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!