Halloween, here it comes!

What do Irish people serve on that night? Colcannon! That’s the answer!

What is colcannon made from? Can you guess? Something beginning with…p… Yes, potatoes!

Colcannon is a traditional Irish dish made of mashed potatoes, kale or cabbage with milk or cream, butter and salt and pepper.

It is eaten at Halloween when the cabbage or the kale is in season,  and the flavour is at its best after it gets benefits from the crisp chill of winter and light frost.

Although colcannon is a very simple and basic dish, it has two versions, one with kale and one with cabbage.

It is an adored part of Irish cuisine so that it appeared in children’s songs:

Did you ever eat colcannon when ‘twas made
with yellow cream
And the kale and praties blended like the picture
In a dream?

In Irish, it is called Càl ceannann meaning “white-headed cabbage”.

Colcannon indeed is a traditional Irish dish for Halloween.

In the fluffy and smooth mash a coin, rag, ring and thimble are put inside, and whatever “trinket” people find in their colcannon predicts their future: a ring for marriage, a rag for poverty and a coin for wealth.

This is the country-style recipe I make my colcannon with, I don’t like to blend onions and kale into a sort of soup.

Here is the recipe:

INGREDIENTS

• Roosters potatoes: 500 g
• Curly kale or savoy cabbage: 250 g
• Onion: 1
• Cream: 100 ml
• Butter 60 g
• Salt and pepper

DIRECTIONS

1. Boil potatoes and kale separately in salted water for 15-20 minutes until tender.
2. Heat the butter in a heavy-based pan and when the butter is melted add the onion finely chopped and brown.
3. Add the sliced kale, the mashed potatoes and the cream.
4. Stir well.
5. Cook gently for a few minutes.
6. Top the mash with some butter.
7. Season to taste with salt and pepper and serve.

Halloween or not, I think Colcannon is a great side to any meal, especially in the wintertime.

So try Colcannon this Halloween for a special treat!