Every March 17, many places around the world such as America, decorate and dress up in green. St. Patrick’s Day is a religious and cultural holiday that began in 1631. The tradition began in Ireland when the church was established after St. Patrick passed away, he was the patron saint of Ireland.
Since St. Patrick’s Day is a religious holiday, it was easy for the tradition to spread across continents to America. Boston was the first place in America to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day in 1737. The holiday was originally called “Feast Day” before it became the modern-day holiday.
Due to the nature of feasting, we decided to make St. Patrick’s Day-themed meals. The dishes we decided to make were Irish stew and Boxty, which is an Irish potato pancake.
Irish Stew is a famous Irish dish traditionally served on St. Patrick’s Day. It was believed to be created around the 18th century and was typically made by local shepherds after long days of work. This meal quickly spread, promoting new food traditions and common everyday meals. This is a simple recipe with only a few ingredients.
This stew is typically made with beef or lamb, partnered with potatoes and vegetables. We chose to use beef and cut it into cubes, as well as our potatoes. Our vegetables of choice were carrots which is a common choice for this meal, as well as onions.
We preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and heated two tablespoons of olive oil into a pot. We seasoned the beef and potatoes to give them an extra kick of flavor. We cooked the beef cubes in the pot for around 4 minutes to provide them with a brown color and then cooked the onions in the pot, accusing them of garlic seasoning, and added the beef back into them with flour.
After we let them simmer, we added our beef broth as well as our diced tomatoes, tomato paste, and chopped carrots while stirring them slowly. After everything was mixed, we covered the pot with the lid and let it cook for around two to three hours.
Boxty, which is an Irish potato pancake made with raw grated potatoes, and leftover mashed potatoes. This is a simple recipe with only six ingredients: Potatoes, flour, milk, a single egg, seasonings, and an oil of your choice are all you need to create this dish. The amount of ingredients added will depend on the amount you want to make.
The first step is to toss the grated raw potatoes and make or have ready mashed potatoes. We then tossed the grated potatoes in flour and mixed them in with our pre-prepared mashed potatoes. After they are mixed, we seasoned them. The seasoning will vary based on your desired flavor or flavors of your choice.
In a separate bowl, we thoroughly mixed all of the wet ingredients, the milk, and the eggs. We then slowly added in our tossed potato mixture until it created a batter consistency. We prepared a pan to cook the batter in. We poured our batter into the pan and cooked them like we would cook regular pancakes, flipping them over once one side was done.
After they cool they will be ready to serve. Irish potato pancakes are typically served with butter as a topping as well as cilantro.
Both of these recipes are a delicious way to incorporate more vegetables into your life and boost your protein intake while celebrating the holiday.
