St. Paddy’s Day: Celebrating The Potato!

You don’t have to be Irish to love St. Patrick’s Day. As we and other Philadelphia catering services can tell you, there is a lot to appreciate about it, and far more than just a good excuse for bar crawling.

For instance, why not use St. Patrick’s Day as a reason to celebrate the potato? The potato has long associations with Ireland and Irish food. Not that you need a reason to celebrate the potato, but why not take advantage of St. Paddy’s Day to do it anyway?

Here are some tasty and easy vegetarian potato dishes that you might try—and which can nicely accommodate additional green vegetables to add flavor and color. There are lots of available recipes for these dishes, so the ideas are just intended as a starting point to inspire your creative juices.

• Colcannon is a traditional Irish dish made with creamy mashed potatoes and chopped kale or cabbage. It can also include other ingredients such as leeks, chives, onions, or other green vegetables.
• Boxty potato pancakes are the Irish version of potato pancakes. You can spice them up by adding grated zucchini, onions, carrots, and pretty much any other vegetable that grates. Cheese also makes a great addition.
• Potato soup is popular year round, no matter the season. There are so many different versions of potato soup, with different kinds of potatoes and other vegetables. If you think the weather is getting too warm for hot soup, try a Vichyssoise or another variety of chilled potato soup.
• Potato pies and casserole are another great way to celebrate the potato. Potato leek feta pie is a great way to create a delicious meal, not just a side.
• What would be a list of potato dishes for St. Patrick’s Day be without mashed potatoes? No need for ordinary mashed potatoes. Why not dress them up with some green to add taste and color? For your kids, you can thrill and entertain them with green mashed potatoes, using food coloring. For adults, you might add pesto or another kind of green sauce.
• A variation on mashed potatoes is a kind of bruschetta, made with potatoes rather than tomatoes. The idea is simple. Just bake the potatoes and, when the inside is soft, take that part out and mix them with pesto or cheese or something else that you think would make a good combination. You can use it as a spread or put the mixture back into the potato skins.

Any one or more of these dishes will get you into the Irish birthday party spirit of St. Patrick’s Day. If you are looking for an excuse to do any “green” Philadelphia birthday party catering, Jerry’s Kitchen would be happy to help.