Colcannon is mashed potato with greens, which is a little like describing a good pub as a room with chairs. Floury potatoes are mashed with hot milk and butter, then folded through with kale or cabbage softened in more butter, and the bowl is served with a hollow in the top for a final knob to melt into a golden pool. The name comes from the Irish cál ceannann, usually explained as white headed cabbage, and the dish was long a cheap, filling meal that could be made all year from a garden and a sack of potatoes.

It belongs above all to Halloween. Families used to stir small charms into the pot, a ring, a coin, a thimble or a button, and whoever found one in their helping had their future told; the finder of the ring was said to be next to marry. There is a well known song about it too, sung with great feeling about a dish that is, after all, potatoes. Its close cousin champ is made with scallions and no cabbage or kale. Colcannon is the perfect side for boiled bacon, sausages, a lamb chop or a piece of fish, and it takes about forty minutes from peeling to the table.

The potatoes

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 lb (1.1 kg) floury potatoes
• 1 tablespoon fine salt

Method

1. Put the potato chunks in the large pot and cover them with cold water by about 1 inch (2.5 cm). Add the tablespoon of salt. Starting in cold water lets the potatoes cook evenly to the middle.
2. Put the lid on, bring to a boil over high heat, then take the lid off, turn the heat down to medium and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes.
3. Drain the potatoes in the colander, then tip them back into the hot, empty pot. Set it over low heat for 1 to 2 minutes, shaking the pot gently, so the last of the water steams away.

The kale and scallions

Ingredients

• 8 oz (225 g) curly kale
• 3 tablespoons (45 g) salted butter
• 2 tablespoons (30 ml) water
• 4 scallions
• 1/4 teaspoon fine salt

Method

1. Hold each kale leaf by the stalk end and pull your other hand firmly up the stalk to strip off the leaf. Throw away the stalks. Wash the leaves in a bowl of cold water, lift them out, then bunch them up on the board and slice them very finely.
2. While the potatoes simmer, put the butter and water in the frying pan over medium high heat. When the butter has melted and bubbles, add the kale and salt, put the lid on and cook for 2 minutes. Take off the lid, stir, add the scallions and cook for 1 to 2 minutes more, stirring.

Mashing and finishing

Ingredients

• 1 cup (240 ml) whole milk
• 4 tablespoons (55 g) salted butter
• 2 tablespoons (30 g) salted butter
• to taste fine salt and freshly ground black or white pepper

Method

1. Heat the milk and the 4 tablespoons of butter in the small saucepan over low heat until the butter has melted and the milk is steaming. Do not let it boil over.
2. Mash the dry potatoes in the pot with the masher until there are no lumps, or press them through the ricer back into the pot. Pour in about three quarters of the hot milk and butter and beat with the wooden spoon until smooth, adding more milk until it is as soft as you like it.
3. Tip the kale and scallions, with any butter from the pan, into the mash and fold through with the spoon until evenly speckled with green. Taste and season with salt and pepper.
4. Pile the colcannon into the warm serving bowl. Make a deep hollow in the top with the back of the spoon and drop the last 2 tablespoons of butter into it to melt.

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