One week until St. Paddy’s Day and everyone is gearing up for the celebration, myself included! If you’re planning on throwing a bash you’ll definitely need some Irish food and I’ve got you covered. Of course all of my dishes are made the healthy way but that’s so you have room for the drink (I’m always thinking ahead!)

Kicking off our countdown is one of my favourites, Irish Stew. Traditionally Irish foods use simple, basic and cheap ingredients and tend to be very simple and rustic. Though there are many versions of Irish stew out there, it is only a traditional “Irish stew” if using lamb or mutton (a lamb over 1½ years old). Using other meats such as beef is not considered a traditional Irish stew. Bet you didn’t know that did you? Although I have kept the original ingredients I have put my own spin on the style and presentation of the dish. Believe me though the flavour is all there.

RECIPE
Serves 4

3 lbs. grass fed Lamb shoulder
3 large parsnips – peeled & sliced in ¼” rounds
½ lb. baby carrots
3 garlic cloves – peeled
1 lb. mini potatoes – halved
1 Bouquet garni – rosemary, thyme, bay leaf
1 cup white wine (whatever you’re drinking will work)
7 cups organic beef broth
olive oil
S&P

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 400°F. Begin by preheating a heavy bottomed sauté pan on high heat for 3-4 minutes. Add 2 tbsp olive oil. Season each lamb chop with S&P and sear in hot pan for 3-4 minutes each side until golden brown. Remove to large roasting tray. De-glaze sauté pan with white wine for 1 minute and scrape all carmelised bits from bottom. Add to lamb along with bouquet garni, garlic and broth. Cover with foil and place in oven for 1 ½ hrs. Reduce oven to 375°F. After initial cooking time add vegetables (baby carrots, parsnips and mini potatoes). Cover and return to oven for additional hour or until veg are fully cooked and meat begins to fall off the bone. That’s how tender it should be! Taste and season to desired taste.

NOTE: Never season your gravy before braising meat. The saltiness of the dish will intensify too much over the long cooking period. Always best to season just before serving.

In addition to this one I’ve got a couple more new Irish recipes I’m working on but I already have a ton of recipes out there so this will be the start of the Irish recipe round up. Looks like it will end up being in several posts so keep checking back all week for great ideas. Nobody does healthy Irish food like yours truly (at least that’s what I keep telling myself!)

Starting off the round up is an all time Irish favourite, Beef & Guinness Stew. This is brilliant party grub since it can be made it big batches and it’s pretty easy to do. Even now I wish I had this in front of me to tuck into! Hard to imagine this video is nearly two years old. (Notice I’m rockin’ the Topo tee?)

Though this stew is brilliant on its own, having some brown soda bread and a good ol’ pint would get you into Heaven (plus the soda bread is good soakage!) It’s super easy–watch me make it in record time!

If you’re whipping up a batch of soda bread you might as well slap some Irish Smoked Salmon on top! It’s a brilliant easy appetizer.

This is just the beginning. More Irish classics to come!

All recipes are made with the finest quality farmers market whole foods, natural and non-processed ingredients as much as possible.

How many times have you read a study that says to eat more fish in your diet because it’s good for you? But is what’s good for you good for the environment? Over the last 2 1/2 years of food blogging I’ve always stayed true to my healthy cooking ways but I have grown in one key area, which is choosing sustainable ingredients. In my opinion it’s the only way forward to save our food sources and I’m glad word is catching on (no pun intended).

The albacore tuna photos above were taken in Dingle, Ireland where I had the opportunity to speak to the owner of the fishery, which you can read about here. Now, I’m still learning about what’s considered sustainable and I’ll admit it’s not always an easy task. But that’s the point here–I’m choosing to educate myself to make the right choices. Our Dingle trip was back in October 2008 and rereading that article I wrote I realised that these fish were caught with nets, which nowadays is not considered to be sustainable fishing practices. Here I thought just picking the right fish was good enough but the reality is now I need to know how it’s caught as well. Here’s a great article on albacore tuna practices.

