Tag: Irish

St Patrick’s Day Recipes

Well Dined | Vegetarian Shepherd's Pie

Tomorrow is St Patrick’s Day, hooray!  This is not just an excuse to drink green beer, in fact – don’t do that, it’s gross.  It’s actually a religious holiday that celebrates the arrival of Christianity in Ireland, so show some respect!  And definitely don’t call it “St Patty’s Day”: Patty is short for Patricia.  If you want to abbreviate, use “Paddy”, which is actually short for Patrick (Pádraig).

Moving on!  St Paddy’s is a great day to celebrate Irish culture and food, so let’s take a look at some Irish recipes!

Well Dined | Corned Beef with Potatoes and Cabbage

First up – Corned Beef with Potatoes and Cabbage, which can be made in either a slow cooker or a Dutch oven.

Well Dined | Colcannon

In the same post, there is a recipe for Colcannon made from the potatoes and cabbage. (more…)

Vegetarian Shepherd’s Pie

Well Dined | Vegetarian Shepherd's Pie

I actually made this Vegetarian Shepherd’s Pie back in March for Pi Day with Melissa from Smells Like Brownies.  We made it with Irish Stout beer so that it would also be appropriate for St Patrick’s Day.  But I was in the middle of moving, and so never actually posted about it.  The weather right now is making me crave warm comfort food, and I thought that this dish would be appreciated.  So here I am!

Well Dined | Vegetarian Shepherd's Pie

One of the tricks to this recipe is to use grated tofu, which is accomplished by freezing the tofu, then thawing slightly so that it will be the right firmness.  So make sure to freeze your tofu at least a day ahead of when you want to cook.

Well Dined | Vegetarian Shepherd's Pie

Next, saute an onion, and add toasted walnuts and the shredded tofu.  Add soy sauce and lemon juice, and cook until the liquid is gone. (more…)

Saint Patrick’s Day

My junior year of college I studied abroad in Galway, Ireland.  Well – not so much studied as occasionally stopped by classes.  It was an amazing semester and really cemented my love of everything Irish – culture, music, food, beer.  So even though St Paddy’s isn’t as big a deal in Ireland as it is here, I wanted to celebrate it in honor of the time I spent there.  And how do I celebrate holidays?  Dinner party!  So I loaded up a playlist with Flogging Molly, Young Dubliners, and The Corrs, and prepared to have some good craic.

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For the main course – Corned Beef with Colcannon (mashed potatoes with cabbage).  The great thing about this is that you can throw all the veg into the pot with the beef and let it all cook together – easy!  So I started by putting carrots, celery, potatoes, and an onion into the bottom of the pot.

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Mmm – veggies.  They can be rough chopped in big pieces because they will be discarded (except for the potatoes).  Since I was having people over I ended up doing two briskets – one in the slow cooker and one in a cast iron Dutch oven.  Same process, different cooking times.

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I laid the corned beef on top of the veggies, pickling spices included.  You should be able to find corned beef vacuum packed with pickling spices in your grocery store, especially around St Paddy’s.  I cut the cabbage into wedges and put them on top/to the side of the beef.  That is half of a head in the picture, the other half went into the Dutch oven with the other brisket. (more…)