CHEF and blogger Paul James writes for our paper.
I had so many recipes for St Patrick’s Day, I have decided to give readers ‘two for the price of one’.
Both dishes use the same ingredients, so you can choose which one or do both – the choice is yours.
St Patrick was a fifth century Romano-British Christian missionary and Bishop in Ireland.
Much of what is known about St Patrick comes from the declaration allegedly written by Patrick himself.
It is believed he was born in Roman Britain in the fourth century, into a wealthy family.
His father was a deacon and his grandfather was a priest in the Christian church.
According to the declaration, at the age of 16, he was kidnapped by Irish raiders and taken as a slave to Gaelic Ireland.
It says he spent six years there working as a shepherd and during this time he found God.
The declaration says God told Patrick to flee to the coast, where a ship would be waiting to take him home.
After making his way home, Patrick went on to become a priest.
Anyway, enough of that, I will stick to what I know.
Irish food is well-known for being hearty, comforting and not just all about the potatoes – even though these two dishes have.
I was thinking of using Guinness or an Irish ale, but decided to use a good quality Irish whiskey as a marinade and cooking stock.
With the addition of the colcannon, which was lovely.
Give these dishes a try, you won’t be disappointed.
So I wish all of you a great St Patrick’s Day and ‘top o’ the morning to ya’.
Visit recipesfrommytravel.com for more on Paul’s recipes and blog.
Slow-cooked lamb shanks infused with Irish whiskey and colcannon
Ingredients
2 lamb shanks
150ml of good quality Irish whiskey
4 large potatoes
2 cloves of garlic cut into slithers
Carrots boiled whole
Sprig of Rosemary
Mint leaves fresh
Cabbage or kale boiled
Salt and pepper
Irish butter
Beef stock
Method
1. Take the lamb shanks and give little incisions into them, enough to fit in the slithers of garlic.
2. In a container add the lamb shanks, the whiskey, sprigs of rosemary and a few of the mint leaves (reserving the rest for the colcannon) leave overnight to infuse all of the flavours.
3. Take your lamb shanks out of the refrigerator and let them come up to room temperature.
4. In a hot frying pan sear the lamb until it’s caramelised.
5. Place into a slow cooker (or casserole dish if you are using the oven)
6. Add beef stock and all of the marinade.
7. Fill with cooled down boiled water. Cover with the lid and slow cook for at least four hours until the meat is ready to fall off the bone.
8. Then with your four large potato’s, prick them, spray some oil on each one with a sprinkle of sea salt and bake in the oven.
9. Once cooked, cool down, cut them in half and scrape out the potato flesh (use the skins for loaded baked potato skins).
10. Add butter to a saucepan, let it froth, then add the flesh of the potato.
11. Mix well, season to taste and then fold in the cabbage or kale.
12. On a warm plate, assemble the colcannon and place the tender lamb shank on top.
13. Drizzle with a bit of the cooking juices if you want.
Irish stew with carrots and potatoes
Method
1. Follow the same cooking method for the lamb shanks.
2. In a saucepan add, the carrots and potatoes. Fill with cold water and bring to the boil.
3. Cover and simmer until cooked.
4. Once cooled, dice up the carrots and potatoes.
5. Clean out the saucepan, add some gravy granules and some of the lamb stock.
6. Keep stirring until it thickens.
7. Shred the lamb shank, add it to the saucepan along with the vegetables and serve on a warm plate.
