Quick & Easy Colcannon 🇮🇪

 

Tuscan kale grows all year round at the North Fremantle Social Farm where volunteers always find some to harvest each week to give to St Pat's, the local charity organisation which provides meals to people in need.  This nutritious, dark green leafy vegetable with robust texture and an earthy taste has a long tradition in Italian cuisine.  I am using them for Colcannon, an Irish potato dish.  Boil potatoes in salted water until they are tender, then toss in the chopped kale for a minute or so.  Drain, add milk, a little butter or olive oil, spring onions and mash everything together.  Cooked in one pan in a flash, you'd be thinking, 'Why have ordinary mashed potatoes when you can have Colcannon?'  It goes well with fried eggs and crispy bacon, sausages and baked beans, roast vegetables, grilled fish, fried chicken, corned beef, roast lamb, stews, chops...  You can also use ordinary kale, cabbage or other leafy green for this dish.

Serves 4

INGREDIENTS

• 900g / 2lb potatoes, peeled, cut into large chunks
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 3 cups Tuscan kale, roughly chopped
• 1 cup milk
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter or olive oil
• ½ cup spring onions, chopped

METHOD

1. Put potatoes in a large saucepan and cover with cold water until they are fully submerged.  Add salt and bring to boil for about 15 minutes.  
2. When the potatoes are fork tender, add the chopped kale and cook for another minute or so until just wilted.  Drain in a colander.
3. Return the pan to the stove.  Add milk and butter and warm through under low heat for 1 minute.  Transfer the potatoes and kale back to the pan together with the spring onions.  Remove from heat.  Use a potato masher to mash the potatoes up, mixing them up with the greens.  The spring onions do not need to be cooked but will soften in the action to provide a slight crunch for texture.