In Hopes of Spring Day 6: Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Irish Hunger Memorial in NYC; a slice of real Ireland on St. Patrick's Day
Photo credit here.

Happy St. Patrick's Day - I am required to say it at least once, if only because of my unabashed love for corned beef and cabbage, even though, now living in England, I won't be eating it because of its general (and rather shocking, frankly) unavailability in this country. To me the green-ness and excitement surrounding this holiday are always synonymous with Spring finally breaking out.

Sadly, it has slowly but surely become pretty clear that besides the odd mini-parade / drink special at pubs around town, London doesn't really embrace St. Patrick's Day. Being a self-proclaimed Irish-lover for several reasons, that kind of displeases me.

Not only is my name (kind of) Irish (warning - I may have just directed you to one of the most laughable blog entries in the world), but I did marry a half-Irish (kind of) man, I went to Notre Dame (no, not just a really old Cathedral in Paris) a.k.a. home of the "Fighting Irish," and, when in a non-pregnant state I am a great consumer of Bailey's Irish Cream (not a fan of Guiness, sorry). In what is another of my prouder possessions, I also incidentally happen to own a small stuffed toy Leprechaun with an orange beard that Matt bought me in Ireland on a business trip last year; he is named Harry McCracken (pun intended BUT it is a real Irish name, I kid you not), and is usually attached to my vanity or on the Christmas tree, depending on the time of year.

Matt and I are doing our best this year to stay in the St. Pattie's spirit despite no longer being at the epicenter of the Irish-American/ beer fueled mayhem (read: the Northeastern United States). He forgot to wear green today (I, of course, have not!), but in place of that tradition, I encouraged him to take Harry McCracken with him to work, which he, unbelievably enough, did. Harry M. will make his shocking debut at the office and, I am sure, cause much laughter and stir among the German, British, Egyptian, Lithuanian, Bahraini mix of coworkers.

But despite our best attempts, there are still a couple of things about the US I lament / am nostalgic for that I feel I should share in honor of St. Patrick's Day.

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Why I'd Rather Be in the US for St. Patrick's Day
or, why the English just don't know how to kick it "proper" on this Irish day of libation/celebration

4. Thanks a lot for nothing, Tesco: Finding real Corned Beef
It has taken me two years to get used to the idea that I actually cannot buy fresh (contradiction?), well, NOT CANNED, corned beef in London. Where the hell is the brisket in this country?! Maybe I haven't searched far and wide enough, but it seems to me that none of the major supermarket chains sell anything but this:

And on St. Patrick's day, that stuff is just not gonna feed the bulldog, my friends.


3. The Irish Hunger Memorial in NYC - really capturing the Irish spirit.
I suppose that yes, it is a sad thing to remember - the Irish Potato Famine of 1846-1850 - but if someone had to do it, they sure chose the nicest way possible with this garden/ monument in New York City.

a veritable island of heather and heath, right in the city
photo credits here and here.

Oddly, over the course of my nearly 3 years living in New York, I visited this place close to 15 times. I found it not only particularly apt for memorializing the tragedy that was the famine, but it really just captured the Irish spirit as well. The tasteful arrangement of ruins and native Irish flora make you forget that you're in the middle of a giant city for a minute. And as you look out onto the Hudson River, you can steal a moment of peace in what can otherwise be an overwhelming place - especially on St. Patrick's Day.


2. Once you've been in Boston for St. Pattie's, everything else always pales.
What can I say? Sometimes you wanna go where everybody knows your name. Sadly, fate will not have it: I won't be drinking green beer at the good old tourist trap we all know and love, The Bull and Finch (or the real but now highly bastardized Cheers) in Boston, though I have done it before.

But frivolous gesting aside, Boston is really full of a palpable spirit on St. Patrick's Day - one that compares to no other place on earth during that celebration, I would argue. And this has been agreed to by many an actual Irish man or woman in my presence - which makes it highly valid as biased assertions go.


1. Flannery & Finnegan's Wake
I did admittedly say Boston was the end-all-be-all of St. Pat's celebrations, but actually, for me (and I would bet for Matt too) there is one place on this round earth that could beat it out: Finnegan's Wake pub on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.

