Ireland - Colcannon
With Saint Patrick’s Day this month, I thought it would be fun to celebrate by making a dish from Ireland!
While learning about colcannon, I read that a lot of Irish people use this recipe as a side dish, or they add things to it that they need to use up, such as leftover meats and veggies, to make it hearty enough to stand alone. I added bacon to my colcannon because I read that it’s a common add-in, but you can leave it out if you’d prefer to keep it vegetarian!
This dish was actually pretty easy to make and ended up being very filling and delicious. I’m definitely going to be revisiting colcannon in the future when I want a warm comfort meal. If you try it, let me know what you think!
What I used to make this dish (plus salt and pepper!)
Ingredients:
3 Pounds of Peeled Potatoes (Yukon Gold or Russet)
1 head of cabbage
1 Large Yellow Onion
Scallions to taste
1 Cup Warmed Milk
Stick of Butter
1 Pound of Bacon or Diced Ham
Salt and Pepper
Directions:
Wash and peel the potatoes, chopping them into halves or quarters
Place the potatoes in a pot and cover them in cold water. Bring the potatoes to a boil and then lower heat to a simmer. Let simmer for about 20 minutes, or until they are fork-tender
While the potatoes are cooking, start frying your bacon in a pan until it reaches your desired level of crispiness. Allow the bacon to cool and then chop it up into bite-size pieces. Do not throw out all of the bacon grease!
Wash and finely chop your yellow onion and green onions. Reserve some of the green onion for later
When bacon has finished cooking, sauté your onions in the same pan using some of the leftover grease as oil - cook until the yellow onion is translucent
While the onions are cooking, wash, core, and finely chop the head of cabbage
By now, the potatoes may be ready. Check that they are tender, then drain them in a strainer and allow them to rest for about 5 minutes. Letting the potatoes dry before mashing allows them to absorb more of the delicious butter later!
Add the cabbage to your pan of onions - add a couple pats of butter to the pan if needed. Cook this mixture until the cabbage is soft, and then add your chopped bacon. You can also season with some salt and pepper at this point. Remove from heat and set to the side.
Mash your potatoes with a fork or potato masher and mix in a cup of warm milk and about 6 tablespoons of butter. Continue mashing and stirring until the milk and butter have been mixed and absorbed.
Stir in your cabbage mixture and it’s ready!
Butter, Green onions, Fresh Parsley, Salt and Pepper all make wonderful toppings for this dish. Enjoy!
It smelled so good that Rollo wanted some, too. Sorry buddy!
