My Irish Table: Recipes from the Homeland and Restaurant Eve [A Cookbook]

by Cathal Armstrong, David Hagedorn

Overview

The debut cookbook from Cathal Armstrong featuring 130 recipes showcasing modern Irish fare, along with stories about Armstrong's journey from Dublin to Washington, DC, and becoming an internationally recognized four-star chef, the owner of seven successful food and drink establishments, and a leader in the sustainable-food movement.

     With its moderate climate and amazing natural resources, Ireland is a modern-day Eden, boasting lush, bountiful produce, world-renowned dairy, plentiful seafood, and grass-fed meats. In My Irish Table, sustainable food movement leader and four-star chef Cathal Armstrong celebrates the food of his homeland and chronicles his culinary journey from Dublin to Washington DC, where he runs seven beloved and critically lauded restaurants.
    Featuring 130 delicious recipes—from Kerrygold Butter-Poached Lobster with Parsnips to Irish Stew, Shepherd’s Pie, and Mam’s Apple Pie—My Irish Table draws on Armstrong’s Irish upbringing as well as his professional experience and French culinary training. In his hands, Irish food is comforting yet elegant, rustic yet skillful, and My Irish Table invites you into his kitchen to explore the vibrant traditions and rich culinary landscape of the Emerald Isle.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781607744306
Publisher:	Clarkson Potter/Ten Speed
Publication date:	03/11/2014
Pages:	280
Sales rank:	285,597
Product dimensions:	8.80(w) x 10.10(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Dublin born, CATHAL ARMSTRONG is an internationally recognized chef with seven restaurants in the Washington, DC, area. Food & Wine magazine called him “a one-man urban-renewal engine” who kicked off a dining revival in Old Town using French techniques and local produce. Armstrong was a James Beard Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic nominee and was named one of Food & Wine’s  “10 Best New Chefs 2006” and “50 Hall of Fame Best New Chefs.” He won the Best Chef Award from the Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington, DC, in 2007, and the White House honored him as a “Champion of Change” for his work on ending childhood obesity and his involvement in improving the school lunch system. Cathal has been featured in Oprah, Food & Wine, Southern Living, and Martha Stewart.
 
DAVID HAGEDORN was a chef and restaurateur for 25 years before becoming a food writer, chiefly for the Washington Post. His articles appear in metropolitan dailies throughout the country. He is the author, with Todd and Ellen Gray, of The New Jewish Table and is currently working on other book projects.

Read an Excerpt

Potato and Leek Soup

Potato and leek soup served warm with plenty of Brown Bread (page 192) is one of the great staples of Irish pub grub. It is always on Meshelle’s must-have list when in Ireland. When we first put it on the menu at Society Fair, I tried to change the traditional method of making it by bumping up the cream, which wound up being totally unnecessary: another case of the old-fashioned way being the best way. However, if you want the dish to be vegetarian, it’s fine to substitute vegetable broth for the chicken stock.

1/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
4 large leeks, white and light green parts only, sliced lengthwise and coarsely chopped, well washed (see How to Clean Leeks, below)
2 russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
4 cups chicken stock 
1 cup heavy cream
Kosher salt
 
Freshly ground black pepper
Brown Bread (page 192), sliced
 
Sweat the vegetables: Melt the butter in a heavy casserole over medium heat. Stir in the leeks and potatoes and let them sweat until tender, about
15 minutes.

Cook the soup: Add the stock and cream and bring to a boil over high heat. Lower the heat to medium and simmer the soup for 30 minutes, until the potatoes are completely soft.
Purée the soup: Working in batches, purée the soup in a blender until completely smooth and then pass through a fine-mesh strainer or china cap into a clean pan. Season to taste with salt. Keep the soup warm over very low heat until ready to serve. Ladle into individual bowls and garnish each serving with ground black pepper; serve with brown bread.
To reheat: The soup can be made up to 2 days before serving or frozen for up to 3 months. Reheat the soup in a saucepan over medium heat until hot and then reblend it before serving. The fat in cream soups congeals when chilled and needs to be re-emulsified.