This neighborhood joint is the very definition of a "local." It is basic but traditional in its Irish pub decor. The employees tend to be Irish themselves (oddly enough), and the bar does not boast the trendier group of bankers and twenty-somethings drinking cocktails you'd find at most downtown locations. In fact, the "regulars" are generally middle-aged men drinking after work, and/or their wives and friends. On the whole, Matt and I made it a habit to go there at least once a week for dinner because it is a) extremely cheap, b) has decent food and c) was right around the corner from our apartment.

Two more perks regarding Finnegan's: the food and the head waitress.

The food, as I have said, is decent. More to the point: it is actual Irish food - none of this high-falutin' modern fusion-y versions thereof. Every day you can get a good Shepherd's Pie, Steak & Kidney Pie, Bangers and Mash - no questions asked. Their specials are also pretty good and right around St. Patrick's Day you'll see their REALLY DELICIOUS corned beef and cabbage on the menu. It sells out every time so you have to get there early.

The head waitress is an Irish lady whose real name, even after patronizing for two years straight, we never learned. Matt and I nicknamed her Flannery, which seemed to fit and stuck. She's Irish and she's mean. She takes your order with a bark and a bite and only seems to warm up to "nice-Irish-looking boys" which explains why she all but melted when my brother-in-law Marcus came to visit. A couple of months after leaving NYC Matt and I made a pilgrimage back and she was still there - I think she might have come with the building. Anyway, that's the stuff that real Irish flair is made of.

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Finnegan's Wake Irish Pub
1361 First Avenue (b/w 72nd & 73rd)
New York, NY 10021

Please don't be surprised if you walk in and are treated like crap; this is no high-end gastropub. It's a neighborhood joint with uncompromising reliability - the bad Irish tempers are part of the charm. :)

In Hopes of Spring Day 5: A New World Order - Green Lasagna

Green. Ides of March. Cute graphic. Need I say more?
Image credit, um, I think.

It was exactly 2053 years and 1 day ago in 44BC that (Gaius) Julius Caesar was assassinated by members of his own senate in ancient Rome. That day, unbeknownst to the cunning but well-meaning senators desperate to have their Republic back from the dictator perpetuo as Caesar had proclaimed himself, would live on in collective history as the beginning of a New World Order. (Sorry, had to include the gratuitous HOT photo of Ciarán Hinds as JC from the HBO show Rome.) Photo credit.

A "New World Order" because rather than giving power back to the senate as Brutus and Cicero had hoped, Caesar's death actually quickly catapulted Rome into the infamous and thereafter permanent Empire led by, ironically, Caesar's adoptive son (& nephew) Augustus Caesar, who did keep the senate in place, but more as a courtesy than anything else. Rome was forever altered. We were forever altered.

Similarly, yesterday, on the Ides of March, I thought it wise to attempt something almost as daring, as life-altering as the assassination of one's dictator in the name of Democratic, or in this case, technically, Republican liberty: a new lasagna.

A - dare I? well, yes, because I did - GREEN lasagna.

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My Accidental Assassination of Traditional Lasagna for the sake of The Republic
or, A New World Order - Green Lasagna
or, where did it all go so terribly wrong right?

It all started one day a couple of weeks ago as I was watching Ina Garten's Food Network show The Barefoot Contessa.

A small aside:

1. What the hell is with that name? (Not hers! The show's! Though yeah, Ina? What is that?) I admit, I do find it somewhat aesthetically pleasing - the image of a beautiful contessa walking barefoot through an herb garden and cooking delectable meals from simple, elegant ingredients. But then the show starts and you see...well, Ina! No offense, she's a pretty and well-put-together lady, but come on - a "barefoot contessa" she is not.

2. I'm all for using real butter and real cream - but I find Ina, as fearless culinary leaders go, tends to be somewhat exaggerated in her use of both. Whatever - I still make her recipes. :)

End Small Aside

So, as I was saying: I was watching The Barefoot Contessa and happened to catch the episode where she makes a mushroom (vegetarian) lasagna for some girlfriends. I am and always have been completely in love with mushrooms, and in this episode she actually purchases the loveliest of Oyster Mushrooms (my FAVORITE) for the dish, so I decided to make it. Sadly, upon searching for the dish, I found she wussed out of including the oyster mushrooms ("too expensive" "too hard to find" I imagine - they are neither, btw) and entitled the dish Portobello Mushroom Lasagna, which I adapted for my recipe.

my darling oyster mushrooms!

