Irish Colcannon is a traditional meal or side-dish. It’s easy and doesn’t take too long. It’s filled with vitamins and it tastes great, too!
Traditionally, this dish would be served on Halloween, and a ring or charm placed in the meal. The unmarried woman who found this trinket would be the next to marry. Another legend goes that an unmarried woman would save the first and last spoonful of colcannon and place it in socks, hung on either side of her front door. The next man to enter the house would be the man she would marry. I’m already happily married, but it would be interesting to note what the cafeteria at work was serving the day Phil asked me out!
To make this Irish Colcannon as a meal or side-dish, gather these things from your kitchen:
- Potatoes, enough to feed the family
- Crinkly cabbage (savoy), about the same weight
- 1 Onion, finely chopped
- Milk, if necessary
- Butter
- Salt and pepper, to taste
And here is how to make your colcannon:
1) Peel and boil the potatoes
2) While the potatoes are cooking, chop the cabbage into small pieces.
3) When the potatoes are almost done, cook the cabbage until it is just done, it will be bright green, just like the hills of the Emerald Isle.
4) When the potatoes are done, drain and mash them. Add the cabbage. If the mash is too stiff, add a splash of milk.
5) Melt a little butter or oil in a frying pan and add the onion until it’s softened and then mix it into the potato and cabbage.
6) Add a little more oil/butter to the frying pan and when it is very hot, add the mix and flatten it out over the pan.
7) Fry until it is brown, then cut it into rough pieces and continue to fry until they it is crisp and brown.
8) Serve your Irish Colcannon in bowls or as a side dish.
We had some additional veggies on our plates, but they didn’t make it into the photo. A nice, healthy meal, even if it did sound as if someone was playing a Lambeg drum in the house during night (Kallista is learning to say ‘excuse me’ after passing wind, which she shouts very loudly, so it’s amusing to us all at the moment)!
Is it just me, or is it a bit strange that such a meal has had links to marriage attached to it…?
For another tasty Northern Irish potato recipe, click here for Champ! To see all of our Irish activities head over to our St. Patrick’s Day page, or see our Halloween page for more ideas, or follow us on Pinterest.
