Colcannon (side dish or one-dish meal)

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>Vegetable Mashed Potatoes

 

Oooohh, I will definitely be making this one the first chance i get!

I'm drooling

just reading it. Thanks for sharing it!

 

The Irish, as registered kale freaks as well as potato-lovers,

have been doing something a _/little/ _bit similar to this called

colcannon

for centuries. Heck, there's even a song about it, wonderfully recorded /

a capella/ by Mary Black and family. Well, I'm mostly Irish-American,

and it must be genetic, 'cause I can't get enough of the stuff.

 

Here's the fast version, maybe 20 minutes. It's my first time writing it

down, so I'm guessing about amounts, but it's hard to make this wrong.

 

COLCANNON (short form)

 

3 or 4 large peeled, chopped potatoes (see NOTE below)

One package frozen kale

5 or 6 green onions (scallions), root tip and dark green

parts removed, split in half or quarters lengthwise

 

1/2 to 2/3 cup or so of half-and-half, light cream, sour cream or

soy creamer--it's gotta be rich, but heavy cream would

kill ya..

Butter

salt and pepper

OPTIONAL: A can of veggie broth--Swanson's is great, but most

big chains have a store brand

 

Cook kale in 2 c. water (or the veggie broth) just till completely thawed.

Add potatoes and green onions, and a LITTLE extra liquid if needed to

cook it all. (Sorry, I do this by eye. The water shouldn't be up over the

'taters, but you should be able to see it..) Simmer, covered, till

everything

is tender but not mushy, and most of the liquid is gone. Drain off some if

there's more than maybe half a cup. (Drink it--it's great!)

 

Mash gently with the cream, salt and pepper, and plenty of butter. Don't

use a mixer or food processor; if you don't have a potato masher, just

use a big spoon, This won't be as smooth as mashed potatoes anyway.

 

NOTE:: Potatoes are extremely nutritious; and you really can live almost

entirely on them and greens for years, as my ancestors sometimes did;

between them they have enough of everything, including protein and

vitamin C, to get by on and still work a hard day. But we now know that a

lot of the nutrients are in the skins, which they fed to the animals.

So it can

be worth it to look for thinner-skinned 'taters (not bakers or russets),

use

more than 3 or 4 if they're small, chop 'em a bit smaller, and leave the

peelings on.

 

But for extra protein and the benefits of soy, crumble tofu into the

veggies

near the end of their cooking time.

 

Number served? Well, how hungry are ya?

 

" Colcannon " , Irish traditional song:

Did ya ever make colcannon, maid, with lovely pickled cream,

Where the greens and scallions mingle like a picture in a dream?

Did ya ever make a hole on top to hold a meltin' flake

Of the creamy-flavored butter that our mothers used to make?

Oh ya did, so ya did, so did he and so did I,

And the more I think about it, sure, the nearer I'm to cry.

Oh, where are then the happy days when troubles we knew not,

And our mothers made colcannon in the little skillet pot?

 

Rain

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