St. Patrick's Day Menu

I always say everyone’s Irish on Saint Patty’s Day! And I love corned beef! So there was no way I was going to make a menu without it. We all can embrace the spirit of diversity and celebrate all ethnic beauty with good food.

St. Patrick’s Day Menu

Corned Beef

Potato-Mushroom-Onion Medley

Gumbo

Lemon Raspberry Cups

CORNED BEEF:

Ingredients:

5 to 6 pound beef brisket

2-3 tablespoons of minced garlic

5-8 whole cloves

3 sliced onions

3 bay leaves

1-3 tablespoons German (Dusseldorf) or Dijon Mustard

1/3 cup light brown sugar

Place beef brisket in deep pot or Dutch oven and cover with boiling water.

Add minced garlic, whole cloves, sliced onions, and bay leaves.

Bring to boil, reduce heat, cover with aluminum foil and lid, and simmer for 5 hours.

Remove beef from pot and allow to drain.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Put beef in shallow pan, fat side up. Trim fat.

Spread mustard over beef.

Cover beef with light brown sugar and bake 15 to 20 minutes until sugar melts and forms glaze.

Slice and serve hot or cold. Serves up to 10.

POTATO-MUSHROOM-ONION MEDLEY:

1.5 pounds red potatoes

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 pound fresh white mushrooms (halved or quartered)

1 large red, yellow or orange bell pepper cut into bite-sized chunks

1 tablespoon minced garlic, 1 teaspoon seasoned salt

2 tablespoons fresh or dried thyme

1 teaspoon black pepper

1 red onion, sliced

Heat oven to 450 degrees. In large baking pan mix red potatoes (cut into fourths) with olive oil. Bake uncovered 10 minutes.

Stir in mushrooms, bell pepper, minced garlic, seasoned salt, fresh or dried thyme, black pepper, and sliced red onion.

Reduce oven temperature to 300 degrees and bake for 20-25 minutes until vegetables are tender. Stir things around every few minutes during baking. Serves 6.

GUMBO:

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons vegetable or canola oil

3 tablespoons flour

2 tablespoons vegetable or canola oil

1 onion, chopped

2 diced carrots

4 or 5 diced celery stalks

1 red and 1 green bell pepper, seeded and diced

8 ounces fresh or frozen okra

1 tablespoon minced garlic

1 tablespoon cayenne pepper

1 tablespoon seasoned salt

1 tablespoon ground black pepper

½ teaspoon dried thyme

3 cups chicken stock

28 ounces drained and chopped Italian style tomatoes

1 bay leaf

2 teaspoons chopped parsley

1 or 2 pounds shelled and de-veined medium or large shrimp

1 to 2 pounds sliced medium scallops

2 cups white rice, cooked

Make roux by heating 2 tablespoons of oil in skillet. Add flour and stir constantly until golden brown- about 4-5 minutes. Set aside.

Heat 2 tablespoons oil in deep pot. Add chopped onion, diced carrots, diced celery stalks, red and green bell pepper. Stir constantly for 3 minutes.

Add 8 ounces fresh or frozen okra, minced garlic, cayenne pepper, seasoned salt, ground black pepper, and dried thyme. Stir well.

Add chicken stock, Italian style tomatoes, bay leaf, and chopped parsley. Reduce heat to low and simmer.

Stir in roux and cook 20 minutes until thickened and vegetables are tender. Remove bay leaf.

Add shrimp and scallops. Cook until shrimp curl and turn pink, and scallops are opaque (about 3 minutes). If needed, season with pepper, salt, and hot sauce. Add more hot water if too thick.

Optional additions: meat from 1/2 chicken, ½ to 1 pound hot sausage (cut into bite sized pieces), 2 or 3 handfuls of crawfish (tail meat), and 3 or four steamed blue crabs (remove shell, apron, and gills, and break apart). All of these ingredients should be sautéed in a drizzle of olive oil in a very hot skillet for 1 and ½ to 3 minutes, and added to gumbo when shrimp and scallops are added.

Half-fill bowls with cooked white rice, and ladle gumbo over rice. Serves 4 to 8.

LEMON RASPBERRY CUPS:

Ingredients:

½ cup sugar

1 egg

2 softened tablespoons softened butter

2 tablespoons heavy whipping cream

¼ teaspoon vanilla

½ lemon (juice and grated peel using only yellow part of rind).

30 mini fillo pastry shells (cups)

sweetened whipped cream

Beat together sugar, egg, butter, heavy whipping cream, vanilla and lemon

Place pastry shells (cups) on baking sheet and divide lemon mixture evenly between shells. Bake at 325 degrees until filling is set, about 20 minutes.

Transfer cups to wire rack and gently insert a raspberry into the top of each one. Cool and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate until ready to serve. If desired, serve with sweetened whipped cream or topping.       

Photos: Corned Beef & Potatoes Seriously Good; Gumbo The Salad Girl; Berries in phyllo cups StickyChewyCreamyGooey