Our Super Good Bangers and Mash For St. Patrick's Day

While I grew up believing the name Doolittle was English, my kids turned up a family crest suggesting it was Irish so I like to take no chances on St. Patrick’s Day and celebrate just in case I’m part Irish.  I know for sure I have a fair amount of Dutch and native American blood but who knows what else.  Maybe I should do one of the ancestry tests but for some reason I’m protective of my DNA – I promise that I have nothing sinister to hide 😊.

We invited Eliza to bring her family down for supper and considered the many options for the meal – Irish stew, corned beef, Shepherds pie, fish pie, bangers, etc.  After remembering the supply of great sausages I had in the freezer from The Wurst Kitchen, I settled on the following menu.

Before dinner drink – Pickle Back (not an Irish drink but it uses Jamison Irish Whiskey).  You shoot the whiskey then chaser with pickle juice - surprisingly not bad but it won't become my favorite - I'm not a whiskey guy.

Grilled Lithuanian Sausage (ingredients similar to Bangers). Now I wish I’d bought some of their corned beef sausages for this.

Onion Gravy using the recipe below from The Cozy Cook

Mashed Potatoes using the recipe from Pioneer Woman

Buttered Peas – steamed, buttered, and seasoned (we recently had cabbage)

Bread – We decided that we had plenty to eat without bread although it might have been good sopping up any gravy left on the plate

Guiness Stout or water to drink (almost no Irish wine available)

I’m more of an IPA beer guy but Guiness is a nice smooth drink, kind of nutty with a hint of sweet.

Gingerbread with a lemon cream sauce for dessert, provided by our neighbor.

After dinner drink – Bailey’s Irish Cream

So, after deciding on the menu, I looked at my blog to see when we last had Bangers and Mash and discovered it was last St Patrick’s Day but since we all loved it, I opted to stick with my decision – it has been a year after all and I used a more sophisticated recipe for the gravy and the potatoes this year – so more gourmet.  Next year though, I’ll look before deciding on the meal.

I Interrupt This Post For A Special Announcement

When we are having company for supper, I try to get as much done early as I can and this meal was no different.  I had caramelized the onions for the gravy the day before and had added everything to it but the corn starch, I peeled and cut up the potatoes and added them to salted water and poured the peas into the steamer basket, so I was ready for a break at about 11:45 am.  I sat down and picked up my phone to check for any texts only to find one from Wende advising that Eliza had a fever so they were cancelling for today – ah the joys of kids in school, hope nothing serious.  Since everything for the meal was ready to go except for cooking the sausages, we opted to proceed and invited our neighbors over to help us eat it.

Onion Gravy

Ingredients:

4 Tablespoons butter

2 large yellow onions (20 oz. total after slicing)

1/3 cup dry red wine

2 cups beef broth

1 beef bouillon cube, or 1 tsp better than bouillon

1½ teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

1 teaspoon onion powder

1 teaspoon dried thyme

½ teaspoon ground sage

½ teaspoon garlic powder

3 Tablespoons cold water + 3 tablespoons corn starch

1 Tablespoon cold unsalted butter

Instructions:

Slice the onions to about 3/8 inch thick, try to make them the same size so they cook evenly.

Melt 4 TBS butter in a pot over medium heat and add the sliced onions. Cover partially and let them simmer, soften, and reduce for about 25 minutes. Stir every few minutes and reduce heat if they start cooking too quickly.

(To make things easier on St. Patrick’s Day, I caramelized the onions the day before then made the gravy mid afternoon).

Meanwhile, whisk the cornstarch and COLD water together until well-combined. Add the seasonings and beef broth and stir to combine. Store in the fridge until ready for use.

Once the onions are reduced, whisk the cornstarch/broth/seasonings once more, then add them to the pot. (If the cornstarch has settled to the bottom, a silicone spatula can be used to lift it up.)

Use the liquid to “clean” the bottom of the pot from the onions. This gives the gravy more flavor. Add the beef bouillon cube.

Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Continue to simmer until desired thickness is obtained.

For the mashed potatoes, I used our go to recipe from Ree Drummond, made them just before mealtime.

45 minutes before meal time, I cooked the sausages on the grill for about 8 minutes per side then kept them in the 160F toaster oven until serving time.

The peas were steamed in a basket, seasoned with Tiger Seasoning, and S&P then stirred in plenty of butter while the potatoes were cooking.

We served the meal buffet style, offering both full and half pieces of sausage, in this order – potatoes, sausage, gravy, peas.

This is my plate - I like peas.

The Verdict:

I have to say that I could not have enjoyed this St. Patrick’s Day meal any more and the other diners seemed to think the same thing - I may not look for something different next year after all.  The sausages were delicious as expected and I loved the onion gravy and will make it for other future dishes and maybe put it on everything I eat now until it’s gone.  Pat, neighbor, couldn’t believe how good the mashed potatoes were until I advised how much butter and cream cheese they had in them.  

While we missed the Eliza gang and I hate they missed the meal, it was fun to hear about the neighbor’s trip to Middle Tennessee the previous day to buy a new mixed breed bull for their cattle operation.

Photos can be enlarged by clicking on them and the blue words are links.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

3/17/24 meal date