Potluck of the Irish
By Jody Stump
I lack a drop of Irish in my DNA but March 17 always finds me in darkest green with a bit of blarney in my speech. I love an Irish raconteur, and the rap-a-tap-tap of a Celtic clog dancer stirs some ancient memory, Irish or not. I find myself turning to the wonderful books that bring the land to life. Have you read Frank McCourt’s haunting memoir of growing up poor in Limerick? It won the Pulitzer Prize. Better than reading it, hear it. In the unabridged audio version, McCourt recites the story himself in a lyrical tenor so straight-forward and full of love, bursts of laughter bubble up through the listener’s tears as he tells of days so hungry, the family shared a single potato; so cold they slept wrapped in stolen flour sacks. The recipe I include this week would have been a Match-boy McCourt’s dream of Christmas despite the simple farmhouse essence of the dish.
Or, have you read “How the Irish Saved Civilization” by Thomas Cahill? A few hundred years after Patrick died, when Europe had descended into barbarism, priests left on that tiny island at the edge of the continent created a library of the western world. In scenes that anticipated “Fahrenheit 451,” scholars under siege memorized the classical texts of Plato, Aristotle, Ovid and more, and carried them to Ireland where priests took dictation from their voices and their minds. Had this extraordinary human transfer of knowledge not taken place, much of what we know of the ancient world would be lost to myth. That’s worth wearing green in gratitude.
COLCANNON
Serves 6 – 8
No matter what any American says about corned beef and cabbage, this is the traditional dish that bespeaks an Irish ancestry. In earlier centuries, it was made with kale and pickled pork, but it is common now to use cabbage and chunky bacon in this budget-stretching and nutritious taste-tour of the Emerald Isle. Make it a side dish for corned beef and you’ve satisfied tradition on both sides of the “Pond.”
6 russet potatoes, peeled and quartered
5 cups milk
1 cup trimmed and chopped leeks
2 sticks butter
4 tablespoons flour
2/3 cup fresh parsley, chopped
1 head Savoy cabbage (or two bunches of kale), chopped
1 cup heavy cream
Pinch of ground mace or nutmeg
3 cups chopped ham or crisped, thick bacon
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Use 2 tablespoons of butter to grease a large, oven-to-table baking dish. Set aside.
2. Boil potatoes 25 – 30 minutes, or until soft enough to mash. Do not overcook. Drain carefully and return to the pot to keep warm.
3. Simmer the leeks in the milk for 10 minutes. Remove the leeks and set aside. Save the milk for the next step.
4. Make a rich white sauce: melt 6 tablespoons of butter in a medium-sized, heavy saucepan until the bubbles start to subside. Add the flour and cook, stirring, until it starts to color. Gradually add the milk, stirring until it starts to thicken-8-10 minutes. Add parsley and seasonings and set aside.
5. Boil the cabbage/ kale in a pot of salted boiling water until soft-no more than 5 minutes. Drain and dry. Set aside.
6. Mash the potatoes until smooth. If you have a potato ricer, use it-it makes fluffier potatoes-but never puree in the blender or food processor (that just makes glue). Stir in cream and remaining butter. Add reserved leeks, and season with mace and salt and pepper to taste.
7. Scatter the ham in the bottom of the baking dish. Layer with greens, then sauce and top with potatoes, decoratively smoothed on top. Bake until golden, about 30 minutes.
NOTE: Colcannon is good any time, but it is always served in Ireland for Halloween, often with charms buried in the “pie.” A ring for marriage, a coin for wealth and a button for spinsterhood are the classic predictors for the year to come.