St. Patrick’s Day – Boiled Cabbage, Neeps & Tatties

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boiled cabbage, carrots, dinner, ethnic cuisine, Ethnic Food, neeps and tatties, potatoes, recipe, Scottish recipe, stemmed vegetables, supper, tradition, turnips

St. Patrick’s day is the one day when I’m continually asked if I’m Irish; acquaintances, co-workers, even strangers. This must be the one day a year everyone notices my fair skin, freckles, green eyes and the reddish tint in my hair. I smile and inform them my family is Scottish… The most common responses I get? “Same thing,” “Close enough,” or “Oh…” followed by a blank stare. So even though it’s an Irish holiday, I’m making a Scottish dinner. Afterall, same thing? Close enough? Who can tell the difference?

St. Patrick's Day

Tonight’s Dinner:
Boiled cabbage
Stemmed neeps, tatties and carrots
Baked ham (I couldn’t find a turkey ham, so I baked a regular ham for Hubster)

Ingredients:
1 head of cabbage, 6 red potatoes, 3 turnips, 4 carrots, 1 small onion, 2 Tbs. mustard seeds, butter, fresh chopped parsley, water, salt, ham

Directions:
Cut cabbage into 6 wedges, cube potatoes and turnips, slice carrots and mince onion. Bring 1 qt. of water, mustard seeds and onion to a boil. Add cabbage. Place steamer right above cabbage parsnips, potatoes and carrots. Boil and stem veggies until tender. Drain cabbage from the water. Toss neeps, tatties and carrots with a dab of butter and fresh parsley. Serve veggies with a hot baked ham (just kept it simple, rubbed it with salt and baked it).

*Try adding two slices of bacon or a small chuck of the ham to the water while boiling the cabbage. I sometimes will add a strip of turkey bacon, if there are no vegetarians partaking in the feast.

*Vegetarians should add a tsp. smoke flavoring to the water.

What’s your favorite St. Patrick’s Day tradition?

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