Once again, a convergence of events conspire to produce cognitive dissonance and tasty culinaria!
It’s March, and the wonderful folks at Taylor Strategy, on behalf of Guinness, sent me a couple of cans to cook with. Last year I made Guinness Potato Cheese Soup, but this year I decided to honor Pi Day by making a round baked good with filling and crust. With Guinness, of course.
I had a package of the head and butt end of a salmon, which Harris Teeter has been offering at a discount after they sell off the fillets to the bourgeoisie. Perfect for the stock and filling of a Guinness Fish Pie. I found a recipe on the Irish Country Magazine website credited to Oran Colhoun, head chef at Visitor Catering. I converted the metric measurements, cut the quantity in half, and subbed the salmon for the mixed seafood it called for.
There’s another attraction to this recipe: instead of a pastry crust, it’s topped with mashed potatoes. Despite the shuddery memories of high school cafeteria shepherd’s pie, I forged ahead. It’s fish, not ground beef! It will be delicious!
And it was. I made stock from the fish head, filleted and cubed the flesh from the tail, cooked a mix of vegetables with more garlic than the recipe called for, and deglazed them with white wine and Guinness; then added the stock, fish, lemon juice, and a generous heap each of dill and parsley. This mix was thickened with milk and cornstarch (Americanized from the recipe’s cornflour). I topped it with mashed potatoes enriched with more milk and butter, and ran it under the broiler until the potatoes were nicely browned.
The recipe (being from a chef) called for cream in both filling and topping. A little rich for my blood. The substitution of milk worked out well.
I happened to be running an errand near the Leisure World Giant the day before, so I stopped in for the dill and parsley (if you make this recipe, do not, by the way, omit the lemon juice or dill; they add immensely to the flavor. By contrast, the parsley seemed dispensable.) The Giant had a display of foodstuffs for St. Patrick’s Day which gratified the cognitive dissonance niche this time of year seems to foster. (As I mentioned in my last post, Harris Teeter has apparently spent their budget on Valentine’s Day this year.)
Hot cross buns; “St. Patrick” sugar cookies; and something labeled “Guinness Chocolate Stout Cake” containing neither Guinness, nor chocolate, nor stout. The label very carefully describes it as “infused with the genuine flavor of your favorite brands.” Looking at the list of ingredients, it’s really hard to see how they did that. I guess “natural and artificial flavor” is how. I’ll just stick to the real thing, thank you!
