I've always enjoyed St. Patrick's Day celebrations, but I guess that should be a "given", as my Mom's side of the family is Irish! Celebrations will be a bit more family-focussed this year, but that doesn't mean that you can't go all out, having a bit of fun with leprechauns, shamrock chips and rainbows leading to small pots of "gold".
In honouring Ireland this St Patrick's Day, I decided to create a Charcuterie Board featuring the colours of the Irish flag - green, white and orange. I used mainly fruits, veggies, cheese and dips, but couldn't help throwing in a few sweet treats - like the pot of "gold" (chocolate) at the end of the rainbow.
I also added a few Green Shamrock Tortilla Chips to the board (see "How-To" for Homemade Shamrock Chips below) for a bit of crunch and thematic glory.
If you follow along with My Kurated Life blog, you will know that I love to entertain with the seasons, celebrating the holidays with festive charcuterie boards. Charcuterie boards are a quick and easy crowd pleaser that always has at least one or two ingredients that appeals to a broad range of tastes and diets.
I paired this St. Patricke's Day Charcuterie Board with simple (cans and bottles, no cocktail mixing) Irish apertifs - Strongbow Cider and Guinness Stout. You can't go wrong with either of these choices. If you are lucky enough to find Guinness Lager where you live, give it a try! I thoroughly enjoyed it when I was in Ireland (and I'm not a huge lager fan) but can't find it anywhere in Vancouver, where I live.
The fun thing about building a charcuterie board is that you can include whatever you like. Below, I've included a list of ingredients I used when building my St. Patrick's Day Charcuterie Board, but I recommend you use what is available to you - get creative and have fun!
St. Patrick's Day Charcuterie Board
(assembly and amounts will vary depending on the size and shape of your board)
Green Ingredients
*cucumbers
*sugar/snap peas
*grapes
*shamrock shaped aged cheddar cheese
*guacamole
*matcha flavoured Kit Kat sticks
*shamrock pita chips (see below)
*optional: sliced green pepper rings (looks like shamrocks - also see my recipe for how I used pepper shamrock rings for Green Shamrock Eggs) or sliced green apples
White Ingredients
*white cheddar popcorn
*hummus
*yogurt covered pretzels
Orange Ingredients
*orange pepper shamrock rings
*carrot sticks
*cherry tomatoes
*orange slices (dried or fresh)
*orange Reese's Pieces
Other Ingredients:
*Irish flag cheese block
*gold foil chocolate coins
*rainbow colour jelly belly's
"How-To" Make Green Shamrock Chips, as seen on Pinterest
Ingredients
*large green spinach tortillas (I used 6) - some tortilla brands have more vibrant green tortillas - the colour will lighten as the chips cook, so go for very "green" tortillas
*1-2 tablespoons olive oil
*salt and pepper
*optional: seasoning - paprika, oregano, thyme - depends on who you are entertaining and which cheese/dips you are pairing
Method
Pre-heat oven to 400 degress.
Using a shamrock cookie cutter (sizes will vary) cut shamrocks out of green tortillas. Keep extra tortilla scraps for a de-constructed skillet enchilada - so good and easy!
Place tortilla shamrocks into a bowl. Add olive oil, salt and pepper (I kept mine simple) and toss to cover all shamrocks.
In a single layer, place shamrock tortillas on an oven-safe crisping pan (see image below - I used a pizza pan with holes). A cookie sheet is fine, however a pan with holes will allow the bottom of the shamrock to crisp as well. Bake for 7-10 minutes or until shamrocks become crispy. Be careful, shamrocks will burn, so keep your eye on them.
Allow Green Shamrock Chips to cool before adding to St. Patrick's Day Charcuterie Board.
As always, have fun and happy entertaining!
May the luck of the Irish be with you this year and always,
Krista xo
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