Jeannette, a Slashfood Flickr user - who also happens to write a fantastic blog, Everybody likes Sandwiches - shared her recipe for colcannon, traditional Irish comfort food made of cabbage or kale, mashed potatoes, and a healthy dose of butter or cream. Jeannette added leeks to hers (onions or chives are often added, as well).
Colcannon can be eaten anytime, obviously, but it's typically enjoyed around Halloween, and some families hide charms or coins in the mixture. The idea is that whomever finds it has luck for the coming year. There's actually an adorable scene that illustrates this concept in In America, a film about an Irish family who immigrates to America.
Had your fill of dyed green eggs and lime Jello? Here's a list of some more sophisticated Irish treats, in honor of Saint Patrick's Day.
1) Beef Stew. Chunks of tender beef, potatoes, a shake of Worcestershire sauce, all hot and bubbling. Is there anything better on a cold damp day?
2) Irish chocolate cake. As dark and moist as the soil of the Emerald Isle, kicked up a notch with a dash of Irish cream liquor.
3) Cream scones. Lightly sweet and crumbly, with a shiny top, these with raspberry jam and clotted cream make me wish America had more of a tea time tradition.
4) Irish cheddar fondue. Sharp Irish Cheddar with a glug of stout; try it with steamed Brussels sprouts or chunks of Irish brown bread for a humble, warming dinner with friends.
5) Bread-and-butter pudding. Chunks of slightly stale bread, lavishly buttered and soaked in custard, become a sublime comfort dessert.
6) Steak and kidney pie. Cooking kidneys is not for the faint-of-heart (hint: soak, soak, soak), but this rich, velvety pie will really stick to your ribs.
7) Irish oatmeal. These steal cut oats beat the pants of the insipid instant variety. Try them with fruit and yogurt.
8) Corned beef and cabbage. The ultimate nostalgia food for Irish-Americans, and a perfect slow-cooking Sunday dinner for the rest of us.
It's that time of year - a week of green-tinted beer, green-tinged bagels, and an overabundance of green streamers and shamrock-shaped accessories and five dollar Old Navy shirts with clovers prominently displayed on the chest.
What would St. Patrick's Day be without our bizarre, Americanized version of a culture we apparently know very little about? It is our job, as Americans, to mock and exploit the Irish culture by upholding commonly-held stereotypes. And the best way to do this? Through these five products.
Oh: and as a person with a good amount of Irish heritage in her blood, I'm proud to say that I've never ingested that green goo-like substance that McDonald's sells every year around this time. And now I'll brace myself for the inevitable barrage of hate comments from Shamrock Shake devotees...
Happy St. Patrick's Day, everyone! It isn't hard to get into the spirit of this holiday when the festivities are, for a lot of people, centered on the consumption of Irish Whiskey, Irish Cream, Guinness, and the odd green beer. In fact, there is a joke that states a typical seven-course St. Paddy's dinner contains a six-pack and a potato.
All kidding aside, and whether you are Irish or not, it is a great chance to get together with friends or family and raise a glass to toast those around you. If you find yourself at a loss for words though, Colum Egan, the Master Distiller at Bushmills Irish Whiskey, wants to help you with this feat and has set up a toll-free line that features ten of his favorite Irish toasts. To hear the pre-recorded messages (complete with Irish accent) simply dial 1-800-Bushmills. (Note: you may notice that has too many numbers for a regular call. "1-800-Bushmil" worked for me.)
Egan shares his wisdom with such gems as: "May the sound of happy music, and the lilt of Irish laughter, fill your heart with gladness, that stays forever after. May your blessings outnumber the Shamrocks that grow, and may trouble avoid you wherever you go." Cheers!
The secret of oyster opening, as revealed at the 2006 World Oyster Opening Championships this past week, is "a steady hand with the oyster knife," since competitors are judged on a lack of grit (from smashed shells) as well as speed. It may not seem like much of a sport compared to soccer or downhill skiing, but it requires a tremendous amount of dexterity and concentration. The contest has been going on for four decades and this year, for the 15th time, it was won by Irish restaurateur Michael Moran, whose father took the title himself nearly three decades ago.
