Ireland and France Collide #SoupSaturdaySwappers #Winophiles

Top o' the Mornin' and Happy St. Patrick's Day.  To honor this holiday I am sharing a recipe for Corned Beef Colcannon Soup that I served alongside a Rhone wine from France.  Hence the name of my post today.

Besides St. Patrick's Day we are also celebrating Soup Saturday Swappers and The French Winophiles events.  Hence the theme of my post today.

Let's start with Soup Saturday.  Soup Saturday is a fun group that I started where we share soup/stew recipes on the 3rd Saturday of each month based on a them chosen by one of our members.  This months theme was chosen by Sally of Bewitching Kitchen.  Sally invited us to Say Goodbye to Winter and share a soup that Soothes the Soul and Chases Away those Winter Blues.

I don't know about you but I am over this cold weather and waaaaaay ready for Spring.  Should you be interested in joining Soup Saturday Swappers just leave a comment below along with your blog name and I will be happy to invite you.

St. Patrick's Day is the first Spring Holiday in my mind so I thought making an Irish Soup was the perfect way to celebrate with Sally this month.

The third Saturday of the month is also when I join my friends from The French Winophiles in an exploration of French Wines.  This month we were invited to learn about Rhone wines by Liz of What's in that Bottle.  You can read her invitation post and take a look at the beautiful winery, Hermitage Chapoutier, who provided each blogger with three wonderful bottles of wine for this event.

Our wine groups are often able to provide samples of the wines from the appellations and/or wineries that we are showcasing.  All opinions on said samples are purely those of the individual blogger and nothing other than a "thank you" is expected of us.  I have received no monetary compensation for this post.

I am showcasing the Luberon "La Ciboise" Blanc today with my soup.  It is named after the owner, Michael Chapoutier's grandfather's home.  It is organically farmed.  It is grassy, citrusy and acidic.  I thought that it was better with food than without, however that didn't stop me from enjoying the remainder of the bottle after dinner.

While this is not a pairing I would have made had these three events not coincided, it was a fun experimentation.  The pairing was helped immensely by the northwoods mixture of mushrooms in the soup.  The earthiness of the mushrooms balanced very nicely with this white wine.  I was pleasantly surprised.

I also served the Les Meysonnieres with a Maple Glazed Corned Beef Dinner.  The Lex Meysonnieres is a dry, fruity wine featuring Syrah grapes.  I enjoyed it more on it's own than with this dinner.  I guess I think corned beef is better suited for beer than wine.

The recipe for this soup was based on one found in Cuisine at Home.  I modified it quite a bit and it turned out hearty, rich and delicious.  I urge you to garnish it with the horseradish sauce.  It added great flavor to this soup.  

You will find links to more Say Goodbye to Winter soups and thoughts about the Rhone wines and the pairings that were enjoyed in links following this recipe.  Happy St. Patrick's Day.

Corned Beef Colcannon Soup

adapted from Cuisine at Home

1 oz. dried North Wood Mushroom Blend

3 1/2 c. water

1/2 Vidalia onion, diced

2 carrots, scraped and diced

2 stalks celery, diced

4 cloves garlic, minced

4 T. butter

1 T. tomato paste

salt and pepper to taste

1/2 c. wine (I used the Luberon)

6 c. beef stock

2-3 c. cooked corned beef, diced

1/2 c. instant barley

4 med. Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and cut into bite size dice

1 bay leaf

1 t. dried thyme

1 bunch kale, stemmed and chopped

1 T. red wine vinegar

1/2 c. sour cream

1 T. horseradish

Bring the water to a boil.  Place the mushrooms in a bowl and pour the boiling water over them.  Let sit for at least an hour and up to 4 hrs.  Remove the mushrooms from the water and set aside.  Pour the water through a mesh strainer lined with cheesecloth and reserve the liquid.

Melt the butter in a large soup pot over med high heat.  Add the onions, carrots, celery, garlic and tomato paste.  Season with salt and pepper. Cook and stir until fragrant.  Deglaze the pan with wine, cooking until reduced and thickened.

Add the beef stock, reserved mushroom liquid, mushrooms, corned beef, barley, potatoes, bay leaf and thyme.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat to a simmer and cook for about 30 minutes, until potatoes are tender.  Add the kale and vinegar, cook until wilted.

In a small bowl combine the sour cream and horseradish.

Ladle soup into bowls and garnish with a dollop of the horseradish cream.  Print Recipe

Say Goodbye to Winter Soups

An InLinkz Link-up

More Pairings with the Wines of Rhone Valley

• Gwendolyn Alley at Wine Predator tells us about “Duck à l’Orange with M. Chapoutier’s Biodynamic, Organic Rhone Wines”
• Jill Barth from L’Occasion writes about “Braille on the Label and Other Pioneering Moments of Chapoutier”
• J.R. Boynton from Great Big Reds writes about “The Dark Side of Syrah, with Domaine Fondreche Persia 2012 (Ventoux)”
• Jeff Burrows from Food Wine Click shares “Northern Rhone Wines and My Steak Tartare Disaster”
• David Crowley at Cooking Chat at tells us about “London Broil Steak with Châteauneuf-du-Pape”
• Rob Frisch at Odd Bacchus writes about “Return to the Rhône”
• Susannah Gold at Avvinare writes about “Rhône Gems from Chapoutier in Chateauneuf, du Pape, Crozes-Hermitage, and Luberon”
• Nicole Ruiz Hudson at Somm’s Table tells her story of “Cooking to the Wine: Les Vins de Vienne Gigondas with Gratinéed Shepherd’s Pie”
• Camilla Mann from Culinary Adventures with Camilla shares a post on “Sober Clams + a French Syrah”
• Jane Niemeyer at Always Ravenous shares “Bison Burger Paired with Northern Rhône Syrah”
• Martin Redmond Enofylz at shares “A Taste of The House of Chapoutier”
• Rupal Desai Shankar at Syrah Queen writes about “Chapoutier: King of the Rhône”
• Lauren Walsh at The Swirling Dervish writes about “France’s Rhône Valley: Mountains, Sea, Wind, and Wine”
• Michelle Williams at Rockin Red Blog writes about “Maison M. Chapoutier: Expressing Terroir Through Biodynamics”
• Wendy Klik at A Day in the Life on the Farm talks about when "Ireland and France Collide"
• Liz at What's in that Bottle invites us to "Get to know the Rhone Valley with Michel Chapoutier"
• Payal Vora at Keep the Peas shares "The Rhone: A Taste Of Terroir With The #Winophiles"