Judith McLoughlin, author of
The Ulster Kitchen and the upcoming
Shamrock and the Peach, lives and teaches here in Atlanta. I had the pleasure of meeting her briefly (and tasting her incredible lemon curd and scones*) a few years ago at an eco-fashion event, and recently started following her blog,
Judith, the Irish Foodie.This lady is full of fantastic recipes. She seems to have a knack for making dishes both exquisite and comforting, and that seems crazy to me. Most food is either fancy or unfancy, but she manages to combine the two somehow. Fancy
and unfancy! Tea
and no tea! Alive cat in the box
and dead cat in the box! Okay, I’m veering away from dinner-talk. Back it up.
So Judith posted a recipe for BLT Boxty Bites and I’m reblogging it because it’s terrific.
I tend to skip a lot of great-looking recipes if they’re for dishes I have zero familiarity with. If I haven’t eaten something before, I worry that I won’t know if I’ve made it right or not. And I hadn’t eaten boxty before. But these cute little boxty bites had been taunting me for close to two weeks, and eventually I had to face the fact that I wanted to try the damn recipe. So I started to convince myself that I probably couldn’t really mess it up. Potatoes? Good. Bread? Good. Easy. Let’s go.
I know I should have gone out to find expertly-prepared boxty first, but I decided to jump in and would you believe it, it turned out wonderfully. It looks like the pictures, but past that, I have no idea if it’s right. I just know it’s yummy. And fun! We pulled out our entire (embarrassingly broad) selection of condiments and spreads and cheeses and fruits and stacked up all the bites we could think of. I even made a note of my favorite three combinations and tacked them on to the recipe so I can make them again next time.
Now that I know how great this stuff is, I’m definitely going to seek out that expertly-prepared boxty. I’ll let you know how it stacks up (get it? hey, get it?).
(Makes 24)
- 2 medium baking potatoes, peeled
- 1 cup flour
- ½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
- ¼ cup Kerrygold Dubliner Cheese (I used shredded cheddar that I had on hand, which is blander but worked out okay)
- 1 Tbsp butter, melted
- ¼ cup whole milk (I used almond milk)
- Spinach, arugula, or other greens
- Cut potato into quarters and place in a saucepan with cold salted water. Bring water to a boil and cook for 15-20 minute until potatoes are fork-tender. Drain, and allow potatoes to dry out on low heat for a few moments in a colander. Mash the potato.
- Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together in a big bowl. Add 1 cup of your mashed potatoes (you don’t need the rest). Stir in the cheese, milk and melted butter.
- Knead lightly on a floured surface.
- Roll out to ¼” depth with a floured rolling pin and cut with a 1″ biscuit cutter. (What? You don’t have a biscuit cutter? Neither do I! Try a shot glass. A little tougher, but it worked for me.)
- Sprinkle a little flour on your griddle or a flat pan. Cook boxty bread bites in small batches on medium heat for 3-4 minutes on each side until the crust is golden brown. When they’re done, set them on a plate and keep them warm while you make stacks.
- To prepare for stacking, dress your greens with a little olive oil, salt and pepper.
Boxty Bite Stacking Ideas:
Judith’s original BLT Boxty Bites
To create the original recipe, add these things in this order:
- Mayonnaise
- Dressed greens
- Bacon
- Roasted tomatoes
Sweet-and-Spicy stack
Add these things in this order:
- Spicy Chinese mustard
- Sweet Thai chili sauce
- Dressed greens
- Snapea Crisps (these are baked, salted sugar snap peas, sold as a salad topping; other crispy vegetables would be fine)
Red Pepper stack
Add these things in this order:
- Low-fat cream cheese or goat cheese spread
- Dressed greens
- Roasted red pepper
- Garlic powder (optional)
Jalapeno-Raspberry stack
Add these things in this order:
- Emily G’s Jalapeno Raspberry Jam
- Dressed greens
- Farm-fresh mozzarella
* I feel like you’re going to be looking for a double entendre there, and I assure you there is none.
