Top of the Morning! Hash, Soda Bread and the How to on that Shrimp

First, I want to thank everyone who took part in the 6th Annual Blog Crawl, and all those who came to visit.

   You are such a great group, so many visited all or many of the entries.  
People had 40, 50 60 and as many as 90 visits!  That is wonderful.  You didn’t just come and link and not visit the others!

Thank you to those who took the time to leave a comment, only a few linkers didn’t,  it was fun!  I visited everyone, so if I missed you, let me know!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!  We celebrated yesterday with our family.  It was lovely to see our gkids, Lily, Michael, Seamus, Declan and Eamon and their parents, it has been a few months.

Today we started with some corned beef hash.


I cooked a corned beef early just to have it for hash.



First pre cook your ‘taters” and let them cool.  Cube them and fry them with some diced onions, s & p.

Get the edges nice and brown.

Then throw in your corned beef with a good dash of powdered mustard.  I put it in a small cast iron pan and put it in the oven.  I fried an egg, and when the pan was red hot, slid it on top of the hash.



I also used those small fry pans to make soda bread.  Here is the recipe I use.  I have tried many, and adjusted this one to my liking.

When I did catering we used to have orders for up to 100 breads.  Flour would fly on the 16th!

Irish Soda Bread....Kathleen

4 C flour
1 t salt
4 t baking powder
1 t baking soda
3/4 C sugar
2 t caraway seed
1 C raisins
1 egg
Splash of OJ
2 C buttermilk
1/4 stick of soft butter
Sift dry ingredients. Mix in the seeds and raisins. Add buttermilk  and mix.
Add beaten eggs and soft butter, mix..add a  big splash splash of OJ
Put into 2 greased loaf pans, or 1 10 in round. Slit the top with a knife.
Bake at 350 about 30 to 35 for loaf pans, 50 for round.
Brush with butter or milk 10 min before removing from oven.
Check center to see if done, do not over bake.




I embroidered the towel with a Celtic design and Erin Go Bragh.



Well, that’s just BLARNEY!  I bought it for $1 at Cmas Tree Shop.




Slather some butter on it, and enjoy!

I made some to give away.



I am loving these small cast iron pans.  I am using them for much more than pan sized chocolate chip cookies! Not that pan sized chocolate chip cookies aren’t good, lol!



Since we were seeing the kids yesterday, I made some treats for their after school snack.



I know, I should have brought celery and nuts and berries, but hey, it’s St. Patrick’s Day!



Chocolate cake donuts dipped in melted Ghiarradeli chocolate and a glass of milk!

Some have asked for the Shrimp O’Kathleen recipe I showed in the St. Patrick’s Blog Crawl post.  Here

Those of you who know me know I am not a recipe person, so the best I can tell you is how.



I used size 13 to 15 raw shrimp. That means there are 13 to 15 shrimp to the lb.

Peel and devein top and BOTTOM.  No one likes that black vein in their food! Even if they devein in the market, many of them leave the smaller black vein in the bottom, so be sure to check!

Rinse well, and place on paper towels and dry .

Mix together some flour, salt, pepper and parsley, add garlic powder if you like.

Dredge the shrimp and put in a single layer on a platter and chill. Save the dredge.

While they are chilling, make your linguine.

Also, place your fresh spinach in a skillet with some salt and a sprinkle of powdered sugar.

Put it on very  low and cover.  Check every few minutes till it is wilted down.  Or, you can do it in the microwave.

In a skillet put a scant amt of evoo and a chunk of butter.  Quickly cook the shrimp in this , don’t overcook , it only takes a few minutes.

Remove the shrimp and keep warm.

Deglaze the pan with white wine and some FRESH lemon juice.

Add some finely sliced scallions , and an envelope of Geo. Washington Golden broth.  

(You can use powdered chicken broth if you don’t have GW or Herb Ox)

Allow to simmer.  Take some of the remaining flour dredge and whisk it in a cup or more of water.  This  you will add to the simmering wine sauce.  If it gets too thick , add more water and wine.

 Taste and adjust the sauce .

Add your shrimp back in for a few minutes to heat through.  Don’t over cook!

After you drain your linguine, stir in a cup of part skim ricotta, pepper and freshly shredded romano  cheese.  
Stir it all together till the hot pasta is coated.  Stir in the cooked  hot spinach.  Plate, and place the shrimp on top, and add the wine sauce.

  Garnish with fresh parsley and more shredded cheese.

Please do not use that grated cheese stuff that comes in the green container. It doesn’t taste the same.

Growing up that’s what we always had,(hey, I’m Irish, the spices in our home were VERY limited!) but most supermarkets carry Romano or Parmesan today.

You can wrap a small piece of romano or parm tightly in saran wrap and it will keep a long time.  Shred it as you use it.  It makes a world of difference!



I made enough for 2 meals, and the left overs microwaved well.
It sounds like a lot, but it is really pretty easy.  You just have to co ordinate the timing.


The next  Let’s Dish Challenge is April 9th.  The theme is BIRDS~NESTS~EGGS.  Hope you can hatch something good!
Your table must include at east one of those elements.  It’s a challenge, will you accept it? 



Thanks so much for stopping by today!
I am joining Marty for Inspire Me Tuesday
Kathe for You're Gonna Love It Tues 
Marty's Musings