Off to Ireland: Colcannon and St. Patrick’s Day
Off to Ireland with a bite of history:
Colcannon is originally an Irish dish of boiled potatoes and cabbage (or kale) mixed or mashed together. Colcannon comes from the Gaelic “cal ceannann “, which literally means white-headed cabbage but “- cannon” has been translated sometimes as onion, garlic and leek also.
It has been typically eaten on St. Patrick’s day, however, it also was eaten at Halloween AND used in regards to marriage/marriage proposals! Men would hide charms in the bowl of colcannon, if a lucky, unmarried girl found it they would be engaged!
Other ladies would fill their socks with colcannon, hanging the socks from the handle of their front door. They would then hope that the first man through the door would become their future husband.
Okay, back to the dish! It’s usually flavored with onions of some format, either shallots or leeks, and of course copious amounts of cream or butter are in the dish too. Irish bacon was added, which is somewhat of a mix (in terms of lean/fat ratio) of our typical pork bacon today and Canadian ham (bacon).
Curious to know more bites of history?! Check out European Food Archaeology
This week I just had to make something Irish. Kale is an amazing vegetable and I will definitely sub it in next time I try this recipe ( cheers to being healthier).
I had two cans of cabbage (I don’t recall why honestly) that have been taking up space in my cabinet for too long. I also already had some regular bacon in the fridge that I wanted to use, as well as 3 sweet potatoes. I had been unsure of what I wanted to do with the sweet potatoes for about a week now.
Colcannon to the rescue!
You could also purchase pre-chopped cabbage, depending on your time and budget parameters. Initially, my inspiration was soup-style recipes like this one here at Epicurious.
Here is my own version.
Ingredients:
• 3 slices bacon (Pork Bacon, Irish Bacon, Canadian bacon)
• 1 medium shallot, finely chopped
• 3 medium sweet potatoes, cut into cubes approx. ½ inch thick
2 cans, 10 oz., Cabbage, seasoned
- or 1 small head Savoy cabbage, cored, thinly sliced, and cut into strips plus 2 teaspoons kosher salt and 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Preparation:
In a large pot, use med-high heat to cook bacon slices. Remove bacon onto paper towel to remove excess grease. Drain grease from large pot. Chop shallots, potatoes and crumble bacon.
Add chopped shallots to the pot, reducing heat to low-medium. Drain cabbage if using canned.
When shallots have browned, add cabbage to pot, chopped potatoes, and bacon. Cover and simmer for approximately 15 minutes.
St. Patrick’s Day this year had apparently inspired me to make all kinds of things green this week!
Pesto and Pasta..
That is Sherman the cookie jar, behind all the pesto ingredients.
Vega Sport Smoothie and Sherman
Sage Madeira-style Chicken
Tuna Noodle Casserole with Spinach and Peas
I’m green with envy, but not so much for this one ..
Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
What are your plans and do they involve celebrating ?
