Hell Yeah It's Vegan!

Lately I’ve been eating a lot of sautéed cabbage and onions with a little vegan butter, salt, and pepper and mashed potatoes on the side. It’s quick, easy, and comforting. Colcannon seemed like the next logical step.

Colcannon is an Irish dish traditionally served on Halloween, with coins hidden in the mash for children to find, but has also served as a regular staple. It’s similar to the English dish Bubble and Squeak, which was popular during WWII as a cheap and nutritious combination of leftovers. There are lots of variations on the dish, so experiment to see what suits you best:

You can use cabbage or kale. Since I’ve been eating cabbage by the armful lately (in addition to the sautéed cabbage, I helped polish off 5 lbs of sauerkraut in under 2 weeks), and because the deep color is such a nice contrast, I decided to go with kale this time around.

Onions, leeks, and green onions can be used interchangeably in this dish. (I used a yellow onion.)

I half-peeled my potatoes because they were shriveled and a billion years old, and I’m not really a peeler of vegetables. Some insist that the potatoes must be mashed smoothly, but I figure the kale breaks the smoothness up enough not to notice some potato skin. It’s up to you.

Colcannon

1½ lbs potatoes, chopped and peeled if desired
½ lb kale or green cabbage, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
½ c unsweetened, unflavored soy milk (or whatever vegan milk you prefer)
1 tbsp + 2 tbsp soy butter
water (as needed for mashing)
dill
white pepper
nutmeg
salt

In a large pot, boil the potatoes in salted water. In a medium saucepan, boil the kale for a couple of minutes until it turns bright; some crunchiness is great. Set aside. In a small saucepan, sauté onion in a tablespoon of butter until translucent. Add remaining butter and soymilk and leave over low heat until melted. Remove from heat and cover. Once potatoes have finished cooking — you want them slightly over-cooked, to the point where they’ll fall apart a little when pierced by a fork — drain them and mash until smooth, adding water as needed. Add onion mixture and kale; stir until combined. Season with pinches of dill, white pepper, nutmeg, and salt to taste. Serve warm with a pat of butter in the center.

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 9th, 2009 at 9:47 am and is filed under Entrees, Sides. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

`

You might also like

Pierogies with Cabbage and Onions There's a saying my Catholic grandma had that my mother always liked to repeat. It went something...

Warm Cabbage Salad Did I mention I love cabbage in all its forms? Because I do. This is a beautiful, bright, and nutty...

Tahini Caramelized Onion Sauce I recently moved out of the apartment I'd lived in for the past two years, a situation which calls...

Bulgur with Carmelized Onions and Sage Biscuits with Gravy I get sick of rice, particularly white rice; it's over-used. When used thoughtfully, it can be wonderful,...

`