St. Patrick’s Day – Mel's Mosaic

It’s St. Patrick’s Day, another storm hit the area, which means there is no work. It even means I don’t get to teach class at the gym tonight. So, after meeting a friend for lunch (and walking there and back in the nice (?) slush and snow to attempt getting a workout) I was on a mission to get a (n)ice cold beer for the day. I stopped by a great local beer store in Bethesda, Beer, Wine & Co. to see what I could snag one bottle of vs. a 6-pack. Of course I couldn’t get Guinness or Harp in a single, so a bottle by great local brewer, Flying Dog, was suggested. It was their Lucky SOB Irish Style Red. Very nice and perfect for the day. Just a traditional red, crisp and what I wanted. And, they say it’s brewed with 4-leaf clovers, you can never go wrong with that!

Last night I wanted to make a pre-St. Patrick’s Day dinner, color-wise. I had done an Irish brunch so needed something lighter but wanted a green theme. I assessed what I had in my kitchen and off I went.

Started with some green olives to nibble on while prepping. Then went for some scallops with ginger, garlic and green onions, some Brussels sprouts (with pistachios) and arugula with grapefruit.

The key to the taste of this was some sesame oil!

Put some of that in a pan then added the green onions, garlic and ginger. My kitchen smelled SO good.

Then, I purposely used a big pan to (1) save time and (2) get some of those amazing, drool inducing flavors/tastes into both the scallops and Brussels sprouts.

Wanted to add some (more) tang to my arugula salad so added some grapefruit.

While all this was happening, had some kale chips going — just tore some kale, tossed in olive oil, sprinkled with salt and baked at 400 for 10 minutes. I put the kale on a rack so I don’t have to flip it.

Opened up a red from Italy that I’d had for awhile to serve with dinner — amazing! Osel Ruche.

Final product all around was AMAZING. Plenty of green on the plate — green kale, green arugula, green Brussels sprouts, green pistachios (tossed with them), green onions, green olives for apps. Love just throwing stuff together!