While researching and writing this series on food to serve for a typical Irish-American St. Patrick’s Day dinner, I found it almost impossible to locate recipes for salads and veggie side dishes. Don’t get me wrong, there were plenty of recipes for side dishes that included cabbage, carrots, potatoes, onions, and garlic. I even found an occasional nod to tomatoes, but nary a mention of vegetables such as broccoli, zucchini, or eggplant. And even the number of different ways to prepare meat dishes was pretty limited. (Corned Beef and Cabbage, Bangers and Mash, Irish Stew, and Shepherd’s Pie being the prime examples.) So, I readily came to the only conclusion a reasonably intelligent person could come to, and sorry all you Irish food lovin’ folk reading this blog, but in my humble opinion, Irish food is never going to be considered a top world cuisine. Way too limited in its scope. (An amazing realization, right?) However, in defense of Irish food, the dishes that I did try, all modified to reflect my personal taste of course, are really over the top delicious. This perfectly lovely way to serve a simple sausage, aka banger is a great example of Irish food at its finest. And again, I have to ask forgiveness from those of you who are Irish food connoisseurs and possibly Guinness lovers. Most of the recipes I found that called for beer as an ingredient, including this one that I modified from a recipe I found on the Closet Cooking blog, listed Guinness instead of amber or black ale. So call me a wuss (I’ve been called worse, by the way), but I think Guinness has way too strong a flavor and is too overwhelmingly bitter to blend well with the other ingredients in most of the dishes I tried. I know I’m probably in the minority on not preferring Guinness, so if you simply must be as traditionally Irish as possible, go ahead and substitute Guinness any time you read beer in my St. Patti’s day meat dish recipes. Just don’t blame me if the bitterness from the Guinness overpowers the rest of the subtle flavors in the dish!  Tomorrow’s recipe – Irish Lamb Stew with Roasted Root Vegetables. Yet another recipe I butchered modified that originally called for Guinness. At least I’m consistent. Ya gotta give me that!

• 1 t. oil
• 1 lb. sausages (I use bratwurst because actual Irish “bangers” are too hard to find)
• 1 lg. onion, sliced
• 1 clove garlic, chopped
• 1 tsp. fresh thyme, chopped
• 2 T. flour
• 1 bottle beer (recommend amber or black ale)
• 2 T. Dijon mustard
• 1 T. Worcestershire sauce
• 1 T. brown sugar (light or dark)
• ¼ tsp. kosher salt

Pour oil into a medium sized covered fry pan. Add sausages when oil is hot. Cook sausages until they are browned on all sides. Remove sausages from pan and set aside. (They won’t be cooked all the way through at this point.) Reduce the heat and add the sliced onion; sauté until tender and just starting to brown. Add the garlic and fresh thyme and sauté until garlic releases its aroma, about 1 minute. Whisk in the flour and cook for about a minute. Add the beer, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, brown sugar, and salt, along with the browned sausages. Simmer covered over low heat for about 20 minutes or until the sausages are cooked through and the gravy is thick. Stir a couple of times during this cooking time to prevent the gravy from burning. Serve sausages nestled on top of Champ or simple mashed potatoes.

Side Dish Suggestions: Champ (or simple mashed potatoes), Braised Green Cabbage or Coleslaw and Soda Bread

Beer Pairing: Amber or Pale Ale (Guinness if you must!)