St. Pattys meal.

We had planned a St. Patricks Day Party on Friday night, since Justin was headed east with some other guys from church to help clean up from the tornado's that went through here a few weeks ago.
However, since our house is currently undergoing some repairs, our handyman was not done painting by Friday afternoon, so we postponed the party to Sunday.
And it was great. Below is the party aftermath.


the menu:
soft pretzels with beer cheese dip { made by my friend Lindsey}
baked kielbasa and kraut {made by me, recipe below}
colcannon {made by my friend Allison. Recipe HERE}
Irish soda bread { also made by Allison. Recipe HERE }
Guinness cake {made by me, recipe below}

It was a great meal, all of the food was YUM...and all thoroughly enjoyed.

the baked kielbasa was SO easy, here is the recipe.

Baked Kielbasa and Kraut

2 lbs. kielbasa
2 lbs. sour kraut
one large onion finely sliced
1/8 c. dijon
1/4 teas. allspice.
3/4 cup chicken broth

preheat oven 350.

cut kielbasa into 1/2 inch rounds. Rinse sauerkraut and drain. Cook kielbasa in large heavy skillet over medium heat. mix and cook until sausage is lightly browned. {I did mine in two batches to cook more thoroughly. transfer to plate covered with paper towels.
In same skillet, sauté onion and then stir in sauerkraut , broth, mustard, and allspice. Then add your kielbasa.
Transfer it all to a backing dish and lightly cover with foil.
Cook at 350 for about 20-25 minutes.
Let sit 5 mins. before serving.




Guiness Cake
recipe: {via smitten kitchen}

This recipe was originally intended to make a layer cake of 3 8-inch rounds. Upon many reviewers’ suggestions, I halved it and it fit perfectly in a bundt pan. The halved amount is below, and the icing replaced with a simple ganache.

1 cup stout (such as Guinness)
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (preferably Dutch-process)
2 cups all purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
2/3 cup sour cream
6 ounces good semisweet chocolate chips
6 tablespoons heavy cream
3/4 teaspoon instant coffee granules

Cake prep:
Preheat oven to 350�F. Butter or spray a bundt pan well; make sure you get in all of the nooks and crannies. (Some people even go so far as to brush the inside of their bundt pans with melted butter–you cannot be too careful!). Bring 1 cup stout and 1 cup butter to simmer in heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Add cocoa powder and whisk until mixture is smooth. Cool slightly.

Whisk flour, sugar, baking soda, and 3/4 teaspoon salt in large bowl to blend. Using electric mixer, beat eggs and sour cream in another large bowl to blend. Add stout-chocolate mixture to egg mixture and beat just to combine. Add flour mixture and beat briefly on slow speed. Using rubber spatula, fold batter until completely combined. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake cake until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 35 minutes. Transfer cake to rack; cool completely in the pan, then turn cake out onto rack for drizzling ganache.*

Ganache:
For the ganache, melt the chocolate, heavy cream, and coffee in the top of a double boiler over simmering water until smooth and warm, stirring occasionally. Drizzle over the top of cooled cake.

Definitely doing a St. Patty's feast again next year. Justin has requested Shepard's pie already!