I’ve mentioned in passing that we deal with a strange allergy in our house. Of all things to afflict a man with the name James Patrick Casey, a potato allergy would seem the least likely. But Irish ancestry notwithstanding, James can’t eat potatoes. Or touch them. Or breathe the air too close to them.
I am the long-suffering wife; visions of smashed red potatoes and tiny fingerlings dancing in my head. Take me out for a plate of french fries and I’ll be your forever friend.
Our potato-free household can mean that St. Patrick’s Day celebrations pose a problem. While we can still pour out a Guinness and offer a cheerful Erin Go Braugh, I can’t say that I don’t miss also indulging in a potato-heavy meal. Growing up, my mom would make a huge pot of potato chowder for St. Patrick’s Day. She’d make an Americanized Irish Soda Bread replete with carraway seeds and currants. My sisters and I would cobble together outfits from every bit of green clothing that we could find. To my friends, I’d brag about the percentage Irish that I’d determined myself to be—conveniently forgetting my French and German and who-knows-what-else ancestry for the day. Kiss me I’m Irish, et cetera.
But this year, I’ve got a brand-new bit of inspiration for a potato-free Ireland-inspired meal. On Tuesday evening I went to the launch of Imen McDonnell’s cookbook: The Farmette Cookbook: Recipes and Adventures from My Life on an Irish Farm in Dumbo. While there are plenty of positively delicious looking potato recipes in the book, the cookbook is also filled with recipes of the non-potato variety. Recipes riff on many traditional Irish meals, but Imen has put a modern twist on the classics.
Maybe best of all, the book is beautiful—the whole thing has a gorgeous springtime aesthetic that has me wanting to go frolicking in the Irish countryside. Not being even one bit ironic. There’s an apple blossom cordial recipe that’s going to have me hightailing it to my parents’ house come apple blossom season; a cream scone recipe that sounds perfectly Irish enough for St. Patrick’s Day with nary a potato in site; and a brambleberry ode to Beatrix Potter that got all my heart patters going.
In case you need a bit of springtime inspiration to add to your repertoire: The Farmette Cookbook is currently for sale online and in local bookstores just about anywhere. Happy Saint Patrick’s Day!
18 Comments
No potatoes? That makes this Erin feel sad. We will be having colcannon tonight (along with our corned beef). I will have some for you – no worries, I make mine with only potatoes, cabbage. and butter. 🙂 Lots and lots of butter.
I’m violently ill if I eat Potatoes or any other member of the nightshade family so I feel very sorry for your partner! Eating out is a nightmare and who would want to invite me around for a meal ??? It does run in my family though – my sister and mum have the same thing.
Let’s go frolic in that countryside together. Happy Paddy’s! x
Oh, I love potatoes too! My dad’s homemade mashed potatoes are so yummy! I’m sensitive to potatoes ( along with a time of other foods) but not allergic. That would be so hard. But I’ll have some yummy potatoes for you, as well.
What a strange allergy! I love potatoes – would be sad to not have them. But I also love all things bread and gluten, and am somehow managing without those…
Poor James (and, of course, poor you and Faye). I think that the only thing worse than a potato allergy would be a chocolate allergy….
And I am the lone one with a chocolate allergy. I’m pretty special…
And this book looks beautiful!
what?! omg i feel so bad for james! potatoes are one of my favorite foods to eat! i hope you indulge in them whenever you’re out eating with friends or by yourself.
ooh that book sounds so lovely. And you’re right – with a name like James Patrick Casey, the allergy seems particularly cruel!!
p.s. loving your muscari photos.
I find it funny that St Patricks day is so celebrated in the US ( so many bloggers and intagramers; is that a word? mention it so I suppose it must be), yet in Scotland we barely notice it!
Country o’ immigrants!
We totally skip potatoes and just do green chile enchiladas. New Mexico Irish.
Love it!
Long suffering indeed! I love me some potatoes. I hope you have some girlfriends to get your fries with every once in a while. 🙂
Loads of Irish things to cook! Although my favourite are potato cakes made with a recipe handed down through the females of my mother’s family. Yum.
Yesterday we made Irish soda bread. Do you mind sharing where your placemats are from? They are lovely.
this is really more of a small table runner (or very long placemat); i bought it from a local shop called GRDN!
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