darina allen is a national treasure to us irish! every home should own her book 'forgotten skills' too. http://www.amazon.com/Forgotten-Skills-Cooking-Time-Honored-Recipes/dp/1906868069/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1363544838&sr=1-1
Menu: A Traditional Irish Dinner for St. Patrick's Day
This year St. Patrick's Day falls on a Saturday, so it's a perfect excuse to get together for a warm family dinner that celebrates the best of Irish food. This menu comes to us from Darina Allen, author of Irish Traditional Cooking: Over 300 Recipes from Ireland's Heritage. Coffee spiked with your favorite Irish Whiskey is a wonderful finish to the meal. Slainte!
The Menu
- Irish Nettle Soup
- Brown Soda Bread
- Lamb Braised with Wild Garlic
- Colcannon and Carrots
- Roscommon Rhubarb Pie with Softly Whipped Cream
- Selection of Irish Farmhouse Cheeses
- Donegal Oatcakes
- Irish Coffee
More About This Menu
Forage for nettles and wild garlic to include in your menu. Nettles have always been one of the most important and abundant wild foods in Ireland. Many people believe that a "feed" of nettles in late Spring will clear the blood and "keep the rheumatics away" for the rest of the year.
Wild garlic has been used in Ireland as a condiment or as part of a relish since earliest times. There are two types: wild garlic (Allium ursinum), which grows in shady places and along the banks of streams and in undisturbed mossy woodland, and snowbells (Allium triquestrum), which resemble white bluebells and usually grow along the sides of country lanes.
The lamb pairs well with a crisp white wine, like this Pinot Grigio from Alto Adige.
Follow dinner with the oatcakes and a selection of Irish farmhouse cheese—one of Ireland's more recent culinary treasures—available from Dean & DeLuca and Murrays' Cheese Shops (Greenwich Village, Grand Central and Kroger Stores in various cities).
