St. Patrick's Day Dinner

Dublin Lawyer:

12-14 oz. lobster tails
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup whipping cream
1/2 cup Irish whiskey
Salt and pepper to taste

Heat whiskey to just over room temperature, about 90 degrees or so. Remove the lobster meat from tails and cube. Melt butter over low heat in a large saute pan, and when it begins to foam, increase heat and add the lobster meat as butter browns. When just cooked, add whiskey and stir vigorously for several seconds. Flambe. Immediately add cream, salt, and pepper, and reduce cream sauce until thick.

Irish Potato Cakes:

8 parts potato
2 part flour
1 part butter
Salt, pepper, small amounts of cayenne pepper and lemon zest
Chives to taste

Boil unpeeled potatoes; allow them to cool and then peel them. Mash potatoes thoroughly and add spices. In small increments, fold in butter and flour. Dough should be easily pliable. Form mixture into small, flat cakes (less than half an inch thick) and pan-fry on dry (or, if you prefer, lightly buttered) surface.

Colcannon:

Oh, come on. I'm not making colcannon tonight. I'm not really Irish. It'll be green beans, the thin French kind that high-end restaurants call haricots verts.

Dessert is a three-berry parfait with whipped cream flavored with Bailey's.

Happy St. Patrick's Day, everyone!