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St. Patrick’s Day Recipes for Irish Main Courses, Appetizers, and Sides

Written by Kathryn D'Imperio Tuesday, 10 March 2009 00:29

If you are planning to host guests for a hearty St. Patrick’s Day dinner, chances are you’d like to prepare a feast to be remembered. Corned beef and cabbage with potatoes is a popular St. Patrick’s Day dish just as Irish Potatoes are a popular St. Patrick’s Day confection. Instead of going with the traditional, tried and true Irish recipes, why not try something a little less familiar?

Whether this is your first time cooking an Irish meal or whether you’re a seasoned pro just looking for a new Irish recipe to try, consider these traditional Irish dishes – from main courses to sides and more.

Shepherd's Pie
Courtesy of Mealtime.org

Hearty, simple, healthy: three words that describe traditional Irish cuisine. Topped with lumpy mashed potatoes, also known as Irish Champ, mixed with green onion or other vegetables, you can prepare this dish ahead of time and bake it for dinner on St. Patrick’s Day.

Ingredients:
1 pound lean ground beef or lamb
1 medium onion, chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
1 can (14 1/2 ounces) carrots
3 tablespoons canned tomato paste
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup chopped parsley

Topping:
2 cans (14 1/2 ounces each) sliced potatoes, drained
1/4 cup fat-free milk
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 cup chopped green onion
2 tablespoons shredded cheddar cheese

Preparation:
Cook and stir the beef, onion and celery in a medium skillet over medium-high heat until the beef is lightly browned and the onion is translucent. Add the carrots, tomato paste, thyme and black pepper. Simmer for 5 to 10 minutes to blend; mix in parsley. Transfer to a 9 1/2-inch pie pan.

Topping: Combine the potatoes with milk, black pepper and nutmeg; mash in food processor with pulsing action. Mix in the green onion.

Spread the potato mixture over the beef mixture in the pie dish; sprinkle with cheese. Bake at 350°F for about 30 minutes, or until the potato is lightly browned. Let sit for 5 minutes before serving.

Servings: 6

Nutritional Information Per Serving: Calories 260; Total fat 9g; Saturated fat 3.5g; Cholesterol 50mg; Sodium 620mg; Carbohydrate 28g; Fiber 6g; Protein 19g

- Recipe courtesy of Mealtime.org.

PREMIO SAUSAGE AND BACON
 
Ingredients:
1 lb. Bacon Slices
2 lbs. Premio Sausage Links
Bacon Fat or Oil
2 large onions, sliced
2 cloves garlic, whole
4 large potatoes, thickly sliced
2 carrots, thickly sliced
1 bouquet garni, (parsley stem, celery, bay leaf, other aromatic herbs of your choice)
Black pepper
Hard cider (apple wine) or apple cider
Chopped parsley for garnish
 
Instructions:
Lightly fry bacon until crisp.  Place in large cooking pot. Brown sausage in some bacon grease or vegetable oil. Remove and add to pot.  Soften sliced onions and whole garlic cloves in fat, then add to pot with potatoes and carrots.  Bury the bouquet garni in the middle of the mixture.  Sprinkle with pepper.  Cover with cider.  Simmer 1.5 hours over medium-low heat; do not boil.  
Garnish with chopped parsley

- Recipe courtesy of Marc Cinque, owner of Premio Foods.

“In Ireland, parsley sauce is an essential accompaniment to the traditional meal of corned beef (or boiled gammon), boiled potatoes and cabbage. My husband, Michael Patrick Carroll, whose birthday falls on March 17, won’t touch a plate of corned beef without parsley sauce,” says Mary McEvoy Carroll, principal of Sand Hill Communications.

Parsley sauce (serves 6)

Ingredients:
Quarter cup of all purpose flour
Half teaspoon of salt
4 tablespoons salted butter (Irish brands give the correct rich taste)
8 - 10 fluid ounces of full fat milk
Quarter teaspoon white pepper, or to taste – the parsley is quite peppery on its own
A small grating of whole nutmeg

One bay leaf
A big handful of curly parsley, finely chopped. This is not the time for the Italian versio

Instructions:
1. Make a roux by adding the first five ingredients to a cold saucepan and whisking continually over a low heat until the butter is melted, the flour is incorporated, and the mixture has thickened.  

2. Add the nutmeg and bay leaf and barely simmer at a very low heat for 5 – 10 mins.

3. Whisk in more milk if the mixture is too thick.  We are looking for a pouring sauce.

4. Remove the bay leaf and stir in the parsley.  

5. If you make this ahead of time, it’s traditional to put a lump of butter on top of the warm sauce before covering. The butter will melt and pool so that the surface doesn’t develop a skin.  

6. Reheat gently on the stove top or in the microwave. Pour over anything on the plate.

Enjoy!  

- Recipe courtesy of Mary McEvoy Carroll


More Irish Main Courses, Appetizers, and Sides...