If you’re like me, you might think of mashed potatoes as holiday-only food. And if you’re like me, you might often wish for more holidays that call for mashed potatoes. Today, I’m happy to introduce you to one more excuse to eat mashed potatoes. Meet colcannon! Colcannon is Irish mashed potatoes with kale or cabbage.
So, in case you need more justification to pull out your potato masher—these mashed potatoes have greens in them. Did you know that St. Patrick’s Day is coming right up? Let’s make some colcannon!
Colcannon Recipe Notes
I based this colcannon recipe on my great-grandmother’s old-school mashed potatoes. Her recipe calls for cream cheese and sour cream instead of milk (or cream) and lots of butter. I’m obsessed with its tangy flavor and creamy texture, and I don’t want mashed potatoes any other way. I assumed these ingredients would produce an untraditional twist on colcannon, but maybe I was wrong. I just found an Irish song about colcannon on Wikipedia that mentions “pickled” cream. Apparently pickled cream is buttermilk, which is similarly tangy. Maybe cream cheese and sour cream aren’t such crazy substitutions after all.
The Colcannon Song
Here are the first few lines of the song “Colcannon”, also called “The Skillet Pot”: Did you ever eat Colcannon, made from lovely pickled cream? With the greens and scallions mingled like a picture in a dream. Did you ever make a hole on top to hold the melting flake Of the creamy, flavoured butter that your mother used to make?
Wondering specifically what to serve with colcannon? Unfortunately, I don’t have any Irish entrées, but this roasted carrot, chickpea and farro dish would pair well with it. Looking for more St. Patrick’s Day recipes? You definitely don’t want to miss my Irish coffee recipe. Please let me know how this recipe turns out for you in the comments! I’m always so eager to hear from you.
Change it up: You can easily substitute chard, collard greens or cabbage for the kale. Make it dairy free/vegan: I haven’t tried this, but I think these potatoes would be good if you cooked the kale in olive oil, and stirred in 1 to 1 ½ cups vegan sour cream in place of the cream cheese and sour cream combination. Skip the extra butter.
