I hope you enjoy this issue of Between the Layers! Share it with your friends. A Troubling March Calls for Cottage Pie - No. 384It’s the coziest way to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day
I DON’T NEED ST. PATRICK’S DAY to remember my Irish heritage. I don’t need St. Patrick’s to drink green beer because I don’t drink green beer anymore. And I don’t need St. Patrick’s to revel in cabbage and potatoes because I love them all year long. On St. Patrick’s with the wearing of the green, anyone can be Irish for the day. Anyone can revel in song, drink, and traditional fare like cottage pie. Just reading about the excessive spending, particularly on food, by America’s Defense Department confirms just how out of touch this administration is when consumers are struggling to put food on the table and gas in the car. According to a report from Open the Books, a government watchdog group that has monitored Pentagon spending for the last decade, under the leadership of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, in March, May, June, and October 2025 combined, the Pentagon spent $7.4 million of our tax dollars on lobster tails. In September of last year alone, the Pentagon spent another $6.9 million on lobster tails, plus $2 million for Alaskan King crab, $15.1 million for ribeye steaks, $124,000 for ice cream machines, and a staggering $139,224 for 272 orders of doughnuts in what appears to have been a high-cholesterol blowing of the budget. Late night host Jimmy Kimmel had the best line: “What is this, My 600lb Defense Department?”
In the unsettling atmosphere of this moment—the war with Iran, rising grocery and oil prices, no domestic commitment to a green energy policy and so continued dependence on foreign oil, and a sinking feeling that America is backpedaling under this president, cottage pie is a comforting distraction and won’t break your budget. Strained economic and political times have always called for humble cooking that often begins with a well-loved skillet and an onion. Cottage pie is a two-layered affair, on the bottom a savory meat and veg mixture, and on top, a smothering of mashed potatoes all browned in a hot oven until golden and gorgeous. What is not to love? Named after everyday people who lived in cottages in late 18th Century England, cottage pie is adaptable to what you have—ground beef, lamb, turkey, or even chopped fresh mushrooms if you are vegetarian. With lamb it often goes by the name shepherd’s pie. It often goes by shepherd’s pie if it contains beef, too. But the Irish are not sticklers for details, and it’s a universally loved sort of recipe across Ireland and the British Isles, no matter their histories of not getting along.
As with any recipe, it’s the little things in cottage pie that improve it. The meat and gravy layer underneath is downright boring in flavor unless you add garlic, pinches of salt, Worcestershire and seasonings, even a good glug of Guinness. Likewise, the potato topping can be dry. But now I’ve Iearned to begin with Russet (baking) potatoes for fluffiness and to fold in an egg yolk to enrich it. I scatter a little shredded cheddar or Parmesan and bits of butter on top at the last of the baking, too. In the end, I cleaned out my fridge for this recipe. I added half a leek, finely chopped, to the veg saute for the filling because I had it. All I needed to buy was a pound and a half of ground round and some fresh thyme because it’s been too cold in Nashville for my herb garden English thyme to spit out its green leaves.
I come to a love of all things Irish honestly.My Byrn ancestors traveled from the mountains of County Wicklow, Ireland, and they sailed from the port of Dublin to Philadelphia in 1782. I don’t know why they left Ireland or why Tennessee was their ultimate destination. They homesteaded land and operated grist mills, so my father wrote in his diary. And he said their living conditions weren’t easy. Many died young, and one son named Larry (named after his father Laurence) was orphaned at two and raised by foster parents in Middle Tennessee. Larry would marry and have 11 children, and he sent one son to Philadelphia for medical training. That son came back home to be a country doctor along the Little Harpeth River, not too far from where I live today. When the doctor’s eyesight began to fail in his advanced years, his nephew—my grandfather—helped run his farm. And that’s how our family came to call Tennessee home. What’s your immigrant story? What’s your favorite budget-friendly recipe?War seems to be front and center on this administration’s mind, and our tax dollars are supporting a steady diet of bombs and lobsters. But this was not how America was fed. If you flip through old cookbooks, you’ll see oats in meatloaf, corn instead of oysters in fritters, crackers masquerading as apples in pie, potato cooking water religiously saved to enrich breads and cakes, and in lieu of white sugar, a whole gamut of sweeteners from molasses to sorghum to jams and jellies from the pantry shelf, and when that was gone, a search for wild honey. Some of the best recipes in America don’t need to break the budget. They just need to feed people and welcome us all to the table. - xo, Anne
THE RECIPE: St. Patrick’s Day Cottage PieThis makes enough for six to eight, so you could assemble two casseroles and freeze one before baking. Or bake the whole pan and know you’ve got plenty of leftovers. That’s a nice feeling! Serve with peas and a green salad. And for a dazzling presentation, spoon on the potato topping and create pockets and swirls with the back of the spoon which is where the butter will pool deliciously. For vegetarians, substitute finely chopped mushrooms for the meat and the saved water from cooking the potatoes for the broth. Makes 6 to 8 servings Prep: 45 to 50 minutes Bake: 20 to 25 minutes
You’re on the free list for Anne Byrn: Between the Layers. If you’re liking what you’re reading, why don’t you become a paying subscriber for more recipes, stories, and content.
|
0 comments:
Post a Comment