With St Patrick’s Day sneaking up on us on March 17, it is a great time to gather friends and family and fill our stomachs with good, hearty meals and drinks.
In 2022, the British Beer and Pub Association expected pubs to sell 14 million pints on St Patrick’s Day with people heading out for a drink. But why not bring the drink home with these special homemade recipes, including the Irish pub classics of whiskey, Irish cream and Guinness?
Here, we will explore some recipes with our favourite Irish ingredients of the day.
Whipped Irish cream
What is better to help you through a day of celebration than a sweet treat? Irish cream is a delicious, alcoholic drink that can add creaminess to your recipes. But did you know that you can actually whip it up enough to make it a brilliant icing for decorating your cakes, from cupcakes to cheesecakes? Add a mixture of Irish cream, whipping cream and sugar into a bowl and mix until peaks form.
And if you are making a coffee cake, you can add Irish cream coffee into the mix to boost that flavour.
Guinness stew
There is nothing more heart-warming and comforting than an Irish stew, and St Patrick’s Day is the perfect day to make the most of this meal. Traditionally made with lamb, this meal can also be prepared with beef. And while it doesn’t traditionally involve alcohol, it can include Guinness to help deepen the flavour of the beef.
Ingredients:
1 pound of Beef
1 cup of Guinness
4 cups of broth, beef or vegetable
1 tbsp tomato paste
6 cloves of garlic
1 large onion, chopped
4 carrots, chopped
2 celery sticks, chopped
3 bay leaves
1 tbsp flour, to thicken
Thyme
These measurements can be adjusted for what you enjoy. For a thicker stew, you can reduce the amount of liquids, increase the flour or add corn starch, or increase the meat and vegetable volume. For a thinner stew, increase the liquid contents. And depending on your personal tastes, you can play around with the levels of broth to alcohol, with some recipes also including red wine alongside the Guinness.
Although it is recommended that you use chuck beef, you could use any beef available. Even the toughest beef can be melt-in-your-mouth as this cooking process can be low and slow, including being done in a slow cooker. Simply brown off your meat and leave all the ingredients in the slow cooker, with a perfect stew ready in a few hours.
Whiskey apple tart
Another classic for your Irish celebrations is the Irish Apple Tart, made with a good helping of Irish whiskey. This takes an hour and a half to create, but the results are worth it.
Ingredients:
1.5 kg cooking apples
100ml Irish whiskey
200g sultana
250g demerara sugar
1 cinnamon stick
1 egg, beaten
A splash of milk
A small knob of butter
Shortcrust pastry
Start by combining the sultanas, some sugar, and whiskey over a heat – mix thoroughly and leave to cool. In a separate pan, cook the apples in some whiskey with 125g demerara sugar and a cinnamon stick. When the apples are soft, strain them and leave them to the side.
Start by combining the sultanas, some sugar, and the whiskey over a heat before leaving to the side before cooking the apples in whiskey and half the demerara sugar with the cinnamon stick. After a few minutes, once the apples have softened, strain the extra juices from them and leave to the side.
Once the filling is complete, roll the pastry into a £1 thickness. Pierce with a fork and blind bake for ten minutes. Then coat in the egg and milk mixture before returning to the oven for a further five minutes. Complete this step twice. Then add the apple and sultana mixture into the pastry, making sure to strain any of the whiskey so that the sultanas haven’t soaked up and your pastry isn’t soggy. Add a lid of pastry, egg wash, and return to the oven for 20 minutes, ensuring there are steam holes in the lid.
Why not serve it alongside a good shot of whiskey or even the Irish whipped cream from earlier?
Whether you are looking for hearty comfort food to celebrate the day or want to add a taste of Irish into your recipes through their expertly crafted stout and spirits, these recipes will ensure that your whole cohort is fed and merry for the St Patrick’s Day celebrations.
