With the cold temps outside, lately I just want to curl up on the couch with a hot bowl of soup. Canned soups are alright when you don't have time to make soup from scratch. Since I had some extra time I thought I'd make some potato soup the best way possible: the Irish way! And of course some soda bread would be much need to accompany the soup.
One of my favorite parts of being in Ireland is having fresh bread with every meal! Sure, it goes straight to the hips but its not every day that you get to enjoy fresh bread! At least it is very rare for me! I've never attempted to make either potato soup or soda bread from scratch so I did some cook book research and perused around pinterest a little to find these recipes.
3 cups all purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup sugar
2tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
4 tbsp butter
1 and 1/2 cup plain yogurt
Mix dry ingredients, cut in butter until pieces are pea size, mix in yogurt. Turn out dough and knead into a disc shape. Cut an X in the loaf and bake 40-50 mins on 350 degrees
Irish soda bread. The yogurt in the bread made it extremely dense and chewy but overall it had good flavor. While mixing my dough I added a few tablespoons of water because the yogurt wasn't quite moist enough for all of the dry ingredients. Be careful with this though because the dough can get too gooey really fast! I also made one disc out of the entire amount of dough and had trouble getting the bread to cook completely through so it might be wiser to try two loaves and keep an eye on them while cooking (maybe 25-30mins)
Making my grocery list for the soup ingredients I must have read the chicken broth part incorrectly. I ended up with approximately half of the required amount. This actually worked out okay. I ended up with a very thick and creamy soup which I found delicious
The only down side is that it barely rendered two servings which was disappointing because I was hoping for leftovers!
While throwing on clothes in the morning I all that was on my mind was my meal planned for the day and as you can see that dominated my wardrobe selection. I also made the mistake of wearing my favorite socks (official Irish dancing) and was forced into a little jig by my photographer.
What's your favorite cultural cuisine? Thursday I'll be taking a trip down memory lane and recapping my Ireland adventure from a few months back. I'll be discussing the do's and don't's and how to pack for a stylish getaway!
P.S. like my oven mitts? You can find them
here!
Such cute tights!
While in Dublin you'll see many gigantic yellow boats driving around the streets with loud passengers roaring at passerbys, this is a MUST do!! The Viking Splash Tours can NOT be passed up. It is such a fun little tour whether you know the city or not.
If you ever find yourself on the West coast of Ireland a stop should be made at the gorgeous Doolin Pier. Approximately a 20minute drive from the Cliffs of Moher it isn't just another pretty sight. At the pier you can take a boat trip to the Aran Island (which I highly advise to do on a day it isn't raining!) or you can boat past the Cliffs of Moher and see sights from Harry Potter. While researching outfits for Ireland the overall consensus was to leave a raincoat at home because you'll look like a tourist... I brought mine and it rained every day for the entire two weeks I was there. BEST ITEM I PACKED!
My absolute FAVORITE part of Ireland are the Cliffs of Moher. No matter the season or the temperature of the day, go go go! The view is absolutely gorgeous. On a clear day you can see all the way to the Aran Islands. I don't recommend paying the extra amount to climb Brian's Tower, you aren't missing much by skipping it. If you're there during the fall try the tuna salad panini! I was completely heartbroken this summer when I went and was informed it's a fall only meal, had I known that I would have eaten my weight in them the first time I visited!
