🍀St. Patrick's Feast🍀

                 

Saint Patrick’s Day will always hold a special place in my life. As a graduation gift for myself after finishing my master's degree at Wake Forest, my best friend and I booked an eight-day tour of Ireland. Being a history nerd and knowing I have Irish ancestors, I knew this trip was going to be something special. Upon arrival in Dublin, I instantly fell in love with Ireland's laid-back lifestyle, community, and food scene. While I was there, I tried a lot of Irish dishes and knew that once I got home I wanted to try re-creating them. That next St. Patrick’s Day, I started hosting the annual Allen St. Patrick’s Day dinner party, in which I served my favorite foods from Ireland. The menu includes corned beef brisket, shepherd's pie, Colcannon, and Cheddar Guinness Bread. Join me as I show you how to prep this meal, ingredients, and step-by-step instructions for a St. Patrick’s feast.

Disclaimer: I have Americanized these dishes, somewhat based on the ingredients available and personal taste.

Corned Beef Brisket and Cabbage.

Corned beef is a staple in Irish cuisine. For those of you who worry about the doneness of meat, corned beef will always have a pinkish coloring in the middle. Also, because corned beef is not something a lot of people buy and eat all the time, most corned beef will come with its own spice packet.

Ingredients:

One corned beef, brisket.

2 cups of beef broth.

Two beef bouillon cubes.

2/3 cup of Guinness – if you don’t want to use Guinness, you can use water instead

1 Green Cabbage, cut into quarters

Directions:

1.In a crockpot set on low, put in your beef broth, bouillon cubes and Guinness stir until beef bullion cubes are dissolved.

2. add in the brisket.

3. Cover and cook on low 6 to 8 hours. At hour 5, add in the cabbage quarters.

Shepherds Pie

Ireland's cuisine centers around hardy meals that are meant to fill people up and sustain them throughout the day. This classic dish brings together the two staples of the food, which is meat and potatoes. While in Ireland, everything is made fresh, I have simplified this recipe for working families.

Ingredients:

6 tablespoons of butter, I suggest using Irish butter for the best taste.

Two bags of frozen mixed vegetables.

2 pounds of already browned meat, you can use any meat that your family likes.

3 cups of mashed potatoes

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400°.

2. In a glass 9 x 13 baking dish add in two bags of frozen mixed vegetables.

3. Add in 2 tablespoons of butter cubed into eight pieces set the cubes on top of the veggies.

4. Top with your browned meat.

5. add another 2 tablespoons of butter cubed into eight squares on top of the meat.

6. Cover the meat layer with mashed potatoes.

7. add 2 tablespoons of butter cubed into eight cubes on top of the mashed potatoes.

8. Cover the baking dish with aluminum foil and place in the oven for 30 minutes. remove the aluminum foil and cook until potatoes are browned, about 15 minutes.

Colcannon

You can’t get more Irish than a potato recipe. This side dish takes lots of buttery mashed potatoes and adds in some leafy greens in order to give some extra vitamins.

Ingredients:

1-5 pound bag of golden potatoes

One stick of butter, I suggest using Irish butter

One cup of milk

One cup of kale

Two teaspoons of salt

Directions:

1. Peel and quarter your potatoes.

2. Bring a pot of water to a boil, adding in 1 teaspoon of salt.

3. Add your cut potatoes to the boiling water. Boil for 5 to 10 minutes or until the potatoes are soft.

4. Drain your potatoes and place them in a stand mixer. Add in the milk, remaining salt , butter, and kale.

5. Cream everything together for five minutes or until the potatoes are to your fluffy satisfactory. Salt and pepper to taste and serve.

Cheddar Guinness Bread

Guinness is a beer that is made in Ireland. When cooking with beer it’s important to know that the alcohol does cook out as you use it and the only thing left is the taste of the hops and barley. The darker the beer, the more taste it will have After the alcohol has been cooked out for this recipe. I tend to buy the extra stout Guinness in order to get the best flavor on the bread.

Ingredients:

Two bread boule 

Two sticks of butter, I prefer the Irish butter to get a creamy texture

3 tablespoons of chives

Three cloves of garlic, if using minced garlic, about 1 tablespoon

1 teaspoon of rosemary

4 cups of shredded cheddar cheese

1 bottle of Guinness

Directions:

1. Soften the sticks of butter in a bowl. After the butter is softened add in chives, garlic, and rosemary. Put the butter mixture on parchment paper. Roll it up and refrigerate for at least an hour.

2. Layout two pieces of aluminum foil, large enough to wrap your bread in. Place a loaf of bread on each of the pieces of foil.

3. Take your bread boules and cut creating a checkerboard pattern. Depending on the size of the bread, I would suggest five lengthwise cuts and five sideways cuts do not cut all the way through the bread as you want to leave room for everything to get soaked up by the bottom.

4. For each of the breads, pour about 2/3 cup of Guinness into the cut you just made. It’s OK if some of the liquid comes out.

5. Take your garlic and chive butter out of the fridge cut it in half. (Each of the loaves will get half of the butter mixture.)

6. Slice the butter and put in between the cuts that you created on each loaf

7. Top each bread with one and a half cups of cheddar cheese. 

8. Wrap the bread up in foil and place in the oven for 20 minutes

9. Take the bread out of the oven remove the foil place the last half cup of cheese on each bread and place back in the oven for 15 minutes.