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March 21, 2010
My Kitchen, My World: Ireland
I'm finally, finally getting back into the My Kitchen, My World challenge. It's been a busy few months. We're actively working on simplifying our life. More on that in another post.
The challenge this month was Ireland. I made colcannon (otherwise known as bubble-and-squeak) and beer-battered fish--the one time a year I deep-fry (I had trouble even typing that out) (but I saw that most of the oil did stay in the pot, so I had it at the right temperature so that most of it didn't get absorbed). I used the same basic recipe and technique for beer battered fish that I used last year around this time.
And, as is traditional for our My Kitchen, My World challenges, we found something to watch with it. This time around, it was the lovely (and heart-rending) indy film, In America. And we had both forgotten that colcannon plays a brief, but important part in the movie.
We told the kids that we were having bubble and squeak, thinking they'd like the name. Elanor protested, "Elno no want bubble and skeek, Elno want bubble in baf."
I started with the Extending the Table version of colcannon, and tweaked it (such a great cookbook!). I made tons, since we had some potatoes to use up, and I also want to make some shepherd's pie with the leftovers. The recipe had 1-to-1 proportions between the cabbage and potatoes, but it's flexible.
Colcannon
About 3 lbs. of potatoes (Tim: There was no potato famine in our house last night)
About 1 lb. of cabbage (I used about 1/2 of a very large head)
1 cup diced chives or green onions (I pulled some wild onions out of a friend's yard)
12 oz. evaporated milk (or milk or cream)
Salt and pepper to taste
1) Peel, dice and boil potatoes until tender
2) Boil/steam the cabbage for 5-10 minutes until tender. I put water in the bottom of a large sauce pan, and tossed the cabbage around. Doing it for such a short time kept it from smelling and tasting funky.
3) Puree cabbage.
4) Drain and mash potatoes. Stir in the cabbage, milk, and onions. Stir together, mashing slightly, to combine. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve with butter, if you'd like.
I also made a little homemade tartar sauce, using about a cup of mayonnaise, the juice of half a lime, 1 tsp. of Penzey's creamy peppercorn spice mix, and a few slices of dill pickle, minced.
Today, I took the leftover fish and made fish tacos. I just sliced some of the leftover cabbage, and layered the fish, cabbage, salsa, and some tartar sauce on warmed corn tortillas.
My Kitchen, My World , cooking stuff , immigrant cooking | By Tim and Jo | 7:23 PM
Comments
It looks wonderful. Im the same way with frying, about the only thing I will fry is pieroghi. Iv'e never had bubble and squeak - Im going to have to try that. Thanks for the recipe.
Posted by: O'Neil's Lab (Lara) at April 4, 2010 10:39 PM
