Recipe: Colcannon

One of the many traditional Irish recipes for mashed potatoes, this one features scallions and either kale or cabbage. I like the way our Toscano kale tastes with Yukon Gem potatoes that are in the boxes this week. Made creamy and rich with the help of milk and butter, this can be a tasty side dish or a heavier main course with the addition of bacon.

Ingredients:

- 2 lbs potatoes, peeled and cubed         

- 4 cups kale, chopped

- 1 cup scallions, finely chopped

- 1 cup milk

- 4 tbsp butter

- (optional) 5 strips of bacon

- salt to taste

 

Steps:

1. Boil peeled and cubed potatoes in lightly salted water until fork tender, about 15-20 minutes, and drain.

2. At the same time, simmer kale in lightly salted water until softened and reduced, about 15 minutes.

3. Add butter to potatoes and melt on low heat. Mash potatoes and mix thoroughly with melted butter.

4. Add scallions, milk and kale and simmer for 10 minutes on low-medium. Taste and add salt as needed.

5. If adding bacon, fry and cut into thin strips, mix into colcannon just prior to serving.

 

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Harvest Day Dinner

 

With two hungry farmers to feed on this busy harvest Monday, I needed to make sure dinner was filling enough. For this meal I added bacon to the colcannon and served it with roasted patty pan squash and a huge salad. I also fried some mushrooms by special request of Sylvia, the only kid I've ever known who love mushrooms.

Dinner in order from front to back: colcannon with bacon, garden salad (featuring red peppers that will be in next week's box!), fried mushrooms in yogurt and roasted patty pan squash

Guest farmer Kevin stops by to help Eric out with harvest day. Thanks, Kevin!