Colcannon

One of the things that I really like about St. Patrick’s Day is not what you might expect. I am not talking about the corned beef here, although I dearly love it, no, I am talking about colcannon. What is colcannon you may ask? It is a delicious cabbage, leek, and potato side dish that, along with the corned beef, covers all of your Saint Patrick’s Day bases. It is simple to prepare, and so good that you will wonder why you haven’t made it in the past.

Colcannon

4 slices bacon, chopped
4 T. butter, divided
1 6-oz. pkg. Melissa’s cleaned and sliced leeks
1 small head Melissa’s organic cabbage
1 1.5-lb. bag Melissa’s Baby Dutch yellow potatoes

In a 12-inch skillet, cook the bacon until done, but not crisp. Add 2 tablespoons of butter and the package of leeks. Continue sautéing, over medium heat, until the leeks are limp. Add cabbage and remaining butter. Continue to cook over medium low heat until cabbage is limp.

While leeks and cabbage are cooking, bring a large saucepan with salted water to a boil over high heat. Add potatoes and cook until fork tender 20 to 25 minutes. Drain potatoes, return to pan, and place pan on top of warm burner with flame turned off to allow steam to evaporate. Mash potatoes the way that you normally would (hand mixer, potato ricer, whisk, you get the picture). Fold ¾ of the leek/cabbage mixture into mashed potatoes, blending thoroughly. Serve immediately, topped with the extra leek and cabbage mixture.

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Bread & Butter Pudding

We're hard at work on the preparation for tomorrow's big dinner (I hadn't factored in the whole "lose an hour" thing when I first started to plan), and hopefully everything will be delicious as usual.  The table is set and looks lovely, a nice combination of tasteful with a touch of whimsy, and the cooking schedule is in place. We are fairly traditional in serving corned beef with mustard sauce, colcannon, vegetables, Irish soda bread and, though I believe it is traditionally an English dish, we serve Bread and Butter Pudding at the end of our St. Patrick's Dinner every year. Simple in appearance, the taste is sublime.  The recipe we use is from Gary Rhodes' book Rhodes Around Britain.  It's the best I've ever had.  It can also be found in the Bon Appetit, May 1998 issue.

Bread & Butter Pudding

 1½ c. whole milk

1½ c. whipping cream

1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise

8 large egg yolks

¾ c. plus 2 T. sugar

¼ c. (½ stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 1-lb. loaf white bread, slices cut ½” thick, crusts trimmed

2 T. golden raisins

2 T. brown raisins

Combine milk and whipping cream in heavy large saucepan. Scrape in seeds from vanilla bean; add bean. Bring milk mixture to simmer. Whisk egg yolks and ¾ c. sugar in large bowl to blend. Gradually whisk hot milk mixture into yolk mixture. Set custard aside.

Butter 9” x 9” x 2” glass baking dish. Spread ¼ c. butter over both sides of bread slices. Arrange 1/3 of bread slices in single layer over bottom of prepared dish, trimming to fit. Sprinkle half of golden raisins and half of brown raisins over bread. Cover with another single layer of bread. Sprinkle remaining raisins over. Layer with remaining bread. Discard vanilla bean from custard; pour over bread. Let stand until some custard is absorbed, about 20 minutes.

Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Bake pudding until custard thickens and begins to set, about 20 minutes.

 Preheat broiler. Sprinkle remaining 2 tablespoons sugar over pudding. Broil until sugar browns, rotating baking dish for even browning and watching closely, about 2 minutes. Let pudding cool slightly. Serve warm.

 

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