Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day!

This greenest of holidays all year seems to cry out for an Irish dish. Corned beef and cabbage is the traditional, of course, and I’ll be fixing a pot, though I’ll sauté the cabbage in butter, rather than boil it, and then finish with salt, pepper, and a good dollop of sour cream. And I’ll share it with my younger son, the one who will eat cabbage with me.

Other dishes you might try to mark the day include shepherd’s pie—the English version of this ground meat and mashed potato pie is made with beef and called cottage pie, but the Irish put their own twist on it by using ground lamb and calling it, appropriately enough, shepherd’s pie. Otherwise, not much difference in the two, but if you make it with lamb, be aware there will be quite a bit of grease to pour off the meat.

The Irish are also fond of colcannon, in which boiled cabbage is added to mashed potatoes, along with a bit of sautéed onion. Irish stew is always a good choice—made with lamb rather than beef. The Irish have their version of that universal dish, potato cakes, called boxty and made with grated raw potatoes. And any good Irish meal should have bannock—that flat loaf of quick bread, usually not yeast-rising, that is served in wedges like a pie.

I have a St. Patrick’s Day child—Jordan’s birthday is March 17. Trouble with that is she wants her corned beef in a sandwich, wouldn’t touch cooked cabbage, and thinks shepherd’s pie is often “too heavy.” So what can I serve her? Reuben dip. She and Christian, neither one of whom would eat sauerkraut on a bet, love this dip. I’m working up to trying a Reuben meatloaf on them. Meantime, the dip will do. Note: instead of the mayonnaise, ketchup, horseradish and relish, you could use an equal amount of Thousand Island dressing. I prefer to avoid the prepared version and make my own.

Reuben dip

8 oz. cream cheese

½ cup mayonnaise

2 Tbsp. ketchup

1 Tbsp. bottled horseradish

1 Tbsp. dill relish

2 cups Swiss cheese, grated (about 8 oz.)

2 oz. deli corned beef, chopped

¼ cup sauerkraut, well drained

Grease a baking dish, pie plate, whatever will fit your toaster oven, and spread dip in it. Bake 350° for 20 minutes. Nice to use pumpernickel cocktail bread or rye to dip.

Have some of your homemade Thousand Island dressing left over? Use it to make a Big Mac Salad—crumbled hamburger, a bit of dill pickle, tomato, grated cheese, chopped lettuce. Toss with the leftover dressing for a great lunch salad, because I can almost guarantee you won’t have left-over Reuben dip. You can pretend Big Mac is Irish.

And don’t forget the green beer! It’s simply beer with green food coloring in it, easy to do at home. In my hometown of Chicago, they dye the Chicago River, which runs right through downtown, a bright green at nine in the morning and the color lasts several hours. I don’t like to think about how much food coloring that takes! But sure ‘n it’s a lovely sight.

An Irish proverb:

There are only two kinds of people in the world: the Irish,
And those who wish they were.