March: A St. Patrick’s Day Irish Tea

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In Ireland, more tea is consumed per capita than anywhere in Great Britain. In celebration of the Irish and those of us with Irish ancestry here in the states and Canada, we offer an Irish-American tea party menu. In March, St. Patrick’s Day is a lovely excuse to gather friends for traditional Irish foods as well as the American take on Irish food. “Irish” Coffee was invented in San Francisco at the Buena Vista but is now a beloved part of St. Paddy’s Day.

Make sure to read through the recipes in advance as you plan your Irish Tea. Some of the more traditional Irish foods will take a few hours, or even a few days, to prepare. We think everything on this Irish menu is worth the loving investment of your time, and we trust your guests will agree.

This splendid poem by the Irish Nobel Prize winner, William Butler Yeats, was our father and grandfather, Dr. Patrick Murdock’s favorite. He was known to recite “The Lake Isle of Innisfree” from memory on any and every occasion. We agree that this poem captures the exquisite glory of the Irish countryside and the Irish spirit.

The Lake Isle of Innisfree
William Butler Yeats, 1890

I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,
And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made:
Nine bean-rows will I have there, a hive for the honey-bee,
And live alone in the bee-loud glade.

And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow,
Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings;
There midnight’s all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow,
And evening full of the linnet’s wings.

I will arise and go now, for always night and day
I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore;
While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements gray,
I hear it in the deep heart’s core.

Menu

Beverages:
Irish Breakfast Tea (a blend of 3 parts Assam to 1 part Ceylon,)
Decaffeinated Irish or English Breakfast Tea
Lemon-Lime Punch
Buena Vista Irish Coffee

Savories:
Trio of Tea Sandwiches: Smoked Salmon, Cucumber and Watercress, Corned Beef
Miniature Potato Pasties
A Selection of Irish Cheeses with Apples, Pears, and Oat Biscuits

Breads and Scones:
Margaret Murdock’s Irish Soda Bread with Caraway Seeds or Raisins
Barm Brack with Marmalade

Sweets:
Shortbread Shamrock Cookies
Barbara’s Potato Fudge Cookies
Parkins (Ginger Oat Cakes)
Honeycomb Steamed Pudding with Crème Anglaise

Recipes Included:

Lemon-Lime Punch
This refreshing punch can be made the day before your Irish Tea and refrigerated. It is made from fresh lemon and lime juice, so it has a bright, authentic taste. It will take you a while to squeeze the juice from the lemons and limes, but your guests will be startled by how much better this punch is than the store-bought versions.

Buena Vista Irish Coffee
Irish Coffee really originated at the Buena Vista, a venerable and charming old pub in San Francisco. Now that this bracing coffee and whiskey beverage has become a “tradition,” it is usually served in clear glass stemmed mugs, but you can use any kind of small, heatproof glass or cup to serve your Irish Coffees. Start with a pot of good strong hot coffee, a kettle of hot water, a box of sugar cubes and a pint of freshly whipped cream in the refrigerator. Our easy directions will guide you as you make one or several Irish Coffees at a time. Don’t forget your shot glass and your favorite bottle of Irish Whiskey!

Line up your empty coffee mugs or glasses on the counter and preheat them by filling them with hot water. Let the glasses preheat for a few seconds; then dump the water out. Fill each glass about ¾ full with hot coffee. Add 2 sugar cubes to each cup and stir until the sugar has dissolved. Next, add a shot or jigger of Irish Whiskey to each cup and stir again. Pour hot water over the spoon to heat it, and using the back of the spoon, dip it into the freshly whipped cream and let the cream carefully slide over the spoon’s back and onto the Irish Coffee mixture, one cup at a time. Allow the cream to remain on the coffee’s surface rather than stirring it in. Serve immediately.

If you decide to serve Irish Coffee at your St. Patrick’s Day Tea, only offer one to each guest. When every guest who wants an Irish Coffee has been served, put your bottle of whiskey back in the cupboard and close the Irish Coffee bar. Remember our motto, “Nothing bad ever happens at Afternoon Tea,” but bad things can happen if the guests drink too many Irish Coffees.

Smoked Salmon Sandwiches
Smoked Salmon Sandwiches are the tea party version of lox, bagels and cream cheese. They contain almost the same ingredients, but are much lighter, allowing guests to sample other savory items without being too full to enjoy them. We recommend buying the smoked salmon at a good deli or grocery story. Look for very thin slices, each as close to the size of a piece of bread as possible.

Classic Cucumber Sandwiches
For our St. Patrick’s Day Irish Tea we recommend combining two fresh and crunchy green sandwich fillings—Cucumber and Watercress. Look at the recipe for Watercress Sandwiches below, and you will see that the procedure is nearly identical to that of making Cucumber Sandwiches. Just put both vegetables on one sandwich, and you will have a doubly delicious treat.

