Another Irish dish Colcannon

Photo by Madeline L.

OK... I had never heard of this before, but I mentioned to my husband that we were making corned beef and he said we should try colcannon. He saw it on a cooking show and thought it looked interesting. I looked online and there are many different ways to make it, you can use potatoes and cabbage or potatoes and kale for instance, and many different ways to spell it (Col Cannon, Kohl Cannon). There is even a difference of opinion on where the dish originated from. Some say it is from Scotland others Ireland and I even found a few places that stated it was German. I did finally find a recipe that sounded good partly because they took the liberty of adding bacon, which is probably not very authentic, but sounded tasty. I found the recipe on about.com kids cooking.

Colcannon
3 pounds russet potatoes (I used small red)
1 Tbsp. olive oil (I used the left over bacon grease, see below)
1 small onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 cups shredded cabbage (or kale)
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup butter, divided
1/3 cup half and half
2 slices cooked bacon

Peel and dice potatoes. Place in a large pot and cover with water by one inch. Bring to a boil, covered, over high heat. Remove cover, reduce heat to medium, and allow potatoes to cook 12-15 minutes, until tender when softened, about 3 minutes. Add cabbage, season with salt and pepper, and cook until soft, about 5 minutes. Drain potatoes and return to pot. Season with salt and pepper. Add two tablespoons of the butter and the half and half. Mash. Fold in the cabbage mixture and the bacon. Top with the remaining butter.