Cleo Coyle's Irish Whiskey Steak with Royal Tara #Giveaway News

Sadly, for the first time in 258 years, New York City's St. Patrick's Day parade was postponed. The reason, of course, was in reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic. Because of that, Marc and I decided to make the best of a bad situation and celebrate St. Patrick's Day online with our readers, through our March Newsletter.

Today, we're happy to bring some of that online celebration to Mystery Lovers' Kitchen, starting with a few pictures, which I took at past parades, along with a wonderful video from last year's parade...

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NYPD PIPES & DRUMS VIDEO

Though postponed this year, the St. Patrick's Day parade tradition is beloved by millions, so let's celebrate with this memory until the pipes and drums strike up again...

Click the white arrow in the window above to enjoy a stirring performance by the famous NYPD Pipes & Drums at last year's St. Patrick's Day parade. If you don't see the window, you can view the video on YouTube, by clicking here.

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As for today's recipe, Marc and I are sharing a slightly adapted version of one we first published ten years ago in our 9th Coffeehouse Mystery, Roast Mortem, a story set around the time of St. Patrick’s Day—and for good reason. 

Click to
learn more.

Our mystery in Roast Mortem paid tribute to New York's firefighters, the same ones who now carry 343 flags in every St. Patrick's Day parade, in memory of the 343 souls their department lost in the service of saving others in New York on September 11, 2001.

Remembering the hard times we've weathered
will help us face the challenges ahead...

In honor of all the brave spirits on the front lines today from the first responders to the doctors & nurses & medical staffs, from the supermarket clerks and delivery drivers to all the essential service workers keeping the lights on, we give you a recipe with spirit, a wonderful dish for any day, not just St. Patrick’s Day!

With much love
~ Cleo Coyle, author of 
The Coffeehouse Mysteries

Cleo Coyle has a partner in

crime-writing—her husband.

Learn about their books

by clicking here and here.

A Recipe Note from Cleo

Inspired by the ingredients of Irish coffee, my husband and I married whiskey and java in this recipe for an outrageously delicious marinade. 

The coffee accents the earthiness of the beef, which stands in contrast to the spirited brightness of the whiskey. The combination creates the kind of complexity that gives beautiful flavor, a finish so good you won’t need steak sauce, just a thick slice of bread to sop up every bit of those sizzling steak juices on your plate.

🍀 To download a free PDF 🍀

of this recipe that you can print,

save, or share, click here. 

Click here for the free recipe PDF.

🍀 Cleo Coyle's 

Irish Whiskey Steak

Makes 2 servings

Ingredients: 

1/3 cup Irish whiskey (we like Jameson) 

1/4 cup freshly brewed (and cooled) coffee or espresso 

4 tablespoons sesame oil (or any oil you have on hand)

3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce 

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 

2 T-bone, rib-eye, or shell steaks (2–3 pounds total) 

Directions: 

(1) Whisk together the whiskey, coffee, oil, Worcestershire sauce, and pepper and pour into a shallow dish or pan that is large enough to hold 2 steaks flat (single layer, no overlapping).

(2) Cover the dish, pan or container with plastic wrap, and marinated the meat for 1 hour in the refrigerator, then flip and marinate for a second hour. During the last 20 minutes, remove the steak from the refrigerator and allow the meat to reach room temperature.

(3) Sauté the steaks over medium-high heat in a heavy or cast-iron skillet or on a stovetop grill pan (that's what you see in my photos). Cook 5 minutes per side for medium-rare, or 7–8 minutes per side for medium-well. You can also broil or grill them on an outdoor gas or charcoal grill. 

NOTE: If your steak is on the thick side, see "Cleo's Quick Kitchen Hack" below for a restaurant technique on finishing it...

CLEO'S QUICK KITCHEN HACK

The Steak Roll...

When your steak is on the thick side, be sure to "roll" it on its sides (as shown above) at the end of the cooking process to get a nice browning on those fatty white edges.

AND FINALLY

(4) Be sure you allow the steak to rest at least ten minutes before slicing so the juices are able to re-collect. If sliced too soon, those important juices may run out and your steak will taste dry instead of moist and juicy—the best way to eat with joy! 

