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.