There are lots of ways to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day that doesn’t involve artificially-dyed green beer, pasta, pancakes, jello, truffles… the list goes on and on. A plethora of traditional Irish recipes await you like Irish Soda Bread (available at Yum Bakery this year!), Beer Battered Cod, Champ, Dublin Coddle, Irish Beef Stew with Guinness…. delicious, traditional, and easy to whip up to share with your family. We are very lucky here at the market to have Brian Plunkett, owner of Blu Seafood; a born-and-bread Irishman and a chef to boot. He jumped at the chance to share an Irish recipe with us in preparation for St. Patrick’s Day; a little traditional with a bit of a modern twist.
Colcannon is a traditional Irish dish mainly consisting of mashed potatoes with kale or cabbage. Brian decided, rather than stir up a typical chowder with clams (boring!), he would take some inspiration from the traditional Colcannon dish and adapt it into a soup. Perfect for this darn cold weather we’ve been tolerating! And he took it one step further by frying the freshly-shucked oysters and crisping up some double-smoked bacon as a garnish… why? Well, it adds a texture element that is lost in the mish-mash soup so often becomes, and highlights the seafood ingredient too by making it the star, rather than letting it slip away into the soupy abyss.
Market-Sourced Ingredients
Serves 6
Colcannon Soup
4 oz. Double Smoked Bacon from Spragg’s Meat Shop
4 cups baby kale (chopped) from Blush Lane Organics
2 cups leeks (chopped) from Blush Lane Organics
½ cup onion (diced) from Blush Lane Organics
4 cups potato (diced) from Lund’s Organic Farm
8 cups chicken stock from The Stock & Sauce Co.
1 cup heavy cream from Blush Lane Organics
1 tbsp olive oil
Salt, Pepper, and Thyme to taste
Start by heating up the olive in a large pot over medium heat. Add the double smoked bacon and cook until almost crisp. In the same pan (with all of that excellent bacon fat), add all of the chopped vegetables and season with salt pepper, thyme. Sauté for 2 minutes. Add the chicken stock and bring to a boil. Drop in the cut potatoes and return to a boil; simmer for 45 minutes. Once all elements are soft, remove from the stove and puree with a hand blender. When velvety in texture, return to a boil on the stove and slowly whisk in the cream. Taste, correct the seasoning, and simmer 15 minutes more.
Pan Fried Oysters
24 shucked oysters from Blu Seafood
8 drops Worcestershire Sauce
6 drops Tabasco
Drain excess juice from the oysters Marinate the oysters in Worcestershire and Tabasco and leave to 2 minutes. Dip the oysters in flour and pan fry in olive oil until golden brown. Remove from the pan to a paper towel to sop up any excess oil and season with salt and pepper. Serve 4 oysters on top off each bowl of soup with a couple of strips of crispy bacon.
Of course, we recommend you surround yourself with friends and family, fill up ‘yer bowls and enjoy your feast with the ones you love. And from everyone here at the Market, we wish you a very Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
May your pockets be heavy and your heart be light, may good luck pursue you each morning and night.
Looking for something to do with the little ones on St. Patrick’s Day? Bring them to the market to hunt for leprechauns, snag a pot of gold treat, and watch some traditional Irish dancing. Check out our Events Page.
