Totally Cabbage Pt 2

Colcannon    

(from IRISH TRADITIONAL FOOD, Theodora Fitzgibbon:)

"This is traditionally eaten in Ireland at Hallowe'en. Until quite recently this was a fast day, when no meat was eaten. The name is from cal ceann fhionn -- white-headed cabbage. Colcannon should correctly be made with chopped kale (a member of the cabbage family) but it is also made with white cabbage; an interesting version is the Irish Folklore Commission's, which gives it as mashed potatoes mixed with onions, butter, and a boiled white cabbage in the center.

Colcannon at Hallowe'en used to contain a plain gold ring, a sixpence, a thimble or button: finding the ring meant marriage within the year for the person who found it, the sixpence meant wealth, the thimble spinsterhood and the button bachelorhood."

(from THE POOLBEG BOOK OF IRISH TRADITIONAL FOOD:)
"For a dish that is not widely eaten or served today, colcannon remains remarkably widely known. Maybe the song about colcannon is better known than the dish. If you say "colcannon" in a crowded room, the chances are that half the room will break into one version of the song and the other into a completely different version. Like the recipe itself, there are two versions commonly known.

  

Did you ever eat colcannon                                         Did you ever eat colcannon
when 'twas made with yellow cream                      when 'twas made with thickened cream
And the kale and praties blended                             And the greens and scallions blended
Like the picture in a dream?                                        Like the picture in a dream?

Did you ever take a forkful                                          Did you ever scoop a hole on top
And dip it in the lake                                                       To hold the melting cake
Of heather-flavored butter                                         Of clover-flavored butter
That your mother used to make?                             Which your mother used to make?

Oh, you did, yes you did!                                              Did you ever eat and eat, afraid
So did he and so did I,                                                    You'd let the ring go past,
And the more I think about it,                                    And some old married sprissman*
Sure, the more I want to cry.                                      Would get it at the last?

God be with the happy times
When trouble we had not,
And our mothers made colcannon
In the little three-legged pot.

*The word "sprissman" is a slightly corrupted version of the 19th-century Irish slang word "sprissaun". It comes from the Gaeilge word spreasán, which means someone or something worthless. The idea here is that it would be a waste of time if a married person got the ring buried in the colcannon, as the ring was supposed to foretell its finder's marriage prospects.

" -- Colcannon is so like champ, cally, and poundies that it's difficult to understand how it ever came to have a different name. Yet, all over the country, colcannon is colcannon and known as nothing else. As in the two versions of the song, it can be made with kale or with greens, meaning cabbage. Those reared on the version made with kale can never understand how the cabbage version can be considered colcannon, and vice versa...."

Yield: 4 servings

    450 g  Kale or cabbage

    450 g  Potatoes

      2    Small leeks or green onion

           -tops

    150 ml Milk or cream

           Pinch of mace

           Salt and pepper

    100 g  Butter

  ~- If using the kale, strip from the stalks or likewise remove the

  stump of cabbage before cooking in boiling salted water until tender

  but not overcooked.  Drain very well and chop finely.  Meanwhile,

  cook the potatoes, and while they are cooking chop the leeks or onion

  tops and simmer them in milk or cream for about 7 minutes.  Drain the

  potatoes, season and mash them well, then stir in the cooked leeks

  and milk, adding a little more milk if needed.

 

  Finally blend in the finely chopped kale or cabbage (modern cooks will

  find a blender or food processor ideal for this).  Add the mace and

  taste for seasoning.  Heat the entire mixture gently, then pile in a

  warmed dish.  Make a small well in the center and pour in the melted

  butter.

 

  (from IRISH TRADITIONAL FOOD, Theodora Fitzgibbon)

And for additional fun:
1 Ring, wrapped in greaseproof
-paper
Just before serving, slip in
the wrapped ring -- the trick, as you can see from the rhyme, is to
make sure the ring doesn't turn up too soon -- then the children will
eat it all willingly!