St. Pat's Meal Out Of This World

With St. Patrick's Day right around the corner, The Saturday Early Show has asked one of Ireland's premiere chefs to prepare a sophisticated Irish meal for four on a $40 budget.

Full Coverage: St. Patrick's Day

And master chef Kevin Dundon obliged. He owns the Dunbrody Country House Hotel in southeastern Ireland, and he runs the Dunbrody Cooking School.

In the hotel kitchen, he combines the traditional and the contemporary to produce delicious New Irish Cuisine.

So for the Chef on a Shoestring challenge he created the following meneu:

Green Salad with Dalkey Mustard Dressing
Roasted Lamb Shank with Irish Stout Glaze
Iced Bailey's Cream Souffle.

Food Facts:
Dalkey Mustard Dressing - Dalkey is a small area of Dublin, about 30 minutes from the city center. The dressing is simply a whole grain mustard dressing. Calling it "Dalkey" makes it sound more Irish.

Lamb Shank - Leg of lamb is one of the most popular cuts, but the entire leg is too unwieldy for most people. The leg is cut into two pieces - the leaner shank, which the chef is preparing, and the bony, but tender, sirloin half.

Colcannon Potato Mash - These are traditional Irish mashed potatoes that include cabbage and, in some cases, bacon.

Bailey's Irish Cream Liqueur - An Irish liqueur that, through a "closely guarded secret," blends whiskey and cream.

Soft-Ball Stage - No, this is not a sports term; today, it's a cooking term. When preparing the dessert, you heat a mixture of sugar and water until it forms a "soft-ball stage." This is the point at which a drop of the boiling sugar syrup immersed in cold water literally forms a soft ball, and then flattens once removed from water. On a candy thermometer, the soft-ball stage is between 234 and 240 degrees.

The following are his recipes:

Green Salad with a Dalkey Mustard Dressing
Serves 4

Ingredients
12 oz of mixed greens

Method

1. Mound lettuces in the middle of a plate.
   
2. Drizzle the mustard grain dressing over the greens and serve.

Mustard grain dressing
Ingredients

1 oz whole grain mustard
1/2 cup olive oil
Salt
Cracked pepper
Half a lemon

Method

1. Place the mustard in a bowl.
   
2. Slowly whisk in the olive oil.
   
3. Add a squeeze of lemon and season to taste.

Roasted Lamb Shanks with a Irish Stout Glaze
Serves 4

Ingredients
4 Lamb Shanks
1/4 cup flour
4 T olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
1 carrot, diced finely
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 cup red wine
1 cup vegetable stock
2 sprigs of thyme
1/4 cup (2 fl oz) Guinness beer
4 T sugar

Method

1. Pre-heat oven to 300 degrees.
   
   
2. Place olive oil in a large, oven-safe pot on top of the stove on a high heat.
   
   
3. Dust the lamb shanks with the flour.
   
   
4. Place shanks into the pot and brown on all sides; this will take 8-10 minutes.
   
   
5. Add onion, carrot, and garlic and cook for 3 minutes.
   
   
6. Add red wine and cook until the liquid is reduced by about half.
   
   
7. Stir in vegetable stock. Cover with a lid (or tin foil) and place in the oven for 90 minutes. You'll know the lamb is done when the meat pulls away easily from the bone. Remove from the oven.
   
   
8. Remove the lamb shanks from the pot and place in an oven-proof serving dish. Keep warm.
   
   
9. Place the the pot containing the liquid and vegetables back on the stove. Remove any grease from the top and season to taste with salt and pepper. Cook over low heat and reduce until it coats the back of the spoon. This is now the sauce you will serve with the lamb shanks.
   
   
10. Meanwhile, prepare your Irish stout glaze by putting the beer and sugar into a pot, bringing the mixture to the boil and then allowing it to reduce by half. Remove from heat.
    
    
11. Brush the lamb shanks with the glaze.
    
    
12. Place glazed shanks back into a hot oven for 10 minutes.
    
    
13. To serve, place shanks in individual plates, pour sauce over lamb and serve with colcannon mash.

Colcannon Potato Mash

Ingredients
1lb well-scrubbed potatoes
1/4 cup cream
4T + 1T butter
sea salt & freshly ground black pepper
2 oz finely chopped bacon
1/4 cup finely chopped green cabbage

Method

1. Cover the potatoes with cold water in a saucepan.
   
   
2. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 15-20 minutes, or until the flesh is tender when pieced.
   
   
3. Drain in a colander. Peel the potatoes while still hot.
   
   
4. Mash the potatoes until smooth.
   
   
5. Beat the 4T butter into the mashed potato and season to taste.
   
   
6. Meanwhile, heat the cream in a saucepan.
   
   
7. Just as the cream comes to the boil, remove from the heat and beat into the potatoes.
   
   
8. Add 1T butter to a hot saute pan. Fry bacon and cabbage in pan for about 5 minutes, or until soft.
   
   
9. Add bacon and cabbage to the potato and mix well.
   
   
10. Keep the potatoes warm until ready to serve.

Iced Bailey's Cream Souffle
Serves 4

Ingredients
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
5 egg yolks
1 pint whipping cream
2 fl oz Bailey's Irish Cream liqueur
Chocolate Sauce (optional)

Method

1. Place the sugar and water in sauce pan and boil until mixture reaches a soft ball stage, or measures 234-240 degrees on a candy thermometer.
   
   
2. Whip the egg yolks with a little bit of hot water until they become thick.
   
   
3. Pour the sugar syrup slowly into the whipped egg yolks.
   
   
4. Fold in the cream and the Bailey's and place in freezer for 3 to 4 hours. (Chef suggests freezing mixture in individual portions.)
   
   
5. Remove from freezer and serve with chocolate sauce if desired.