Click here for the free recipe PDF.

☕

With much love,

~ Cleo Coyle

New York Times bestselling author
of The Coffeehouse Mysteries &
Haunted Bookshop Mysteries

This is us >> Alice and Marc.

Together we write as Cleo Coyle. 

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5 Best of Year Lists!

Our NEW Coffeehouse Mystery!

Learn more or buy at:

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Click the image above for our free, illustrated guide
to the recipes found in our new Coffeehouse Mystery:
Brewed Awakening.

New Updated Version!

The Coffeehouse Mysteries are bestselling
works of amateur sleuth fiction set in a landmark 

Greenwich Village coffeehouse, and each of the
18 titles includes the added bonus of recipes.

Click for Cleo's Free Checklist of
Coffeehouse Books in Order

🍀 

CLEO'S GIVEAWAY NEWS!

We are now running 2 fun prize package contests in our March Newsletter. The packages include a bone china IRISH BLESSING COFFEE MUGS from Royal Tara. An autographed first edition hardcover copy of our bestselling Coffeehouse Mystery Brewed Awakening, a sturdy canvas tote bag, and an autographed set of our favorite recipe cards.

HOW TO ENTER?

Sign up for Our Newsletter!

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TO SUBSCRIBE...

When you subscribe to our free newsletter, an auto-reply will send you a link to our March News, which has all the info you need on our Royal Tara prize package giveaways + you'll get bonus recipes, fun videos, and book news!

Good Luck & Have Fun!

🍀

Ham with Whiskey Sauce

My sister is visiting for a couple of weeks to help me sort out the stuff in the house. Since she arrived in time for St. Patrick’s Day, we went trolling for an appropriate recipe. I’m well equipped with Irish cookbooks, and we’d just been grocery shopping, so we had all sorts of ingredients. Here’s what we settled on.

Ham with Whiskey Sauce

As usual I tinkered with the recipe (adapted from The Country Cooking of Ireland, by Colman Andres), because there were only the two of us and the term “ham steak” can mean a lot of different things in terms of size. But this recipe worked out well. As you might guess, between the brown sugar and the Irish whiskey, the sweetness of the sauce paired well with a slice of smoked ham.

Ingredients:

2 Tblsp butter
2 pieces of ham (whatever size you like for two servings)
1 onion, thinly sliced
1 Tblsp flour
1 Tblsp dark brown sugar
1/4 cup Irish whiskey
1/2 cup beef stock
1/4 cup heavy cream
Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

Melt one tablespoon of the butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Brown the ham steaks on both sides. Remove the ham from the skillet, and set aside, covered with foil, and keep warm while you make the sauce.

Melt the remaining tablespoon of butter in the same pan, the add the sliced onions. Cook slowly for 10-12 minutes until golden brown.

Reduce the heat to low. Sprinkle the flour over the onions in the pan, and mix with the pan juices. Cook briefly, until the liquid has been absorbed by the flour. 

Add the brown sugar and stir, then add the whiskey and beef stock and stir until smooth (if you’re worried, the alcohol in the whiskey will cook off quickly, but the flavor will remain). Whisk in the cream and add salt and/or pepper if you think the sauces needs them.

Put a ham steak on each plate and spoon the sauce over each. Serve with rice, noodles or potatoes.

Slainte!

Love a Duck

I love duck. I don’t eat it as often as I’d like because the frozen kind at the supermarket is ridiculously expensive, no matter which end of the duck you choose, and they don’t always have it anyway. Very rarely do you see a whole (frozen) duck hiding in the freezer.

But I was in the mood for duck, so I bought a pair of frozen hindquarters. Then I went trolling thought the Mystery Lovers Kitchen archives for a recipe. I was disappointed to find I’d submitted only three, the earliest in 2012. Krista contributed a couple as well.

I turned to my ever-growing Irish cookbook collection and was disappointed again: there are very few duck recipes in any of them. (Hey, I know there are ducks in Ireland—my neighbor has a dozen or so, not that she eats them. I keep hoping she'll share some eggs, but mostly she's been letting them hatch. Lots of ducks!) What’s more, a surprising number of published duck recipes involve apples. My first MLK duck recipe included apples, but my mind was in the Orchard Mysteries, and the County Cork Mysteries hadn’t appeared yet.

