Recipe: Dingle Pies

Continuing the theme for Saint Patrick’s Day inspired dishes, I bring you a favorite recipe of this household – Dingle Pies.  Whereas the Potato Cakes from my last post are more of a side for dinner or breakfast, these Dingle pies are definitely a main course for a lunch or dinner.  Typically when we have these for dinner, we just have one (or two if we go back for seconds) with a side of veg or a side salad.

…and a nice side of stout as well.

While Joan and I were actually in Dingle for a few days this past summer on our Ireland trip, we didn’t get this recipe while we were there, nor did we even consume a Dingle pie there.  (We think we remember seeing it on a menu though.)  The recipe again comes from our go-to Irish cookbook, Irish Food and Cooking, but I’ve of course made a few tweaks to the recipe for simplicity sake.  The original recipe calls for a boneless piece of mutton or lamb that you then dice into pieces.  While that is more traditionally Irish, we always have local grass fed ground beef on hand so have always used that.  After making this recipe multiple times now, I think any red meat (or even turkey) would work well.  I also tend to think that while the ground beef is sometimes difficult to mix with the diced vegetables, it’s stickier texture as compared to diced meat helps hold the filling together when constructing the pies. 

The biggest change I’ve made to the recipe is that instead of making your own pastry dough, I just use ready-made pie dough.  It’s so easy to just unroll each sheet and cut out the top and bottom crusts for the pies.  Of course you’ll have to gather up the unused scraps, roll out the dough, and cut out crusts again but that’s pretty easy.  Oh, one other thing to make it easier.  The recipe (mine and the original) calls for 6 inch diameter bottom crust pieces and a 4 inch diameter top crust pieces.  Before you start the recipe, search around your kitchen for bowls, plates, and so forth that have 4 and 6 inch diameters.  That way you have templates for cutting the crust pieces out.  In our kitchen, the top of a small ramekin is the 4 inch template, while a teacup saucer is the 6 inch.

Recipe:

1 medium large potato, diced (i.e. a normally sized Russet, or large Yukon Gold)

1 large onion diced (white or yellow onion)

2 carrots, diced (and peeled if preferred)

2 celery sticks, diced

1 pound ground meat

2 packages ready-made pie dough (the rolled-up variety)

1 egg, beaten

1) Dice up the vegetables and place in a large bowl.  Add the ground meat and combine well.  Set aside.

2) Unroll the pie dough and cut out the top and bottom crust pieces.  The bottom crusts should be roughly 6 inches in diameter, with the top crusts being a diameter of 4 inches.  (Hint: Out of the ready-made crusts, I’ve found I can get 1 larger top crust and 2 smaller bottom crusts.) Gather and re-roll the pastry dough as needed.  You should be able to get enough crust pieces for 9 full pies (that’s 9 bottoms and 9 tops of course). 

3) Lay out the bottom crust pieces onto baking sheets.  Divide the meat and vegetable filling amongst the bottom crusts, piling a handful of the filling into the middle of each round.  Do not overfill.  (You almost definitely will have extra filling.)

4) Lay the smaller top crust pieces on top of the filling.  Dampen the edges of each bottom pastry piece with water and stretch it up around the filling, pinching and crimping them onto the edges of the top pastry round.

5) With a paring knife, make a small slit on the top of each pie to let out steam.

6) Brush the top of each pie with the beaten egg.

7) Bake in a preheated 350F oven for 1 hour.  (Note: If you are doing two sheets of pies, rotate and switch the two baking sheets halfway through baking.)

We last made these a few weeks ago, but this is most likely what we’ll be making for St. Paddy’s Day this Sunday (probably with the aforementioned side salad and some sticky toffee pudding for dessert).  If Joan and I made Dingle pies every week though, neither of us would complain.  First they’re a great main course, easily served with a small side salad or vegetables.  The other great thing with Dingle Pies is that you have ready to go meals.  It’s easy to just grab one for lunch or as an easy weeknight dinner.  Just reheat in the microwave or in the oven. 