The sport of oyster-opening should be combined with the sport of competitive eating. Working in pairs, one could open and the eaters could, well, eat. The question would be who to team up. Do you put Kobayashi with Moran, the new World Champion Oyster Opener, or should Moran be paired with an underdog to even the teams?
Last Sunday, Showtime launched Brotherhood, a drama about about Irish mafia. A recent MSNBC article wonders if the series will do for Irish food what the Sopranos did for Italian fare. Could we see an increase in fans gathered around the tube with plates of corned beef and cabbage? I missed the first episode, but according to MSNBC, food doesn't figure nearly as prominently in Brotherhood as it does in the Sopranos. One character on the show is supposed to be a notoriously bad cook. Will there be Irish cookbook tie-ins? I guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens.
The Irish agriculture minister, Mary Coughlan, recently said that "consumers could be divided into 'fuelers,' who use food purely to satisfy hunger, and 'foodies,' who seek out the richest flavors and textures and most interesting and authentic products." This statement followed news that exotic and expensive foods, like Kobe beef and "organic beef goulash for babies" are rapidly gaining popularity in Ireland.
To be honest, I am a little insulted here. I don't like to think that food is so divisive and so black-and-white. Granted, there are people who care more than others, but you don't have to someone who only wants to eat incredibly expensive food, like the $150 Wagyu/foie gras sandwich at Selfridges, to enjoy eating. I don't know about you, but I can enjoy an ordinary burger any time I want to and still consider myself to be something other than a "fueler."
Perhaps Ms. Coughlan should look more carefully at the nuances of being a foodie and consider that a preference for foie gras is not the defining criterion.
While we here at Slashfood did the majority of our St. Patrick's Day preparation
yesterday, we don't want to forget that today is the actual day to wear a bit of green, indulge in a pint of Guinness, and have a
couple of shamrock-shaped sugar cookies! These are simple cookies made from dough sugar cookie dough dyed with green
food coloring - use more than a few drops or else they'll be a little pale, like mine were - and piped with white
chocolate. Make sure to drink your Bailey's on the rocks after you finish the piping, too, otherwise the lines
will be a little squiggly like mine.
So what's the story behind the shamrock anyway?
"Shamrock" is derived from the Celtic word "seamroy" for a three-leafed clover. It is
considered a sacred plant because it symbolizes the arrival of spring and the idea of re-birth. The shamrock has long
been associated with Irish culture because it is believed that St.Patrick used the three-leafed clover to symbolize the
Trinity.
The idea of the lucky four leaf clover comes from a
legend that the three leave of a regular clover each symbolize hope, faith and love. A fourth leaf on a clover
symbolizes luck.
I'll take all the luck I can get, so I made a cookie with four leaves for myself.
Though the big St. Patrick's Day hype and parades are elsewhere in Chicago (a green river!) and New York, you can
still don your green leprechaun tights in and around LA for food or drink or both (just expect some strange stares if
you really do dress up like a leprechaun) Plan ahead,and get there early - it's going to be a mob green scene:
Finn
McCool's (food and drink), 2702 Main Street, Santa Monica, CA 90405, (310) 452-1734
Ireland's 32, 13721 Burbank Blvd, Van Nuys,CA (818) 785-4031
Irish Times, 3267 Motor Ave, Los Angeles, CA (310) 559-9648
Joxer Daly's, 11168 Washington Blvd, Culver City, CA 90232, (310) 838-3745
O'Brien's Pub & Restaurant, 2941 Main St, Santa Monica, CA (310) 396-4725
Apparently the saying 'Nip the Cake' stems from the Irish custom of breaking off a small corner of a freshly baked
cake or biscuit to ward off bad luck.
Irish Hazelnut Honey Biscuits
75g hazelnuts
150g plain flour
salt
100g butter
50g caster sugar
4 tablespoons thick honey
Toast the nuts in the oven for 10 minutes. You need to remove any skins before grinding to a powder. Cream the
butter and sugar together and sift in the flour and salt. Add the nuts. Knead lightly. Chill the dough for 30
minutes.
Roll out the dough and cut iinto 5cm rounds. Grease a baking tray, line with paper and bake at 190C/375F/G5 for 7 -
10 minutes. Cool on a wire rack. Serve sandwiched together with thick honey.
