IRISH STEW RECIPE click on my last year's post here:  http://starvingfoodie.blogspot.ca/2015/03/st-pattys-day-beef-stew.html

Did you know: 90 per cent of avocados consumed in Canada come from Mexico? Mexico is the world’s top avocado producer and currently, Canada is the second biggest importer of Mexican avocados.  
For more fun facts and recipes check out Avocados From Mexico .

#AlwaysDelicious #StPatricksDay #AvoHappiness #AvocadosFromMexico #AlwaysInSeason



* Disclaimer:  This post was suggested but I was not compensated for this post and the recipe, photos and opinions are my own.

Bake some easy Irish Soda Bread for St. Patrick's Day

HAPPY ST.PATRICK'S DAY

March 17, 2016

Seems like everyone is IRISH today but even though I have a lot of different cultures in me I am pretty sure there isn't any Irish but I can easily become Irish inspired by FOOD today.

I love making fresh bread and I don't do it often enough because it takes time but this Irish Soda Bread is as easy as making Beer Bread.  This was my first attempt at Irish Soda Bread but I think it turned out pretty well.

I followed a pretty basic recipe.  Traditional Soda bread has only a few ingredients.

INGREDIENTS:  

4 cups of flour
1t sp of Baking Soda
1 Tbsp of Salt
1/2 Tbsp of Sugar
2 cups of Buttermilk

Directions.
Mix all the dry ingredients and then pour the buttermilk in all at once and mix with a wooden spoon or even your hands.   Fold it out onto a floured board and just bring it together until you can form a ball.   Cut an X in the top of the bread with a knife and then place it on a sheet of parchment paper.
Preheat oven to 425 degrees and place a Dutch Oven (Le Creuset) is what I used into the oven to heat up.  Once the Dutch Oven is hot take it out of the oven and then lift the bread dough with the parchment paper and put it in the Dutch Oven and place the lid on it and put it back into the oven for 30 minutes.   Take it out of the oven and take the bread out and place it on a cookie sheet and place it back into the oven for another 15-20 minutes or until it's browned all around and has a crunchy exterior.   Let it cool for a few minutes before cutting it.   You can add currants to it for a sweeter bread but I skipped it.   Serve with butter and honey if you like or along with a good Irish Stew and a Guinness to wash it down.

I was going to make Colcannon but it's getting late.  I had to go out to the store to get the buttermilk for the bread so I didn't get to it until later than I planned to.  I wanted to get it done quickly so I could take a photo while there was still natural light outside.

So go and be IRISH for a DAY and make some Soda Bread.  It's pretty easy.