St Patrick’s Day is a big deal not only in Ireland but across the UK too, with people grabbing the excuse to celebrate, go out and have fun. For students, it’s another fun night out – with more green hats and ‘baby Guinness’ shots! If you’re not hugely into going out, you can still celebrate with your flatmates, Irish or not. Here are some things you can make…
Irish potato soup
A warm, hearty meal for a still-cold march… All you need is potatoes, onions, butter, stock and some cream or milk. Sautee the onions in butter, dice your potatoes and add them to the onions with the stock and simmer. Once the potatoes are soft, add all of this to your blender with the cream or milk and blitz it into a tasty soup. Season to taste, of course!
Colcannon
Think mashed potato but completely elevated. Chop, boil and then mash your potatoes with cabbage, butter/cream, and a bit of Dijon mustard. You can also add kale, spring onions and seasonings. This is a super tasty take on classic mashed potatoes.
Guinness chocolate cake
If you’re a baker, this is a fantastic recipe to add to your roster. Richer and tangier than a normal chocolate cake, it also has a delicious cream cheese frosting. We’ll let Nigella explain the recipe further, but give it a try – it’s bound to impress your flatmates!
Shamrock milkshake
This one is super fun – essentially, make a vanilla milkshake (using milk and vanilla ice cream, or a milkshake powder) and add green food colouring. You can also flavour it with a mint essence, or really any other flavouring you fancy, and you could add some fun gold sprinkles on top if you’re feeling extra.
Irish soda bread
If you’ve never made bread before, don’t panic – this is one of the easiest bread recipes you can make, so it’s not only a fantastic St Patrick’s Day recipe but also a brilliant starting point if you do want to get into making your own bread. Simply mix flour, bicarbonate of soda, buttermilk and salt into a dough, shape it and bake it. Done! Some recipes add raisins in there too, so that could be one to try…
And if you don’t really want to make anything from scratch, here are some bits you can pick up which feel very Irish:
- Kerrygold butter
- Baileys
- Steak and stout pie/stew
- Taytos (these might take some hunting down)
- Black pudding
Celebrating St Patrick’s Day through food and drink is the perfect to do it if you don’t fancy donning a “kiss me, I’m Irish” t-shirt and some green shamrock-shaped sunglasses and going out on the town!
