Holy Irish Boxty with Rainbow Fruit Salad

Boxty, sausage and fruit salad make a perfectly Irish breakfast ideal for celebrating St. Patrick's Day!

According to Whats4Eats.com, Boxty are Irish potato cakes that are fried or baked before serving.  They are a staple of any Irish kitchen and the pride of any Irish woman who makes them well.  The word boxty comes from the Gaelic bac-stai, where "bac" is a shelf over a "stai," or open fire, where it was originally cooked.  And, if you get someone talking about their boxty, you might hear them say:

Boxty on the griddle, boxty on the pan.
If you can't make boxty, you'll never get your man.

For a long time, we have not been able to eat potatoes because my angel was allergic.  In fact, just a brush with the juice of the potato sent her skin into a swelling rash.  But, things are changing and we can now eat limited amounts of potatoes without any problems.  So, this year, I have come up with an allergy-safe version of boxty for us to cook up.  For those of you who might still have the potato allergies, try my No-Potato Chive Latke; they are sure not to disappoint!

Holy Irish Boxty
5 potatoes
4 T chopped chives, may be freeze-dried
1 T salt
1 C rice flour
1 C water
rice oil for frying

1. Fill a medium stock pot with water and add a dash of salt.
2. Peel 3 potatoes, dice them and place them in the water.
3. Bring the water to boil and cook until the potatoes are just soft.
4. Remove potatoes from the water and mash them in a bowl.
5. Peel the last 2 potatoes and grate into a sieve.
6. Press the water out of the potatoes with your hands.  You may want to put the potatoes in a kitchen towel and twist the towel until the water is out but I found the sieve works just as well.
7. Add the chives, salt, and flour.  Mix well.
8. Add the water and stir until a thick pancake batter forms.  You may add water if necessary.
9. Heat a little rice oil in the bottom of a nonstick skillet.
10. Pour 1/2 C portions onto the pan and spread into a pancake.  Cook until the first side is brown, adding oil if needed.  Flip.
11. Cook the second side until the pancake is cooked all through and brown.  The pancakes do best is only flipped once so be patient; you may have to practice until you get the hang of it.

Rainbow Fruit Salad

This fruit salad can be made with any fruits that you like.  I have listed my combination along with suggestions for other fruits that you might prefer.  And, if you are managing multiple allergies in multiple people, try placing each fruit in its own bowl and grouping them together on the table.  Whether mixed together or served separately, it is fun to find all of the colors of the rainbow!



Choose one fruit from each color group and prepare as indicated:

RED: 
1/2 mini watermelon, remove flesh with a melon baller
6 strawberries, remove tops and quarter
1 apple with red skin, cut into 1/2 inch pieces

YELLOW: 
2 champagne mangoes, cut flesh into 1/2 inch pieces
1 banana, peel, slice lengthwise and slice
1/4 pineapple, core and cut into 1/4 inch pieces

ORANGE: 
1 orange, peel, remove segments and preserve juice
1/4 cantaloupe, peel, seed and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 persimmon, peel, seed and cut into 1/4 inch pieces
2 apricots, peel and cut into 1/4 inch pieces

GREEN: 
2 kiwi, peel and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 C grapes, remove from stem and cut in half
1 C kiwi berries, wash
2 pears with green skin, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1/4 honeydew melon, peel, seed and cut into 1/2 inch pieces

BLUE: 
1 1/2 C blueberries

PURPLE: 
1 C grapes, remove from stems and cut in half
3 figs, remove stems and quarter
2 plums, cut flesh into 1/4 inch pieces

1. Place one fruit of each color in a bowl and toss.  If pears, apples or bananas are turning brown, add a little orange or lemon juice to stop the oxidation.

This YouTube.com video by Andrew Zimmerman of Cooking Club of America is a great demonstration of how to easily remove orange segments: