Cookbook:Colcannon
Cookbook | Recipes | Ingredients | Vegetable
| Cuisine of Ireland | Cuisine of Scotland
Colcannon is a rich mashed potato dish, with cabbage, butter and other ingredients.
This has always been a favorite in my house. It's very easy to make and is a nice change from ordinary mashed potatoes.
Irish Original
Colcannon is originally an Irish dish, a very rich and occasional treat. Its sloppiness is balanced by the crunch of the cabbage, and it should taste a little peppery.
Ingredients
- 450 g potatoes - floury Maris Piper or Golden Wonders are best; leave skin on if you want
- 150 ml single cream
- Mace/ Paprika
- 450 g shredded cabbage - white or savoy
- 2 small leeks, or a bunch of spring onion tops, chopped
- 125 g unsalted butter
- 200 g mature Gouda cheese grated
- Salt and pepper
Procedure
- Boil or steam the potatoes, until soft, then shake the drained spuds in a deep pot with the lid on, until they crumble. Mash the crumbled potatoes up with a fork and season with the salt, pepper and mace/paprika, before stirring in the cream. Add 100g of the butter in pieces and put the lid back on, leaving the butter to melt, then stir. Transfer the mix to a clean bowl.
- Blanch the cabbage in boiling water for 2 minutes and drain. Fry the leeks/onion tops in the remaining butter for a few minutes, then add the cabbage and toss around for a few more minutes. Spoon the cabbage into the bowl and mix with the mashed potatoes.
- Stir the gouda into the mix, leaving a little to coat the top, and put the bowl in an oven on 2/3 heat for 20 minutes or until the cheese is melted.
The Gouda is an innovation - leave it out, if you don't want the dish too rich. The oven heating is ideally done along with the final stage of your roast meat. Seasoning is very important: bear in mind that the cheese has plenty of salt. The perfect colcannon has a butter sogginess at the bottom of the bowl when removed from the oven.
Variation
Scottish Colcannon
This is from an old Scottish recipe still used frequently to this day.
- Equal amounts of cooked Potato and Cabbage.
- Butter.
- Salt and Pepper.
- Melt a piece of butter or dripping in a saucepan, allowing approximately one ounce to one pound vegetables.
- Mix all the ingredients together, heat throughly and serve.
Notes
- The mixture may be turned into a greased pie-dish, sprinkled with grated cheese, dotted with butter or margarine, and browned in a hot oven.
- Is especially good with dark greens such as savoy cabbage or kale.