Cheesy Colcannon

Colcannon is a traditional Irish recipe made using potato and cabbage – classic winter vegetables.

It’s also a great way to use up leftovers (see our Top Tips). This version has cheese added and is delicious served with a poached egg and a selection of vegetables such as peas, sweetcorn or carrots.

Ingredients

4 x medium baking potatoes (about 640g total weight)
½ Savoy cabbage (about 275g before trimming)
3 spring onions 100g reduced-fat mature Cheddar cheese
1 x 5ml spoon unsaturated fat spread
1 x 15ml spoon semiskimmed milk
Black pepper (optional)
Oil for greasing

Equipment

Weighing scales
Fork
Chopping board
Sharp knife
Medium saucepan
Pan stand
Colander
Large mixing bowl
Potato masher or fork
Measuring spoons
Grater
Cup or small bowl
Pastry brush
Baking tray

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C/180°C fan or gas mark 6.
2. Prick the potatoes with a fork and bake in the oven, directly on the shelf, for 1 hour.
3. Prepare the cabbage. Remove the outer leaves and cut out the stalk. Shred the inner leaves into fine strips (if the strips are too big it will be hard to shape the cakes). Heat 5cm of water in a medium saucepan until boiling. Add the cabbage and simmer for 5 minutes or until soft. Remove from the heat and drain in a colander. Leave to cool completely.
4. Wash and finely slice the spring onions. Grate the cheese.
5. Once the cabbage is cool, use your hands to squeeze out any excess water.
6. Remove the potatoes from the oven and leave until just cool enough to handle. Cut in half and scoop out the flesh into a large mixing bowl. Add the spread, the milk and black pepper to taste (if using). Mash with a potato masher or fork until the potato is smooth.
7. Add the sliced spring onions, cooked cabbage and half of the cheese to the mashed potato. Mix thoroughly.
8. Grease the baking tray.
9. Using your hands scoop out an eighth of the mixture and form into a burger shape. Place on the greased baking tray and repeat with the rest of the mixture. To make sure the cakes are all the same size, use the back of a spoon to level the mixture in the bowl and then divide the mixture into 8 pieces, as if you are cutting a pizza.
10. Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top of the cakes.
11. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes, or until golden brown.

Skills used include:
Weighing, measuring, peeling, chopping, grating, mashing, boiling/simmering and baking.

Top Tips

• Make sure you squeeze the water out of the cooked cabbage otherwise your mixture will be too wet.
• The potatoes could be peeled and boiled or steamed instead of baked, but baking gives the potatoes the best flavour.
• To save time, you could bake your potatoes in advance, but make sure you mash them as soon as they are cool enough to handle; if you leave it too long they won’t mash smoothly.
• If using leftover mashed potatoes and cabbage you’ll need about 400g of mashed potato and 200g of cooked cabbage. Make sure you squeeze any excess water from the cabbage. You may still want to add a little milk and seasoning to the mash.

Something to try next time

• Use finely sliced kale or Brussels sprouts instead of Savoy cabbage.
• Try different varieties of cheese – whatever you need to use up. If you use a strongly flavoured cheese you can reduce the amount needed.