Slainte! Colcannon! What?

Last weekend was cold, rainy, and generally yucky so it was a perfect weekend to hunker down in the kitchen and make comfort food and boozy cupcakes.

Colcannon was easy-peasy. Although, it would have been much better had I not used the full butter volcano that they recommended, which really made it way too rich and heavy. My guinea pig this weekend enjoyed the buttery-ness but he's a boy and they don't care about their hips, so if you DO care about your hips you should NOT use the entire stick of butter that they call for. Blech I feel nauseous just thinking about it. The leeks simmered in milk was a pretty tasty touch, though! This is a perfect side dish for a cold rainy evening supper. I paired it with some baked chicken drumsticks.

Here's the recipe, straight from County Mayo:

* 1 pound cabbage
* 1 pound potatoes
* 2 leeks
* 1 cup milk
* salt and pepper to taste
* 1 pinch ground mace
* 1/2 cup butter

Directions

1. In a large saucepan, boil cabbage until tender; remove and chop or blend well. Set aside and keep warm. Boil potatoes until tender. Remove from heat and drain.
2. Chop leeks, green parts as well as white, and simmer them in just enough milk to cover, until they are soft.
3. Season and mash potatoes well. Stir in cooked leeks and milk. Blend in the kale or cabbage and heat until the whole is a pale green fluff. Make a well in the center and pour in the melted butter. Mix well.

Note: I used kale instead of cabbage, and it turned out pretty delish. I also have no idea what mace is (other than the stuff you use to defend yourself from robbers and rapists) so I checked out The Google and it told me could substitute 1 tsp of nutmeg for ever 1/4 tsp of mace.