Saturday, March 18, 2006

St. Patrick's Day Bonanza: A Quick Irish Supper

Supper is such a funny word. It makes me think of my grandparents. We always said dinner in my family but whenever we went up to New York to visit the relatives it was always referred to as supper. I always wondered if there was a difference between the two words. It seems there is a difference and you can read about it here.

Today was another rainy day (a month ago I was complaining how San Diego never gets rain and this month we've had mostly rain) and also St. Patrick's Day so a hearty and homey meal was in order. Since I'm not much of a "hearty" eater (I don't like stews, soups, and popular American meals like meatloaf) I made my own simple version of a filling Irish supper.

I marinated some wild salmon with a teaspoon each of dijion mustard and honey; a few tablespoons of lemon juice; some olive oil; 1 small clove of garlic, minced; fresh ground black pepper, salt, dried tarragon, and dried dill. Then I popped two baking potatoes in the oven since they always seem to take a while to bake.

Right before I grilled the salmon I turned the potatoes into Twice Baked Potatoes with Celtic Cheddar. You've probably made twice baked potatoes before but I'll quickly explain how to make them in case you haven't.

Twice Baked Potatoes: Cut baking potato in half. Scoop out insides and mush together with milk until creamy. Add salt and pepper to taste. Garlic or garlic powder is optional (I used a dash). Mix in shredded cheese and put potato mixture back into potato skins. Sprinkle more shredded cheese on top and place on a cookie sheet or pan. Bake until the cheese is melted and slightly browned. Repeat with each baking potato.

The Celtic Cheddar had such a great flavor and worked perfectly in the twice baked potatoes.


Twice Baked Potatoes with Celtic Cheddar
Since it's St. Paddy's day and I didn't wear green all day, I decided to add a little green to the plate and stir fry some broccoli with lemon juice, toasted almonds, and snap peas.

Maybe next year I'll make corned beef or beef stew. This year I went Irish lite.

St. Patrick's Day Supper

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I posted about twice-baked potatoes, too! How funny are we?
I love the Celtic cheese addition to yours ..... sounds excellent! And the salmon looks fab, too!