A Sumptuous St. Patrick’s Day Celebration for One

By Lori Powell

All this week, Special Fork bloggers will be sharing recipes for St. Patrick’s Day. And to celebrate, Special Fork is giving away a prize package of a year’s supply of delicious Kerrygold Butter and cheeses, imported from Ireland, courtesy of Kerrygold! It’s easy to enter the sweepstakes.

March 17, St Patrick’s Day, is in a couple of days and this year it falls on a Saturday. So the streets of New York City will look like a river of green with people off from work free to attend the parade and celebrate the day.

One of my favorite trips abroad was to County Cork, Ireland, where I took my mom for her first visit about 10 years ago. My mom is a Murphy and had never been so it was up to me to plan the trip.

We toured Ireland for two weeks along with my sister-in-law who decided to join us at the last minute. We had a tiny little car with a stick shift. I was deemed the designated driver since I had driven on the opposite side of the road two years before in Australia. So tag, I was it!

We drove through the most stunning countryside from Dublin all the way to Kerry while stopping everywhere in between. I found myself at every turn commenting that this was the most gorgeous spot on the road till we turned the next corner and the next corner and found myself repeating the same thing over and over.

The weeks before we arrived it had been raining for one whole month. When we landed the rain stopped (it had kissed everything emerald green) and we enjoyed the most amazing weather.

We attended classes with Darina Allen at the Ballymaloe Cookery School and ate our way through Ireland. The food was incredible, with every chef was using produce, meat and dairy from the local farmers. It is my dream to go back very soon!

For St. Patrick’s Day, instead of cooking the usual corned beef and cabbage – my mom makes it every year – I decided to celebrate my heritage by grilling baby lamb chops and serving them on top of champ.

Baby lamb chops are a bit expensive but we are celebrating, after all! Plus they are the perfect choice for cooking for one since you can buy as little or as many ribs as you want.

Champ is basically Irish-style mashed potatoes and traditionally is made with spring onions or scallions. I am changing it up a bit with leeks. I find them to be sweeter and the perfect compliment to the creamy spuds. Just make sure that you wash the leeks really well by swishing them in a bowl of cold water, then let them stand so the sand drifts to the bottom. Lift them out of the water with your fingers to a bowl and discard the dirty water.

So enjoy the day with this special dinner for one with some Irish bubbly whether it be a stout (Guinness/Murphy’s) or a Harp lager or a Heineken (brewed at the Murphy brewery in Cork).

To get the recipe and shopping list on your smartphone (iPhone, BlackBerry, Android device) or PC, click here.

Grilled Baby Lamb Chops with Baby Carrots on Champ
Serves 1

¾ lb (about 1 large) baking potato
1 leek, white and pale green parts sliced
2 tablespoons milk
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces, divided
3 baby carrots, peeled
3 baby rib lamb chops

Peel and cut potatoes into 1-inch pieces. Cover the potatoes with 2 inches of water in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Add 1 tablespoon salt and simmer potatoes, adding leeks during last 5 minutes of cooking, until potatoes are very tender, about 15 minutes. Drain potatoes and leeks in a colander. Mash with milk and 1 tablespoon of the butter. Season with salt and pepper.

While potatoes are cooking, steam carrots over a steamer set over water in a saucepan, until fork tender, about 5 minutes. Remove steamer and drain all but 1 tablespoon of water from saucepan. Remove carrots from steamer basket and add to saucepan with remaining 1 tablespoon butter and salt and pepper to taste. Keep warm, covered.

Heat a grill or lightly oiled grill pan over medium heat. Pat chops dry and season with salt and pepper. Grill chops, turning, until golden brown, 2 to 3 minutes per side for medium rare. Let chops stand 5 minutes, covered, before serving.

Spoon champ onto a serving plate and serve with chops and carrots.

Note: You can substitute the leeks with ½ cup chopped spring onions, scallions or green onions

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