Tired of limp French toast? Can you power through a day without the sausage and bacon? You bet you can. And our version is hearty enough that you won’t even miss the meat. We used our own brown soda bread rather than the pale white excuse for bread that passes the muster most elsewhere. Throw on your favorite toppings and you’ll have a breakfast fit for a marathoner.

Ingredients
2-4 slices thick cut brown soda bread
2-3 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon cinnamon
⅛ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon brown sugar
½ cup milk
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs

Pictured toppings
Real maple syrup
Strawberries (optional)
Banana slices (optional)
Powdered sugar (optional)

Place a frying pan on medium heat.

Whisk two eggs until frothy. Stir milk, vanilla, cinnamon, brown sugar and salt into egg mixture. Stir or whisk well to combine.

Soak bread slices in egg mixture, flipping with tongs until bread is pretty well saturated — a minute or so per slice. Set soaked bread on a plate.

Spoon 2 tablespoons of butter into the frying pan and heat until melted, tilting the pan or using a spatula to coat the bottom of the pan. Place soaked bread in pan and cook until underside is browned, flipping and repeating with the second side. Add more butter if desired or if you’re making more than two slices.

Serve warm with plenty of real maple syrup and/or any combination of powdered sugar, fruit, berries or jam.

The egg mix ready to combine


Ready to soak


Soaking the brown soda bread


Frying the soaked bread

Easy, healthy, gluten free, vegan and tasty — there truly is no downside to these chewy banana oat bars.

The demand for bananas in Ireland and the UK began in the late 19th century, with the famous “banana boats” bringing in vast amounts of the fruit (actually it’s an herb), along with passengers, but as recently as a few decades ago the banana was still considered quite exotic in Ireland. Nowadays Tesco (grocery chain) reports bananas are the most popular item among all the fruits and vegetables that it sells with apologies to cauliflower and kale at the bottom of the heap.

Bananas provide our bar’s overall sweetness and hold everything together, while dried cranberries give them a sweet punch. Feel free to swap chocolate chips or any other dried fruit if you want to go that route. These are slightly sweet, so don’t expect cupcake levels of sugar. For a tropical flavor (believe it or not, Ireland is a tropical island), I’ve added coconut as well.

Ingredients (makes 9 squares)

• Spray oil (alternatively coconut oil would complement the dish quite well)
• 2 large ripe bananas
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ¼ cup dried cranberries (unsweetened - who needs the added sugar?)
• ¼ cup sliced almonds/pumpkin seed mixture (use one or the other, both, or even substitute your favorite chopped nuts)
• ¼ cup shredded coconut (I use unsweetened)
• 2 cups rolled oats
• Cinnamon for dusting (optional)

Mashed banana


Everything except the oats


Ready to bake


A quick breakfast

We’ve taken toasties (grilled cheese) and bumped it up a notch with arugula, then topped it with a sunny-side-up egg and balsamic glaze, and served it with a side of fried tomatoes rather than the traditional tomato soup. It makes a meal that’s equally delicious for breakfast or lunch. Our recipe is made with thick-cut slices of our own soda bread, but feel free to substitute. Either way you’ll want a fork and knife to tackle this flavor powerhouse.

Ingredients (for one sandwich)

• 2 slices of bread (I used our own homemade brown soda bread)
• 1-2 ounces sharp cheddar cheese grated or sliced (or whatever your preference is, but use real cheese, not cheese product. Your taste buds will thank you.)
• Handful of arugula
• Butter
• Salt
• Freshly ground pepper
• 1 large egg

• ½ tomato sliced
• Balsamic glaze (optional. Glaze is a sweet balsamic vinegar reduction and usually sits near the balsamic vinegar at a grocery store.)

Ready to assemble.


Frying the sandwich and tomatoes.


Nearly there…


Grilled cheese, arugula and egg with a side of fried tomatoes.


Looking for that extra punch? Drizzle some balsamic glaze over the sandwich and tomatoes.

I’ve tossed together some of my favorite brunch ingredients to make my own P.A.C.E. wrap (potato, asparagus, cheese and egg). Then I tossed in a bite of healthy yogurt and a dash of balsamic vinegar for zing. No need to feel guilty with this one, though you might have a hard time convincing your taste buds.

