Irish Colcannon

Faith and Begorrah!  ‘Tis that time of year again.  Time for everyone to claim some Irish heritage.  Put your green on and make some traditional Irish colcannon.

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MaryJo has been fixing an Irish colcannon recipe for St. Patty’s Day for several years now.  She has always made it with cabbage and green onions.  

I decided to make a kale colcannon and add some tasty leeks to the creamy potatoes.  

I don’t know why we always think of this dish just for St. Patrick’s Day.  It is a delicious side dish that should be made year-round.

Preparing the Colcannon

I used a medium-sized leek, which I washed really well.  You want to get all the dirt and grit out that lodges in the folds of the leek plant.  The best way to do this is to slice the leek in half, lengthwise, which exposes the layers of the onion-like plant.  

Once cleaned, it’s easy to finely slice the leek into half rounds.  I sauteed the leek in butter on low heat for about 15 minutes.  The chopped kale was added at about the ten-minute mark and wilted and softened with the leek.

The potatoes were boiled for 14 minutes and mashed with a hand mixer.  I added 1/2 cup of warmed-up half and half to the potatoes.  To save on calories, 2% or whole milk could be used too.

When I was doing the photos of the mashed potatoes, all I could think of was how boring a picture of mashed potatoes would be.  

Well, they didn’t turn out too badly and the Irish colcannon was really tasty!  And another good thing…Leftovers!

Give this colcannon recipe a try.  If you’d like, use cooked cabbage instead of kale.  

Both ways, this is really good!  Happy St. Pat’s Day all you Irish folks.

Here are some more tasty recipes to try:

• Creamy Potato Leek Soup
• Creamy Cauliflower Soup
• Italian Sausage Stuffed Zucchini
• Golden Crispy Oven Fries
• Simple Basil Pesto

Irish Colcannon

Perfect dish to go with corned beef on St. Pat's Day.

5 from 3 votes

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Course: Potato side dish

Cuisine: Irish

Keyword: Irish colcannon

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 35 minutes

Servings: 6 servings

Calories: 258kcal

Author: Joe Boyle

Ingredients

• 2 lbs Yukon gold potatoes , peeled and cut into 1" pieces
• 1 leek , cleaned and thinly sliced
• 4 cups chopped kale, small pieces
• 4 tbsp butter , plus 1 tbsp to float on the finished dish, if desired
• 1/2 cup half and half
• 1/2 tsp salt

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Instructions

• Boil potatoes in salted water until soft, 12 to 14 minutes.
• While the potatoes are boiling, in a large skillet, melt 4 tbsp butter and add the leeks, saute on low temperature, 10 mins.
• After 10 minutes, add the kale to the skillet and wilt for another 5 minutes.
• Mash the potatoes with a hand mixer, adding heated half and half a little at a time until the desired smoothness. (You may not need the whole amount).
• Fold in the sauteed kale and leeks.
• Add salt to taste. Serve hot.

Notes

1. You can substitute cooked cabbage or wilted spinach for the kale.
2. Store leftovers covered in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

Nutrition

Calories: 258kcal