Colcannon

My usual St. Patrick’s Day meal is my Dublin Sunday Corned Beef and Cabbage Dinner, but sometimes I like to round the meal out with another classic Irish dish, Colcannon,. Normally it’s simply mashed potatoes mixed with kale and butter, but to make it a main dish, I prepared mine with some ground lamb and veggies.

I sauteed some baby carrots, yellow pepper, onions and some roasted red pepper in a skillet, then browned the lamb. That goes into a glass baking dish as a base. I boiled 4 potatoes and whipped them with a dusting of poultry seasoning, a healthy amount of black pepper and a couple tablespoons of Irish butter. After that I folded in a few handfuls of baby kale. That goes on top of the meat/veggie mixture with a few pats of Irish butter.

The tradition is that a toy ring gets placed somewhere in the Colcannon, and whoever gets the serving with the ring will be married in the following year. I had no desire to put a toy ring in my food, but I wanted to follow tradition, so I went to our local ACE Hardware and bought a key ring. Practical, but still somewhat traditional!

With the ring in place, the Colcannon goes into the oven at 350° for about 20 minutes. As a non-traditional step, I put a thin layer of shredded cheese on top a broiled it for a few minutes until the cheese was browned off.

A great meal that promises to be an even better leftover.

I hope all my friends and family had a great St. Patrick’s Day!