Celebrating St. Patrick's Day

As St. Patrick’s Day approaches, I’m reminiscing about the trip Larry and I made to Ireland last June. We visited a stone-age dolman in The Burren and an ancient stone circle in a farmer’s field near Killarney. We picnicked with puffins on Skellig Michael off the Ring of Kerry, and adopted a sheep in Moll’s Gap (he’s a feisty black lamb named Stephen Colbert). We listened to traditional music in pubs from Galway to Dublin, where we arrived for Bloomsday, the day on which James Joyce’s Ulysses took place.

It was a magical ten days, not least because of the fresh, local food: apples in Galway, strawberries in County Kerry, homemade bread at Iskeroon near Caherdaniel, and cheese from the cows and sheep we saw grazing in the meadows. We topped it off with a fancy meal at Fallon & Byrne in Dublin.

(To get a sense of the new Irish cuisine, visit Cafe Paradiso, the restaurant run by Denis Cotter, whose cookbook is one of my favorites.)

The potato is no longer the staple of Irish cooking. I only ate them twice, and that was as potato soup in pubs.

So I thought of celebrating St. Patrick’s Day with homemade bread and Dubliner cheese from Trader Joe’s.

But the pull of potatoes is too strong for this lass six generations out of Ireland -- I’ll be making potato soup with greens instead.

This recipe is adapted from one in The New Laurel’s Kitchen cookbook. When I first made it years ago, I scrawled in the margin “best use of kale ever.” I’ll use kohlrabi greens; any green will do.

I have two cherimoyas ripening on the kitchen counter. If they’re ready in time, I will make them into creme brulée for dessert. The eggs will up the protein content of the meal, and the locally-grown organic cherimoyas will be a nod to the locally-based and innovative Irish cuisine.

Kale-Potato Soup
2 leeks, white part and a little green, slice lengthwise and clean thoroughly before chopping
1 tbsp butter
1 clove garlic, peeled
4 potatoes (about 3/4 lb), peeled and diced
1 bunch kale, stemmed and chopped
5 cups hot water or stock
salt and pepper to taste

Sauté leeks gently in butter until soft. Add garlic about halfway through, and mash with a fork when soft. Add the potatoes and 2 cups water or stock. Simmer, covered, until very soft. Meanwhile, steam the greens. Purée half the potatoes with the remaining 3 cups water or stock. Return to pan along with the greens. Season to taste. If the soup is too thick, add extra water. Makes about 6 cups.