WASHINGTON 鈥� A plate of green eggs and ham may have sufficed for a St. Patrick鈥檚 Day feast when you were a child, but as you鈥檝e grown, so has your palate.
If you鈥檙e looking to celebrate March 17 with a more refined menu, Patrick O鈥機onnell, chef and proprietor of , has some ideas 鈥� and none of them involve green food coloring.
His first tip: Take advantage of Mother Nature鈥檚 color palette. This time of year, early spring vegetables are more readily available, and they can add a pop of green to any ordinary dish.
At his two-Michelin star restaurant, O鈥機onnell likes to make a puree of Italian flat-leaf parsley. He quickly blanches a big bunch in boiling water, then drops the leaves into ice water. After removing the stems, he puts the herbs into a blender, along with some stock. The end product is a bright green liquid puree.
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O鈥機onnell incorporates the parsley puree into buttery whipped potatoes, which he serves alongside lamb.
鈥淎nd it becomes this brilliant bright blob of green on the plate that really sets the dish off perfectly,鈥� he said.
He also recommends using the puree in a risotto with morel mushrooms, or even over gnocchi.
Another favorite of O鈥機onnell鈥檚, which is easy for the home chef to master, is what he calls 鈥渁 tangle tart of greens.鈥� The recipe (see below) pairs perfectly with almost any meat, or can stand by itself as a winter salad.
O鈥機onnell describes the dish as a mixture of sliced cabbage, cooked with a little onion and bacon, and then dressed with vinegar, a pinch of sugar and 鈥渓ots and lots of mustard seed.鈥�
鈥淚t鈥檚 wilted down lightly and then you can use that with roast pork, you can use that with fish, we even serve it with a soft shell crab,鈥� O鈥機onnell said.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a wonderfully versatile accompaniment 鈥� a pre-spring vegetable that鈥檚 wonderfully crunchy and beautifully green. And at the last minute, you whip into it some leaves of watercress.鈥�
Cabbage is a staple at most St. Patrick鈥檚 Day celebrations, especially when served with corned beef. Unsurprisingly, O鈥機onnell has a way to dress up the leafy green.
He cooks a little onion and bacon in a pan, and then adds thin slices of savoy cabbage, which the chef said is tender and cooks better than standard cabbage. He pours Champagne into the mixture and lets it cook down. Then, he adds cream.
鈥淎nd it is a very luxurious, gorgeous accompaniment,鈥� O鈥機onnell said.
Of course, Irish cooking isn鈥檛 limited to corned beef and greens. O鈥機onnell said another way to incorporate traditional Irish cuisine is with an afternoon tea, or even at the breakfast table with a bowl of oatmeal.
鈥淎nd of course, the Irish love their oatmeal,鈥� he said.
At The Inn at Little Washington, O鈥機onnell serves a unique type of oatmeal 鈥� one 鈥渢hat people can鈥檛 live without.鈥� He flavors Irish oats with a little vanilla and maple syrup, and creates a聽souffl茅.
His advice? Place a dollop of the cooked oatmeal in the bottom of a buttered souffl茅 dish, and then whip egg whites and fold that into another spoonful of the oatmeal.
鈥淵ou place that on top and you bake it for about 7 or 8 minutes until it鈥檚 puffed, and it鈥檚 a whole different world,鈥� O鈥機onnell said.
鈥淥atmeal has never tasted so elegant.鈥�
O鈥機onnell鈥檚 been thinking a lot about Irish cuisine lately 鈥� and not just because of St. Patrick鈥檚 Day. This April, the Virginia-based chef is traveling to Ireland to cook at the award-winning country house hotel, .
O鈥機onnell鈥檚 six-course tasting menu will include dishes such as crispy napoleon of chilled Maine lobster with Royal Oscietra caviar, and truffle-stuffed breast of Kilkenny Farm Chicken on savoy cabbage, braised in Champagne. This event is just one of many planned for 40 years of celebrating the Inn at Little Washington, and .
鈥淭here are many ways to update and refine the classic flavors of Irish cuisine 鈥� and anyone who鈥檚 spent time in Ireland realizes what great products they鈥檝e always had to work with,鈥� O鈥機onnell said.
鈥淚 think if people just think differently about the flavors of Ireland, as we鈥檝e always had to do with the flavors of American cuisine, you just become a little creative in how you present them.鈥�
This St. Patrick鈥檚 Day, test out O鈥機onnell鈥檚 parsley puree in your 鈥済reen eggs.鈥� You may just stumble on a more authentic and delicious way to celebrate the holiday.
Recipe: A Tangle Tart of Greens聽
Courtesy Patrick O’Connell, The Inn at Little Washington聽
- 陆 head savoy cabbage
- 1 strip thick bacon or 2 strips thin, diced
- 陆 large red onion, thinly sliced
- 1 tablespoon mustard seeds
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 录 cup white wine vinegar
- 陆 bunch watercress, coarse stems removed
- Freshly ground pepper to taste
- Core and coarsely shred the cabbage with a sharp knife or mandoline.
- In a 10-inch skillet, saut茅 the bacon over medium heat until lightly browned. Add the onion and cabbage and saut茅 until the cabbage begins to wilt. Add the mustard seeds, sugar, and vinegar and cook until the cabbage is tender but still crisp.
- Remove the skillet from the heat. Toss in the watercress and season with pepper. Serve warm.
Additional recipes mentioned above can be found in O’Connell’s cookbooks, “Patrick O’Connell’s Refined American Cuisine” and “The Inn at Little Washington Cookbook.”
