My Irish Table - Cookbook Review

My Irish Table by Cathal Armstrong and David Hagedorn

In a fairly desperate attempt to reconnect with my Irish heritage I've always been attracted to all things Irish.  Unfortunately, despite my best efforts the food has never really grabbed me.  I've paged through every Irish cookbook I've come across and always seem to find the same 10 heavy dishes.  That is until I came across My Irish Table.  This book includes recipes for anything you could possibly want - breakfast, quick food, more traditional food, fish, special occasions, bread, desserts and everything in between.  While there are several recipes that my rather conservative American palate is too chicken to attempt (blood sausage, steak and kidney pie) there are tons of recipes that simply make my mouth water.  The Spanish Omelet with Aioli, the Dublin Coddle, the Chicken Noodle Soup, Spiced Beef Sandwiches and lots of other main dishes as well as pretty much all of the bread and potato recipes look fantastic and include ingredients that are easily found at major grocery stores.

I did try the Potato Rolls recipe with dinner last night.  While I'm familiar with yeast breads I've never made this type of roll before.  Add the fact that I had a cold and a cranky 4 year old things could have easily gone horribly wrong.  What I got were light and tender yet hearty rolls with a slight salty taste that were fantastic with a little Irish butter.  While the instructions were long they were very well laid out and very clear and easy to follow.  I'm definitely looking forward to trying more recipes!

Verdict: Buy!  The pictures are beautiful, the food is different enough to add variety to the menu without impossible to find ingredients and the recipes are well laid out with clear instructions.