Colcannon
Happy St. Patty’s Day everyone! I am pretty sure there is not an ounce of Irish blood in me however, it’s still fun to celebrate no? This year I’m going to celebrate with some Guinness of course and since eating is important when consuming Guinness, I am also celebrating by enjoying this traditional Irish dish. And as with any traditional dish, there are many variations of colcannon out there but there are a couple of things that will definitely be in each recipe: potatoes and cabbage. Oh and butter, lots of butter.
For those of you that have had colcannon before, you may notice that I took a little liberty with my version. First of all I decided to add bacon, because well I like bacon. Next, if the scrumptious crispy bacon wasn’t enough, I decided to sautee the onions, garlic and cabbage in the left over pan drippings before stirring them into the creamy mashed potatoes. Drool.
If you’d like to make this vegetarian, and perhaps a little more traditional, don’t use the bacon and instead use a tablespoon of olive oil.
Ingredients:
6 slices bacon, diced into 1 inch pieces
5 medium russet potatoes, peeled and diced
1/4 cup butter, plus 1 tablespoon for serving
1/2 cup milk
1/2 medium onion, diced
1 clove garlic
1 small head cabbage, cored and chopped small
3 green onions, chopped
Instructions:
Brown bacon in a large skillet. Transfer to a paper towel lined plate and set aside. Remove pan from heat and reserve 1 tablespoon of pan drippings.
Meanwhile, place potatoes in a pot with the water just barely covering the top. Bring to a boil and cook until fork tender. Drain. Return to pan and add 1/4 cup butter and milk. Mash with a potato masher. Turn burner to low and cover to keep warm while you prepare the cabbage.
Return bacon pan to stove and heat over medium heat. Add onions, garlic and cabbage to reserved bacon drippings. Stir to combine. Cover and cook for 15 - 20 minutes or until cabbage is soft.
Stir cabbage mixture into warmed potatoes. Stir in reserved bacon pieces and green onion. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Transfer to a serving bowl, top with remaining tablespoon of butter. Serve.
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