March 17

St. Patrick's Day ...of course.

Can't tell you how many people have asked me whether I'm cooking for "my" holiday, or some such.  "My" holiday??  I'm Scottish!  Some people failed high school geography and can't tell the difference between Irish and Scottish!

Scots wear kilts, the Irish wear shamrocks, of course (GRIN).  Sham-rocks.  Now there's a word.  Like sham-poo.  What's wrong with the REAL THING?  That's what I want to know.

Actually the Irish traditional garb is called a leine, and was a traditionally yellow-dyed, sleeved or sleeveless, knee to ankle length linen shirt or smock (Think Ebenezer Scrooge's nightshirt).  The longer the leine, the high the status of the wearer. 

What most people don't realize is that the Irish peasants weren't particularly enamored of (read couldn't afford) corned beef.  Cabbage and potatoes and carrots, surely.  That's food for the common folk, why why they left in droves when there was a potato famine.  Corned beef was for those rich English overlords who ran Ireland for King and country.

Why is it "corned" beef, anyway?  Turns out "corn" is an Olde Englishe word for "small hard particles or grains".  In this case the "corn" is the salt (or perhaps old fashioned black powder) used to preserve the meat in wooden barrels.

That's why we Americans eat "corn" instead of maize.  Those English settlers found the Amerindians using hard dried yellow kernals, and called it "corn" rather than use the perfectly good native word "maize".  And since the winners write the histories and dictionaries, its obvious which word has prevailed.   "Corn" meal is also coarsely ground dried maize.  Biblical (English King James translation) references to "corn" had folks believing (wrongly) for hundreds of years that the Egyptians and Hebrews had maize.  It is true that cultures since before the earliest Egyptians have been "salt curing" meats either wet or dried.

In honor of the Irish, this week's recipe is Irish Countrywomen's Spinach Pie.  The basic recipe I borrowed from Irish Countrywomen magazine.  But of course I've modified it The Kilted Cook way.  I made this for Lady Sally to take to her office lunch party today.

Irish Spinach Pie

2 packages frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
2 pre-made pie crusts
2 Eggs, cold, separated
1 teaspoon Cream of Tartar
8oz shredded Parmesan or mixed white cheeses
16 oz cottage cheese (small curd would be better than the large curd that I used)
1 sweet onion, diced
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 tsp fresh cracked black pepper

Preheat oven to 350F.  Combine the spinach, egg yolks, cheeses, onion and spices.  Beat the eggwhites and cream of tartar into VERY stiff peaks.  Carefully fold the stiff whites into the spinach mixture.  Transfer into two pie crusts.  Bake 30-45 minutes until GBD (golden, brown and delicious).  Rest for 15 minutes before cutting, to allow filling to stiffen.

Option:  Fry up 4-8 oz of bacon, drain and crumble.  Add bacon to mixture, or sprinkle as topping on cooling pie.