Kate's Global Kitchen

Leaping Leprechauns!
More St. Paddy's Day Menus

by Kate Heyhoe

Just as Lunar New Year provides inspiration for a Chinese Dim Sum Party, St. Patrick's Day reminds me that Irish food can be much more than corned beef and cabbage. Not that there's anything wrong with Corned Beef and Cabbage, but it's like the Sweet 'n' Sour Pork of Irish cooking—a bit hackneyed and usually not very authentic.

Ireland

Fortunately, true Irish country fare is enjoying not just a revival but a rebirth. The key to a great Irish meal lies in the purity of the ingredients used, and freshness means everything. The emphasis behind Irish cooking, both old and new, places a priority on the natural, crisp, clean flavors, and the foods for which Ireland is famous, like farmhouse cheeses, wild fruits and berries, rustic vegetables, and incomparable seafood, lamb and livestock. Hence, modern chefs have discovered a respect for these ingredients and now produce outstanding meals which, in their sheer simplicity, rival the most complicated French creations or vertically composed stacks of urban cuisine.

I've listed below some Irish recipes and recent Irish cookbooks that illustrate the new approach of taking a lighter hand with traditional dishes, and some of the traditional dishes as well.

As they say in Ireland:
Bain taitneamh as do bhéile! Bon appetit!