Ingredients (makes two wraps)

• 2 medium red potatoes
• ½ lb. fresh asparagus
• 2 large eggs (preferably organic)
• Cheddar cheese (I used Kerrygold Aged Cheddar)
• 1-2 green onions (scallions)
• 2 wraps of your choice (avoid any with hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils as those are your trans-fats)
• 1½ tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tablespoons yogurt (preferably non-sweetened, full fat and grass-fed)
• White vinegar
• Balsamic vinegar
• Salt
• Pepper

Preheat oven to 400° fahrenheit. Wash and dry potatoes and asparagus. Snap and discard woody ends off asparagus and snap each stalk into 2-3 pieces. Cut potatoes into 1” chunks. Place potatoes and asparagus pieces into a sealable gallon bag, toss with 1½ tablespoons extra virgin olive oil and a pinch and a half of salt. Roast vegetables on roasting sheet for 20 minutes, stirring several times.

Meanwhile, rinse and dry 1-2 green onions and slice into thin rounds. Cut a few thin slices of cheese and crumble into small bits or just shred enough to fill ½ cup loose give or take.

Fill a small saucepan with a few inches of water and bring to a boil with 1 teaspoon of salt and 2 teaspoons of white vinegar.

After the potatoes and asparagus have roasted for 20 minutes, remove from the oven and gather into a pile on the roasting sheet. Cover with the crumbled/shredded cheese and return to the oven for five more minutes.

One at a time, crack cold eggs into a small bowl or ramekin, stir the boiling water to create a whirlpool. Pour an egg at a time from the small bowl into the center of the whirlpool (this should help keep the egg neat). Remove from heat and cover with a towel for 5 minutes.

Smear a tablespoon of yogurt on the center each wrap, sprinkle a few green onion slices on top and drizzle on a teaspoon of balsamic vinegar.

When the vegetables have roasted for five minutes, remove from the oven and stir to combine with the melted cheese, then spoon half the mixture onto each wrap, ensuring that the mixture is at least an inch from the edges. It is important not to overfill the wraps.

Remove the eggs from the water with a slotted spoon and place one on top of each wrap. Add a dash of salt and freshly ground pepper to the top of each wrap. Then carefully fold the top and bottom ends of each wrap inward slightly covering the ingredients and roll one side edge into a tube to make a fully enclosed wrap. Slice each wrap in half and enjoy. Try these with Irish beans.

Ready to roast


Roasted with cheese


Ready to roll

The week before Ash Wednesday, again back in 1989, I first heard about the event in Ireland known as Pancake Tuesday. Even in the States, Fat Tuesday was foreign to me, so I was double clueless. As the big day approached, I finally figured out that it was a day of eating indulgence before Ash Wednesday (the beginning of Lent). However, a big stack of old fashioned American pancakes was in my head – then I arrived home on my first Pancake Tuesday. The yummy smell of pancakes filled the air; however, they were crêpes! And we filled these crêpes with any sweet we could find – from marshmallows to chocolate chips to strawberries. The entire ritual was a self-indulgent delight.

Below is my recipe (but adapted a bit from Clodagh McKenna): simple, quick and delicious. And of course add in whatever sweets you are craving.

Ingredients

• ½ heaping cup of all-purpose flour
• 2 organic, cage free eggs
• 1 cup of organic milk
• 1 teaspoon of organic orange extract
• 1 tablespoon of canola oil for the pan
• a spoonful of butter (melted)
• sugar
• 1 lemon
• Cookie butter (or Speculoos, available at Trader Joe’s)

Version 1
After you’ve completed cooking each one, fold it into quarters, plate, and squeeze lemon juice over them, then sprinkle a nice amount of sugar on as well. The orange essence of the pancake mixes well with the lemon/sugar combo. The taste is light and fresh.

Version 2
Place the cooked pancake onto a plate and spread cookie butter on one side. Make sure that you give the cookie butter a few seconds to melt before spreading (folding over the pancake for a minute speeds up the process). After spreading on one side, fold into quarters for a sweet, gingerbread-like treat.

Voilà! Pancake Tuesday debauchery complete. I hope you enjoy!

