Did you miss me? ;)

So I have been thinking about this blog and pressuring myself to write something everyday. Ha! So much for that! Right?!! ;)
Well, I finally did it! I made the seafood boxty I was talking about in one of my past posts. What is a seafood boxty, you ask? And why would I make anything called a seafood boxty? Because it is out of this world delicious!!! That's why. And also because it is the dish I had when Girls Night Out went to Ireland via Paddy Ryan's Irish Restaurant and Pub last month.  Part of the reason I am writing this blog is so I can write about my adventures in cooking and recreating recipes from the various restaurants the Girls Night Out group goes to each month and maybe show pictures...if I think it looks appetizing. Awwww, don't worry, I'll still post pics even if it looks gross. I am by no means a chef nor am I an artist. So it may or may not taste good and it most likely won't look pretty.  Oh, and I need to let someone taste my creation too. A bit risky, I know, but you never know what can happen. I found this out when I had my fabulous friend, Kris Dodge try the boxty.....unintentionally. That is, I made it and did not intend for her to eat it because I thought it was a wreck of a dish. Now, I like 99.99999% of everything I eat and even if it's not that great I will still eat it. But this was just bad, or so I thought. ;)
So where do I begin? Let's start by explaining what boxty is exactly. It is a traditional Irish potato dish that has a little rhyme attached to it.  "Boxty on the griddle, boxty in the pan. If you can't make boxty, you'll never get your man."  I wonder if Steve knows about this? Well, it's a good thing he wasn't home to try my boxty because he'd be headed out the door!
Boxty is basically a potato pancake and can be layered with various fillings. The filling I chose was salmon and cod in a creamy spinach and dill sauce. Paddy Ryan's make everything from scratch and with organic ingredients. It was sooooo good. Here is a picture of their Seafood Boxty:

~The filling is sandwiched between two boxty.~

I just had to try to make this at home. So I did some research on the internet and found a few traditional boxty recipe sites and I found a recipe for the sauce, but ended up creating my own based on what I thought was in it.

The boxty ended up like a flat hockey puck that could be used as a weapon for sure. Paddy's were lighter a fluffy. Mine were dense like cement. Like I said before, I found a few recipes out there and all were just a bit different. Some added egg, some had both shredded potato and mashed. Some included baking powder, some not. it was hard to say what Paddy's used. But the sauce! The sauce was deeeeeeelicious!! It had organic, unpasteurized cream; white wine, lemon juice, fresh dill, paprika, salmon and cod. I later realized that I forgot to add the spinach but it was fantastic without it.

So I had the sauce down but the boxty is the foundation for the dish and if I had that wrong then I was not doing so well. So I put it all to the side.

Meanwhile, my friend Kris, was over around lunch time for a meeting when her tummy started to grumble. I thought I could make her a tuna fish sandwich?? But this was my chance to try my recipe out on someone. But who really wants to eat a slab of cement with some fish sauce on top? Surely not Kris!

But as I walked to the kitchen, she followed me and saw my concoction sitting on the counter and on the stove. I told her what I made and she said she wanted to try it!! Seriously?? Yes, she was serious. The only thing was, she did not like salmon but she said to give her the sauce without the salmon. So I reluctantly made her a plate of my sad rendition of seafood boxty.

I have to say that I was quite leary and feared I might accidently poison her like the time I almost killed my husband when I canned dill pickles for the first time. They went way wrong! He didn't really get sick and in fact he only took a bite and realized something was not right. But the potential of me giving away jars and jars of pickles to people who might keal over due to a malfunction in something I did during the canning process made me a bit nervous. I had actually given a jar to my in-laws and had to call them before they opened them. I am sure some might let it pass and let their in-laws eat the pickles but I truly love them and did not want anything to happen to them!! Side note: I have since then perfected my pickle making ability and they are now one of Steve's favorite things to eat. Whew!

Okay, so you can understand why I was hesitant about feeding Kris. I suppose the worst that could happen  was she'd feel like she had a rock in her stomach. So I decided to let her have it. I only placed one boxty on the plate and topped it with the sauce (minus the chunks of salmon). To my complete amazement, she LOVED it!! Not liked, but LOVED it! She inhaled it!!! Maybe she was just really hungry but within minutes, it was gone! And I am quite confident Kris is not like me who likes 99.99999% of the things she tries. ;)

I did not get a picture of her eating it, but I did take a picture of another plate of my creation the next day when I decided to try it one more time. Guess what?? I LOVED it!! When I originally tasted the recipe I had eaten mostly the boxty with a little bit of sauce. I needed to smother the boxty with the sauce and let it soak in a bit. So are you ready for a picture of my seafood boxty? (Are you wondering how many times I wrote the word "boxty" in this post?) I am because it feels like more times than necessary. Anyway, here it is........................................................

Not so pretty and a bit assymetrical but it was tasty! The salmon and cod in the creamy dill sauce had a wonderful rich flavor yet not too heavy. The dill and hint of lemon accentuated the salmon and cod nicely and the boxty gave you something to soak it all up with and added a welcoming texture.

So there you have it! It was not exactly like Paddy Ryan's version but it was tasty and satisfying.

Steve still would have run if he had tried it!

So until next time....go try something new!!