Colcannon

Colcannon has become one of our go-to meals.  It is Irish in origin and consists of mashed potatoes and either kale or cabbage.  I've made it both ways many times, but we prefer kale.  Colcannon is cheap, pretty healthy, easy to make, and very yummy!  I don't usually follow a recipe but have written down my process below.  My method is a little odd because you steam the kale in the pot that the potatoes are boiling in, but that's just to make the recipe as simple as possible.  In the past, I've sauteed the kale in a skillet with butter and minced garlic (feel free to make it that way if you feel so inclined!), but this method tastes just as good and uses less dishes.  My apologies to any Irish people who may be offended by my approach!

 

The potatoes don't need to be the most gigantic ones you've ever seen, but they shouldn't be small, either.  This recipe has a very high kale to potato ratio to start with, so keep that in mind when you're picking your potatoes!

 

Quick Note:  You can add sliced green onions at the end if you would like, and/or serve the individual bowls of colcannon topped with a little pat of butter.

 

Colcannon

 

5 medium-large russet potatoes

2 large bunches of kale

4 Tbsp butter

milk

1/4 tsp garlic powder

salt and pepper to taste

 

Partly fill a large pot with water (make sure it's a big pot because you'll be cramming the kale in there later!) and salt the water.  Bring it to a boil on the stove.

 

While the water comes to a boil, wash and peel the potatoes, then cut into large chunks.  Place into pot, whether the water's boiling yet or not.  When it does reach a boil, reduce the heat to medium-high so it doesn't boil over.

 

While the potatoes boil, rinse the kale and tear the leafy parts from the stems.  Tear the leafy parts into half dollar sized pieces and discard the stems.

 

When the potatoes can be pierced with a fork but are not completely done yet, add the torn kale to the pot (pour out a little water if needed so you can fit it all in) and place the lid on the pot.  Steam the kale for 4 or 5 minutes.

 

Drain the potatoes and kale thoroughly.  Mash with a potato masher.  Add the butter, then mash in enough milk to get the texture you want.  Stir in the garlic powder, as well as salt and pepper to taste.

 

Serve immediately, but leftovers reheat well.

 

Yield: 6 main dish servings

Secret Recipe Club: Cheesy Mashed Potatoes

For this month's Secret Recipe Club, I was assigned Susan's blog, The Wimpy Vegetarian.  Susan is the leader of the subgroup I'm in, so I must admit I was rather nervous!  Thankfully, Susan is very nice.  She's also very creative in the kitchen and has all kinds of fantastic looking recipes on her blog!  She has formal culinary school training, which I think is pretty awesome.  She also gets to live in nice, warm California, says the lady trapped in the dead of an Alaskan winter.  Can I come visit you, Susan?

 

Anyway, like I said, Susan has lots of great recipes.  I was particularly drawn to Figgy Cardamom Snickerdoodles (how amazing do those look?), Lemony Three Bean Salad, and Warm Brussels Sprouts Salad with Caramelized Onions.  As tasty as those looked, I ended up choosing Cheesy Mashed Potatoes because I'd only ever used russet potatoes for mashed potatoes and haven't really ever added cheese to them.

 

The mashed potatoes turned out really well and seemed rather fancy, especially considering how easy they were to make.  I couldn't find the the Frieda's Butter Babies potatoes that the recipe called for, but thought they looked rather like Yukon Gold, so went with those.  The mashed potatoes were so soft and tender, and had a rather sweet quality to them because of the Yukon Golds.  We liked them for sure and I will make them again, but think I'll use either good ol' russets, or try baby red potatoes instead because we prefer the sweetness of Yukon Gold potatoes on their own.  I served the potatoes with baked salmon and roasted green beans, it was a great meal.

 

Thank you, Susan!
  

 

Cheesy Mashed Potatoes

 

2 lbs Yukon Gold potatoes

2 1/2 Tbsp butter

1/3 C half and half

1 tsp salt, or to taste

1/2 tsp black pepper

2 tsp dried parsley or 2 Tbsp fresh minced parsley

1 C smoothly melting cheese (I used cheddar)

 

Wash potatoes, then cook until soft using whatever method you like.  I used my pressure cooker.  Place potatoes in a large bowl and mash with a potato masher.  Melt butter in the microwave, then add milk and heat 30 more seconds, until warm.  Add to potatoes along with seasonings, and continue to mash.  Stir in cheese.  Cover with foil if you aren't going to serve within a minute or two.

 

Yield:  About 6 servings

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Cheddar Bacon Potato Waffles

I came upon this recipe on Serious Eats and decided to make it the next day because by some coincidence, I had all of the ingredients in my refrigerator (even cooked bacon) except for the mashed potatoes.  After buying 3 of the biggest potatoes I've ever seen and making them into mashed potatoes, we were ready to go. 

