Cook up a St Patrick's Day feast

Ireland has always maintained a unique culture, quite separate from the rest of Europe, and it is this individuality which flavours its produce and culinary traditions

To celebrate St Patrick's Day, try cooking up some traditional Irish fare, and be sure not to skimp on the Guinness!

Irish Menu

Starter: Blarney Salad

Main course: Irish Meat Balls

Dessert: Toasted Oat and Brown Sugar Ice Cream

BLARNEY SALAD

Crisp torn Cos lettuce leaves scattered with crunchy pan-fried black pudding pieces and tomato dice, topped with a soft poached egg

Ingredients:
Serves 4

100g/4oz Galtee Traditional Black Pudding
1 tbsp oil
4 fresh eggs
1 Cos lettuce, separated into leaves
2 tomatoes, skinned, seeded and diced
fresh snipped chives

For the dressing:
1 tsp Dijon mustard
good squeeze lemon juice
4 tbsp olive oil
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method:
Chop black pudding into small cubes and fry in a pan in hot oil until crisp on all sides. Remove and blot on kitchen paper. Reserve, keeping warm. Poach eggs in just simmering water with a dash of vinegar added then lift out and drain.

Tear lettuce leaves into a bowl, leaving small ones whole. Mix dressing ingredients in a small bowl and season. Pour over leaves and toss. Arrange on 4 plates. Scatter black pudding and tomato dice over and top each pile of salad with a poached egg. Scatter with fresh snipped chives for decoration. Slash egg just before serving so yolk seeps out.

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IRISH MEAT BALLS

Delicious Irish meatballs sum up some of the best of Irish produce.

These are made from best Irish beef mince, flavoured with onion and garlic, cooked in a thick tomato sauce with potatoes and cabbage wedges, and finished with a drizzle of yogurt

Ingredients:
Serves 4

700g/1 1/2 lbs best Irish beef mince
1/2 medium onion, peeled and grated
2 cloves garlic, peeled and grated
1 tbsp fresh parsley, finely chopped
salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tbsp oil
4 waxy potatoes, freshly boiled, in chunks
1 small Savoy cabbage, in wedges
4 tbsp thick plain yogurt
1 tbsp milk
extra fresh parsley, finely chopped for decoration

For the sauce:
2 tbsp oil
1/2 onion, peeled and finely chopped
1 clove garlic, peeled and crushed
200g can chopped tomatoes
1 tbsp tomato puree
300ml/1/2pt beef stock

Method:
Place mince in a bowl and add grated onion, garlic and parsley, and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Shape into marble-sized balls on a floured worktop. Heat 2 tbsp oil in a pan over high heat and add meatballs in batches, shaking pan to brown all over. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on kitchen paper. Reserve.

For the sauce, heat remaining oil in the same pan and fry chopped onion and garlic over gentle heat to soften. Add tomatoes and tomato puree, and beef stock. Bring to bubbling, then turn down to simmer for 10 minutes to thicken slightly. Season.

Place potatoes and cabbage wedges in a clean pan and add meatballs. Pour over sauce. Check seasoning. Cover and cook on low heat for 20 minutes, or until cabbage is just tender. Transfer to a warmed serving dish. Mix yogurt smooth with milk. Drizzle this over and finish with a sprinkling of finely chopped parsley.

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TOASTED OAT AND BROWN SUGAR ICE CREAM

One of life's luxuries, this ice cream is made with oats sprinkled with demerara sugar and toasted to crunchy crispness, then stirred into Irish whiskey flavoured dairy ice cream. This gives a scoopable texture and delectable creamy taste spiked with the crackly toffee shards of the oats

Ingredients:
Serves 6

3 egg yolks
50g/2oz caster sugar
300ml/1/2pt single cream
300ml/1/2pt double cream
50ml Irish Whiskey
75g/3oz porridge oats
50g/2oz Demerara sugar

Method:
First make the ice cream. Whisk egg yolks and caster sugar in a bowl until creamy. Place single cream in a pan and bring to the boil. Gradually whisk hot cream into the egg mix. Pour back into pan and return to low heat - to thicken slightly, but do not allow to boil. Transfer back to bowl and cool completely, whisking occasionally. Whip double cream softly thick and fold with the whiskey into custard mixture, evenly. Spoon into a freezer tub and snap on lid. Place in freezer. Leave until almost frozen - about an hour.

Meanwhile, spread oats on a baking sheet and sprinkle with sugar. Place in a pre-heated oven Gas 6 400F 200C for about 8 minutes - or until sugar has melted over the oats to make a toffee coating. Remove from oven and cool.

When ice cream is nearly frozen, remove from freezer and turn out into a bowl. Crumble up oats with the hands, and gently stir into ice cream using a metal spoon. Return to freezer tub, replace lid and freeze until needed. Serve in scoops.

All recipes are courtesy of Bord Bia - the Irish food board - and Galtee Irish Meats

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