menus March 12, 2014

“We survive. We're Irish. We have the souls of poets. We love our misery, we delight in the beauty of strange places and dark places in our hearts.” 

Ellis Flynn

Maybe it's that combination of scrappy survival and poetic sorrow that makes the world love the Irish. Well, at least the part of the world that doesn't hate the Irish. 
It's not as if history is short as a leprechaun on stories of people groups that have been despised, starved, impoverished and exiled. But to my knowledge (and of course I did a little research) none of the other people groups that have been the victims of well-organized oppression are routinely referred to

as lucky.

Maybe it's just that the world admires a people who get up every time they're knocked down- sort of the cultural equivalent of

this guy.
( I had one of these.
Kinda creeps me out to remember it.)

or maybe the world loves an underdog

who insists it's a hero.

or it could be that the world just loves a people who really know how to party. Because though St. Patrick's Day was established to honor a holy man, 

it's not exactly a holy day.

St. Patrick's Day- the day when half of the world (or at least half of this country) is Irish, and the other half pretends to be. The day when finding clover in your yard  

finds you counting leaves, instead of trying to
find the weedkiller.

The day packed with more wonderful meal ideas than any single day could hold. In fact, there are almost too many yummy St. Patrick's day dinner ideas to fit into a week. 

But we'll try anyway-

Here's what I mean:

Wednesday: Beer glazed Sausage and Apples

Here's a great one dish meal. Green beans too pricey? Cauliflower, butternut squash and carrots would all taste fantastic. Don't want to cook with beer? Try chicken broth, or a little apple cider. 

Thursday: Baked sweet potatoes with spinach and feta

You'd think that I'd be content to stick with any five of the five hundred Irish-type dinners on offer from American websites, wouldn't you? Well, I'm not. I got a little curious about actual Irish food, and this is the first result. This adventurous vegetarian dinner comes from the very terrific Irish Times recipe section- there's a chance that at the last minute, my sense of adventure may pack its bags and fly away..if that happens, we'll be serving the spinach on the side of, instead of on top of, the potatoes. There'll be a few extra potatoes roasting tonight that will be used on Sunday.

Friday:Lemon roasted salmon and vegetables

A wonderful Irish magazine called Easy Food brings you this...well...easy food. 

It looks absolutely delicious too. 

Warning!  Since this a bona-fide Irish recipe, the oven temperature is in degrees Celsius; 220 Celsius is about 400 American oven degrees.

Saturday: Corned beef, cabbage, carrots and potatoes

What Irish week would be complete without Corned beef? I know, it's crazy fatty and salty- but look how lean the rest of the week has been! 

As an added bonus, corned beef should be on sale this week, well...everywhere. 

If there are leftovers, we'll use them for Rueben sandwiches on Monday.

Sunday: Sweet Potato hash with spicy Hollandaise

Okay. This is awesome. True, we only have American Better Homes and Gardens magazine's word for it that this is Irish, but even if it's not! Sweet potatoes! Bacon! Breakfast for dinner!!!

It's possible that I might saute up some kale (and put bacon on top) or oven roast some Brussels Sprouts (with bacon) just to up the veggie count, but really, one forkful of eggy potatoey bacon-dusted goodness, and I'll be feeling very lucky. 

And that's what I hope for you.
I hope that no matter how many ways this week finds
of knocking you over
that you never lose sight 
of the things that are worth getting back up for.
And that Irish or not, 
you know the sort of unbeatable delight
and resilient wonder
that are the true heritage 

of lucky people everywhere.