I didn’t want another recipe with apples, although there are a lot of them. Much as I love apples, I think they’re kind of sweet for cooking a duck. So I kept hunting.

It’s amazing how many different ingredients people want to add to a cooked duck. Most of them I ignore, because I like the flavor of duck, and any additions should complement it, not drown it. So I decided to get creative.

One note: if you’ve cooked duck you know it has a lot of fat, and you’d rather get rid of it early. My original recipe, and others that followed, suggest cooking the duck (whole or in pieces) for a while before making a sauce for it, which makes perfect sense. You may be surprised by how much fat runs off. Save it! Potatoes cooked with duck fat are a treat.

That first fat removal phase is easy.

De-fatting your duck:

With a sharp knife, score the skin of whatever duck pieces you’re using (don’t cut into the flesh, just the skin). Season with salt and pepper

In a skillet, heat some olive oil over medium-high heat, place the duck pieces (skin side down) into the oil and let them sear for 4-5 minutes (don’t bother moving them around—you only need to sear the skin side).

Put a rack in a roasting pan (you can line the pan with foil first if you don’t like to wash greasy dishes). Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. and roast your duck pieces for about 45 minutes (the duck juices should run clear by then).

While your duck is defatting, make your sauce. And this is the fun part! Among the recipes I found included: apples, rosemary, green peppercorns, cider, honey, vinegar, garlic, cinnamon, brown sugar, whole fresh ginger, cardamom, chili flakes, mustard powder, a few items I’d never heard of, and (drumroll) Irish whiskey. Please do not attempt to include all of these in the same sauce!

Sauce for the Duck

(Remember, your duck pieces are cooking quietly and happily in the oven, so they will be fully cooked by the time your sauce is ready)

Here’s what I decided to use:

Yes, there is an Irish whiskey named
Writers Tears
(no, the cat is not part of the recipe,
but he likes to help)

1 small onion or two small shallots, thinly sliced

1 clove garlic, minced or crushed

I cup sweet cider (no artificial sweeteners, please!)

1 Tblsp cider vinegar

1 inch fresh ginger root, sliced thinly

1 tsp honey (if you really want something sweet)

1/2 cup Irish whiskey

Put all the ingredients except the whiskey into a pot and bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer. It’s not finicky about how long you cook it, as long as it’s not too hot. 15-20 minutes of simmering should do.

Remove it from the heat and strain it. Return it to its pot over low heat and add the whiskey. Cook for a few more minutes, then remove it from the heat, cover it, and set it aside.

The duck should be cooked by now, so pour off the fat (save it for your potatoes!), brush the duck pieces with the sauce/glaze, and return to the oven for another five minutes. Repeat this two more times.

Remove your duck pieces from the oven, cover loosely with foil and let rest. Serve with any remaining glaze. You can add a green vegetable for color.

Feel free to add any other spices you like while the glaze is cooking--it's hard to go wrong. Just remember to strain out the bits and pieces. Plus the duck is already salted, so don’t add more salt without tasting the glaze first.

The recipe is easy to make (as long as you can find duck!), and the flavor of the glaze isn't overwhelming. You can make it as sweet or spicy as you want.

The Lost Traveller, County Cork Mystery #7

 released in January. 

Guest Marian Stanley and her Amazing Caramel-Whiskey Bread Pudding

Mystery Lovers' Kitchen is delighted to welcome Marian Stanley as our guest today (failte romhat!). I may be a little biased--Marian is a friend from the Boston area, and in Buried Troubles, her second book, she's writing about both Boston and Ireland (although not the County Cork area I know). It's a delightful read--but then, we know that the Irish are good story-tellers, right? And these days they're good cooks as well.

I don’t think of the story in Buried Troubles, based in Boston and Ireland, as being alcohol-drenched. However, I do mention Irish whiskey a few times (Jameson’s or “Jay”) – usually lacing a cup of tea or maybe a strong cup of coffee after dinner. (I also mention Ipswich Ale in the book, but I don’t have a recipe for that yet!)

