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Polish Housewife

Polish recipes served up with tidbits of folklore, customs, and history

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Fifteens an Irish Cookie

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Fifteens an Irish cookie

On a recent trip to Ireland, we stopped at a gas station, looking for things to help us pass the time as we drove from Dublin to Galway, east coast to west coast, it takes TWO hours.  We picked up a five euro CD set of the Rat Pack classics, some mixed nuts, and a little package that said “Fitness.”  This Irish cookie seemed like a great car snack. In Poland we often see cereals or bread labeled at Fitness.  I assumed the little package would have some kind of whole grain cookie or crackers, but I wasn’t wearng my glasses.

In better light, I could see that the package said “Fifteens.”  What on earth?   The little bars had pink and white marshmallows and maraschino cherries – not exactly the fitness snack I’d been expecting, but we enjoyed them nevertheless.

Subsequent stops at Irish gas stations offered us homemade fifteens.  We’d really stumbled onto something here.

I had to google the name to look for a recipe.  Apparently, this is a Irish cookie that everyone’s Irish granny used to make.  When you see the ingredients, you’ll know where the name comes from.  I’m already planning my next batch which I will bill as gourmet fifteens – brandy soaked cherries, homemade marshmallows, and maybe some chocolate.

Ingredients

15 marshmallows (pink and white), quartered
15 glace cherries, halved
15 Digestive biscuits, crushed
150 ml sweetened condensed milk (about 2/3 cup)
desiccated coconut

Directions

  • In a bowl, combine the marshmallows, cherries, and biscuit crumbs
  • Stir in enough sweetened condensed milk to make everything stick together with a paste like texture
  • Sprinkle plastic wrap or foil with coconut
  • Scrap the dough onto the coconut covered wrap and shape into a log or a flat rectangle
  • Making sure all sides of the dough are covered in coconut, wrap tightly and refrigerate for several hours
  • Slice into fifteen cookies

Black and Tan Braised Beef Short Ribs

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For the most tender, falling off the bone meat, start these Black and Tan braised beef short ribs a day in advance or very early in the day.
Black and Tan braised beef short ribs

I started cooking the short ribs on Wednesday night, in honor of the Top Chef DC finale, but didn’t actually eat them until Friday.  They’re braised in Guinness Stout and Bass Ale and served atop polenta and kale (I’ll post these recipes soon).  The whole stack is garnished with strips of fried parsnip.

I can’t take credit for this combination; this is my version of the fabulous main course served at a recent Primavera Cooks! meal at Lodge on the Desert.   Under the guidance of Executive Chef Ryan Clark, this is the plate prepared by the Apprentice Chefs.

I don’t recall ever cooking short ribs before, and I didn’t time this meal to coincidence with a weekly special on ribs.  Paying full price, I was surprised to see that they run over $5 per pound, about the same price as sirloin.  Next time, I watch for a sale.

I sat next to a charming, retired couple at the Primavera dinner.  They’ve both volunteered with the organization for 15 years, and I learned more about the good works at Primavera from them. The gentleman had been a pathologist.  His wife mentioned that they had eaten a lot of short ribs when he was in medical school, because at that time, they were only 29 cents a pound.

Smacznego!

Lois

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Black and Tan short ribs

Black and Tan Braised Beef Short Ribs

  • Author: Polish Housewife
  • Yield: serves 6
  • Category: Main
  • Cuisine: Irish
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Description

A hearty, chef-inspired winter dish

Ingredients

  • 6 beef short ribs
  • salt & pepper
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 6 carrots, sliced
  • 1 onion, diced
  • 1 bottle Guinness Stout
  • 1 bottle Bass Ale
  • beef broth
  • 2 tablespoons cornstarch

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees
  2. Dry ribs with paper towels, season with salt and pepper
  3. Heat olive oil in Dutch oven over medium high heat, brown ribs on all sides
  4. Remove ribs and add carrots and onion to pan, cook, stirring, until lightly browned
  5. Add just a little of one of the beers to deglaze the pan, scrapping up the browned bits
  6. Place ribs on top of vegetables, and add equal parts of the beers until the liquid covers the bottom third of the meat
  7. Bring to a simmer, cover, place in the oven
  8. Bake 3 to 4 hours, basting two or three times every hour
  9. Add stout and ale, as needed to keep the liquid level constant, when the beer bottles are empty, use beef broth to add to the liquid
  10. After 3 to 4 hours, allow the pan to cool, remove the ribs, refrigerate in a covered container, do the same with the carrots, you might serve these on the side or reserve for another use. (The onions seem to have disintegrated and were nowhere to be found)
  11. Refrigerate the broth
  12. The next day, or after the fat has solidified on top of the broth, remove and discard the fat. Return the now gelatinous broth to the Dutch with the ribs
  13. Heat, adding broth until you have enough liquid to over the bottom third of the meat, simmer another two hours, either on the stove top or in the oven
  14. Dissolve the cornstarch in a little water (about 1/2 cup) and add to the broth, continue simmer for about 5 minutes, until the broth thickens
  15. Serve with polenta and greens