Are you looking for a traditional Irish recipe? Try this fantastically simple Irish ham and potatoes recipe for dinner, which leaves delicious leftovers too!

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When I’m planning this dinner, I ask the butcher for a large piece of ham, not too cured. It is worth cooking a larger piece than you would normally get for just one meal, as the leftovers are fantastic and can be eaten cold or transformed into another meal.

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Irish Ham and Potatoes Recipe

Ingredients:

• 2lbs ham, not too cured
• Potatoes
• Carrots
• Butter
• Flour
• Milk
• Fresh parsley

Method:

1. Fill a large pot with cold water then put the ham inside. Bring the pot to the boil and the salt content in the ham seeps out. The water takes on a slick appearance.with speckles of blue dancing over the top from the cure.
2. Covered, simmer the ham for 90 minutes. As it simmers white bubbles of froth form and disappear back into the water.
3. Add the potatoes into the bubbling pot with the ham as the water will impart a little seasoning and flavour to the potatoes. You could also do them separately if you prefer.
4. Leave the potatoes for 15 minutes, then add the roughly chopped carrots for the last 10-12 minutes before removing the pot from the heat.
5. In a smaller saucepan, melt butter, a little flour and cook it off, then bit by bit add a half-and-half mixture of warm milk and some decanted cooking liquor from the boiling pot.
6. At this point my mother would add finely chopped parsley. I don’t have enough in the garden quite yet to do it so I sprinkle leaves on the plate of food before serving.

This is the food that my mother cooked, my grandmother cooked and their ancestors before them. Wholesome, nourishing, frugal and high in nutrients.

P.S. When Himself asked me what was for dinner I replied “Yum, Yum”. He knew instantly what we would be eating!

This recipe, and more, is available on Wholesome Ireland

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