Cál Ceannann

Colcannon is a dish that in older times used to be a year round staple in the Irish diet. Today it is now more likely to be found on Irish tables in the fall and winter when kale and cabbage come into season, and is especially popular at Halloween. It is delicious, filling, and definitely cheap so it's perfect for poor college graduates like myself. It can be a meal within itself or is often eaten with boiled ham.

Colcannon

1 pound white/green cabbage (about 1/4 of a medium sized head of cabbage)
5 medium potatoes, peeled
2 leeks
Milk (or Soy Milk)
2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. pepper
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
4 tbsp. butter (or Earth Balance Buttery Sticks)

Chop the cabbage into a few good sized hunks and boil in salt water until tender. While boiling the cabbage peel the potatoes and chop into smaller pieces. Boil the potatoes in salt water until tender as well.

Chop the leeks into relatively small pieces, using both the green and white parts. Throw in a colander and rinse very well... for anyone who hasn't used leeks before you will easily see that they are almost always quite dirty and the dirt tends to get under the layers. Then put in a saucepan and add enough milk to cover almost cover the leeks, like in the picture above. Simmer the milk until the leeks are soft.

By the time you're starting the leeks the cabbage will likely be finished. Drain the cabbage and chop up into small pieces, then setting it aside and keeping it warm (putting in a bowl and just setting it in the microwave usually does the trick).

Now the potatoes are likely finished, so drain them and put them back into the pot you boiled them in. Mash them into an even consistency. Add the salt, pepper, and nutmeg and mix together well.

Once the leeks are nice and ready use a slotted spoon to remove them from the warm milk and mix them in with the potatoes. Add a ladle full or two of the milk to the potato-leek mix and stir together. Two ladles worth of the milk will obviously make the colcannon more creamy than one ladles worth (for the colcannon in the picture I used two and a half ladles worth).

Finally, add the cabbage and mix, then heat the colcannon on the stove until its nice and fluffy. Melt the butter into the mixture and serve warm.

This really is quite filling and a bowls worth alone is enough for a meal of its own, but its good enough to keep eating until it hurts to eat any more!

Food for Samhain

Now that it's October 31st it wouldn't truly be Halloween without some traditional Irish food, and one can't celebrate without soul cakes! Soul cakes are delicious small round cakes/cookies that in the middle ages were given out to children and beggars who would go door to door on the night before All-Saints Day (November 1st), also known as All-Hallows Eve...  Halloween. These children and beggars would go around singing songs for those who had passed and apparently each soul cake that was eaten would represent a soul that was freed from purgatory. These mummers as they were called, are considered to be the founders of modern day Trick-or-Treating.

Soul Cakes

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup milk
8 tbsp. unsalted butter
1/2 cup sugar
3 egg yolks
sultanas, raisins, or currants

In a bowl, mix together the flour, nutmeg, cinnamon, and salt.

Allow the butter to soften, and then in a medium sized mixing bowl, cream together with the sugar using a wooden spoon. Add two egg yolks and mix in thoroughly. Then add the flour mixture and combine completely.

Warm the milk in a saucepan or a microwave, and add to the dry mix one tablespoon at a time. Mix thoroughly after each addition and stop after just attaining a soft dough (You won't necessarily use the whole amount of milk).

Gently knead the dough out on a floured surface then pat out until the dough is about half an inch thick. Then using a round cookie cutter (I use the opening of a mason jar - you can also just use a water glass) cut out the cakes and place on a greased cookie tray. Use the left over dough to make as many more as you can.

Beat the third egg yolk and brush it on the surface on each cookie, being as liberal or conservative with it as you wish. Then use the sultanas (or raisins, currants) to decorate the tops of the cakes (or if you wish you can add half a cup to the dough before you add the milk).

Finally, bake for about 15 minutes per batch in an oven heated at 400 degrees fahrenheit.

As a note, I used soy milk and earth balance buttery sticks and they came out quite delicious, so for those who can't eat dairy these are still for you! The triangle design is an alchemist sign for fire, which was an important element of the ancient celebration of Samhain, the X design is part of a sun wheel design (as Samhain was partly focused on the death of the Sun as the winter months began), and the cross represents the importance of blessing your house and your family during the more Christian celebration of All-Hallows Eve.

Céad Míle Fáilte!

For many years Ireland has been the country from which millions of people have emigrated. As generations passed, however, Irish custom and tradition did not always thrive and get passed on. Now, as an Irish descendent who finds little in the way of cultural richness associated with much of white America, I am on a journey to discover Ireland and its culture and claim it partly as my own. Becoming Éireannach is a documentation of this journey. Intending to touch on subjects of all kinds, from history to current events, politics to food, and locations to literature to music, this blog will hopefully become useful to others as they look to find their own Irish selves!