—————————————————————-
 
How to Clean Leeks
 
Leeks are filled with sand. To clean them, you want to chop them coarsely (or however indicated in your recipe) and put them in a very large bowl of cold water. They will float to the top. With your hands, massage the pieces to separate them and allow the sand to sink to the bottom of the bowl. With your hands, scoop the leeks off the surface and into a colander.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Introduction
 
Chapter One: First Things First: Irish Breakfast Like At Home
Chapter Two: Rugby Matches, Croke Park, And Hurling Practice
Chapter Three: What Mam Cooked
Chapter Four: Fridays Are For Fish
Chapter Five: Special Occasions
Nana’s Sunday Dinners
Saint Patrick’s Day
Easter
My Birthday Dinner
Halloween
Christmas Eve And Christmas Day
Chapter Six: From Restaurant Eve
Chapter Seven: From Da’s Garden
Chapter Eight: Peggy’s Bread
Chapter Nine: All Things Sweet
Chapter Ten: Brine, Stocks, Sauces, And Relishes
 
Glossary
Resources
Index
Conversion Chart

Editorial Reviews

01/20/2014
Rare is the American cookbook that illuminates Irish cuisine, and this personal collection from a Dublin-born, Washington-based chef and restaurateur explores Emerald Isle fare with enthusiastic reverence. Armstrong recounts his early years eating out of his father’s garden, and his apprenticeships in U.S. kitchens before he opened his first establishment, Restaurant Eve, in Alexandria, Va., offering the relevant recipes along the way. Beginning with Irish breakfast, including homemade black pudding and marmalade, he moves on to “Sunday” dishes such as kidneys in red wine sauce, his mother’s potato pancakes and shepherd’s pie on through his restaurant fare, like an Irish Caesar salad with brown breadcrumbs and Cashel blue cheese. While his Irish-American innovations such as foie gras with black pudding and pears, pan-roasted loin of venison with carrot puree, glazed baby carrots and brown bread cream are a bit precious and time consuming for the home cook, there are plenty of everyday eats here: potato leek soup; steamed mussels with lemon and bay leaf; and Bakewell Tart. Armstrong’s emphasis on local ingredients, his amiable narrative and the lineup of dishes both classic and contemporary make a compelling case. Color photos. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

Cathal’s culinary journey from Dublin to Restaurant Eve in Virginia makes riveting reading. This talented young man didn’t ‘lick it off a stone’, as we say in Ireland. His passion for food began in his Da’s vegetable garden, was fostered at his mother’s table, and further ignited by his childhood travels in France. The end result is a super talented young Irish chef with real values and buckets of talent of whom we can be truly proud.”
—Darina Allen, author of Irish Traditional Cooking and Forgotten Skills of Cooking
 
“This is a scrumptious gathering of everything Irish. It has the haughty (foie gras with black pudding and pears) and the humble (cheese on toast), the familiar (a curing brine for ham) and the unusual (a homey dish called Dublin Coddle). Along the way you’ll meet Da and his garden and Mam and her array of stews (beef, Irish, and President Obama’s chicken). These are recipes you dare not live without.”
—Phyllis Richman, former Washington Post restaurant critic
 
“Cathal has that rare combination of deep civic mindedness, compassion, and culinary talent. This book is full of wonderful recipes to explore, from a Saint Patrick’s Day roast leg of lamb with herb pesto to simple, classic brown bread. In the fine spirit of Darina Allen, Cathal is preserving Irish foodways, celebrating their rich traditions, and breathing new life into them.”
—Alice Waters, proprietor of Chez Panisse and author of The Art of Simple Food
 
“In this warm and personal tribute to Irish cuisine, Cathal Armstrong invites us to come home with him to his family’s kitchen, and celebrates his roots through the lens of an Irish chef cooking in America. Reading this book could make anyone wish they were Irish. Cooking from it will make you feel as if you are.”
—Patrick O’Connell, author of Patrick O’Connell’s Refined American Cuisine

From the Publisher