I didn't actually ground the hazelnuts up all that finely wanting a little crunch in the biscuit; it made the dough
rather fragile though, but the end result is rather tasty.
St. Patrick's Day may give some an excuse to indulge in a few extra drinks, but mix those drinks into a cake and
you're got a holiday that I can really get behind. Maki, of i was just
really very hungry, has a recipe for Irish Stout Cake with Whiskey Sour
Icing that sounds as delicious as it looks. The cake is nearly black with a white icing, a combination that
bears a striking resemblance to a freshly poured pint of stout. The cake is sweet but restrained due to the presence of
both the stout and a fair amount of unsweetened cocoa powder. All the alcohol in the cake will dissipate during baking,
so there is no need to worry about serving this to children. Maki points out that simply omitting the whiskey in the
icing will make this kid friendly for those children who have mature palates, as well as becoming suitable for adults
who want to enjoy the holiday without having a stiff drink.
No special process is involved in producing this St. Patrick's Day novelty drink. Simply add 5-6
drops of green food coloring to your beer and gently stir. Go for a bright color because a yellow-ish green is off
putting no matter how fast you plan to down your drink. It is also best to go with lighter ales as opposed to a dark
stout, like Guinness. To get a green color out of a Guinness, you would have to add enough food coloring to turn your
teeth green when you take a sip. There are many other Irish beers available to help you get into the St.
Paddy's Day Spirit, even though it might be easier to pick up a six pack of anything that comes in a green bottle to
begin with.
With St. Patrick's Day coming up tomorrow, it's time to get into the spirit. Open your closet and pull out
something green to avoid getting pinched by your friends, then open your fridge and pull out a pint of Guinness. St. Patrick's Day originally began as a Catholic feast day
that celebrated the patron saint of Ireland, but millions of Irish and non-Irish revelers now celebrate it every year.
Is it the religious signifigance? Perhaps for some, but for many it's about the corned beef and the beer - which is
what we like at Slashfood.
Here are some Irish ideas to get you going for St. Patrick's Day:
St. Patrick's Day might not have the same type of candy-giving connotations as Valentine's Day, but with candy
companies seeing increases in holiday-related sales nearly every year, there certainly is some incentive for them to
celebrate each and every holiday with a special product. See's Candy has a special confection for St. Patrick's Day and
it is one of the most interesting I've seen. Not content to merely see chocolate leprechauns (though they have those, too), See's has come out with a candy potato. The St. Patrick's Day potato is a potato shaped
lump of fluffy, marshmallowy divinity, packed with California walnuts and dipped in chocolate. The whole thing is
rolled in a mixture of cinnamon and cocoa powder to round out the flavors of the candy and balance its sweetness, as
well as to simulate the natural look (dirt) of the spud. I know that the See's divinity is delicious, so I'm looking
forward to getting my hands on one (or two) of these!
Happy St. Patrick's Day, everyone! It isn't hard to get into the spirit of this holiday when the festivities are, for a lot of people, centered on the consumption of Irish Whiskey, Irish Cream, Guinness, and the odd green beer. In fact, there is a joke that states a typical seven-course St. Paddy's dinner contains a six-pack and a potato. 
The secret of oyster opening, as revealed at the 
Last Sunday, Showtime launched 
The Irish agriculture minister, Mary Coughlan, 
No special process is involved in producing this St. Patrick's Day novelty drink. Simply add 5-6
drops of green food coloring to your beer and gently stir. Go for a bright color because a yellow-ish green is off
putting no matter how fast you plan to down your drink. It is also best to go with lighter ales as opposed to a dark
stout, like Guinness. To get a green color out of a Guinness, you would have to add enough food coloring to turn your
teeth green when you take a sip. There are many other 
With St. Patrick's Day coming up tomorrow, it's time to get into the spirit. Open your closet and pull out
something green to avoid getting pinched by your friends, then open your fridge and pull out a pint of 
St. Patrick's Day might not have the same type of candy-giving connotations as Valentine's Day, but with candy
companies seeing increases in holiday-related sales nearly every year, there certainly is some incentive for them to
celebrate each and every holiday with a special product. See's Candy has a special confection for St. Patrick's Day and
it is one of the most interesting I've seen. Not content to merely see chocolate leprechauns (though they 
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