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Call us at one of the numbers below or use the accompanying form to contact us.

The Irish Boutique - Long Grove, IL (847 634 3540)

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228 Robert Parker Coffin Road
Long Grove, IL, 60047
United States

847 634 0339

The Irish Boutique is an Irish import store that has been located in the Chicago land area for over 40 years.  The shop stocks a variety of products ranging from Irish jewelry, crystal, china, food, sweaters, caps, t-shirts and a wide variety of Irish gifts. 

Cooking Blog

Visit our blog to read about Michelle Barry's adventures in cooking and eating Irish cuisine and to learn about new products and upcoming events. 

 

Filtering by Category: Irish

Rachel Allen’s Brown Scones with Black Treacle

john barry

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Having four kids under the age of 5 requires a lot of energy in every sense of the word.  This includes energy in the form of calories.  If I wasn’t before, I am now (justifiably, I think) ALWAYS hungry.  Now that the enormous quantities of Christmas cookies, brioche and other forms of simple carbs in my house have been successfully annihilated, I’m turning to something simple and a little more healthy for the energy (and carbs) I both need and crave. A touch more decadent than a simple brown soda bread, I discovered the recipe for these scones by Rachel Allen in her book Bake.

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I cannot say enough about the virtues of baking with Coarse Wholemeal Flour. The taste and texture it gives to baked goods is like nothing else. It has a warm, nuttiness, almost like almond flour, though it bakes up lighter and more moist than any nut flour.  The texture is coarse but unlike most other coarse flours, it is unevenly so, which gives it an unmistakable consistency. I got two bags of the good stuff from Paddy’s over the holidays which came in handy when I woke up one morning wanting a warm brown scone.

See what I mean about the texture?

See what I mean about the texture?

These scones are fabulous.  I made them on a school day in about 30 minutes all in (washing up included)! I love that they only have 2 tablespoons of butter in them and just one tablespoon of sweetener.  I still don’t understand how they taste so good but they do. I probably wouldn’t have tried these if the recipe came from someone other than Rachel Allen, my secret best friend. She proves that time and time again, simple totally works. I didn’t have any sesame seeds but I did add a small amount of cardamom, which I strongly recommend if you like cardamom. I sprinkled them with sea salt and coarse sugar before baking which was also a very good idea, if I do say so myself.  I loved the salty, sweet crunch it gave each one.

Try this! Please! You can find coarse wholemeal flour at Paddy’s on the Square, or you can stop by my house and I’ll give you a couple of cups if that’s what I have to do to convince you that you need this in your pantry. Seriously. You do.

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Rachel Allen’s Brown Scones with Black Treacle

Adapted ever so slightly from Rachel Allen's recipe that can be found here

Ingredients

  • 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for dusting

  • 1 ½ cups coarse wholemeal flour

  • 1 tsp salt

  • 1 tsp baking soda

  • 2 tablespoons sesame seeds, plus extra for sprinkling (optional)*

  • 2 tablespoons butter, diced

  • 1 egg

  • 1 ¼  cups buttermilk or soured milk (add 2 tsp vinegar or lemon juice to 1 ¼ cup cow’s milk or soy or rice milk and leave to stand for 10–15 minutes)

  • 1 tablespoon black treacle (or dark molasses)

  • Sea salt and coarse sugar for sprinkling on top

*I didn’t have any sesame seeds but added a ½ teaspoon of cardamom, because I love it.

Method

  • Preheat the oven to 425°F. Dust a baking sheet with flour.

  • Put the wholemeal, all-purpose flour and salt into a large bowl. Sift in the baking soda.

  • Using your fingertips, rub in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs.

  • In a separate bowl, whisk the egg with the buttermilk or soured milk, then stir in the treacle (or molasses) and pour most of the liquid into the dry ingredients. Using one hand with your fingers held out like a claw, mix in full circles to bring the flour and liquid together, adding more liquid if necessary. The dough should be quite soft, but not too sticky.

  • Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and gently bring it together into a ball, but without kneading it, then flatten it slightly to about an inch high. Cut the dough into 10–12 square or round scones. Brush the tops of the scones with any leftover liquid and sprinkle with some sea salt or coarse sugar (I used a combination of the two)

  • Put the scones onto the prepared baking sheet and pop in the oven to bake for 15–20 minutes (depending on the size of the scones). Have a look at them after 10 minutes: if they’re already a deep golden brown, then turn the heat  to 400°F, for the remainder of the cooking time. When cooked they should sound hollow when tapped on the base.

  • Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

 

What to do with leftovers: Shepherd's Pie

john barry

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We’ve been hosting the Holiday’s ever since we moved into our house in 2012. This is mostly because we’ve got the little ones and it’s easier for us not to have to load everyone (and all of the stuff - diapers, wipes, changes of clothes, sippy cups etc.) into the car and try to figure out naps at someone else’s house.  I love having everyone over and the rest of the family does too.  I’m sure I make a better host than a guest, because I’m incapable of sitting down for very long and enjoy being busy in the kitchen, content just listening to the happy squeals of the children playing with our family and friends.

