plate 25: ireland

This week I headed west from England, across the Irish Sea and over to the island of Ireland for potatoes, Guinness and whiskey. Given the Irish partiality to potatoes, I was thinking about doing a three-course potato meal, or an Irish smorgasbord as my dad called it: boiled potato, mashed potato, roasted potato and chips.

But I thought it best to serve some kind of meat with the meal, so rather than a potato degustation, I opted to serve beef & Guinness stew with champ, which sure is the champion of mashed potato. Now that I've sampled this smooth, incredibly creamy, unbelievably naughty mash (thanks to loads of butter and milk), I don't know how I'll go back to the regular version again. Speckled with Ireland's national colour - green - with shallot and chive - it tasted spectacular. I figured it was pretty good since D Rose (my mum) polished off two helpings and she doesn't even eat potatoes. To make it, just boil spuds in their skin, then peel when they're cool and mash. Boil some milk, add some shallots and add it to the mash with chopped chives and butter. Stir it all up until it melts. Mmmmmmm.

Sharing the plate with this potato masterpiece was a delicious heart-warming beef stew made with almost two big cans of Guinness, lots of onion, garlic, carrot and herbs. The Guinness gave an awesome bittersweet flavour to the meat, which was fantastically tender and juicy (I used blade steak) and the vegetables were cooked beautifully. Not only did the stew taste great, it was quick to cook: about 45 mins to an hour (including prep time), so you can make it midweek without having to wait until 10pm to eat.

Once everyone gobbled up their food, a little bit of sauce swam on our plates, and while I did contemplate picking up my plate and licking it all up, I thought it not so ladylike. So I gave everyone a spoon and we happily slurped up every last skerrick.

Dessert came in the form of Irish coffee, which I'd never had before. And I was pleasantly surprised. It was delicious, but strong: designated drivers beware. The addition of a jigger (60ml) of Irish whiskey to hot, freshly brewed coffee may tip you over the limit. I was a tad worried about D Rose who was driving home - she seemed a little tipsy after sipping her after-dinner drink. If you're wondering what the white stuff is at the top - it's whipped cream. Trust the Irish to put alcohol and cream in their dinner and their coffee! I'm certainly not complaining.