Irish food should be enjoyed year-round

Is fearr bothán biamhar ná caisleán gortach. A cabin with plenty of food is better than a hungry castle – Irish saying

For Kerry Lynch and Jack Geraghty, Irish food, fellowship and family celebrations are not reserved for St. Patrick’s Day.

Colcannon, soda bread, and corned beef make a regular appearance on their dinner table and at events sponsored by the Spokane-Limerick Sister City Society, of which Lynch is president. Cooking the dishes passed down from mother and father to daughter and son is important, she says.

“The Irish particularly have a strong sense of family and tradition,” Lynch says. “I think it’s really a wonderful way to connect with that heritage…. It just kind of brings back your parents and grandparents and all of those ancestors to the fold.”

She has updated her grandmother’s soda bread recipe by adding raisins soaked in Irish whiskey. “Some people say they don’t like soda bread because it can be really dry and tasteless, but this is just awesome with that flavor combination.” It’s become one of her husband Jack Geraghty’s favorite desserts.

Geraghty, who is perhaps more famous now for his Camp Jack Chicken recipe than his stint as Spokane’s mayor, has created a version of a traditional Irish stew that they love to share with guests. Geraghty’s Camp Jack Irish Stew-Moroccan Style will be included in a cookbook this spring for the Second Harvest Food Bank’s annual Take a Bite Out of Hunger fund raiser.

St. Patrick’s Day is the perfect excuse for experimenting with Irish cuisine. Look inside today’s IN Food section for Lynch and Geraghty’s recipes.

Taste of Home tickets on sale

Taste of Home will hold one of its popular cooking schools next month in Kellogg, Idaho.

Home economist Sunnie Renshaw will teach some kitchen set-up basics and give a refresher on some must-have kitchen tools and equipment. She’ll also be demonstrating some lighter meals for the summer season. The show will be held on Monday, April 11 at the Kellogg Middle School. It will be hosted by Paul Robinson of KWAL Radio in Osburn, Idaho.

“It’s just going to be a lot of fun,” Robinson said. Everyone who attends will receive a copy of the Taste of Home Cooking School Cookbook, which includes the recipes Renshaw will prepare on stage. The books will be tucked into a goody bag that includes national food coupons along with brochures and gifts from local businesses, such as gondola rides, car washes and oil changes, and more, he said. Also, there will be door prizes.

There are 800 tickets available to the Taste of Home Cooking School. Admission is $10 and you can buy tickets at the Wallace Chamber of Commerce, in Wallace, Idaho, the Silver Valley Chamber of Commerce in Kellogg, American West Banks in Wallace and Kellogg, Watt’s Electric in Pinehurst, Idaho and KWAL Radio in Osburn. They are also available by mail. Send a self-addressed, stamped envelope to one of the chambers, along with a check to: Wallace Chamber of Commerce, 10 River Street, Wallace, ID 83873; or, Silver Valley Chamber of Commerce, 10 Station Ave., Kellogg, ID 83837. To order by phone call Dorris Miller at (208) 784-0821 or Colleen Pettis at (208) 753-7151.