I had a wonderful meeting with Jill from Events by iCandy this evening. Their showroom is such a wonderland! Not to mention that Jill did an awesome job of helping me choose the pieces I wanted to rent for the wedding. I can’t show you everything I picked but here’s a peek at one of the showrooms:
Of course it’s St. Patrick’s Day today and while I’m not a big green beer drinker, when the man who delivers mail to our office called me out for not wearing green I knew I had to do something to celebrate. Naturally, my mind when right to food. For dinner, Todd and I made a shepherd’s pie, one of my favorite dinners.
These beauties were prepared using an adapted version of a Food Network recipe. Here’s how we did it:
1 box instant mashed potatoes (prepare one envelope)
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, 1 turn of the pan
1 pound lean ground beef
1/2 carrot, peeled and chopped
1/2 onion, chopped
1 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 cup beef stock or broth
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 cup frozen peas, a couple of handfuls
1 teaspoon sweet paprika
1 tablespoon parsley (fresh or dried)
Prepare mashed potatoes according to package directions.
While potatoes cook, preheat a large skillet over medium high heat. Add oil to hot pan with beef or lamb. Season meat with salt and pepper. Brown and crumble meat for 3 or 4 minutes. Add chopped carrot and onion to the meat. Cook veggies with meat 5 minutes, stirring frequently. In a second small skillet over medium heat cook butter and flour together 2 minutes. Whisk in broth and Worcestershire sauce. Thicken gravy 1 minute. Add gravy to meat and vegetables. Stir in peas.
Preheat broiler to high. Fill baking ramekins with meat and vegetable mixture. Spoon potatoes over meat evenly. Top potatoes with paprika and broil 6 to 8 inches from the heat until potatoes are evenly browned. Top ramekins with parsley and serve.
I love the texture of the mashed potatoes on top of that meaty goodness, so delish!
For dessert we munched on Irish-inspired cupcakes (vanilla w. Irish buttercream frosting and dark chocolate with mint frosting) from Nantucket Bakery and one of their special Guinness Wafers. I don’t really know what the Guinness Wafers were but they were good kind of like really dark molasses cookies. I love visiting Nantucket, everyone there is so helpful and their bread (and treats!) is always the perfect complement to whatever is cooking.
Now we’re just unwinding with our favorite Thursday night shows, Parks and Recreation and 30 Rock.
Happy St.Patrick’s Day, I hope it was lucky!
P.S. Can anyone explain to me exactly what corned beef is?
How did you celebrate St. Patrick’s Day?
pomelo sunshine 