Irish Invasion

I know this is supposed to be a food blog, but I must say that the last Office episode ("St. Patrick's Day") makes me happy. Two of my favorite sound bites from last week's episode are:

1. "Green M&Ms. Nature's viagra." -Michael (Isn't that supposed to be the voluptuous M&M's color? :P It's like Joan in M&M form.)

2. "Erin and I have our first date tonight. And it has to be perfect. Why? Because according to How I Met Your Mother, that's the date that your kids are going to wait patiently to hear about and you'd better have a good story to tell them." -Andy (awwww, love Andy! How can you not? He wore a faux-kilt AND he watches How I Met Your Mother.)

Well, in anticipation of St. Patty's Day, I made Irish boxty pancakes. I chose a recipe that doesn't require buttermilk because I never know what to do with excess buttermilk after using it for a new recipe and it feels like such a waste to get an ingredient you know you won't use too much of. I really wish I did prep work beforehand, but I didn't and it took forever to make the pancakes mainly due to how the grater was nowhere to be found and so I had to improvise with a potato peeler instead.


I was so afraid that this new food experiment would turn into a Bridget Jones's moment (remember her blue soup?), but fortunately it didn't and my parents both really liked the boxty pancakes. It's not too flavorful, but it is very fragrant and it does have that fresh potato taste to it (I think Spaniards would appreciate this dish since it's simple in flavor and not heavy with rich sauces like lots of French dishes are). I liked eating the boxty pancakes I made (*in the most non-matrimonial tone* I do!) but I guess since I'm tired and I've been working with potatoes a lot today, I'm a pretty sick of potatoes (haha).

These pancakes are supposed to be thinner, but it's my first time making them... so please be kind :P. I would have made a fancy sauce or stew to go along with the boxty pancakes but I didn't have the time to do that. Instead, I added apple sauce to go along with the pancakes. I read somewhere that either apple sauce or honey would go well with boxty pancakes, and I chose apple sauce over honey because it's not overwhelmingly sweet.

I think generally boxty pancakes goes well with lots of things; it's just like how crêpes could be eaten with practically any other food you can think of. If you're craving an amazing boxty dish and you're in the OC area, I would recommend going to The Auld Dubliner, although I'll have to warn you that the restaurant's service may be on the slow side, and it can get pretty loud inside that place. It's a treat to try one of their crème brûlée desserts though.

It's interesting how I kept on seeing this one poem when I was looking for Irish boxty recipes:

"Boxty on the griddle,
boxty in the pan,
If you can't make boxty,
you'll never get a man."

I'm pretty sure I can get a man regardless of whether or not I can make boxty, but this little poem about boxty is kind of cute :P. Golly, I'm a tired lassie right now. Expect lots of green and a post on corned beef brisket on Wednesday! (because I'll be slow cooking that for about 8-12 hours on St. Patty's Day)

P.S. I'm tempted to make corned beef and cabbage rolls instead of just cooking corned beef brisket with some other stuff. Hmm... do I want to precook corned beef a day beforehand?