How to make Traditional Irish Colcannon

The classics really are the best. Our recipe for Traditional Irish Colcannon is one of those mashed potato recipes to have up your sleeve. It is delicious alongside many dishes from rich venison and beef stews to simply pan-fried Bacon Steak, Sausages or even Salmon Fillets. Colcannon is also a great way of sneaking in extra leafy green vegetables to children (and adults!).

Our Top Tips for making Colcannon 

1. We recommend a fluffy white potato such as Maris Piper, Desiree or King Edward.
2. If you can’t get your hands on Kale, try Savoy Cabbage as an alternative.
3. If you want to add extra cream or milk to your mash, do so after you've added the vegetables so your mix is not too wet.
4. Lucky enough to have some leftovers? Make Colcannon Cakes! Simply add 1 egg and 1 cup of flour to every approx. 3 cups of leftover Colcannon Mash. Form into patties and fry in some butter. Our favourite way to enjoy these is with a runny poached egg, and streaky bacon. 

Ingredients

• 1 tspb salt, plus more to suit your tastes
• Approx. 650g Maris Piper potatoes (weight after peeling)
• 125g curly kale, remove the tough stems and chop the leafy part into bitesize chunks
• 2 - 3 spring onions, roughly chopped into rounds
• 125g Scottish butter
• Ground white pepper, to taste
• Extra melted butter for serving is entirely optional, but, we recommend it!

 Method

1. Boil your potatoes in salted water until tender, drain and allow to dry
2. Blanch the kale (in the discarded boiling potato water) for 1 minute
3. Take half of the kale and half of the chopped spring onions and place into a blender – lightly pulse for a few seconds until you have a coarsely blended mix
4. Add the butter to your potatoes, mash until creamy
5. Add the kale mix and the remaining kale and spring onions 
6. Mix well, season to taste
7. Serve! With a generous pat of butter on the top to drizzle through. Delicious!