Colcannon
As the “Wearing of the Green” approaches, with the required Corned Beef and Cabbage, I’ll do as I usually do, ignore the “tradition” and go for the traditional.
Tradition calls for Corned Beef Brisket, Cabbage, Potatoes, Carrots, and the like to be dumped into a pot and boiled to oblivion. The results can be good, bad, or indifferent, not my pint of green beer.
Traditional calls for a slow-cooked Corn Beef Brisket, sliced and sided with a heavenly mixture of mashed potatoes, sauteed onions, and green cabbage.
For that extra flavor kick, I shall fry off some bacon, and crumple that as a mix in, but what I really want is several tablespoons of the drippings to sautee my onions and cabbage, along with other add-ins, a tsp of minced garlic comes to mind.
I use a technique in this recipe called steam drying; in this one, pour the hot water and potatoes through a colander, place the pot back on the stove (heat off), and then place the colander over the hot pot. This allows the potatoes to drain well and dry, and dry potatoes mash very well, with less of the starch ruptures that make mashed potatoes gluey, the fat and dairy will blend better as well. (Stolen from a certain celebrity chef, who will remain namless and naked.)
The leftovers, (leftovers?), can be pan fried the next morning as potato pancakes, or mixed with minced corned beef as a hash.
From Wikpiedia:
Colcannon is most commonly made with only four ingredients: potatoes, butter, milk and cabbage (or kale). Irish historian Patrick Weston Joyce defined it as “potatoes mashed with butter and milk, with chopped up cabbage and pot herbs”. It can contain other ingredients such as scallions (spring onions), leeks, laverbread, onions and chives. Some recipes substitute cabbage for kale. There are many regional variations of this staple dish. It was a cheap, year-round food. It is often eaten with boiled ham, salt pork or Irish bacon. As a side dish it goes well with corned beef and cabbage.
Colcannon
Ingredients
- 1 1 /12 lb Russet Potato approx. 3 large, peeled, cut large
- 2 lb Yukon Gold Potato approx. 3 large, peeled, cut large
- 6 slices Bacon Thick Cut
- 1/2 cup Heavy Cream or Sour Cream
- 1 ea Onion Medium, peeled, chopped
- 6 tbsp Butter unsalted
- 1/2 head Cabbage washed and chopped
- Salt and Pepper To Taste
Instructions
- Place potatoes in a large saucepan cover with lightly salted water. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat.
- Reduce the heat and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes or until fork tender.
- While the potatoes are cooking; cook off the bacon to a crispy state, crumple, and reserve.
- Strain via a colander and leave to steam dry for 3 minutes
- Return the potatoes to the pot and mash to desired consistancy
- Add the cream and 4 tbsp of butter, stir well to melt and incorporate. Cover and set aside.
- In the skillet reserve two tbsp of bacon drippings, and return to a medium heat.
- Add the onion and cook until tender. Add cabbage and cook until tender and lightly browned on the edges: approximately 7-8 minutes.
- Gently stir in the cabbage mixture and half of the chopped bacon into the potatoes
- Taste, Season, adding additional dairy as desired.
- Transfer to a serving bowl. Cut the remaining tablespoon of butter into pats. Make a small well on top and add the remaining butter.
- Top with the remaining chopped bacon.
Nutrition
Filed
under: Follow On, Fried, Irish, Pub Food, Quick, Sautee, Side Dish
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