1. Apple, Pecan and Cinnamon Porridge


2. Steel-cut Oat Porridge


3. Pineapple-Coconut Porridge

Oat porridge is one of my go to breakfasts and another popular Irish dish. I chose to make it three different ways to highlight its versatility. In honor of the chefs and their work, I will not reprint recipes here; however, I do provide tips and comments for each. All of the books I use are readily available at your local bookstore or online. And finally, I included my own recipe for porridge (with coconut cooked directly in), which I hope you try!

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1. Apple, Pecan, and Cinnamon Porridge from Clodagh McKenna, Clodagh’s Irish Kitchen, page 48. Do please seek out her book if possible, I am loving it!

She uses rolled oats, steamed, rolled, then toasted rather than steel-cut that are just roughly chopped. Both are close in nutritional value to each other although the glycemic index – which helps with blood sugar levels – is lower on steel cut (www.prevention.com).

This dish is also cooked with milk rather than water, giving it a creamier texture and filling me up a bit more than the water-based porridge. One tip is to bring the milk and oats just to a boil; watch it like a hawk. Since I am an easily distracted amateur cook, I did overcook it a bit and the milk scalded.

As for the taste? Rich, creamy, delicious. The grated apple was a beautiful touch (great way to sweeten it- I did not even need honey), and something that I had never done in all my years of making oats. The mixture of cinnamon, pecan, and apple was just right.

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2. Steel-cut Oat Porridge from Darina Allen, Irish Traditional Cooking, page 268. Her books are thorough and gorgeous resources for cooking all Irish foods. She gives the history and variations so I feel like I am in school – in a good way! It is a class I wish they had offered at my college.

She uses steel-cut oats, which always bring me back to Ireland. I remember my bedroom in one house where I stayed was so cold in the winter that I saw my breath every morning. We only had one coal fireplace to heat a three-bedroom house. I was such a cliché, wearing my fingerless gloves, clutching my porridge, surrounded by blankets. I was in heaven.

So Darina Allen’s recipe was perfect for warming me up both in body and spirit. She soaks the oats overnight, which brought out even more of the nutty flavor that characterizes steel-cut. I use McCann’s since it is readily available in the states.

Before reheating it in the morning, I swirled my bowl with some unsweetened vanilla almond milk, and after, I loaded on the brown sugar. It was scrumptious. And you can really put anything on it, which brings me to my own recipe for porridge.

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3. Coconut and Pineapple Steel-cut Oats. I cook the coconut with the oats and the aroma swirls through the house. If you like coconut, please try it. The smell alone is worth it – rich and tropical, which is great on a bleak winter’s day. And it tastes amazing!

• Half cup of McCann’s Steel Cut Oats
• 2 cups of water
• ¼ cup of organic, finely shredded, unsweetened coconut – very important that it be finely shredded
• 2 heaping teaspoons of sugar
• Fresh pineapple chopped to bite size pieces
• Extra shredded coconut for topping

Beginnings, fresh starts, warmth, comfort – breakfast has all these connotations for me. I feel there is no better way to embark on our journey than for Irish Food Revolution’s inaugural blog post to feature breakfast. And the Irish do it right.

It is no wonder that James Joyce begins Ulysses with the morning meal playing such an important role. Leopold Bloom starts his celebrated day on a quest to find and cook a pork kidney for his breakfast. No kidneys will be fried up in the making of this blog; however, Bloom’s satisfaction with the kidney’s earthiness and decadence seems to transcend a single breakfast, speaking to the importance of a hearty meal for the Irish.

Breakfast was actually my indoctrination to Irish food over twenty years ago, and after embarking from any plane trip back to Ireland, I always head out for the quintessential Irish fry up (for restaurant suggestions head to the ever-growing locator page). But at home, I make it myself; it brings me back twenty years to my first day in Ireland.

What I’m creating here is one possible version and does not include black or white pudding, but the Irish sausage, Irish beans, and fried tomato do it for me!

RECIPE
For a simple nod to an Irish Breakfast, and I stress simple:

1. Fry up the following (I use Kerrygold butter rather than oil for a truly decadent experience):

• ^{Half a fresh, ripe organic tomato- till it is soft and has a nice crust}
• ^{One cage free, organic egg- made to your liking}
• ^{Two Irish sausages (you can find links to online Irish food sales on the locator page-if there aren’t any stores near you that sell any). Heat the sausage until it reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees. The sausage needs to be golden brown all over.}