Irish

Chicken flavored with ham or bacon is an age-old Irish marriage. At Drimcong House in Moycullen, Ireland, the combination is translated into a stunning contemporary dish. Ask your butcher to skin and bone the chicken legs for you, which will make this easier to prepare.

Canola oil replaces butter in this light version of a classic.

This soup is related to brotchán foltchep, a classic leek and oatmeal soup (also known as brotchán roy) that combines leeks, oatmeal and milk. This version is thickened with potatoes instead of oatmeal and flavored with chicken stock instead of milk. Serve it with savory whole wheat scones or slices of brown soda bread.

Made with a mixture of cooked and raw potatoes, boxty was created as a way to use a few readily available ingredients to produce different results. It can take shape as bread, pancakes or dumplings. The recipe has been popular for so long that one traditional rhyming song goes, "Boxty on the griddle, boxty on the pan; if you can't make boxty, you'll never get a man." The households that didn't have a store-bought grater improvised by using nails to punch grating holes into a box or flattened tin can. Boxty is most often made as a griddle bread, served with bacon and eggs for a special breakfast treat.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Here's a delicious specialty from The Gallic Kitchen in Dublin, Ireland, a small, bright pâtisserie with excellent sweet and savory goods.

It's interesting, sophisticated fare like this that keeps Roly's Bistro constantly crowded. Restaurateur Roly Saul and chef Colin O'Daly are Dublin fixtures.

A classic lamb preparation from the Temple House in Ballymote, Ireland. Mint adds a nice touch to the puree.

Translated from medieval Scottish, farl means, "the fourth part." In this version, quartered rounds of dark bread are sweetened with treacle, which is similar to molasses, and lightly spiced with ginger. The mixture may occasionally include a handful of raisins or other dried fruit, but the bread is always served sliced and buttered, with a cup of tea.

This lovely treat is usually filled with simple whipped cream and presented at teatime. Inspired by a dessert from Ballymaloe Cookery School, this one is dressed up with luscious coffee-whiskey cream and coffee-flavored meringues.

Barm brack is a dark and fruity yeast-raised cake (barm means "yeast"; brack means "speckled"). Tea brack is the much more common baking powder version.

A warming and filling main-course soup.

"I have never had a better dessert than the sticky toffee pudding at Beginish Restaurant in Dingle, Ireland," writes Judith Gilbard of Forest Hills, New York. "I hadn’t heard of the restaurant before this visit, so I was pleased to stumble across such a find. Do you think the owners, John and Pat Moore, would share their recipe?" At the restaurant, this dessert is served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Considered a luxury in the nineteenth century, this ice cream has flourished in the past decade and has become a modern classic in Irish restaurants. But it is easy to prepare at home, too, because the recipe does not require an ice cream maker. In this version of the ice cream, the breadcrumbs are turned into a praline.

"When I was a small child, my father used to take my elder brother and me to New York City for St. Patrick's Day," writes Stephanie Foley of Massapequa, Long Island. "We would spend the morning marching in the parade while my mother, back in Long Island, prepared a feast of corned beef, cabbage, and potatoes. But what we all truly looked forward to was her Irish soda bread. It's savory and substantial — and unlike any other I have tried. I hope you all enjoy it as much as we do."

Irish chefs are gifted at making something special out of the simplest ingredients. This pretty side dish is a good example.

This corned beef recipe is simple to make, but you’ll need to plan at least a week before St. Patrick’s Day to get it on the table.