JP Food: St. Patrick’s day loin of bacon with spring cabbage & Irish potato cakes

From Tallaght, John Paul Kennedy is a self-taught cook with a passion for good old-fashioned home cooking

This is a real traditional menu for St. Patrick’s Day. I always like to prepare something traditional and delicious for my family on St. Patrick’s Day.

This is the menu I am planning this year and I’m delighted that this year, it falls on a weekend; as it gives me plenty of time to prepare and get ahead!

These recipes are a real crowd pleaser that are not complicated to make but elevate standard bacon and cabbage to the next level.

Ingredients: (serves 4 -6)

1.7Kg piece of bacon skin on

100g light brown sugar

Good drizzle of Maple syrup

Spring Cabbage:

1 head of savoy cabbage finely chopped or buy pre-prepared

½ teaspoon of garlic powder

30g butter

3 sprigs of fresh thyme

175ml of double cream

Sea salt and generous amount of grounded black pepper

Method:

1. I used a piece of bacon that only requires roasting and no pre-boiling. Simply place on a roasting tray, pack on the brown sugar and drizzle all over with maple syrup and pop into a preheated oven 180 degrees / gas mark 8 for 2 hours 10 minutes. You should baste at least 3times throughout the course of the bacon joint roasting.
2. For the spring cabbage pop all of the ingredients into a large saucepan on medium heat, mix together, season with a little salt and plenty of freshly grounded black pepper and cover with a piece of baking parchment paper or butter wrapper and cover with a tight fitting lid and cooking for 8 -10 minutes stirring occasionally.
3. Serve with Creamy mash potatoes or my Irish potato cakes, parsley sauce or like in my house (nobody likes parsley sauce) with savoury gravy and enjoy. This is bacon and cabbage with the volume turned up!

Irish Potato Cakes:

1kg potatoes (Maris Piper are the best I find)

1 egg Yolk 100ml crème fraiche

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

2 spring onions finely chopped

100g smoked bacon lardons cooked (or leftover chunks of ham)

2 tablespoons plain flour

2 tablespoons of butter

Sea salt and ground black pepper

Method:

1. Cook the potatoes in a large pot of boiling salted water until nice and tender, drain and mash with a potato masher.
2. While the potatoes are still warm add in the crème fraiche, mustard, egg yolk and salt and pepper then add in the spring onions and mix well to combine.
3. Add the flour and bacon lardons / ham pieces and mix well again.
4. Using a tablespoon take a generous piece of the mixture and roll into a ball and pat down into a patty shape.
5. Melt the butter in a frying pan over a medium heat and fry the potato cakes on both sides until nice and golden brown. I recommend doing this in two batches to make it easier to turn them on the pan.

It’s so nice this year that St. Patrick’s Day falls on a Sunday.

It’s the perfect excuse to go the extra mile to prepare a delicious traditional feast for your family and friends, gather together and afterwards even wet the shamrock – most of us will have the Monday off!