Watercress Sandwiches
These little treats feature the flavor of a single ingredient—delicate, subtle watercress. Watercress Sandwiches have been gracing the English tea table for decades, and their popularity has not waned. For those of you who wish to be a bit more adventurous, you can pair watercress with tuna salad, sliced chicken or a combination of your own invention.

Corned Beef Sandwiches
In America, Corned Beef is always associated with Irish food, so you will want to serve Corned Beef Sandwiches at your Irish Tea. Feel free to use sliced left over Corned Beef, if you have any in the refrigerator. If not, buy thin slices at a good deli and use the freshest bread you can find. Corned Beef Sandwiches are especially tasty with a little prepared horseradish or spicy mustard spread on the bread.

Miniature Potato Pasties
Pasties are little savory pies filled with meat, vegetables or a combination of both. They are eaten by hand like a sandwich and are a favorite Irish lunch, though tradition tells us that they originated in Cornwall as the mid-day meal of Cornish tin miners who could not leave the mines to return home for lunch. There seem to be no absolute rules as to what goes into pasty filling, and you can add lean hamburger and diced steak to yours if you wish, but our recipe calls for potatoes, onions and mushrooms, liberally seasoned with Worcestershire sauce. Don’t be afraid to be creative. We have also seen Pasties that contain green peas and diced carrots.

Opinions also seem to differ as to whether the filling should be cooked before it is encased in the pastry and baked. Our recipe calls for cooking the filling first and adding the cooked filling to the pastry. For convenience, you can prepare the filling a day in advance and let it cool in the refrigerator. Shortly before your tea party begins, you can assemble and bake the pasties and serve them to your grateful guests while they are still warm.

Margaret Murdock’s Irish Soda Bread
Kathleen’s mother, (and Rose’s sister,) Margaret Murdock Pedulla, makes this perfect Irish Soda Bread every St. Patrick’s Day. This is a reliable and easy to make recipe that will produce a lovely rustic loaf. Note that this most basic of breads is made only with your hands, no electric devices or fancy equipment needed other than an oven. In the old days in Ireland, soda bread was baked in a wood or peat stove, or even over the fireplace. If possible, serve this delicious quick bread with sweet Irish butter while it is still warm.

Barm Brack
Barm Brack is a remarkably flavorful spicy fruit bread of Celtic origin. It is really a cross between a cake and a bread; it contains sugar and is baked in a Bundt pan, but it is also a frequent breakfast item, toasted with butter and marmalade. A unique feature of Barm Brack is the fact that the raisins and other dried fruits that find their way into the batter are first soaked in hot tea, conveying a deep, moist texture and warm earthy flavor. Our recipe calls for 2 ½ cups of dried mixed fruit, and we recommend raisins, cranberries and finely chopped apricots. However, you can vary this combination to include chopped dried apples, dried cherries or other dried fruits that you find appealing.

Barm Brack is traditionally eaten in Ireland on holidays, and special little symbolic charms, such as coins or rings are embedded into the dough for celebrants to find as they are eating their cake. It’s interesting to note that although Barm Brack is always served with butter, the cake itself contains no butter or oil. You can serve your Barm Brack on a cake pedestal with lemon marmalade and Kerrygold butter on the side, or slice it into thin pieces and arrange them decoratively on a platter.

Shortbread Shamrock Cookies
It wouldn’t be St. Patrick’s Day without shortbread cookies, and why not make them in the shape of shamrocks, Ireland’s iconic symbol? Sprinkled with green sugar crystals, they will be irresistible.

Barbara’s Potato Fudge Cookies
These frosted, cake-like cookies are a great way to use up leftover mashed potatoes. No one will guess that it’s potatoes that keep these cookies so moist. We got the recipe from Suzi’s Irish mother, Barbara, who was not only a fantastic baker but as colorful a storyteller as any on the Auld Sod.

Parkins
Parkins are chewy, sticky little gingerbread oatcakes. They are popular in Ireland and also in Yorkshire in northern England. Parkins get better over time and should be aged in an airtight container for at least 3 days and up to a week before you offer them to your guests. We picture crusty old Irish fishermen taking these hearty snacks to sea with them to help fortify themselves against the cold northern winds. If you can find treacle, golden syrup and Irish steel cut oats in a market or Irish import shop, your Parkins will be more authentic, but we have translated the traditional recipe for American cooks using molasses and corn syrup, and your Parkins will still be chewy and satisfying. Like Irish Soda Bread and Barm Brack, Parkins are made with nothing more than a pan, a mixing bowl and a wooden spoon, requiring no modern electric equipment other than the kitchen stove.

Honeycomb Steamed Pudding with Crème Anglaise
Kathleen’s friend Peggy’s Grandmother Cora made this traditional Irish pudding back in the old neighborhood. The secret to the unique texture of the pudding is lots of beating: According to Grandma Cora, “Beat the hell out of it!” The more bubbles the better!

Crème Anglais
Crème Anglais is a light custard that can be served warm or chilled. It is a delightful addition to all kinds of desserts from Apple Pie to this scrumptious Steamed Pudding.