Oh, right.  I almost forgot – that extra meat & veg pie filling.  As I said, you are bound to have extra.  It always happens to us no matter what we do.  You may be thinking, “What do I do with extra raw Dingle pie filling?”  Easy, make breakfast hash.  It’s not your normal hash mixture but fry it up in a frying pan, add some herbs and spices, and serve it up with fried eggs and toast.  It works.  Trust me.  Don’t like hash?  I’m sure there is a male nearby who does.  (I don’t mean that in a sexist way.  I just don’t know many men who don’t like a good breakfast hash.)

Recipe: Potato Cakes

With Saint Patrick’s Day just a few weeks away now, I thought it time to start posting some Irish recipes.  St. Pat’s falls on a Sunday this year, so you might as well plan ahead now and make a whole day of Irish inspired meals.  I’ll give you some helpful suggestions for that anyway.

A few weeks ago, I took my first crack at making potato cakes.  Although mentioned on a few breakfast menus during our Ireland trip, Joan and I first had potato cakes in Portrush, Northern Ireland.  Essentially, potato cakes are just a fried cake like pancakes but smaller.  They also consist mainly of two things – potato and flour.  Luckily that makes them really make.  Usually they’re served for breakfast, but in this household we often have “breakfast for dinner,” so we had them for a weeknight meal, paired with cheesy scrambled eggs.  Well I guess I had them for breakfast too, having the leftover potato cakes the next morning with a huge helping of my family’s oatmeal sausage, two fried eggs, and toast.  (Yeah, I didn’t eat lunch later that day.)

This recipe is taken directly from Irish Food and Cooking, our go-to Irish cookbook.  However, even after only making this recipe once, I’m just going to wing it next time.  It’s that easy, with precise measuring not really needed.

Recipe:

1 1/2 lbs. boiling potatoes, peeled

2 tbsp unsalted butter

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

Salt

1) Boil the potatoes in a large pan until tender.  Drain well and then mash.  Salt well (or to your personal preference), mix in the butter, and allow to cool (enough that you can handle the mash for kneading into a dough).

2) Turn out the mashed potatoes onto a floured work surface and knead in enough flour to make pliable dough.  More or less flour will be needed depending on the moisture in the potatoes.  Roll out the dough to a thickness of 1/4 - 1/2 inch (your personal preference) and cut into triangles.  

3) Heat a griddle or heavy frying pan over medium-low heat.  Cook the potato cakes for about 3 minutes on each side until golden brown.

Like pancakes are other griddle cakes, you can top potato cakes with maple syrup.  Honey also makes a nice sweet topping.  Like many things potato, my wife liked them with ketchup.  Although I stick my nose up to the ketchup idea, we did agree that next time a topping with some kick would be a good addition, like spicy pepper chutney.  

It’s also worth mentioning that the above recipe is just for a starter recipe for basic potato cakes.  Don’t have that many potatoes or have more potatoes?  Use whatever you have and just add as much flour as needed to make a dough.  Have leftover mashed potatoes from last night’s dinner.  By all means, use those too.  

You can also play around with the recipe and add other ingredients to make the cakes into a more sweet or into a more savory dish.  I very easily could see chives and onion added to the cakes to make a savory side for dinner.  For sweet, maybe add apple or applesauce to the dough?  I dunno, my head is having a hard time pairing a fruit with potato…

In any case, I encourage you to try these potato cakes.  They’re a fun different breakfast/lunch/dinner idea, and especially nice if you have some leftover mashed potatoes to get rid of.  Or the other way around…  Hmm, now there’s an idea for Saint Patrick’s.  Mash up some spuds for potato cakes in the morning, but then save some back for shepherd’s pie for lunch or dinner… 

Mash, mash, mash. You don't want lumpy 'tato cakes now do ya?

Potato cakes awaiting the griddle.

Triangles, squares, and rectangles.

I found that potato cakes are traditionally triangles for a reason. Triangles brown better and quicker!

 A very filling breakfast.

