It’s St Patrick’s Day today, and this week, we’ve been sharing recipes from the Emerald Isle.
Lough Erne Resort Executive chef, Noel McMeel, has shared some favourite recipes for a range of mouthwatering dishes that you can make at home, which we’re sharing this week.
Today, we present Boxty, a traditional Irish potato pancake. The dish is mostly associated with the north midlands, north Connacht and southern Ulster, and there are many recipes but all contain finely grated, raw potatoes and all are served fried.
The most popular version of the dish consists of finely grated raw potato and flour. The mixture is fried on a griddle pan for a few minutes on each side, similar to a normal pancake. The most noticeable difference between boxty and other fried potato dishes is its smooth, fine-grained consistency.
The old Irish rhyme is: “Boxty on the griddle; boxty on the pan. If you can’t make boxty, you’ll never get a man!”
As the interest in Irish cuisine has increased, so the popularity of boxty has risen. It is not unusual to see boxty on the menus of restaurants outside the areas with which it is traditionally associated. Boxty may be bought in shops and supermarkets either in the dumpling form or ready cooked as pancakes.
Noel has cooked for an impressive range of dignitaries and celebrities, including Barack Obama and Sir Paul McCartney, but the talented chef remains focused on his particular brand of modern Irish cooking and a very simple philosophy: sourcing, preparing and serving fresh food in season.
From Pat O’Doherty’s pork to fresh Kilkeel crab, Noel McMeel is a true champion for local produce, using only the highest quality ingredients in his recipes.
To mark St Patrick’s Day, why not enjoy some of Noel’s mouth-watering recipes, celebrating local Irish producers and taking inspiration from his early days in his family farm in Toome?
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