Celebrate St. Patrick's Day with comforting cottage pie and apple cake

Catherine Fulvio, TV chef, food writer, author and proprietor of Ballyknocken Cookery School is stopping by the TODAY kitchen ahead of St. Patrick's Day. She's preparing two of her favorite traditional Irish recipes for the occasion: comforting, mashed potato-topped cottage pie with ground beef and a decadent apple cake with rich Irish cream sauce.

Cottage Pie by Catherine Fulvio

When in doubt about what to make for a comforting dish, my mother always returned to her family cottage pie recipe. Every time I taste this, it brings back so many fond memories of growing up here on the farm.

Irish Apple Cake with Irish Cream Sauce by Catherine Fulvio

We have an abundance of beautiful apple varieties in Ireland, so an apple cake is one delicious way to use them up. Every family would have their own take on apple crumble and apple cake.

If you like those irresistible Irish recipes, you should also try these:

Irish Champ by Catherine Fulvio

Beef and Guinness Stew by Catherine Fulvio

This article was originally published on TODAY.com