Ireland by Food

As promised here’s (finally) a quick tour of some of the food highlights from me and my wife Joan’s trip to Ireland.  Ok, this maybe isn’t so “quick” as it’s kind of lengthy with the pictures and my descriptions.  So I guess don’t try to read this if you’re in a rush.  I guess why not sit a spell for a read, and maybe make yourself a cup of tea or pour yourself a brew?  Everyone needs an excuse for that anyhow…

To start, I have to say the food on the trip was just fantastic.  Irish food traditionally has gotten a bad rap, the stereotype that all meals contain heaps of potatoes and that everything is boiled to death.  However, the Irish people are now waking up to the fact that their island produces some of the richest ingredients, ingredients that until now they have been exporting to the rest of the world and not eating themselves.  Joan and I were treated very well with this food renaissance of sorts, especially as we were on a guided tour with the Rick Steves company.  We had great breakfasts in quaint B&Bs and dinners in smaller restaurants that prided themselves on good local ingredients.  Of course when we went off on our own, Joan and I also hunted out the most unique places we could find.

Going by the order of the day, every morning started with a good strong pot of tea.  Joan and I were always asked whether we wanted tea or coffee – and of course we always wholeheartedly answered back “tea please!”  I was a bit disappointed to find that it was always bag tea instead of loose leaf but I realized that it’s a lot easier for food service that way.  It was still nice and strong though.  My favorite cup of tea came on a very foggy day in Kinsale when we touring the embattlements of Fort Charles.  As any good Irish (or British) tourist spot should, they had a small tea room where you could get a small pastry, hot chocolate, and of course tea.  It was just a simple cup of tea, but it really hit the spot on that cold foggy day.  Below is the informational sign at the fort, pointing directions in both Irish-Gaelic and in English.

 

Moving on from breakfast to lunch, I don’t have any great pictures of anything we had for a midday meal, but I know right away a meal where I wish I would have taken a picture.  In Dingle we had a day completely free to explore on our own.  After traipsing to the opposite end of town to explore a cemetery for my wife’s Irish roots, we sat down at a chip shop for some (what else) fish and chips.  Joan and I knew it was a good place because there were many locals and even the local Garda (police) eating there.  The second good sign was that they served it the traditional way with the fried fish and chips wrapped up in the newsprint-type paper.  Well those two good signs were correct as it was the best fish and chips either of us has ever had.  The fish was done so perfectly that while the batter was nice and crisp on the outside, the fish was moist and flaky – so much so that when Joan just touched her piece with her fork it fanned out delicately.

Next are the dinners.  The tour’s itinerary took us to some pretty great restaurants.  I have a few pictures below, but alas, again I regret not taking pictures of some of my favorite things.  My favorite dessert was banoffee pie.  I guess it’s a traditional British Isles dessert, but I never heard of it until the trip.  It’s what I would consider a cream pie, mixing bananas and caramel (or in British English “toffee”).  Banana + toffee = banoffee.  Toffee was also part of my other favorite dessert, sticky toffee pudding.  On almost every dessert menu, it’s similar to bread pudding but I would say more custard like and usually sweeter… but that could be due to the fact that it was always covered with caramel sauce.

Whereas I didn’t take pictures of my favorite desserts, I at least did have the thought to take pictures of the first two courses of my favorite dinner.  (I guess the crème brulee I had for dessert wasn’t picture worthy.)  To some, the dish in the first picture below may look vile, but to me it was fan-freaking-tastic.  From An Port Mor in Westport, Ireland, it’s a grilled pear, black pudding, and pig’s cheeks salad.  The pig’s cheeks may already be turning some away, but I feel I should also mention that black pudding is basically just blood sausage.  I happen to love the stuff and since it was paired with pig’s cheeks – something I had always wanted to try – I had to order it.  For those wondering, the pig’s cheeks were just like eating very tender pork. I then followed that first course of meaty decadence with more meaty decadence, shown in the second picture below – a main course of roast lamb with vegetable and mashed potato. 

 

Next, although I don’t have any pictures of my favorites, I did take some pictures along the way of some very good desserts.  In the two pictures below, we have a chocolate brownie from The Farm in Dublin and a fruit crumble from Fenton’s in Dingle. 

