Sunday, March 14, 2010

St. Patrick's Day celebration


Tonight we had a dinner party to celebrate St. Patrick's Day and our friend, Jock's birthday (which is tomorrow). I made corn beef and cabbage using a new recipe for the corn beef. I cooked 3 briskets- a total of about 15 pounds worth! It was yummy as always, but I am not sure I thought it was as good as my usual New England boiled dinner with the potatoes, cabbage, rutabagas, turnips, and carrots all thrown in the pot of salted water the corn beef was cooked in. This year I cooked the corn beef in the oven, wrapped in foil. The glaze was the same as what I do with the boiled dinner, just a mixture of brown sugar, cloves, and honey mustard that you brush on and then stick under the broiler to carmelize. I also made a couple of appetizers-bangers in pastry with chow-chow, and cheese tarts with mango chutney. These were modifications to the recipes listed in the link above. The bangers were breakfast sausages (similar to L'il Smokies) that were wrapped in cut up pieces of croissant dough. I put a small spoonful of chow-chow into each piece of dough before wrapping and cooking. I purchased pre-made phyllo dough tarts and then filled them with a mixture of ricotta, parmesan and goat cheese. After they cooked, I put a small dollop of mango chutney on top. I really liked these and they seemed so fancy, but were super easy to make! I served Guiness, Ginger ale, and Irish Breakfast tea, also. For dessert, I made black bean brownies and I must say they were pretty yummy for a flour-free dessert. I would like to try these using Stevia instead of sugar sometime. Our friends also brought side dishes to share, which always makes dinner parties so much more fun! They contributed potatoes, carrots, turnips au' gratin, and soda bread with Irish butter.
We had a lovely evening celebrating one of my favorite holidays with our friends and their families-a special night!

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