Monday, March 16, 2009

Happy St. Paddy's Day


You know on St. Patty's Day, everyone is Irish. No matter where your ancestors or you came from, you can don some green and drink some green and eat some green! I love corned beef and cabbage. I have it once a year, St. Patty's Day. But if the truth be told, its not really an Irish dish per se. How it got to be that status I do not know. I think a more traditional meal in Ireland would be salmon or some other fish. Here is a quote from About.

"... this celebration was not the only interruption of the lent fast. Since the late 11th century meat was eaten in honor of Patrick - a tradition that emerged from a wrong interpretation of a legend.

Apparently Saint Patrick had tucked away some roast pork for "emergencies" during lent. When he finally took the pork from hiding it was out of remorse. He had just decided to become a vegetarian and asked God for a sign. Promptly an angel appeared and relayed the message to throw the roast pork into the nearest stream. Patrick did so, the pork was transformed into fishes, swimming off lively.

Thus it came to pass that roast pork was called "Saint Patrick's Fish" in Ireland. And as fish is allowed during lent, "Saint Patrick's Fish" was certainly allowed on March 17th!..." Click here to find out more.

And of course macarons are SO NOT Irish, they are French. But hey if were all pretending to be Irish when St. Patty's Day comes then why not these minty macarons!

Mint Macarons with Bittersweet Ganache

125 grams almond flour
225 grams powdered sugar
100 grams egg whites(that have been at room temp for 24 hours)
25 grams sugar

Preheat oven to 300 °F . Combine almond flour and confectioners together in a bowl and stir to combine. In a mixing bowl whip egg whites at medium speed. When they begin to get foamy add the granulated sugar slowly. Beat until the whites form medium-peaks and are still glossy.


Fold in your dry ingredients slowly to the meringue. I our it all in, kind of on the side of the bowl and begin to incorporate it from there.

Pipe the batter to a diameter of about an inch. And let rest for 20 to 30 minutes before baking. Bake for about 11 minutes or until done, turning the sheets halfway through.

BITTERSWEET GANACHE

2 cups bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1/2 cup light cream

Heat milk and add the warm milk to the chocolate. Stir until all chocolate is melted. Spread on to the macarons.

10 comments:

Bunny said...

You are so much braver than I am, I've never attempted macaroons, they look great Lori!

Temperance said...

Wow, color me impressed, I have not got up the nerve to try macaroons yet, but those look nummy. I like the bunny too, how cute

grace said...

i'm a huge fan of the green-ness and mint-ness (both new words) of these. bravo, and happy st patty's day to you!

Joie de vivre said...

I find the story of "St. Patrick's fish funny" That's cheating! But they used to not eat meat for the entire Lenten time right? Not just on Friday's like Catholics do now? I guess I would be looking for a little reprieve too.

The Blonde Duck said...

I love the green bunny!

vibi said...

I know they're hard to make... so I lift my hat to you, Lori! Bravo!

Sheila said...

What an adorable little bunny! He fits so nicely with the mint macaroons.

I had no idea about the corned beef. I actually don't like it, so I am glad to hear this. I will have to tell my family we should eat something different for this day!

hungryandfrozen said...

So pretty! I'm loving all the St Patrick's themed food that's popping up everywhere. I've never tried making proper macaroons yet but...one day!

Murasaki Shikibu said...

Love the photo of your porcelain rabbit with green patterns on it with the green macarons.

I've never made macarons (yet) either but would like to try making them some day. :)

Maggie said...

Beautiful macaroons! Was the mint in the ganache or cookie?