Well this article wasn’t supposed to be about albacore but that’s what happens when I start putting my thoughts on paper–my beautiful mind starts racing all over. What really got my attention last night was this piece from the Nightly News about salmon. I love salmon so I was happy to see the word is spreading about farmed salmon. Take a gander at the video:

I’m sure you can guess where I stand and trust me, even I get overwhelmed by it all. But there’s help out there. What do you think? Have we all gone mad or is overfishing/purchasing unsustainable fish a real problem? When you buy fish including at restaurants do you order sustainably or does that factor into your decision making?

Hey guys–How’s it going?

I decided to switch it up a bit here at The H.I. As you know, I use the site to give you mainly recipes and healthy articles and such but I also want to let you know what’s going down at Casa Murphy (that’s code for my house). As of last week my younger brother, Ross or as he’s known to us, Bud (couldn’t tell you why), is here visiting for a while. It’s his first time here as an adult so it’s pretty cool going for a few beers together. We’ve never really lived together before so this is definitely interesting and I really should give props to my missus for now having to put up with 2 Murphy boys under the same roof. She’s a trouper!

Now, Ross is not known as much of a cook (although he does make a mean bread n’ butter sangwich), so I’ve taken it upon myself to show him a few things. Isn’t that what I’m supposed to do as the older, wiser (better looking) brother? Though I think in his mind he’s agreed to learn so eagerly so he can go home with a couple of sure fire ‘getting laid’ recipes. I’m no miracle worker but I’ll do my best!

We’re also introducing his taste buds to some new and different foods. It was quite interesting, if not comical, to see his expression when I told him we were having Jerk Seitan for dinner. Jerk wha? I think it went down well or at least it didn’t come up! Good thing he’s a sport ‘cuz tonight is pumpkin burger night–can’t wait to see his face with this one! Today I showed him how to make homemade chicken stock (not that he’ll probably need it but…)

His buddy’s won’t know him when he gets home with all his tofu, veggie stock & aioli cooking skills.

If I had a penny for every time I heard “I don’t have time to go to the farmers’ market”, well you know the saying. True, though they are rampant here in SoCal, they’re on during specific times that may not be convenient for everyone and if you live in more rural areas you may not have access to them at all. I get it. But I’m still pushing for LOCAL ORGANIC food, no matter how you can get it. A lot of supermarkets nowadays are carrying some organic produce so it’s defo becoming more accessible to Joe Public. This, very conveniently brings me to the latest craze in this movement, CSA’s (Community Supported Agriculture) and box schemes (as it’s called across the pond). It’s the most convenient way to get fresh, local and seasonal organic food delivered from farm to your doorstep. Literally.

We recently signed up for our CSA box program from Farm Fresh to You, a 240-acre farm located in the Bay Area as well as in the Imperial Valley (closer to Los Angeles). They also work with local area farms to ensure year round variety. I’ve been told we are receiving produce within 24-48 hours of being picked. Can’t beat that, especially since I don’t have to leave the house to get it!

Another beauty about shopping this way is that you’re more apt to try new foods. Since you’re getting seasonal food you’re bound to end up with ingredients you’ve never used before, which broadens your horizons and taste buds. In our first box we received lettuce, swiss chard, spinach, a variety of sweet peppers, grapes, cherry tomatoes, oranges and apples. I’m telling you, the grapes were the best I’ve ever had and overall the quality was great. Though I use a lot of red bell peppers in my cooking, sweet peppers are not so common for me to use. That’s what I mean about trying new things–it forces you to think outside the box, so to speak.
(Check back on Saturday for a recipe–I made a delicious roasted sweet pepper hummus for m’lady.)

I bet you’re thinking it’s got to be expensive, right? First off, let me say your health is worth every penny. Secondly, it’s not bad! Every other week we receive a small mixed box of fruit & veg which costs us $23, though we do tend to plow through it in less than a week. We’re considering trying the regular box, which is $31.50 or switching to weekly deliveries. Do you think that’s expensive? I can easily blow 20+ quid at the farmers’ markets per week, what about you? Think about how much you spend a week at the grocery on produce, whether it’s organic or not. Then think about how “fresh” your produce from the grocery really is. Some food travels hundreds of miles before you get it and goes through many stops along the way, with every stop getting a piece of the “money pie.”

