Quick Irish oatmeal bread with cheddar and pumpkin seeds recipe

It’s cold this week in New England and like everyone else, I am waiting (impatiently) for spring to make up its mind.

Meanwhile, April fool! Snowstorm in our immediate future! But I’m staying tuned. Those fickle weather gods are at it again. I'm taking a wait-and-see attitude.

While I'm cooling my heels, I am counting my blessings. This slow segue into spring allows me to do the following:

1) Procrastinate garden cleanup (justified for another week or so.)

2) Procrastinate cleaning study (it is too cold in there.)

3) Close door to study until the weather warms up, so I can….

4) Ignore tornado-like mess I created in attempt to organize study.

5) Procrastinate grocery shopping (justified by a freezer full of soup.)

Just to keep me on my toes, I’m going to make this easy bread to eat with my soup. It’s a version of Irish soda bread. I was going to make it for St. Patrick’s Day, but just like the arrival of spring, I procrastinated.

(See Harvest Soup, Roasted Tomato Soup, Tri-Colored Lentil Soup, Vegetable Barley Soup)

A general method for making soda breads and scones:

Stir flour, baking powder and salt together and rub in butter pieces until mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs

Add and mix in additional dry ingredients, such as raisins, currants, seeds, or grated cheese.

Pour in the liquid, in this case, buttermilk.

Stir together to form a dough.

Plop the dough onto a greased or parchment-lined baking sheet.

Use your floured hands to shape it into a flat round.

Make a deep cross in the bread and prick it four times in the triangles created by the cross to ‘let the fairies out,' as my Irish grandmother might say. If you are making scones, cut the round in eight triangular wedges and separate them on the baking sheet.

Brush with cream or buttermilk. 

Sprinkle with toppings.

Irish oatmeal bread with cheddar and pumpkin seeds

Makes 1 round loaf

3 ounces grated sharp cheddar, about 1 1/4 cups

3 tablespoons pumpkin seeds

1 cup whole-wheat flour

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup steel-cut oats

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut in small pieces

2 tablespoons flax seeds

1 1/4 cups buttermilk plus 1 tablespoon for the top of the bread

Extra buttermilk to glaze the bread

1. Heat the oven to 425 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment. Set aside 2 tablespoons of the grated cheese and 1 rounded teaspoon of the pumpkin seeds for the top of the bread.

2. Whisk the whole-wheat flour, all-purpose flour, oats, baking soda and salt together in a large bowl until combined. Add the butter pieces and rub them into the dry ingredients with the tips of your fingers until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Stir in the remaining grated cheese, the remaining pumpkin seeds and all of the flax seeds into the dry ingredients.

3. Make a well in the center and pour in the buttermilk. Stir with a rubber spatula just until the mixture comes together; don’t overmix. Use the spatula to form the dough into a round piece as best as possible. The dough will be quite sticky, so don’t fret if it is not a perfect round ball.

4. Turn the lump of dough onto the parchment lined baking sheet. Dust your hands with a little flour and pat it into a 7-inch round, flat shape. Use a sharp knife to cut a 1-inch deep cross on top of the dough. Prick the center of each of the four triangles created by the cross with the point of a paring knife.

5. Brush the top of the loaf with buttermilk. Sprinkle the reserved grated cheese and pumpkin seeds over the top.

6. Bake for 10 minutes, then decrease the heat to 400 degrees F. Bake for an additional 15 to 20 minutes, or until the top is golden and the bottom of the loaf sounds hollow when you tap it. (Total baking time is 25 to 30 minutes.) Cool on a rack before slicing. The bread is best eaten on the same day it is baked, but it makes delicious toast for a day or two more. 

Artichokes, baby! With fettuccine and ricotta

Miniature artichokes are in the market now and I could not resist them, despite the

labor that they entail. When you peel them back, they are the color of spring. Not the full, flush green of summer, but the tentative, delicate green of budding trees that makes you want to weep and sigh. A green that fills your soul with longing and pleasure, and makes the interminable and tedious winter recede into misty memory.

We’re not there quite yet in this land of ice and snow, but these baby thistles give me hope. And the snow, except for a few piles next to the rhododendrons in my garden, has melted. For now. One cannot be too cautious in the month of March.

An artichoke is mature when its petals have reached their peak growth but have not yet opened. A “baby” artichoke is not a baby at all, but grows at the base of the plant, and because its upstairs neighbors on the stalk shade it, it simply does not attain a very large size. As you prepare them, toss them into a bowl of acidulated water, since they turn brown quickly when exposed to the air.

So, what do you do with them? Ah, well, there’s a bit of a rub, but just a bit of one. Because they are small, they do not have the fuzzy inner “chokes” that the larger globe artichokes possess, so cleaning them is not really such a chore. Check out the tutorial below for details. You would treat a large artichoke in the exact same way, with one exception: you must scrape out the fuzzy choke with a sharp-edged spoon or paring knife.

How to prepare a baby artichoke:

Pull off the outer leaves of the artichoke until you are down to tender, light green leaves. There will be a lot of perceived waste. You must will yourself not to mind it.

Peel the stem: Insert a paring knife into the base of the artichoke and peel it back to remove the outer tough (and bitter) covering. Slice off about 1/4-inch of the thorny tip.

Halve and then quarter the artichoke and drop it into acidulated water. Repeat.

Whole wheat fettuccine with baby artichokes and ricotta

Whole wheat pasta adds an earthy touch to this easy pasta. If you want to cheat, you could purchase frozen artichoke hearts and quarter them. It will save you about 15 minutes.

Serves 4

Finely grated zest and juice of 1 lemon

16 baby artichokes, tough outer leaves removed and quartered

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

1 clove garlic, finely chopped

1 pound whole wheat fettucine

1 cup ricotta salt and pepper

1/4 cup chopped parsley

Freshly grated Parmesan

1. Fill a medium bowl with cool water and add the lemon juice. Prepare the artichokes as directed above (see tutorial). Fill a large pot with water and bring it to a boil.

2. Melt the butter over medium heat in a large skillet. Add the garlic and as soon as it starts to sizzle, add the artichokes. Add 1/4 cup water, cover the pan, and cook for 5 minutes, or until the artichokes are tender.

3. Add a generous pinch of salt to the boiling water and cook the pasta according to the package directions until al dente.

4. Meanwhile, whisk the ricotta, lemon zest and 2 tablespoons of hot pasta water together in a large pasta bowl until creamy. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Stir in the parsley.

5. Reserve about 1/2 cup pasta water and drain the pasta. Add it to the pasta bowl with the ricotta and toss to coat the pasta. If necessary, add a little hot pasta water to attain a creamy consistency. Add the artichokes and toss again. Serve immediately with generous amounts of grated Parmesan.

Take a walk around the web for more on artichokes:

Artichokes and grits from [no recipes] 

Sautéed baby artichokes (and more) from Simply Recipes 

Artichoke tapenade from David Leboviz

Fried baby artichokes from Steamy Kitchen
Grilled artichoke stems with tarragon garlic butter from White on Rice Couple