Sunday Family Dinner Celebrates the Emerald Isle!

We found ourselves transported to the rolling, lush green hills of Ireland for this month’s Sunday Family Dinner– it was the only right thing to do since St. Patty’s was the next day. But let me tell ya, we were stumped when coming up with the menu.

Off the cuff we had thought of Guinness braised short ribs but it seemed a bit too heavy to stew something on such a warm day. Plus, we often making variations of short ribs so it wasn’t something too new for us to try out. Then there was lamb stew, corn beef and cabbage, and other dishes of the sort. Still…nothing seemed to jump out at us.

 

 

So we made a concession….if the dishes we prepared weren’t traditionally Irish then they’d be a remake on an Irish dish—or at the very least, they’d be the color GREEN.

As always, there were lots of {adult} beverages to choose from … Guinness, Jameson, Green colored Chardonnay. And the kiddos had Mint Chocolate Shakes with shamrock sprinkles and Green colored Sprite.

 

The signature cocktail of the night was made by the seester— Irish Espresso-tinis.It had a ga-jillion different things in it like vodka, Kahlúa, espresso, Irish cream….and was served in a salted rimmed glass. Sláinte!

We munched on super green Baked Spicy Kale Chips……….

 

And these delectable skewers of Beef with Port Sauce and Cashel Blue Cheese

Now I agree, it didn’t sound too Irish to me at first but the seester sold us on it. She opted to skewer the tender beef cubes and the bro-in-law grilled it to perfection. The skewers were then drizzled with the rich port/raisin sauce before receiving a generous shower of blue cheese crumbles. SO GOOD!

 

There may have been a bit of shenanigans throughout the dinner, too.

 

As the main course, we fried up a TON of crispy Guinness Beer Battered Cod and Chips and doused them with malt vinegar. The batter was so crunchy even after it had been out of the fryer for awhile and the fish was tender and flaky. And you know, you just can’t go wrong with double-fried “chips”.

To help cut all that deep fried goodness, I made a super green Cabbage & Green Apple Slaw. I made a quick vinaigrette from malt vinegar, dijon mustard, agave, garlic, scallions, fresh dill, chili flakes and EVOO.

For something that was thrown together in the 11th hour, it was a nice addition to the meal. Although next time, I’d like to make the vinaigrette a tad more acidic.

Considering we were struggling a bit at first, it turned out to be a delicious meal! And I was kind of bummed that we didn’t make extra fish because leftovers would be great as fish tacos!

And to finish things off—dessert which was my Thin Mints Chocolate Cheesecake

I mean c’mon….there’s absolutely nothing wrong with all that goodness.

I’d like to think we did the Emerald Isle proud– being Vietnamese & Filipinos that have never been to Ireland 🙂 Another DEE-LISH Fam-Din down in the books.

 

This Month’s Family Dinner Menu

Cocktails: Irish Espresso-tinis, Green Chardonnay
Appetizers: Beef with Port Sauce and Cashel Blue Cheese, Baked Spicy Kale
Entrees: Guinness Beer Battered Cod and Chips, Cabbage & Green Apple Slaw
Dessert: Thin Mints Chocolate Cheesecake