Something typically Irish?

CantGetNoSleep

I have to make my foreign girlfriend something Irish for dinner tomorrow - any suggestions?

bluestrattos

Whatever you do, must have potatoes

If you've the time, why not Irish Stew?

Or something simple like lamb with roasted potatoes?

greenbicycle

Bacon and Cabbage! with spuds of course!

greenbicycle

Or you could make some colcannon....

Or what about an irish fry up? yes it is typically a breakfast but who doesnt love coming home to a fry for dinner? you could make boxty with it, one of my favourite memories of my grandmother was her making us boxty for our tea, yummy!

Jawgap

Irish smoked salmon and Dublin Bay prawns and soda bread to start......(or potato and leek soup)

Really nice corned beef and cabbage (don't boil the shi'ite out of it)........With champ and mixed turnip and parsnip. Or Colcannon

......serve with TK Red Lemonade

Dessert - HB raspberry ripple with wafers stuck in in!

Couple of Irish Coffees to finish with!

......or if you want to dump her - pale coddle and crubeens!!!

Carawaystick

Irish stew, like stew but with sheepmeet*, and not browned to start


*traditionally mutton would have been used, but it's hard to get so lamb will do.

Seamus1964

Depend what part of the world your girlfriend is from

East part I would suggest Irish colcannon
West part - go with Shepherd's Pie
Both are very easy to make and will taste delicious regardless your cooking skills - you can't mess it up.

Finish it with Baileys Irish Cream chocolate cheesecake and she's yours... (buy cake from the shop)

ElleEm

Beef and Guinness stew or pie. You could serve soda bread with the stew. Yum!

The Hill Billy

What sort of food does your girlfriend usually like? It would be a shame to turn her off Irish food by dishing up something that she would find terribly bland or downright disgusting.

CantGetNoSleep

Thanks for all ofthe suggestions. Typically she would eat Greek / Turkish / Middle Eastern type foods. I'm thinking of going for the roast lamb and potatoes option. I'll also make a brown bread and have that with smoked salmon for brunch the next day maybe (I can cook but I've lived away since I'm 18 so never made anything Irish). The irish breakfast is something i will keep for after a heavy night. Anyone have a simple roast lamb recipe?

Seamus1964

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/easy-roast-leg-of-lamb/

fermanagh_man

I'd recommend Boxty

Very easy to make and you can do so much with it

Jawgap

You could go with the shoulder of lamb -

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/slow_cooked_lamb_26033

.....or if you want something that looks visually impressive, a rack of lamb is difficult to beat - but it is expensive and more hassle to prepare.....

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/lamb_rack

I'd suggest the leg or the shoulder as you can prepare it, lob in the oven and not really have to worry.

If you're having the smoked salmon for brunch - how about scrambled eggs and smoked salmon. Soak the salmon for a few hours in cream in the fridge before making the scrambled eggs.

The Hill Billy

How about Connemara Crying Lamb?
Get the butcher to take the leg off the bone & butterfly it for you. When you lay it out flat rub it with oil & then sprinkle with chopped garlic & thyme. Season with salt & pepper.
Lay the meat on a rack near the top of the oven & below have a tray with the veggies that you are roasting (maybe spuds, carrots, parsnips?).
As the lamb roasts it 'crys' tears of lovely fat & juices down on to the veg below.

Mrs Fox

The Hill Billy wrote: »

How about Connemara Crying Lamb?

I had to Google and this came up

The Hill Billy

Well that's what my super-cool Auntie J from the Wild Wesht calls it. She showed me how to cook it. What a woman - knocking on 80, but still shooting rabbits, catching pollack & pulling in her own lobster pots.

An amazing cook & an amazing lady.

squonk

Definitely bacon and cabbage. If you really want to go uber traditional then track down some home cure bacon. It's not to everybody's taste though. I'm not the biggest fan but it's quintessentially Irish I think. It's lovely though with cabbage or turnip. If doing turnip, mash it up with some pepper. If you're going for proper daily traditional Irish then don't mash the spuds either. That's very fancy . Get a pound of real butter and leave it on the table. cut the spuds up and throw some of the butter on top of it. Let it melt in or mash it a bit yourself with some salt.