(Image and great article: Consult Mark Blog. Click photo to read article.)

In an article published by The New York Times, some shoppers are even becoming shareholders in local farms cutting out the middlemen completely. Hmmm…maybe I should look into that! But for now I will stick to shopping at my farmers’ markets and with the box schemes.

Have I peaked your interest? Here are some links I’ve put together to help you find an organic box delivery in your area.

USA:
Local Harvest helps you find local organic farms, farmers’ markets, Co-op’s, CSA’s and more.
Ireland:
Sustainable Ireland Box Schemes
Absolutely Organic
Bord Bia find local farmers’ markets
England, Wales, Scotland & Northern Ireland:
Soil Association find local CSA’s
SmarterFitter a great blog post highlighting fruit & veg boxes. Here’s my favorite part about their post referring to why it’s worth it:

• We get to eat ultra-fresh food, with all the flavor and vitamin benefits
• We get exposed to new vegetables and new ways of cooking
• Our food doesn’t come packed in a whole bunch of extra earth-polluting plastic like it does at the supermarket
• We get to support local farmers
• We get to feel good about the food we eat and where it comes from

Couldn’t agree more!

Are you a member of a CSA? How do you feel about it? Recommend your favorite to our readers!

And if you live in California, here’s a coupon for new customers (use promotion code #6164) for $5.00 off  your first delivery from Farm Fresh to You. Don’t forget to mention me! Cheers!

Ireland’s national drink. My fondest memories of drinking Guinness (as it happened often) is sitting next to a rolling pub fire during the brutal cold wet winters eating a open faced fresh crab sandwich with a proper pint o’ Guinness in hand. Bliss.

As reported by Irish Central, this delicious black brew…

…began in 1752 when young Arthur Guinness inherited 100 pounds from his godfather, the Archbishop of Cashel, Dr. Arthur Price. The world has never been the same since.
Young Arthur’s father had helped brew beer on the Archbishop’s estate for the workers. Arthur and his brother decided to take their inheritance start a brewery in the town of Leixlip in County Kildare in 1756. Three years later in 1759, the 34-year-old Arthur took a 9,000-year lease on a rundown brewery in St.
James Gate, Dublin, and began brewing stout, a dark beer turned black by the roasting process. Not having any Madison Avenue advice on market positioning or brand identity, he simply named it Guinness.

That proved to be a wise move.
Today, Guinness is one of the world’s most-popular drinks, and its 250th anniversary will be marked with a worldwide celebration: From Auckland to Austria and Dublin to Durban, the world will tip its hat and raise a pint to old Arthur and the legend he began.

At St. James Gate in Dublin, where the 9,000-year lease still has 8,750 years to go, the workers will still be brewing Guinness pretty much in the same fashion as Arthur did all those years ago.

But now it is a worldwide phenomenon, one of the biggest-selling alcoholic drinks in Africa, a national treasure in Ireland where the Guinness storehouse is Ireland’s leading tourist attraction, and exported all over the world wherever thirsty drinkers live.

Speaking of thirsty drinkers, the way to pour a Guinness is practically a science. “The entire process should take 119 seconds,” according to the Guinness master brewers. For many, it is well worth the wait and wait you should. I remember the first time the Missus had one in our local–as soon as it was set on the bar she grabbed it and there must’ve been 10 of us (or 3) that reacted fast to stop her. Guinness has to rest you see. As soon as it turns completely black that’s when you know it’s ready to be drunk (and yes, drunk we all became!)

My brother-in-law, Jarlaith, used to work for Guinness so I just texted him to find out some inside scoop on today’s “Arthur Day” festivities across the pond in Dublin. Reporting from Neary’s on Chatham Street, a pub “so old world that they refused to buy into the great free music planned in 40 ’stout house’ pubs in Dublin [for today's celebration like] Tom Jones, playing in The Brazen Head (I shit you not!). Though it is amateur night out. Miserable alcoholics like myself can’t even get into our usual pubs.” Sounds like he’s having a jolly good time!

Join me today at 17:59 (5:59pm) your local time (if it hasn’t already passed), by raising a glass of Guinness to the late great Sir Arthur. Sláinte!