Although I try to send people home with leftovers, hosting means that we end up with most of them.  While I could fix myself the exact same plate over and over again and be in heaven, Paul gets tired of leftovers after about one meal. This presents a problem, since I am the self-proclaimed the food waste police.

Fortunately, probably in anticipation of me forcing the entire family to eat nothing but leftovers for a week, Paul solved this little problem by picking up a packet of Shepherd’s pie mix when we were at Paddy’s the day before Christmas. I had actually never made a Shepherd’s pie before, but sure enough, after a lunch of leftovers, Paul mentioned that we might want to use the rest of the leftover mashed potatoes to make one that night. At first I resisted, feeling like it was too early not to eat another few plates of Christmas dinner.  But, after realizing what short work the kids had already made of the leftover Irish bacon, I acquiesced.  Marriage is, after all, about compromise (and Paul was at least willing to eat the leftover potatoes again).

I thought there was a pound of ground beef in the freezer but we only had half a pound. This actually worked out perfectly because we were working with a limited amount of leftover mashed potatoes anyway. I added a bit of volume to the filling but throwing in some celery, garlic, carrots and peas to supplement the meager about of beef we had.

I’ve never made Shepherd’s pie before.  Granted, this one was made with leftovers and a mix, but boy was it simple. Here’s how we did it: 

  • First we preheated the oven to 400F.
  • Then we sauteed garlic, an onion, carrots and celery in a pan until they were soft but not browned.  
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  • Then we added the ground beef, breaking it up into small bits until the meat was cooked through.
  • To this we added some frozen peas, tossing them with the meat and other vegetables until they just warmed through.
  • Because we were using a small amount of meat, we added approximately half of the Shepherd’s pie packet to about ⅔ cup of water and stirred.
  • We then added the water and seasoning mix to our meat mixture and brought the whole thing to a simmer before turning the heat off.  
  • We poured the mixture to an oven proof dish and covered it with a layer of our leftover mashed potatoes.
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  • I decorated the top with the tines of a fork, per Paul’s instructions, dotted the top with some butter and put into the oven for 30 minutes.
  • By then it was all bubbly and starting to make the house smell delicious.
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The only thing I would do over again is broil the top for a few minutes to brown it a bit more.

I’m already thinking about how to make an another version of this with leftover turkey, green beans, carrots and bechamel.

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 Who knew compromise, and leftovers, could taste so good?

Mint Julep with Irish Whiskey

john barry

Every year when the Kentucky derby rolls around, I wish I had planned ahead and thrown a derby party, or better yet, planned a trip to Louisville. But it always sneaks up on me. This year the Kentucky Derby falls on my birthday, which also snuck up on me. How does that keep happening? I’ve always wanted to go to the Derby and I hope that someday I do.  But this year I am just going to hang out around here and probably catch up with some friends.  Keep it low key. Nothing very Derby related except for this…

A mint julep. Though I’m not sure you can still call it that when the whiskey is Irish, not Bourbon. I’m no spirits sommelier, but I would venture to guess that since mint juleps involve sugar, soda water and mint, it probably doesn’t matter too much what whiskey you use.  When we have whiskey around, for obvious reasons, it is always Irish whiskey.  

Paul’s cousin’s husband works for Cooley distillery, in County Louth, Ireland. The distillery  was converted in 1987 from an older potato alcohol plant by John Teeling and within a decade it began to earn an impressive reputation for outstanding quality.  In 2011, the distillery was bought by Beam Inc. which was purchased by Suntory Holdings in 2014.  Despite the changes in ownership, the product line remains very Irish. Popular for its Kilbeggan blended whiskey, Greenore single grain whiskey, Connemara peated single malt whiskey, and Tyrconnell double distilled single malt whiskey, the Cooley distillery is proud of its heritage as the oldest licensed distillery in Ireland. And it is definitely on my must-see list for our next trip to Ireland.

I wonder what the Irish would think of the mint julep? I remember the first time I tasted one, sometime in my early twenties,  I thought that the combination of mint and Bourbon was so weird. But now, now I love it.  I love the smell of a mint julep and the way it’s strong and sweet at the same time.  The way it conjures up images of seersucker suits, big hats and deviled eggs - three of my favorite things.

This recipe involves just a tiny bit of advance planning but it’s great because you can make just one or a whole pitcher of them, in case you are having a Derby party (show-off).  And also because mint simple syrup is delicious and can be used for a number of different things. Like for mojitos, dressing up a fruit salad or brushing on cake layers.  Here’s how you do it.

To make Mint Simple Syrup

1 cup water

1 cup granulated sugar

½ cup mint leaves

Heat water and sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat until sugar is completely dissolved. Turn off heat and add mint leaves, pushing them down gently with a spoon so that they are totally immersed in liquid but not getting torn or muddled.  Remove from heat and let the mixture infuse for one hour. Strain, discarding mint leaves and store in a jar with a tight fitting lid.

To make 1 Mint Julep with Irish Whiskey

Ice

2.5 oz Irish Whiskey

2 splashes soda water

1 tbs mint simple syrup

Mint leaves for garnish


Add ice to a rocks glass. Pour in whiskey, mint simple syrup and about two splashes of soda water. Stir and garnish with mint leaves.