So, the combination of a rich bread pudding with a touch of the “Jay” sounds intriguing. To date, my favorite bread pudding has been an orange-chocolate version with a Grand Marnier whipped cream that we’ve had for Christmas sometimes. Now, I think that wonderful dessert has been replaced on my favorites list with this excellent Caramel-Whiskey bread pudding.

I will confess that, after making this dessert, my daughter and I had two helpings each for dinner. (That would not be with dinner, but for dinner.) So, be forewarned. A little dangerous.

I owe full credit for this recipe to Charlotte Song of Mount Lebanon, PA., who served the pudding to the Woodridge Book Club in her home earlier this year.

CARAMEL-WHISKY BREAD PUDDING

INGREDIENTS FOR PUDDING  

1/4 cup melted butter

1 (10-ounce) French bread baguette cut into 1-inch slices

1/2 cup raisins

1/4 cup Irish whiskey

1-3/4 cups milk

1 cup sugar

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

cooking spray

1 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Caramel-Whiskey Sauce

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Brush melted butter on one side of French bread slices, and place bread, buttered sides up, on a baking sheet.

Bake bread for 10 minutes or until lightly toasted. 

Cut bread into 1/2-inch cubes, and set aside.

Combine raisins and whiskey in a small bowl; cover and let stand 10 minutes or until soft (do not drain). You could substitute apple juice (??!!) for whiskey.

Combine milk and next 4 ingredients (through eggs) in a large bowl; stir well with a whisk. Add bread cubes and raisin mixture, pressing gently to moisten; let stand 15 minutes. Spoon bread mixture into a 13 x 9-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray.

Combine 1 tablespoon sugar and cinnamon; sprinkle over pudding. Bake at 350 for 35 minutes or until set. Serve warm with Caramel-Whiskey Sauce.

INGREDIENTS FOR CARAMEL-WHISKY SAUCE

1-1/2 cups sugar

2/3 cup water

1/4 cup butter

2 ounces cream cheese

1/4 cup Irish whiskey (again, substitute 1 tablespoon imitation rum extract and 3 tablespoons water for whiskey, if desired)

1/4 cup milk

Combine sugar and water in a small heavy saucepan over medium-high heat; cook until sugar dissolves, stirring constantly.

Cook an additional 15 minutes or until golden (do not stir) 

After the sugar mixture is done, carefully add butter and cream cheese, stirring constantly with a whisk (mixture will be hot and bubble vigorously).

Cool slightly and stir in whiskey and milk. 

GIVEAWAY ALERT!

A COPY OF MY NEW ROSARIA O’REILLY MYSTERY BURIED TROUBLES TO ONE COMMENTATOR TODAY!

BURIED TROUBLES

Still recovering from injuries sustained during her last effort in solving a murder, Rosaria O’Reilly is dragged into a new case with ties with ties to the Irish community on both sides of the Atlantic. Set in Boston and Western Ireland, BURIED TROUBLES tells a story about the murder of an aspiring young Irish journalist on the Boston waterfront and the long memories of a small island with a complicated history. Against the wishes of her partner BPD Detective Solly Belkin, who is handling the case in Boston, Rosaria travels to Western Ireland for answers. There, she is caught up in a dark web of ancient grievances, crimes and secrets that powerful people are determined to keep hidden forever. She soon finds herself in grave danger from those who won’t let go of the past.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Marian McMahon Stanley is the author of two Rosaria O’Reilly mysteries from Barking Rain Press - The Immaculate (May 2016) and Buried Troubles (June 2018) as well as a recent short story “Career Transitions” in the Sherlock Holmes Mystery Magazine.  Marian enjoyed a long international corporate career and, most recently, a senior position at an urban university. A dual citizen of the United States and Ireland, she writes in a small town outside Boston, where she lives with her husband Bill and a Westie named Archie. She is now working on the next in the Rosaria series The Mariposa Circle.

www.marianmcmahonstanley.com

FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/marianmcmahonstanleyauthor

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