You may recall my first experience with Real Gourmet Burger from last October. That was quite the experience seeing those ginormous burgers coming from the kitchen. Back in Dublin a few weeks ago I knew I fancied hitting the place up again -it was that good the first time around. Impressive that a burger joint left such an impression on me since I don’t eat a lot of burgers. Though this time ’round we weren’t near Ballsbridge, but as luck would have it we ran right into the Dun Laoghaire spot by chance on our way to the farmers’ market in Dun Laoghaire, south Dublin. This time I felt like a seasoned pro. The place was jointed which is always good to see. We sat at the counter near the kitchen where I had a birds eye view of the monsters coming out. I tucked  into a beef burger this time  and I wasn’t disappointed. Damn tasty, so much so that I decided to keep some on my shirt for later! If you’re ever in Dublin I would defo recommend giving this place a go.

As a tribute, tomorrow I’ll be posting my version of the Portobello Burger the Missus had back in October (pic below). Wonder if I can get it as high…stay tuned!

For those of you who aren’t familiar with Life and Fitness, it’s Ireland’s premier fitness and health magazine, for those who aspire to a healthier lifestyle. The magazine has articles on fitness, weight loss, nutrition (I am a contributor!), wellness, travel and sport. 

“30,000 issues are distributed nationwide every month through Gyms, Leisure Centres, Health Stores and Physiotherapy Clinics free of charge. Issues will also be available for sale through newsagents and by subscription. Our readership is compiled of all different types of people with one common link; they aspire to lead a healthy lifestyle. Our editorial comprises of articles that will appeal to anyone interested in their health, both casual and hard-core. Each month, we print what we have researched and found to be pertinent information for our readers.”

Yep, you heard it right–my recipes are pertinent for a healthy lifestyle (or so they say!) I can’t agree more. Want to flip through or download the mag? You can view all the editions as well. Technology is brilliant isn’t it?

To see their latest video promo click here!

Hey guys,
Just wanted to drop in quickly and let you know what’s going on these days. We’re heading on our holidays tomorrow to France for a week or so and then a few days back home in Ireland (as if you didn’t know where I’m from).
Myself and the missus are going to spend the night in Paris first and then head down south to meet the rest of my fam bam for a week. The entire Murphy clan is meeting us, which is not only great because we get to see everyone but with me living over here it’s a lot harder to get everyone together. I’m really excited I have to tell you. We’re staying in and around Nice so if there’s anything in particular I should get up to, leave a comment below and fill me in.

I’m generally one of those people who has a hard time unwinding. I find it hard to turn my brain off and just do nothing. Sitting by a pool or on a beach for more than 30 minutes is a tough one. I’d sooner go hiking or to a pottery class or something like that. More my style. (What? You can’t picture it?) I’m so used to being on the move all the time that for me a vacation like this may not be totally work free. I don’t really consider emailing and the odd phone call work! I’m not sure I’ll get away with it but I’ll give it a go.

Anywho, France bound tomorrow.

If you want to see all the fun and games from the Murphy’s on tour, hit me up on twitter.

Cheers!

This is a very special day for us, the Irish–on both sides of the pond, including the 30 million plus Irish-Americans. In honor of our national holiday I wanted to thank the Irish Voice for featuring yours truly in the St. Paddy’s Day issue out this past week. With distributions in main cities such as New York, Boston, San Fran, Chicago and Philly, I’m excited to meet and connect with fellow Irishmen/women from these areas. So if yourself is one of them, contact me!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Enjoy yourselves. Slainte!

When I was home last September I took a drive to visit the place where my culinary adventure began. Ballymaloe Cookery School, situated in the middle of its very own 100-acre organic farm in the picturesque, lush countryside of County Cork, Ireland, taught me not only the basics of cooking but also the importance of an organic lifestyle & sustainability. Surprised? Darina & Tim Allen have been doing this for years, running classes there since 1983. Along with their daughter-in-law, Rachel Allen, they’re as famous in Ireland as U2. Well, in the cooking world, that is. I hope you enjoy this trip down memory lane with me as you’ll get to see how I became who I am, The Healthy Irishman.

Himself with Rachel Allen