Cookbook:Colcannon

Colcannon
Category	Potato recipes
Difficulty

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Colcannon is a rich mashed potato dish with cabbage, butter, and other ingredients. It's very easy to make and is a nice change from ordinary mashed potatoes. 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
• Ground paprika
• 450 g white or savoy shredded cabbage
• 2 small leeks or 1 bunch of spring onion tops, chopped
• 125 g unsalted butter
• 200 g mature Gouda cheese, grated
• Salt
• Pepper

Procedure

1. Boil or steam the potatoes until soft, then shake the drained spuds in a deep pot with the lid on, until they crumble.
2. Mash the crumbled potatoes up with a fork and season with the salt, pepper, and mace/paprika, before stirring in the cream.
3. Add 100 g 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.
4. Blanch the cabbage in boiling water for 2 minutes and drain.
5. Fry the leeks in the remaining butter for a few minutes, then add the cabbage and toss around for a few more minutes.
6. Spoon the cabbage into the bowl and mix with the mashed potatoes.
7. Stir the gouda into the mix, leaving a little to coat the top. Put the bowl in an oven on 2/3 heat for 20 minutes or until the cheese is melted.

Notes, tips, and variations

• 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.
• 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.