I came up with this recipe because I only had potatoes and only had leeks and cabbage in my refrigerator….So I looked up cabbage, leeks and potatoes and I found out it’s a traditional Irish Dish of basically mashed potatoes mixed with kale or cabbage. Everybody makes it different and often colcannon has a big pool of melted butter on the top. Some people boil all the vegetables and other people fry the vegetables. I think cabbage is most delicious roasted so I roasted the cabbage and fried the leeks. I also have a little trick that makes mashed potatoes taste better and I add two medium cooked egg yolks. It came out Forking delicious! I wish I could give you a sample to try. If you make this exactly the way I did you will love it!

Ingredients for around 6 servings

1 smaller cabbage – peel of outer leaves, remove core and dice into about 1/2 inch dices

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil (goes on cabbage)

2 leeks – trimmed (root and all the dark green removed, peeled, cut in half long ways and then cut each half long ways again and slice thin. Put in a large bowl of water and wash away any dirt and drain)

5 potatoes – peeled and cut down into about 6 pieces each (mne weighed 1 1/2 pounds)

3 cloves of garlic – chopped (this goes with the potatoes to boil)

2 eggs – (wash eggs and they go in the water last 6 minutes of boiling the potatoes ((you are only using the yolks))

3 oz unsalted butter (goes into potatoes)

2 Tablespoons cream cheese (use a quality brand like Aria that is free of preservatives and stabilizers) ((I almost never have milk or cream in my house so I use aria because it’s basically cream)

1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper (for potatoes – or to taste….your taste may differ….but this is perfect)

1/4 teaspoon course sea salt (for potatoes – or to taste…your taste may differ but this is perfect…love course sea salt…..it’s my second favorite salt…..Blue Persian is even better)

1 oz unsalted butter (this is to fry leeks)

1/4 teaspoon course sea salt (to season leeks)

1/8 teaspoon ground white pepper (to season leeks)

fresh ground sea salt to taste (just a very small amount to season cabbage)

fresh ground black pepper (just a small amount to season cabbage)

Directions

Set oven to 450 degrees F.

Cabbage goes on a baking sheet and gets sprayed well with olive oil. It goes in the oven till soft and charred (This took 30 minutes in my oven on the middle rack….yours may differ)

While the cabbage is roasting boil the potatoes with the chopped garlic and season the water well with course sea salt) the potatoes should be done in around 15- 20 minutes depending on size. In the last 6 minutes add the eggs. Remove the eggs after 6 minutes…(or you can cook longer like 10 minutes if you only like we’ll done eggs…and rinse in cold water and set to the side.) When the potatoes are tender remove them from the water and mash by hand with the butter and cream cheese. Add the egg yolks and 1/4 teaspoon (or to taste) of salt and white pepper.By now the cabbage is done and season it lightly with salt and pepper and mix it into the potatoes….set to the side.

Melt the last ounce of butter in the pot and add the drained leeks…..Stir and cover loosely. They will be done very quickly like in three minutes. Add them to the mashed mixture and enjoy!

Everyone will love this!

Leftovers can be fried into patties and can be turned into a dish called Bubble and Squeak

This came out tasting like a Greek Salad (with walnuts) in a roasted pepper. I added walnuts for a crunch factor that I thought it needed because I don’t like an all soft texture. Did something different to the squash so it wouldn’t be so squashy. The squash was spiral cut and then was salted with the paper thin cut onions. You would believe how much water poured out….you have to do the mixing in a colander that sits over a large bowl. It looked like maybe 2 cups of water poured out when I let it sit on the counter for about an hour. The squash turns into like almost a noodle texture. It’s not squashy anymore. My other secret was by adding some dijon mustard (Amora brand). After the mustard the flavor really popped. It doesn’t taste mustardy….but it’s the right amount of bite that makes it pop. I used some very small bell pepper halves and some whole Mexican Guero yellow peppers (that are similar in heat to shishitos). This recipe (after draining) makes around 9 servings……so you need about 9 smaller (but not mini) half bell peppers or around 9 medium sized peppers.

Ingredients for around 9 servings

2 lbs yellow squash (smaller squash will work out better) spiral cut

1 medium sized sweet onion – sliced paper thin on mandolin

1 teaspoon course sea salt

2 garlic cloves – ground to paste or microplane

1 large tomato (ripe one) rough cut

9 small/medium sized peppers (of your choice many different kinds would taste good here) You might need more or less peppers depending on size and shape. ( I used a combination of half bells and whole guero peppers)

3 Tablespoons fresh dill – chopped (two Tablespoons go in mix and reserve one Tablespoon for finishing.)

6 oz feta cheese – cut in small cubes

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 teaspoon dried basil

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

2 Tablespoon dijon mustard – preferably Amora brand

1/2 cup toasted walnuts slightly broken

Directions

Set oven to 425 degrees F.

The first thing that you need to do is to get the squash and onions in a colander over a large bowl mixed with the salt…..This needs to sit for an hour on the counter so around two cups of water will be released.

After an hour and the water is released then mix in to the squash mixture the garlic, tomato, 2 Tablespoons dill, feta, oregano, basil, pepper and dijon.

Eiter use pepper halves or whole peppers split with cores removed and stuff tightly.

Roast in pre-heated 425 degree F oven till slightly charred. (will differ depending on pepper size….mine took 35 minutes in my oven on middle rack).

Finish with last Tablespoon of fresh dill and toasted walnuts.

Nice side dish.