Take one bottle of Guinness

It is St Patricks Day which is always a lot of fun and always makes me think of Guinness, green beautiful lands and laughter.  I love celebrating different 'days' and celebrations and St Patricks day is absolutely no exception. 

As St Patricks Day falls on a Friday this year I thought of nibbles and hand food rather than the more traditional sit down meals of deep rich beautiful stews.  I was inspired to take a bottle of Guinness and make a Guinness bbq sauce which is lovely on burgers, wings and ribs and totally fabulous for Friday food.  With my remaining Guinness I made a gorgeous cake, topped with a Baileys cream.  So divine for everything other than my hips!

One bottle of Guinness would make half the quantity of bbq sauce plus the cake or it would make the wings or burger as well as the cake.  If you are not keen on Guinness don't worry, the sugar in the dishes really temper the bitter stout and you are just left with the deep rich luscious flavour.

We have tried the sauce with Irish homemade beef burgers and meat free burgers, both really shone and were utterly delicious. It would also go with ribs, the key to cooking any protein with this bbq sauce is to remember that the sauce has a fair amount of sugar and so will burn if you put it on too early so, cook your protein and then add the sauce for the last few minutes.

Other wonderful Irish dishes we love is a beef and Guinness stew and colcannon.

Whatever you do this evening to celebrate, enjoy.