Another Late Holiday Post

In the spirit of my holiday procrastination (see my Valentine's Day post), I'm going to write about St. Patrick's Day. For those of you concerned with the purity of my intentions, yes, I am actually Irish-American.

My maternal grandmother, an Irish Catholic New Englander, was the keeper of the Irish traditions in our house. She lived with us until I was eight, so she was a significant part of my formative years. Sadly, she passed away five years ago. But this year, since I got to spend spring break (and thus, March 17) with my parents, I suggested we celebrate St. Patrick's Day the way we used to. As with all good traditions, the celebration of our Irish-American heritage means food.

So for dinner, we had corned beef and cabbage (with carrots and, yes, potatoes) and an old family recipe: Great Grandmother Monaghan's Soda Bread, which is made like so:

Ingredients:
3 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
3 Tbsp caraway seeds
2 heaping tsp baking powder
1/2 package raisins
1 stick of butter (softened)
1 cup milk

My mother took my documentation with condescending equanimity.

1. Mix the first five ingredients and cut in the butter.
2. Add raisins and milk.

The dough is supposed to be dry, a little more biscuit-like than bread-like.

3. Bake in a greased pie plate at 350 for 1 hour (though my mom suggests checking after 45 minutes).

Delicious!

 4. The bread is dry, so slather a slice with butter, and enjoy!

My grandmother traditionally made two loaves: one for St. Patrick's Day, and then she'd put one in the freezer for Easter. So tomorrow, hopefully, I'll be making some of my own and carry on that tradition.

Note: The point of Irish soda bread is that it's easy and cheap to make--the caraway seeds and raisins were actually considered "posh" additions, so you don't really have to add them. Since I'm not a big raisin fan, I'm going to try and make my loaf without them, but the caraway seeds made a big difference in flavor, so I say they're worth it.

A tasty bit of family tradition.