St. Patrick’s day is nearly upon us and I for one couldn’t be more excited. Of course, I plan on celebrating the traditional way by drinking excessively while celebrating my Irish heritage. But what I’m most looking forward to is the food. You see despite growing up in a family with Irish roots we rarely if ever made traditional Irish food. But every St. Patrick’s day my mother would make a huge Irish feast to celebrate the occasion. And while the dishes would vary from year to year she would always make a big hearty bowl of colcannon.
What is Colcannon?
This should come as a shock to absolutely no one, but Irish cuisine is chock full of potato recipes. You have boxty which is essentially potato pancakes, farl which is a type of potato bread, and of course regular old mashed potatoes. But even something as simple as mashed potatoes can be transformed into a number of different dishes, most notably colcannon.
To make the dish you first have to boil some potatoes in a pot and drain them through a colander. However, before you start mashing the cooked potatoes with an assortment of dairy products you add in chopped cabbage and green onions to make colcannon. The two ingredients are first sauteed to soften them up and are then mashed along with the potatoes to fully incorporated them into the dish. And while it might seem like a simple change, but it really does transform the dish into something completely different.
Tips, Tricks & Suggestions
- Colcannon traditionally uses a mixture of green onions and cabbage. However, it is not uncommon for other types of leafy greens to be used instead of cabbage. Stuff like kale, collard greens, and chard are all acceptable alternatives to cabbage.
- Add in a little bit of cream cheese as we do in our recipe for creamy mashed potatoes for a richer dish.
- Check out some of our Irish recipes like Guinness Beef Stew, Irish Soda Bread, Classic Irish Coffee, and Bangers & Mash.
Colcannon Recipe
Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 40 minutes
Servings: 6
Ingredients
3 Lbs of potatoes, peeled and cut into 2-inch sized chunks
8 Tablespoons of butter
3 Cups of cabbage, roughly chopped
4 Green onions, roughly chopped
1 Cup of milk, half & half, or cream
Salt & pepper to taste
Instructions
- Boil the potatoes: Place the peeled chunks of potatoes in a large pot and cover them with water. Add about 1 teaspoon of salt to this water and place the pot over high heat. Let the potatoes boil in the water for 20 to 30 minutes or until they are tender and easily pierced by a fork.
Drain the cooked potatoes out of the pot and set them aside.
- Sautee the cabbage and green onion: Melt 4 Tablespoons of butter in the same pot over medium heat and add in the chopped cabbage. Sautee the cabbage for about 5 minutes or until it has softened and has released some of its water content. Then add in the green onions and continue to saute for another minute.
- Make the colcannon: Add the potatoes back to the pot along with the remaining 4 tablespoons of butter and ¼ cup of the milk or cream. Then use a potato masher to mash the potatoes and mix them into the greens, butter, and milk/cream.
At this point, you can slowly add in more milk/cream, ¼ cup at a time, until the potatoes are the consistency that you prefer. Finish the colcannon by adding salt and pepper to taste.
- Serve the colcannon in a bowl and enjoy!
Colcannon Recipe
Equipment
- potato masher
Ingredients
- 3 Lbs of potatoes peeled and cut into 2-inch sized chunks
- 8 Tablespoons of butter
- 3 Cups of cabbage roughly chopped
- 4 Green onions roughly chopped
- 1 Cup of milk half & half, or cream
- Salt & pepper to taste
Instructions
- Boil the potatoes: Place the peeled chunks of potatoes in a large pot and cover them with water. Add about 1 teaspoon of salt to this water and place the pot over high heat. Let the potatoes boil in the water for 20 to 30 minutes or until they are tender and easily pierced by a fork. Drain the cooked potatoes out of the pot and set them aside.
- Sautee the cabbage and green onion: Melt 4 Tablespoons of butter in the same pot over medium heat and add in the chopped cabbage. Sautee the cabbage for about 5 minutes or until it has softened and has released some of its water content. Then add in the green onions and continue to saute for another minute.
- Make the colcannon: Add the potatoes back to the pot along with the remaining 4 tablespoons of butter and ¼ cup of the milk or cream. Then use a potato masher to mash the potatoes and mix them into the greens, butter, and milk/cream. At this point, you can slowly add in more milk/cream, ¼ cup at a time, until the potatoes are the consistency that you prefer. Finish the colcannon by adding salt and pepper to taste.
- Serve the colcannon in a bowl and enjoy!
