“If it was raining soup, the Irish would go out with forks.”
—Brendan Behan

St Patrick’s Day!  The only legitimate excuse for Whisky and Parades! … Drunken Bar Room Crooning, St Pat Happy Hats – Green of course, Green Shamrocks, Streamers, Beads, Kiss Me I’m Irish Stickers, Green Chocolate - but what’s worse- Green Beer, YIKES Green Rivers!
And, everyone’s favorite – the ineradicable Corned Beef and Green Cabbage.
Dia cabhrú liom!

No, No… I want something Irish that I can survive!  Then it hit me. I want what Bill’s and my dear friend, Carroll O’Connor always wanted: Boiled Beef and The Quiet Man - John Ford's romantic comedy starring John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara, filmed in and around the picturesque village of Cong, near Ashford Castle, County Mayo.

Just a year ago, Barbara Hebert and I were sitting on her stoop in what passes for early spring in New England. I was nursing a cold and she'd just made me a get-well drink. (I didn't know what was coming so I had a tuna sandwich at home first.) It was bright green and it certainly looked healthy and surprise, it tasted better than you think. I didn't know it then but I was hooked.

By way of introduction, Barbara's a health coach; we've been eating our way through kale, collards, chard, spinach, tons of celery, salad greens, cranberries, blueberries in and out of season, onions, mushrooms, lentils and beans of every description.

The ANDI system, aggregate nutrient density index, rates food from 1 to 1,000 evaluating its vitamins and minerals. For example, collards, kale and watercress come in at 1,000; spinach is at 740 and arugula's 560.

For the very green cocktails here, go organic and fresh over frozen, although frozen fruit works fine. We whipped these up on a Friday night. Although it's March, we are digging out from a foot of snow earlier and we were smarter this time to outsource the photos to Mr. J.

I couldn’t let St. Patrick’s Day come and go without making something to celebrate this “green” holiday.

This year I wanted to gift the teachers with a little sweet treat. With an unopened bottle of Bailey’s Irish Cream that we received at the holidays, chocolate truffles were calling my name.

Truffles are a wonderful gift because you can make a big batch in very little time. Using premium ingredients, a ganache is whipped up in minutes and then rests on the counter to cool. While this batch of ganache rested, I went for a 3 mile walk. Came home, put it in the fridge for 45 minutes while I straightened up my house.

The end results are impressive. Wrapped in pretty boxes and gifted to those that deserve them wins bonus points for weeks to come. Although he doesn’t know it, I hid a few in the back of the pantry for Levi. He is doing such a great job with the transition into a gluten free diet, that a little sweet treat is my way of showing him how proud I am of him.

What I like about Irish baked goods is that they're always hearty and wholesome, like soda bread, scones, porter cake, and biscuits. And I especially like it when recipes are easy to make—ones that don't require yeast, rising dough, and all the things that come with it. One of the easiest cakes to make is porter cake, which gets its name from the Irish beer used. Yes, a bread recipe that uses beer!

In this case the beer is Guinness, the beer of Ireland: A rich, dark, and malty stout with a creamy head that requires a slow and steady multistep pour to get it just right. Guinness was first introduced as a porter in 1725, but its formula was changed to include roasted malt, which created a flavor profile that drinkers called "stout porter" and thus the name stout was born. Being that Guinness is my absolute favorite beer, I couldn't pass up an opportunity to bake this cake for St. Patrick's Day.

Three years ago, Stone Brewing wrote a post on their company blog titled "MustardGate 2010" in which they announced that the Stone Brewing mustard they've been shipping to their customers was missing an important ingredient - their beer. As it turned out, the company they hired to make the mustard for them never used the beer Stone sent them to make the product. The kegs Stone sent them came back empty, so there was no clue where the beer actually went.

I admired Stone for being this forthcoming, and for going out of their way to make things right with their customers and their fans by offering refunds, discounts, whatever it took to make things right. But in the end, it gave me the inspiration to make that mustard myself. I'd made mustard before, and beer makes everything better.  So I made it, and it was delicious, especially when slathered on Bratwurst or (in this case) smothered on beer-braised corn beef & cabbage.

If you’re getting around to planning your St. Patrick’s menu a little late like me, here’s something to help—a quick and easy sautéed cabbage recipe. I’ve never been one for the traditional boiled cabbage that often goes along with the corned beef on this holiday. In fact, I didn’t learn to love cabbage until I cooked it hot-and-fast–in a sauté pan, in a stir-fry pan, on a griddle—anything where I could bring out its sweeter side with a little browning.

Sautéed cabbage is not only (much) tastier than boiled cabbage, but it’s less fussy to cook. The basic recipe really doesn’t need much embellishment either, since browning accentuates the nutty flavor of cabbage. But after you’ve tried this and made it part of your repertoire, you can perk it up by adding sautéed apples to it, by tossing in a bit of ginger or garlic, or by playing around with the deglazing broth by sub-ing in white wine, lemon, or apple cider for the rice vinegar and soy sauce.

Regular old green cabbage would be just fine here, but I’m crazy about its crinkly-leaved cousin, Savoy cabbage (right). Savoy wilts in a hot pan a bit quicker than regular cabbage, and has a slightly richer flavor and lighter texture.

Growing up my mom used to make stuffed cabbage, what felt like, all the time.  I wasnt’ really into it nor did I ever acquire a taste for it. Then I grew up and ate it somewhere (not my moms) and pretty much fell in love with it.

A few weeks ago, I spent a guilt free Sunday morning in bed,  I sat there with remote in hand, watching a bunch of shows that had been recorded, yet never watched.

 I had numerous Aarti Party’s, Barefood Contessa, Nigella Feasts, a few Challenges, and a host of others- non-food related. It was glorious. I ultimately left the bedroom, with list in hand and started printing out all the recipes that I wanted to tackle.

One in particular was Ina’s Stuffed Cabbage. What better week to make this than for St. Patrick’s Day? I made a simple salad and a Bakewell Tart. The cabbage is a great weeknight meal. Reading the recipe, it felt as thought it would have taken all day long. Not so.

Almost everyone eats corned beef and cabbage on St. Patrick's Day even if you're not Irish. I do. Even my Hungarian mother makes corned beef and cabbage every March. But this year I decided to do something different and out of the ordinary for the holiday. This time I'm celebrating St. Patrick's day with the Reuben sandwich, which isn't Irish at all, but the ingredients seem so Irish. I love the Reuben and all sandwiches that include sauerkraut for that matter. The corned beef, sauerkraut, and rye bread combination all make it feel like it was meant to be Irish.

The Reuben was invented by German immigrant Arnold Reuben, who sold the sandwiches at his deli in New York City. The hot sandwiches soon became famous and the classic was born. To this day, you can pretty much find a Reuben anywhere. The secret to a great Reuben is the Russian dressing, which is the traditional sauce—not mustard, ketchup, or mayonnaise. But Russian dressing is in fact made by combining mayonnaise and ketchup. Sometimes horseradish is added for piquancy. It ties together all the components of the sandwich so well.