Happy St Patrick’s Day

Hello and welcome to one of my Family’s favorite holidays; St Patrick’s Day. With the last name of O’Brien I’m often told, “That’s a pretty Irish last name”. Yes, well you should hear my sister’s name, her Gaelic translation literally means “Irish Girl of Brien”. So yes, I have some Irish in me, along with Scottish, English, and about one quarter who-knows-what. Although we don’t know too much about our Irish or Scottish heritage,  my dad was always very proud to be Irish and Scottish, and passed that down to us. When I was little our parents would take us to the Irish and Scottish fairs every year and I always wished I could dance like the little Irish girl dancers.

St Patrick’s Day was the day we’d look forward to every year where my mom would cook a big Irish-American feast, we’d play Irish music all day, and my dad would make us laugh with his old Irish prayer, “Eat plenty, pocket none, thank God, Amen”.  I loved growing up in a big family (2 sisters and a brother), and always having friends or family over. As we got older we’d invite friends or boyfriends to spend St. Patrick’s day with us. I don’t think there were ever less than six people at the dinner table for this special meal. It was like Thanksgiving, but with corned beef instead of Turkey.

Now with me having just recently moved up to the Bay area, this is my first St. Patrick’s Day away from my family, and the first time I decided to make the grandiose feast all on my own. I’d say it was actually a huge success! My fiance and I actually celebrated last night as I’m going back to L.A. tomorrow morning for the weekend and I wanted to be able to enjoy leftovers. I started with slow cooking the corned beef in the crock pot at 10 AM, then I started the rest of the dinner around 2:30. I will share all the recipes I made with you which include:  Corned Beef, Colcannon, whiskey glazed carrots, Irish soda bread, and Irish Lemon pudding. Make sure to enjoy your Irish dinner with some Guinness, or other Irish stout, and some sharp Celtic Cheddar.

Corned Beef

This one will probably be the easiest recipe I will ever post. Here it is: buy corned beef brisket with seasoning packet, I got mine at Sprouts. Portion about 1/2 lb per serving. Dump corned beef and juices into slow cooker along with seasoning packet. Cover with water. Cook corned beef in a slow cooker on low for 6-8 hours. Optional: Once corned beef is done, remove 2 cups of the liquid to a saucepan. Whisk a small amount of water and about 2 tbsp flour and add to saucepan. Boil and stir until thickened. Serve over corned beef as a gravy.

 

Irish Soda Bread

Adapted from Taste of Home Magazine

• 2 cups Red Mill Gluten Free All Purpose Baking Flour
• 2 tablespoons packed brown sugar (or substitute coconut sugar)
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 salt
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup buttermilk
• 1/3 cup raisins

Preheat oven to 375 F. Combine dry ingredients in a medium mixing bowl. Cut butter into mix using two butter knives until crumbly. In a separate cup, mix together 1 egg and buttermilk. Gently stir into flour mixture just until moistened. Fold in raisins. Kneed dough onto a floured surface for about 1 minute. Shape into a round loaf. Cut a 1/4 deep cut all the way across the loaf in a cross. Beat remaining egg and brush over loaf. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until light golden brown.

Colcannon

Colcannon is a traditional Irish dish made with mashed potatoes, cabbage, and bacon. This recipe was absolutely delicious and I made no alterations. You can get the recipe here.

Whiskey Glazed Carrots

The Whiskey Glazed Carrots were inspired by my “The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Food from my Frontier” cookbook. I significantly reduced the whiskey because we didn’t have any cheep stuff. But I have made this recipe before verbatim with Jack Daniels, and I’d highly recommend it. You can find the original recipe on The Pioneer’s Woman’s blog, here.

Irish Lemon Pudding

My fiance asked me, “Do they have lemons in Ireland?”. Ya know, I’m really not sure. But they must, because there an abundance of Irish Lemon Pudding recipes out there on Google. Anyway, This is more like a pudding cake, with a cake layer and a pudding layer. It is super simple to whip together, and makes for a beautiful presentation when served with my homemade whipped cream, sifted powdered sugar, and sliced fresh strawberries. I used this recipe from The Baker Upstairs Blog.

Serve with Homemade Whip Cream

• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Mix all ingredients in a small bowl and whisk together using a hand mixer for about 3-4 minutes, until cream has thickened to desired consistency.

Hope this St Patrick’s Day brings you some good luck, and good food. I’ll leave you with my favorite Irish blessing:

May the roads rise with you,

May the wind be always at your back.

May the sun shine warm upon your face;

the rains fall soft upon your fields and until we meet again,

And may the Lord hold you in the hollow of his hand.

 

Let me know what you think of my recipes, and as always; Live love, Cook. Cheers!