If You Like Creamy Mashed Potatoes, You’ll Love This Irish Potato and Cabbage Recipe

An Irish favourite, colcannon combines potatoes and greens right into a hearty mash. Whereas within the US it’s grow to be a mainstay for St. Patrick’s day celebrations, in Eire it’s a dish deeply linked to and historically served on Halloween (though additionally loved year-round). It’s the right accomplice for sausages and a pint of beer, but additionally simply nearly as good on the household dinner desk as a aspect for corned beef or baked ham; topped with a fried egg or some smoked salmon; and even alongside a easy inexperienced salad to finish a filling meal.

Colcannon emerged as a staple meals in Eire by the mid-18th century, in line with Smithsonian Journal. The title colcannon probably originated from the Gaelic phrase cal ceannann, which suggests “white-headed cabbage.” Like many different Irish potato dishes, colcannon was created as a resourceful solution to rework humble potatoes right into a filling aspect dish utilizing numerous out there substances. On this vein, it was typically made with no matter greens had been available to complement the potatoes—cabbage, broccoli leaves, kale, sorrel, watercress, or extra. It’s a recipe that’s as adaptable and frugal as it’s scrumptious. 

On this recipe beneath, our Birmingham-based check kitchen colleague Jasmine Smith has created the richest, most hearty model attainable. The important thing to creating nice colcannon is to start out with completely boiled potatoes—all the higher to take in extra butter and milk.

For the creamiest mash, Jasmine discovered that medium-starch yellow potatoes (equivalent to Yukon Golds) labored finest. Yellow potatoes have simply the correct quantity of starch (lower than starchy russets, however greater than small waxy new potatoes) to make sure the right thick but silky mashed texture. When cooked, the starch granules inside the potato cells take in water and swell, and a few cells inevitably burst, releasing a gluey gel that helps give the mashed potatoes simply the correct quantity of cohesiveness. Hold the potato chunks in massive items in order that they don’t grow to be water-logged when boiled. 

Whereas the potatoes could look like the star of the present, colcannon’s taste comes from the added butter, milk, and greens. We selected garlic and scallions to construct an fragrant allium base earlier than sautéing the cabbage. Whereas we love cabbage for its impartial taste and accessibility on this recipe, actually you could possibly substitute any most well-liked inexperienced, like kale or Swiss chard; simply make sure to nonetheless totally wilt no matter inexperienced you select earlier than folding them into the potatoes.

On prime of the basic alliums and cabbage, although, we sneak in one other (non-obligatory) ingredient: seaweed. Whereas seaweed isn’t conventional in colcannon, we prefer it for the delicate vegetal umami depth it provides to the mash. Plus, seaweed has been utilized in Irish cooking for hundreds of years. In her cookbook From Forgotten Abilities of Cooking, Darina Allen factors out what number of types of seaweed “have been a part of the food plan of coastal peoples since time immemorial.” In recent times it’s regained reputation with younger Irish cooks.

Whereas the seaweed is non-obligatory, we consider it’s what units this model aside from so many others. Laver seaweed, bought in dried darkish inexperienced sheets labeled as nori, is crisp, comparatively delicate, barely saline, with roasted, smoky, almost nutty notes. It pairs effectively with the hearty potatoes on this mash. So as to add it to the mash, we finely chop it after which steep it within the milk combination till the seaweed is softened and the milk is infused with a briny, umami-rich taste. 

Whether or not you add the seaweed or not, make certain to not neglect to stud the highest of the new mash with pads of butter to soften and pool throughout. It is the ultimate step that ensures these are potatoes you’re certain to like.

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