St. Patrick's Day Dinner 2006
St. Patrick's Day Dinner
Friday, March 17, 2006, at 7:00
Menu
Smoked Salmon Wild Irish Roses
Iced Caviar
Lime Ricky Punch and Lime Rocky Punch
Dublin Pea Soup
Soda Bread
Spiced Beef en Croute
Potatoes Duchesse
Blarney Cabbage Vinaigrette
Carrots in Apricot and Orange Aspic
Stuffed Cherry Tomatoes
Irish Trifle
Tea
Recipes
Smoked Salmon Wild Irish Roses
Spread softened cream cheese on slices of pumpernickel bread to cover. Create roses by rolling up strips of smoked salmon, and centre on bread. Pipe 2 leaves of green tinted softened cream cheese next to it. Chill to firm.
Iced Caviar
Lime Ricky Punch
Frozen limeade
Chilled 7-Up (use instead of water to make limeade)
Thin slices of lime as garnish
For alcoholic version add 3 ounces of gin per person.
Dublin Pea Soup
2 cups split peas
1/2 cup diced pieces of cooked ham
1 large onion and a little bacon fat
6 cups beef stock
1 cup cream and 1 stick melted butter
parsley
seasoning
(serves 8)
Soak the peas as directed on the packet. Chop the onion, and soften in a little fat over a low heat. Add the peas and stock.
Cook gently until the peas are soft - about an hour. Puree the peas and ham in a blender. Stir in cream and butter. Adjust the seasoning. Top with sieved hard boiled egg and then a sprinkling of chopped parsley.
Soda Bread
4 cups plain flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. sugar
2 cups buttermilk
Sieve the dry ingredients into a large bowl. Scoop up handfuls and allow to drop back into the bowl to aerate the mixture. Add enough buttermilk to make a soft dough. Now work quickly as the buttermilk and soda are already reacting. Knead the dough lightly - too much handling will toughen it, while too little means it won't rise properly.
Form a round loaf about as thick as your fist. Place it on a lightly floured baking sheet and cut a cross in the top with a floured knife. Put at once to bake near the top of a preheated oven, 450°F, for 30-45 minutes. When baked, the loaf will sound hollow when rapped on the bottom with your knuckles. Wrap immediately in a clean tea-towel to stop the crust hardening too much. Serve sliced, with melted butter brushed on face.
Spiced Beef en Croute
4 fillets of tenderloin beef
2 tsp. each ground cloves, milled black pepper, allspice, cinnamon, mace and saltpeter
2 tbs. treacle
2 tbs. brown sugar
cold water to cover
bottle Guinness
1/2 tsp. salt
Pepperidge Farm Frozen Puff Pastry
Combine all the ingredients, (but dough), and marinate for 48 hours. Pat steaks dry, season with salt and pepper. Broil until medium rare and let cool. Do not over cook. Can be done ahead and refrigerated. Roll pastry thinly on floured board to size that will completely cover each piece of meat. Lay cooled meat in center. Add Brie and mustard. Brush pastry edges with water (to help seal). Fold pastry carefully over ends to seal. Decorate with shamrocks made from leftover pastry. Brush whole surface with beaten egg wash (to glaze). Bake at 350º until pastry is browned. Serves 4.
Potatoes Duchesse
Ingredients:
• 2 lbs peeled potatoes, preferably Golden Wonders or Kerrs Pinks
• 1 cup cream
• 2 egg yolks, beaten
• ½ stick butter
Directions:
Peel the potatoes. Put them into a saucepan of cold water, add a T of salt and bring to the boil. Simmer for approximately 30 minutes, then drain and mash while hot. Heat cream, and whip with whisk to thicken. Beat the eggs into the hot mashed potatoes, and add enough boiling cream to mix to a soft light consistency suitable for piping; then beat in the butter. Taste and season with salt. Pipe, with a large rose tip, rosettes into a well buttered baking pan, dust lightly with paprika, and pop under the broiler to brown. Note: If the potatoes are not mashed while hot and if the boiling cream is not added immediately, the Duchesse Potato will be lumpy and gluey.
Serves 4
Blarney Cabbage Vinaigrette
- 1 cup sour cream
- 1 cup mayonnaise
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice mixed with 1 tablespoon white vinegar
- 2 teaspoons celery seed
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- dash black pepper
- 1 cup plumped raisins
- 2 cups thinly shredded cabbage leaves, (discard cores)
- 4 red delicious apples, unpeeled, cored, and sliced
- 1 cup broken and whole walnuts
Preparation:
Combine sour cream, mayonnaise, lemon juice, celery seed, sugar, salt, and pepper; blend well. Add cabbage and raisins, and toss lightly until cabbage is coated. Chill for 48 hours. Pour off any water that come to the top. Add apples, (rinsed in pineapple juice), and walnuts. Serve immediately. This cabbage salad serves 10.
Carrots in Apricot and Orange Aspic
1 cup grated baby carrots
½ cup sliced celery
½ cup snipped dried apricots, that have been simmering in orange juice for 10 minutes
1 can Mandarin oranges, drained, (use juice with soda)
3 boxes orange Jell-O, made with orange soda instead of water
1 jar melted apricot preserves
Make Jell-O according to package instructions, using ½ the liquid as called for. Stir in the melted preserves, then the grated carrots. When cool enough not to damage the serving crystal compote, pour into compote, cover with Saran, and chill. Fill 2 matching compotes.
Stuffed Cherry Tomatoes
Wash and remove the tops from cherry tomatoes, then, with finger or melon baller, remove contents and discard. Slice the tops off large stuffed green olives, and reserve. Chop the remaining bodies of the olives, and stir into an equal amount of softened cream cheese. Spoon into cherry tomato cases, mounding slightly, then press olive tops on to "stick" them to the filling. Chill to firm. Make 45 for every 30 guests.
Irish Trifle
Maraschino cherry
Fudge Sauce
Chocolate Mousse
Marshmallow Fluff mixed with chopped almonds
Chocolate Cupcake
1 T Harvey's Bristol Cream
Fresh Raspberries in Raspberry Sauce
Whipped Cream, (Cool Whip)
Twinkie Slices
Lemon Curd
Pound Cake
1 T Triple Sec
Gooseberry Jam mixed with fresh blueberries
Whipped Cream
Edible Green Glitter
In the order listed fill the parfait glasses. The cake should be cut from a sheet cake with a circle cookie cutter that is just a tiny bit too large, so that the layer above doesn't seep down into the lower. Brush the liqueurs over the cakes. The charm of this dessert lies in the appearance of the differently coloured strata, so care should be taken to keep them tidy. The final whipped cream must be done just before serving, sprinkled lightly with green glitter.