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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Leek and Cabbage Pasta with Mushrooms & Bacon

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I was wondering how I could incorporate a little Saint Pat’s into a pasta dish. and here it is. Cabbage and leeks are common ingredients in Irish cooking, so I decided to use both of those as well as mushrooms, and tossed bacon in for good measure because everything is better with bacon. This creamy and delicious pasta dish is light because it gets its creaminess from cream cheese rather than loads of heavy cream. It is satisfying and delicious, gives you one of your daily portions of vegetables, but doesn’t weigh you down. Because there’s no cream to separate in reheating, this can be warmed successfully in the microwave the next day.

Leek and Cabbage Pasta with Mushrooms & Bacon

4 thick-cut bacon slices, chopped
8 oz. uncooked linguine
8 oz. Cremini mushrooms, sliced
1 t. kosher salt
½ t. freshly ground black pepper
2 c. shredded Napa cabbage
2 c. Melissa’s cleaned and sliced leeks
3 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
¼ c. shredded Parmesan cheese 

Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain well, reserving 1 cup pasta cooking water.

Meanwhile, while pasta is cooking, in a 12-inch skillet over medium heat, cook bacon, stirring occasionally, until crisp, about 8 minutes. Transfer bacon with a slotted spoon to a paper towel-lined plate; reserve drippings

Add mushrooms to skillet, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Increase heat to medium high and cook, stirring occasionally, until golden, about 8 minutes. Add cabbage and leeks, and cook until they wilt and have begun to caramelize, 5 minutes. Add cream cheese and all of the pasta water, and stir until smooth. Stir in bacon. Carefully stir in cooked pasta and heat through, about 2 minutes.

Serve immediately. Makes two main dish servings or 4 side dish servings.

 

The Best of Both Worlds Creamy Bacon Coleslaw

I grew up with two distinctly different types of coleslaw. My grandmother made a hot, wilted, bacon coleslaw, while my mother made a creamy (but not too creamy) coleslaw with carrots and raisins. The fact is, I liked both because, unlike a lot of people, I really like coleslaw. I particularly like it on top of barbecued beef or pulled pork sandwiches.

Today I wanted to make coleslaw, but not a variety that I had made so many times before. I wanted one that was creamy (but not too creamy), and yet warm, vinegary, and dotted with bacon like my grandmother’s. So I got to thinking about what I liked best about both varieties, and combined the two. This was genius! This has to be my new favorite coleslaw. It is warm, it has bacon, it has a wonderful amount of vinegar, and just the right amount of creaminess to make it the best of both worlds. It’s good warm, room temperature, or cold from the fridge. I think you and your family are going to love this.

The Best of Both Worlds

Creamy Bacon Coleslaw

1/2 head cabbage, finely sliced
4 slices bacon, diced
2 tablespoons sugar
1 small Melissa’s organic shallot, finally minced
1/4 cup cider vinegar
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground cracked pepper

Place cabbage in a large mixing bowl; set aside.

Cook bacon in a 9-inch sauté pan over medium heat until almost crispy, stirring occasionally. Add shallot and cook two more minutes.

While bacon is cooking, whisk together remaining ingredients in a small mixing bowl. After the shallot has finished cooking, stir this sauce mixture into the pan with the bacon and shallot. Increase heat to medium/high, and simmer for one minute, until fully combined, and slightly thickened. Remove from heat and immediately pour over the sliced cabbage. Toss together and serve immediately.

This will keep in the refrigerator for up to two days. 

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If coleslaw is not your thing, this Sweet Corn and Cucumber Salad is a wonderful summer salad that you may enjoy (it similarly has bacon!).

 

This post is linked to:

 Homestead Wednesday

Wow Us Wednesday

Wine’d Down Wednesday

Full Plate Thursday

Thursday Favorite Things
Feathered Nest Friday
Funtastic Friday
Best of the Weekend
Pink Saturday
Snickerdoodle Create Bake & Create

Grace at Home

Friday at the Fire Station
Create, Bake, Grow and Gather

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A Trip to the Farm Stand

There are two places I like to go in the fall; one is driving up the Great River Road to see the eagles and the beautiful scenery, the other is visiting farmer’s markets and farm stands. Today we did the latter. It was a gorgeous day for a drive out to the country and we were richly rewarded with so many visual delights. Instead of describing everything in great detail, I’ll let you have a look at just a few of the over 50 photos I took today. We came home with bags of fresh produce, a huge mum in a wine color, but nary a pumpkin despite the many displayed.

This charming sign greeted us as we approached the store.  While taking pictures I made a point to try to get at least one that would make a great cover shot for my Halloween cards this year.  I think this one might be it!

It's probably best to have a plan in mind when shopping farmer's markets, but we had none, we just kept wandering, and oohing and ahhing at all that was available.  As usual when I'm without a list, my mind went blank, but I did remember to pick up 5 bunches of scallions to try the new recipe I have for scallion soup.  It's supposed to be a variation on vichyssoise.

Look at the size of these radishes!  I had Jim hold up a bunch to try to give them some scale, but their grandeur still cannot be fully realized in this picture.  The largest one here was about the size of a small baseball.  We bought these.  They were just too odd not to buy them. 

We were sucked in by the gourds as well.  Have you ever seen anything more colorful?  And such variety!  I had not seen some of the unusual types that they had here.  At 3 for $1.00 we bought a dozen.  I'm hoping they'll look wonderful in a bronze leaf dish that resides on the coffee table in the living room.

Look at these pumpkins!  HUGE! Way too big for either of us to lift.  We really liked the oddball shapes and the fact that some of these looked so gnarly and had weird growths on them.  PERFECT for Halloween!  I was really looking for a small sugar pumpkin though, and what they had were more decorative than for culinary use.

When it comes to charm, Thies Farm and Greenhouses in Maryland Heights, MO has it over most of the others in the area, I think.  It is a fifth generation farm that has been in business since 1885.  The "Pumpkin Land" set up for kids took up an area about the size of a football field, and had one clever activity station after another.  Loads of kids were having a blast there today; my ears are still ringing from the squeals of joy.

For more colorful farm stand photos, please see my Flickr photostream. 

Have a great weekend!