What do you do when you want to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day because it is part of your kids’ heritage, but you can’t bare to color a leprechaun at the end of a rainbow and everyone hates parades? You dial up Ireland and your Irish bestie for some traditional Irish food to cook with the fam.
Irish Soda Farls
First up are these Irish soda farls, which I am told were a quick way to whip up soda bread for unexpected guests (GASP!). This is the recipe she sent me, I’ll link here.
How to eat Irish soda farls
This looks delicious with jam as they have in this post, and my friend also suggested something called a “filled soda.” To make a filled soda you butter two pieces of this bread and fill it with sausage, bacon, and egg. I am told these are “fu*ki#ng delicious!” and she doesn’t lie.
And now a break from traditional Irish food for a little craic…
In the first recipe for the soda farls, they mention unexpected guests stopping by for some craic. I can’t go on here without a funny story of when my friend and I met and I first learned that word. We were working in an Irish pub together and she asked me if I would like to go out for a “bit of craic” after our shift. We were in the middle of Philadelphia, so it could have very well meant what I thought it did.
We went out that night for some great craic (AKA, fun) and many years of such followed. There were also many other Irish to American English translation issues over the years: sweater vs jumper, cupboard vs cabinet… but now, back to St Patrick’s Day.
Next up on the St. Patrick’s Day menu is Guinness beef stew.
Spring is officially here in 5 days here in the Northern hemisphere and this is a good chance to cook up a big hearty comfort food stew before it warms up. This Guinness stew is just the ticket.
Guinness Beef Stew Recipe Tin Eats
Traditional Irish Beef Stew Daring Gourmet
Wheaten bread for St. Patrick’s Day
This Irish brown soda bread is made with whole wheat flour and would pair really well with the Guinness stew.
Irish Wheaten Soda Bread by The Spruce Eats
All of traditional Irish recipes sound so good. I think we are going to make the furls and probably a Guinness stew. Oh, and don’t forget o finish up a traditional St. Patrick’s day celebration by playing a few Irish diddlies while your kids dance around like nuts and you enjoy a cocktail.
If you would like to read more about the roots of St. Patrick’s Day, this article has some pretty good info on the feast of Saint Patrick.
