St Patrick’s Day Food with JP Passion: Maple roasted bacon, buttered cabbage & champ

John Paul Kennedy is a self-taught cook from Tallaght whose passion for family cooking came from his two grandmothers. 

Every year for St Patrick’s Day I always like to cook and bake good old fashioned Irish fare and invite my family for dinner.

I like to make traditional dishes such as Irish beef and barley stew and my chocolate Guinness cake (the first recipe I wrote for my weekly food column). However, this year I have decided to cook my maple roasted bacon with buttered cabbage and champ mash. 

While most people are out wetting the shamrock on St Patrick's Day, I’ll be found in my kitchen preparing a traditional Irish meal for all of my family to enjoy!

Ingredients – (Serves 4)

Large collar of Bacon

2 carrots

1 large onion

2 bay leaves

Stick of celery

Pint of water

Ground black pepper for seasoning

200g light brown sugar

Good drizzle of maple syrup (or honey if your prefer)

Method:

1. Place the collar of bacon on a large pot with the carrot, onion, celery and bay leaves and pour over a pint of water
2. Simmer on a low to medium heat for 2.5 hours until the meat is nice and tender
3. Remover from the water and allow to cool
4. Trim off the excess fat and pack on the brown sugar nice and tight
5. Drizzle with maple syrup or honey if you prefer and place in a roasting dish / tray Tip: Cover the base of the tray with kitchen foil to save on the washing up!
6. Pop into a preheated oven 200 degrees for 20 minutes to roast until burnished and golden
7. Serve with buttered cabbage and champ mash potato and you have a quintessential traditional Irish meal that is absolutely delicious in flavour 
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