It may have been a Freudian slip or just an accident, but I also somehow ended up with a box of Green (Spinach) Lasagna in my pantry this week. I meant to get normal stuff, but no, I got Egg Lasagne Verdi instead, made from durum wheat and egg "for a richer taste" apparently. At first I was a little upset about this mishap, but I soon got over it when I realized this would allow me to create the perfect Springtime meal: GREEN Lasagna!

Green lasagna? Who knew.

But suddenly, my mind was flooded with would-be problems: It would be highly unorthodox on my part - a risk. What if the pasta was nasty? What if green lasagna just didn't look aesthetically pleasing? What about good old regular meaty lasagna? Would I be able to go back to ground beef after tasting the nectar of the gods - aka, the oyster mushroom filling mixture? Like Brutus and Cicero before me, I threw caution to the wind. It was time for a regime change and by God, I too would be stabbing the proverbial heart of the traditional (but nevertheless culinarily dictatorial) lasagna if that's what it would take.

I judged correctly, unlike the senators. Green Lasagna was a hit:
It was revolutionary enough to fit consumption on the Ides of March. Green enough to satisfy my kermit-esque obsession. Yummy enough to satiate Matt's belly. And a priceless opportunity to say the word "BESCIAMELLA!" (BESH-A-MELLA!) in an exaggerated Italian accent for the rest of the day, as this recipe requires you make your own. What else can a girl ask for?

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Brenda's Green (Mushroom) Lasagna

Serves 6-8

Ingredients
3/4 lbs (350-400g) Dried Egg Lasagna Verdi (Spinach)
1 cup Parmesan cheese, freshly grated
1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese (optional)

For the bechamel:
3 cups whole milk
1 stick butter
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp black pepper, freshly ground
1 tsp nutmeg, freshly ground

For the mushroom mixture:
good olive oil
1/2 stick butter
1 tsp or so dried thyme
1 shallot, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 to 1 tsp crushed red pepper, or to taste

salt, to taste
1 1/2 lbs mushrooms, a mix of oyster, chestnut and white



Procedure
1. Preheat oven to 275 F or 160C.

2. For the Bechamel Sauce (BESCIAMELLA!) Add 1 stick of butter to a medium pot; once melted add the flour and mix vigorously over medium heat, not allowing the mixture to burn, until well-combined. Then add the milk, salt, pepper and nutmeg and mix continuously with a whiskuntil the sauce is very thick and tastes right. Set aside.

3. Bring a large pot of salted water to boil with a good splash of olive oil in it. Once boiling, add pasta and cook as directed. Drain and set aside.
NB: I'm not kidding when I say LARGE pot and I'm not kidding when I insist you add olive oil. A small pot with no oil will result in lasagna which sticks together, cooks unevenly and is therefore unusable. Don't go there.

4. Meanwhile, chop the mushrooms. For the chestnut and white varieties, chop them into pieces about 1/4 inch thick. For the oysters, chop roughly LENGTHWISE. Leave the small ones in tact.

5. Add remaining butter and another good splash of olive oil to a pan. Once melted over medium-high heat, add the shallots, garlic and crushed red pepper to taste. Sautee for a minute or two and then add the chopped mushrooms and thyme. Salt and pepper to taste. Allow mushrooms to cook through and sautee until golden (5 minutes or so).

6. Assemble the lasagna. In an oven-proof, rectangular dish make layers as follows:
- Some besciamella!
**- Some pasta
- Some more besciamella!
- Some mushrooms (roughly 1/3)
- Some mozzarella
- Some Parmiggiano!

Repeat 3 times from ** and end with a layer of BESCIAMELLA! and then cheeses.

7. Bake for 45 minutes; if the top is not golden enough, put it under the broiler for an extra 3-5 minutes. Allow it to rest for 10-15 before serving hot with a delicious and simple salad made by your obliging husband. :)

Buon Appetito!