Becky's St. Paddy's Day Colcannon

Between watching Worst Cooks in America and talking to my proudly-Irish friend Erica, I discovered a new food that I was dying to taste.  Colcannon is an Irish staple dish mainly involving potatoes and cabbage or kale.  If you have leftovers, you can form pancakes and fry them up to make boxty.  I didn't have time on St. Paddy's Day to make the Guinness and lamb stew that I've tried in the past, but I did have time to mash some potatoes.

Finished colcannon.  Kale will bring a brighter green color to
your dish, but cabbage is also delicious!

My recipe was inspired by Anne Burrell and Erica L.

Ingredients:

8-10 medium potatoes, peeled
1 leek*
1/2 small head of cabbage, leaves separated*
6 oz shredded Irish cheddar (or to taste)
2 Tbsp. milk
1 Tbsp. butter
1 Tbsp. oil
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper


- Bring the potatoes to a boil and cooked them until they are soft enough to mash.

- Finely slice your cabbage and leek.  (I used a bias cut on the leek and a chiffonade cut for the cabbage.)

- Season your cabbage and leek with salt and pepper while you heat the oil in a sautee pan.  Quickly toss your greens in hot oil so that they wilt and become tender, but be careful not to overcook them.  Remove from heat.

- Strain your potatoes and mash them.  Add milk (more than 2 Tbsp. if necessary for desired consistency) and butter.  Slowly add your shredded cheddar cheese, so that it melts in the mixture.

- Add your greens to the mashed potatoes and mix well.

*You could substitute kale for cabbage, and scallion for leek.

Cut cabbage and leek, ready to be sauteed.  

Colcannon was a big hit with my family- and it was an easy way to get my son to eat more green vegetables, by mixing them in with the delicious mashed potatoes.  The leek and cabbage lend a wonderful flavor to the cheesy mashed potatoes, which honestly can get boring.  This made enough to leave us with plenty leftover, which we are going to turn into boxty potato pancakes.  If you try my version, tell me what you think!


-Becky