Celebrate St Patrick's Day in style with this dish from Garth McColgan.

Ingredients

  • reduced salt back bacon joint
  • 1 packet steam fresh frozen broccoli, pea and sugar snaps, cooked as per pack instructions
  • red onion and blackcurrant jam:
  • 3 red onions (cut in half and finely sliced)
  • 1 tin blackcurrants (drained and half of juice reserved)
  • 3 tblsp soy sauce
  • 2 pinches sea salt
  • 3 pinches nutmeg
  • 2 tblsp demerara sugar
  • 2 tblsp balsamic vinegar
  • 1 tblsp sunflower oil
  • boxty (makes 8 cakes):
  • 40 g scallions, finely chopped (3-4 times)
  • 300 g grated raw potato
  • 300 g baked potato (bake in oven at 200°c/gas 6 for 1 hour. scoop out insides and mash.)
  • 100 g flour
  • 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 tsp sea salt
  • 10-30 ml milk

Method

  • For Bacon:
  • Put the bacon joint into a pot. Cover with water and bring to the boil. Once boiling, change the water and bring to the boil again. Turn down the heat and simmer for 1 hour.
  • Strain the bacon and remove from the pot. In a medium-hot pan brown the fat on the bacon joint. Turn using a carving fork. Keep the bacon fat in the pan to cook the Boxty cake.
  • To keep the bacon warm cover in tinfoil and put into an oven at 70°C/gas mark 1 until ready to serve.
  • For Red Onion and Blackcurrant Jam:
  • Fry the onions in a pot with the sunflower oil for 5 minutes. Add remaining ingredients except blackcurrants and simmer for 20 minutes. Stir occasionally.
  • Remove from the heat and add the blackcurrants. Mix well and keep at room temperature until ready to serve.
  • For Boxty:
  • In a large bowl mix all ingredients together well except milk. Depending on how dry the mixture is, add the milk as required. When mixed well divide into 8 and shape into round flat cakes, 2cm thick.
  • On a medium heat, using the pan with the bacon fat, cook and brown the potato cakes each side for 4 minutes and serve.
  • To serve:
  • Slice the cooked bacon joint as required. Serve two potato cakes per person served with lashings of red onion and blackcurrant jam and some steamed greens on the side. Delicious!