Colcannon - Food of MY people

Aaron called me from his consulting job one afternoon and told me he had an idea for dinner. He saw what his colleague was eating it and wanted me to make the same. His colleague was eating colcannon, a traditional Irish dish. I'm part-Irish, and it has simple ingredients, so I figured why not? I'm so glad we tried this!

I started with this recipe from AllRecipes.com and made some changes

Colcannon - Variation #1
Ingredients:
2 1/2 pounds potatoes, NOT peeled, quartered/eighthed
4 slices of turkey bacon
1 bunch of kale, stemmed and chopped
1 large onion, chopped
1 stick (8 Tbsp. - we don't have milk on hand usually, so I substitute butter)
1/4 c. butter, melted (yes, in addition to the stick)

Instructions:
After cleaning and cutting potatoes, put potatoes in large pot with water to cover. Boil until very tender, easy to mash.

Place bacon in skillet. Cook over medium heat until browned. Set bacon aside to dry on plate, leave drippings in skillet. Crumble bacon after it has cooled and dried. With the drippings, saute onion and kale until kale wilts. Putting a lid on the skillet will help vegetables cook more quickly.

Drain the potatoes, mash with the 1 stick of butter. Salt and pepper to taste. Fold in the bacon, kale, and onion. You can transfer to a serving bowl if you like. Make a large well in the center and pour the 1/4 c. of melted butter in well. Serve immediately.

Colcannon - Variation #2
Ingredients:
2 1/2 pounds potatoes, NOT peeled, quartered/eighthed
4 slices of turkey bacon
1/2 bunch of kale, stemmed and chopped
1/4 head of cabbage, chopped
1 large onion, chopped
1 stick (8 Tbsp. - we don't have milk on hand usually, so I substitute butter)
1/4 c. butter, melted (yes, in addition to the stick)

Instructions:
See above. Saute cabbage with kale and onions.

I made Variation #2 when we had both kale and cabbage to eat. That is, it would have gone bad and wasted had we not eaten it. I also decided to double the recipe when I had 2 greens, mostly because I wanted to get through the greens but also because I know the leftovers are awesome. *grin*

The kid review is mixed. The first time I made this, they really enjoyed it - especially the bacon. The second time, they were both overtired and had a hard time eating anything. Ellie still showed excitement at the bacon, and Caleb professed love for "cold cannon," but I can't say either of them ate a large amount the second time. Still I think you should try it. Most kids seem to like mashed potatoes, and these are only slightly dressed up.