The batter was easy to make, but the cooking process required some tinkering.  I started out cooking the batter in my panini press because I was worried it would gunk up my waffle iron (my waffle iron is well seasoned and I didn't want to ruin it by having to wash it to remove stuck on bits), but that didn't work so well.  The waffles ended up very thin and fragile.  However, I could see the batter didn't stick to the grill plates, so decided to chance it with my waffle iron after all.  It worked great!  No sticking at all.  

You do need to cook them just right, though.  The temperature should be low enough that the waffle can cook through nicely inside without getting overdone on the outside.  If you cook the waffles at too high of a temperature, they will turn golden on the outside, but will be very difficult to remove from the iron because the inside will be too soft.  You will need to experiment some with your waffle iron and use a timer, but in my Black & Decker waffle iron, 6 minutes with the temperature at to the lowest waffle setting was perfect.  Additionally, if you open the iron too early, the waffle will tear in half with half stuck to the bottom grate and half to the top, so leave it alone for 3 minutes or so before checking!  I also decided to make big waffles instead of smaller ones because the batter tended to join together in the waffle iron, anyway.  You can just cut them apart along the indentations if you want smaller ones.

All the fiddling paid off, though, because these waffles were awesome!  When I asked my husband how many stars they get, he said, "a million!"- high praise!  I really enjoyed them, too.  Very yummy.  Crispy on the outside, soft on the inside, and tons of flavor from the cheese, bacon, and green onions.  I also didn't mash my potatoes very finely, so the waffles had delightful little chunks of potato in them.  The waffles are great plain, but a little sour cream makes them extra special.  For some reason salad with waffles seemed kind of odd, so we had them with applesauce on the side.

Below is my slightly tweaked version of the recipe.  I doubled also doubled it.  To make the mashed potatoes, I just added about 4 Tbsp butter, enough milk to make them the right consistency, and salt and pepper to taste.  This would be a great use for leftover mashed potatoes, though!

Quick Note:  Leftover waffles can be reheated on a parchment paper lined baking sheet in an oven set to 350 until hot and crispy, about 15 minutes.
 

Cheddar Bacon Potato Waffles

about 5 C of your favorite mashed potato recipe (leftover or freshly made, mine were warm)

1/2 C buttermilk

1/4 C vegetable oil

4 eggs

2 C grated cheddar

3/4 C cooked, crumbled bacon

1/3 C sliced green onions

1 C flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

Brush the plates of a waffle iron with canola oil, and preheat the waffle iron to medium.

Place the mashed potatoes into a large mixing bowl.  Add buttermilk, oil, eggs, cheddar, bacon, and green onions, and stir until combined.  In another bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and pepper, then stir it into the wet ingredients until well mixed.

To make waffles, spoon about 1 C batter (amount depends on how much your iron holds!) into the center of the greased, preheated waffle iron, and cook until the outside is dark golden.  Don't check on the waffle for at least 3 minutes or you could accidentally tear the waffle in half.  Use a timer so you can get the number of minutes right for the other waffles.  If you can't easily remove the waffle when the outside is dark golden, lower the heat on your waffle iron and cook for another minute or two.

Keep already cooked waffles hot on a platter in the oven set to warm.

Serve waffles with sour cream if desired and fresh fruit or applesauce on the side.

Yield:  About 8 servings as a main dish

Cheesy Ranch Potatoes

I stumbled upon this recipe on Natasha's Kitchen recently and have made it twice in the past month.  It's so simple and very, very tasty!  The first time, I used red potatoes with the skin on, bottled ranch dressing, and green onions, and this time I used peeled russet potatoes, homemade ranch dressing (actually homemade ranch dressing mix plus mayo and milk), and bacon.  Both were great!

This is very much a "do what you want" recipe.  You can make just a small amount of potatoes, or a whole lot, and pretty much any kind of potato will do.  You also don't have to measure anything, just use your own judgment!

Cheesy Ranch Potatoes

potatoes
ranch dressing
garlic salt
grated cheddar cheese
cooked, crumbled bacon (optional)
thinly sliced green onion or chives (optional)

Wash and peel the potatoes if desired, then cut them into 1 1/2 inch chunks.  Boil in salted water until they can be pierced with a fork, then drain thoroughly.  Carefully fold in desired amount of ranch dressing, you want them to be coated but not swimming in it.  Spoon evenly into a greased baking dish, season to taste with garlic salt, then bake at 400 until the potatoes start to turn golden in places on top, about 20-25 minutes.  Remove from oven and sprinkle with desired amount of grated cheese, plus the bacon if you're using it.  Return to oven for 5 minutes.  Remove and sprinkle with the green onions or chives if you're using them, then let the potatoes sit for a few minutes before serving.  Leftovers reheat really well!