Erin has some great recipes for hearty winter dishes. These are the dishes found in Irish homes and when the family gathers for great food and wine, the air is filled with stories about that jewel of an isle. If you cook one of the dishes below, drink enough of the wine, and listen very hard you too may hear the voice of a seanchaí telling stories about the Pookas, fairies, giants and Leprachauns.
Enjoy the dishes listed below.
Erin's Irish Beef Stew with a Hunter Hill Zinfandel
In The Fishy Chips, Rick and the Trio are trying to stop the Chinese from stealing a secret computer chip. Chinese agents have infiltrated the semiconductor program at a local community college and they are using students to steal the chip. As Rick interviews the secretary of the Semiconductor Manufacturing Program in the college cafeteria he sits down for a hearty Irish beef stew with stout-- a dish that Erin had made many times in the past. The presentation was superb and the carrots, the chunks of beef and the pearl onions were easily distinguishable. At home, he would have poured a glass of Hunter Hill Zinfandel to make this a perfect meal.
Chick here to view the recipe
Jenny's Irish Apple Maple Pork Chops with Vine Hill Zinfandel
In The Winning Certificate, Sylvia Medina, a student at Central High joins a teenage gang after her adopted mother's death and is trapped in a life style of violence and hopelessness. Antonio Medina, her adopted father tries everything to get Sylvia back on track. However, nothing helps until Rick Podowski and Leti Rios, advisors to the high school Literary Club, get involved.
As Sylvia develops her ties to the Literary Club, she leaves the gang and gets intrigued by the picture of a woman on a singles site visited by Antonio. Jenny turns out to be Sylvia's birth mother and her stepsons are trying to steal the family farm.
As Sylvia develops her ties to the Literary Club, she leaves the gang and gets intrigued by the picture of a woman on a singles site visited by Antonio. Jenny turns out to be Sylvia's birth mother and her stepsons are trying to steal the family farm.
Jenny sends Antonio a secret document and two hired thugs tie him up, pistol whip him and search the house. A few days later Antonio, who had been released from the hospital that morning, was sitting at the kitchen table having dinner with Jenny. Even though there were no candles, Mexican love songs were playing on the stereo and the subdued light of dusk made for a romantic atmosphere.
Jenny had promised to make her famous Irish Apple Maple Pork Chops. When the chops were fried to a deep golden brown, she brought them to the table on a blue-rimmed oval platter. Three chops covered with apples and a maple sauce that included Irish whiskey sat in the middle of the platter with a border of piped mashed potato mounds surrounding them. A basic green salad accompanied the meal.
Antonio opened a bottle of wine. He poured two glasses and they sat down to eat.
Death of a Foster Child explores the guilt felt when the foster placement of a teenage girl in the home of Rick Podowski and his wife failed. To complicate matters, the foster child was brutally murdered and the authorities have accused her of selling drugs on the school campus and by implication asserted that the foster parents allowed this behavior. Rick and The Hefty Trio investigate to determine what really happened.
The four of them met at Tessora's Barra di Vino, a wine bar tucked away in one of the side alleys at the Pruneyard Shopping Center. An Irish Potato Casserole was first on the white board listing the small plates specials for the night."I'll take the potato casserole," Rick said, "and a glass of Windy Oaks Pinot Noir. This is an incredible wine that Elaine and I are particularly fond of."
"I'm having the potato casserole, too," Erin said. "My Irish grandmother used to make this dish all the time. Remember Rick, I gave you a copy of my recipe?"
"And I made it," Rick said. "It was absolutely delicious. Let’s see what Tessora’s does with it."Click here to view the recipe.