anniversary colcannon

Two years ago, Ben and I wed. October 1, 2006 was a pretty day, warmer than today and almost overwhelmingly sunny. We said lovely things to one another and made some heavy promises.


And, of course, we had some really awesome food. Our friend Becky catered the wedding and among the many selections was a little dish that we chose to celebrate our heritage. In case you can't guess by our general coloring, we share strong Irish genes, with a bit of other stuff mixed in to keep it interesting. To honor our shared cultural background, Becky made a big serving of colcannon. A traditional Irish dish often served at holidays and especially served - with special coin prizes - on Halloween, colcannon is composed of potatoes and kale, cabbage or other leafy greens. The recipe below isn't Becky's, but it's almost as good as the one we ate two years ago today.

Recipe: Colcannon
serves 6

Ingredients
6-7 large russet potatoes (4-5 pounds) - peeled
3-4 green scallions, sliced
2/3 - 3/4 stick of butter, plus more for dotting on top
1 smaller head of green cabbage or 3 bunches of kale
1 cup of milk or cream, if you're feeling sassy, heated either way
salt and pepper

Get to work
Set up a steamer insert in a big pot of boiling water. Steam the peeled potatoes until they are fork-tender and ready to be mashed. Many people will advocate just boiling the potatoes, but this steaming method is worth the extra time - the potatoes taste so much better after steaming. Don't throw out the boiling water - you'll use it for the cabbage or kale. Drain the potatoes, put them in a big bowl - you'll be mashing in this bowl - and add in the scallions and the butter to melt. Cover the bowl to keep warm.

Core the cabbage and cut into thin slices. If you're using kale, just cut in thin slices, removing the bottoms of the leaves. Add the sliced cabbaged or kale to the boiling water and cook for 3 to 5 minutes, until the leaves are just cooked. Be careful not to overcook them - a little bit of bite in the stocky parts is okay, but overcooked leaves are not. Drain the cabbage, let it cool a bit and squeeze out any remaining moisture.

Mash the potatoes, scallions, and butter with the milk or cream, adding plenty of salt and pepper to taste. Use only a potato masher, not a ricer and certainly not a blender. (The best kind of masher - what we would call a Catholic masher in my family - doesn't have a wiry squiggle for mashing, rather the Catholic masher has a grid pattern and a sturdy construction.) Stir in the cabbage or kale. Top the whole mix with 3 or 4 pats of butter, to form lovely streams of butter over the top of the dish.

Variation: Bump it up a notch and make rumpledethumps by adding some sharp, shredded cheddar and a bit of nutmeg to the top of the colcannon and pop it under the broiler or in a toasty oven until the cheese melts and bubbles a bit. A bit of parsley on top would be good, too.