A day in Ireland of course wouldn’t be complete without an evening capped off in the pub.  The good pubs aren’t just about drinking, but also about music as well.  At one of our first pub visits, I was mistakenly concerned about some rowdy guys who seemed to like their drink.  Turned out, they enjoyed the traditional music as well, with even one of the singing a tune later on.  

As much as I went to the pubs for music, I of course also went for the beer.  I made it a point of trying as many different beers as I could on the trip.  I kept a running list of those that I imbibed and they included:

Smithwick’s – Instead of being pronounced “Smith-icks” like the Brits, the Irish say “Smit-icks” as there traditionally isn’t a “-th” sound in Irish Gaelic and thus not in Irish English either

Guinness – Available everywhere…

Murphy’s – Another Irish stout traditionally from County Cork. I found I actually enjoyed this better than Guinness

Crean’s Lager – Produced by the Dingle Brewing Company, a microbrewery in Dingle

Galway Hooker – An IPA (which is a rare thing in Ireland) from Galway

Caledonian Smooth – This was almost like a Guinness and Smithwicks hybrid, but even more carbonated than a Guinness draught as it took twice as long to settle.

Bass Ale – Just like the Bass Ale that one can find here in the States

Tennants – A seemingly decent pale Lager and nothing much more

Kilkenny – Irish red cream ale

Hop Head – An IPA, just one of the many offerings from the Porterhouse Brewing Company, a brewpub and microbrewery in Dublin

I should also mention that besides just touring the pubs, Joan and I also toured a few producers of alcohol as well.  First in Dingle, we toured and took in a pint of lager at the Dingle Brewing Company.  Even though we did this on a free day where we did everything on our own, we saw nearly everyone in our tour group at the brewery anyway.  The picture below is from just outside the main doors of the brewery.  Under the advertisement is a pile of peat, the traditional sod/turf heating fuel of Ireland, which the brewery uses to fuel fires in its tasting room.

 

Later on in Northern Ireland we toured the Old Bushmills Distillery with our tour group.  The tour was as I expected of a larger distillery – a large bottling plant with techy conveyer belt lines and so forth.  Of course they were just keeping up with the times, but I could helping thinking of how much simpler it must have first been when they started distilling at Bushmills – way back in 1608!  (For some perspective, that’s over one hundred years before Arthur Guinness was even born!  Goes to show you that Bushmills truly has the history; Guinness just has and has had the marketing.)  There were definitely two main highlights to the Bushmills tour.  The first was experiencing the wonderful smell of the whisky aging in the barrels when our tour guide took us into one of the aging buildings.  If they somehow could have bottled that smell and sold it, I would have bought it.  The second great thing was the very hearty sample of whisky at the end of the tour.  I of course sampled the single malt that’s exclusively available just at the distillery.  For Joan, not much of a whisky drinker, they luckily offered a hot toddy which she said was the best she has ever had. 

After our official Rick Steves tour was over, we spent a few extra days in Dublin and did indeed do as any first time visitor to Ireland and Dublin does – the almost mandatory tour of Guinness.  Joan had gone through the brewery before during a college trip and warned me that the tour was a bit put-on and touristy.  Well it definitely was.  You don’t actually go through any part of the brewery at all – well anywhere they do any part of the brewing process anyway.  The tour is self guided, leading you through fancy multi-media displays showing the brewing process and the history of Guinness.  However at the end, you do get to enjoy a complimentary pint (I’m sure it’s paid for by the tour ticket) in their Gravity Bar.  It’s essentially a fully windowed room high atop the brewery, giving a 360-degree view of Dublin’s skyline.  This was hands down the highlight of the tour as it was the only part that wasn’t contrived.   It was simply me, my pint of Guinness, and the views of Dublin.  Oh and my wife too… hi honey!  They say too that the Guinness tastes different at the brewery, from right at the source.  I could be wrong, but I swear it indeed was.

And with that, there is the end of my food highlights of Ireland.  For the readers who made it to the end of this long post – and especially those who did with a brew at hand – I bid goodbye with the Irish-Gaelic for cheers: “Slainte!”