St Patricks Day Celebration Food

St Patrick's Day Shot, Green Linguine 

Here's a fun St Patrick's day meal that not only looks great, it tastes great as well. This pasta is made with basil, garlic, parmesan and roasted pine nuts. Couple this with my St Paddy's cocktail shooter, your friends will be begging for more! If you've never layered a cocktail shooter before, don't despair as I have all the steps to help you through.

Firstly, to wet your appetite and greet your guests, this addictively good cocktail shooter only requires two ingredients. A simple Baileys liqueur layered over Creme De Menthe. Please, please, please - one of the biggest mistakes I see people do all the time with this cocktail is make it with Midori. It is NOT made with Midori <sigh> it is made with Creme De Menthe. You can get Creme De Menthe from any shop that sells liquor, and in the UK Sainsbury's stock it.

St Patrick's Day Drink with Derby Sage cheese

St Paddy's Day Cocktail Shooter

• Creme De Menthe
• Baileys

1. Fill half to two thirds of a shot glass with Creme De Menthe
2. Now at this stage I normally pour my Baileys into smaller milk jug so I can control the amount of liquor coming out.  
3. Get yourself a teaspoon, reverse it and hold very close to the surface of the creme de menthe (careful not to touch the liquid)  then slowly and carefully pour the Baileys down the back of the teaspoon to create the layer between the two liquids.  Make sure you pour the baileys into the middle of the creme de menthe and again, careful not to touch the menthe with your spoon. Fill until you have your cocktail shot. Serve to your guests

Layering the Baileys over the back of a tea spoon

Now for the main meal this is my St Paddy's Linguine which is a classic pasta prepared with a home made Genovese Pesto sauce. If you want to you can buy a pre-made pesto if you are short on time but I prefer to make mine by hand.

Green St Patrick's Day Linguine
100 grams of Basil Leaves (around 3-4 packs from supermarket)
3 Cloves Garlic
Half cup of toasted Pine nuts or two handfuls (pine nuts are normally sold raw so simply toast this in a dry pan until golden)
60 grams of freshly grated Parmesan
1 tablespoon Olive Oil
2 tsp Flaky Salt (salt is fine if none)
Pestle & Mortar
100 ml Single Cream
300-350 grams of Linguine

Basil leaves, pine nuts, parmesan and garlic

1. Take the basil, salt, garlic, pinenuts, parmesan and add them to your pestle and mortar and stir it round in a circular motion. You can add your basil in stages as it grinds down. Drizzle in olive oil a little at a time, but don't add too much, it shouldn't pool in the bowl at all, you are just trying to 'cream' the basil. This is a very long process and if you feel more comfortable blitzing in a blender, thats absolutely fine but in the recipe I'll be doing it by hand. It tastes better! Once done, it is ready to cook with the pasta.

Cream mixture together to create Pesto

1. Meanwhile bring a large saucepan of water to the boil and season it with a pinch of salt. When you have a rolling boil add your linguine and cook for 8-10 minutes.
2. When the linguine is ready (should be firm) add some oil to a large frypan on low heat, gently fry one clove of sliced garlic. Drain your linguine well and add to the saucepan. Quickly add your pesto sauce and mix thoroughly into the pasta. Increase the heat and add the cream at the end, mix through until the cream is fully incorporated and once heated through, serve with a small handful of toasted pine nuts. Your guests will be impressed.

For a post meal accompaniment have another round of shots with the special Derby cheese (mild cheese), green Sicilian Olives and grapes.

Don't forget to share this post with your friends! Slainte!

Linguine with pine nuts

Linguine Genovese Pesto