From Gilliland’s, the Pleasure of a Wonderful Soda Bread, Instead

DEAR SOS: I recently had the comforting pleasure of dining on the Irish bread pudding at Gilliland’s in Santa Monica. Please indulge me with a recipe so I can delight my family with this homey bread.

--PATTY

DEAR PATTY: Guess what? Gilliland, who is from Ireland and is the chef-owner of Gilliland’s, mistakenly sent us a recipe for Irish soda bread instead. It is such a good bread we thought we’d give the recipe until the pudding recipe shows up. Gilliland’s breads (and pastries) are divine and the soda bread is no exception. Wonderful for brunch or salad lunches.

GILLILAND’S IRISH SODA BREAD

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 1/2 cups whole-wheat flour

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon soda

1 1/4 teaspoons sugar

2 cups buttermilk

Sift together flours, salt, soda and sugar in bowl. Make well in center and stir in buttermilk until soft, but not sticky.

Turn out onto floured board and form into flat patty 6 to 8-inches in diameter. With sharp knife cut crisscross 1/2-inch deep. Bake at 350 degrees 40 to 50 minutes or until golden. Cool before slicing. Makes 1 loaf.

DEAR SOS: We do quite a bit of salmon fishing and would like to make our own lox. I would appreciate any help in getting recipes.

--LOIS

DEAR LOIS: Lox (cured salmon), also called gravad lax or gravlox in Scandinavian countries, is a specialty of Scandia restaurant in Los Angeles, where this recipe originated. It’s a great recipe to keep in mind for summer parties.

SCANDIA’S GRAVAD LAX

1 (2-pound) piece salmon

3 tablespoons salt

3 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon crushed peppercorns

1/2 bunch dill

Mustard-Dill Sauce

Thaw salmon if frozen. Cut salmon in halves lengthwise. Remove bones. Combine salt, sugar and peppercorns. Rub half spice mixture over 1 salmon half and place fish, skin side down, in baking dish. Spread dill over.

Rub other half of salmon with remaining spice mixture and place, skin side up, on first salmon half. Cover with foil. Place plate on top of fish and weight on top of plate.

Refrigerate 48 hours. Turn fish over every 12 hours, separating fillets slightly to baste with pan liquid.

When ready to serve, scrape away dill and seasonings. Place fillets, skins side down, on cutting board. Cut salmon diagonally in thin slices away from skin. Serve cold with Mustard-Dill sauce. Makes 24 appetizers servings.

Mustard-Dill Sauce

1/4 cup Dijon mustard

3 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoons vinegar

1 teaspoon dry mustard

1/3 cup oil

3 tablespoons chopped dill

Combine mustard, sugar, vinegar and dry mustard. Slowly beat in oil until thick. Stir in dill. Chill. Makes 3/4 cup.

DEAR SOS: Would you please find out how Mexican restaurants prepare their fried ice cream? It has a corn-flake type, sugary covering and some syrup on the bottom. It’s an excellent treat.

--D. Q.

DEAR D. Q.: Fried Mexican Ice Cream is made by covering scoops of ice cream with sugared corn flake crumbs, then dipping them in an egg batter to seal the coating before frying. Honey is drizzled on the dessert. It is an excellent do-ahead dessert because you can freeze the coated ice cream balls until ready to pop in the fryer.

FRIED MEXICAN ICE CREAM

1 pint vanilla or other flavor ice cream

1/2 cup crushed corn flake or cookie crumbs

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 teaspoons sugar

1 egg

Oil for deep frying

Honey

Whipped cream

Scoop out 4 or 5 balls of ice cream. Return to freezer. Mix corn flake crumbs, cinnamon and sugar in shallow bowl. Roll frozen ice cream balls in 1/2 crumb mixture and freeze again.

Beat egg and dip coated balls in egg, then roll again in remaining crumbs. Freeze until ready to use. (For thicker coating, repeat dipping in egg and rolling in crumbs.)

When ready to serve, heat oil to 350 degrees. Place 1 frozen ice cream ball in fryer basket or on perforated spoon and lower into hot oil for 1 minute. Immediately remove and place in chilled dessert dish. Drizzle with honey and dollop with whipped cream.

Serve immediately or keep in freezer while continuing to fry remaining balls, 1 at time. Balls will be crunchy on outside and just beginning to melt inside. Makes 4 to 5 servings.

Only recipes of general interest will be printed. We are unable to answer all requests. Please include restaurant address when requesting recipes from restaurants. Send your letter with self-addressed, stamped envelope to Culinary SOS, Food Section, The Times, Times Mirror Square, Los Angeles 90053.