Potato Recipe Round-up

April 18, 2011 by Rebecca 23 Comments

The other day I received an email from a PR company that read:

Dear Rebecca Lindamood,

Are you ready to show that [name brand stuffing mix] “tops” the
potato?

[name brand stuffing mix] is challenging families to escape the
same old, boring potato routine through a contest held by (blankety blank) to win a (blankety blank) gift card!

What We Want You to Write About

We’re inviting the blogosphere to participate in a contest to create humorous posts about how potatoes are a boring alternative to [name brand stuffing mix]. By providing creative, funny and memorable
content that takes a jab at potatoes as “boring,” we want to encourage
families to consider [name brand stuffing mix] as an everyday and
easy-to-make side dish alternative to instant potatoes. [name brand stuffing mix] is so “un-boring” it’s the “un-potato!”

With its everyday meal appeal, delicious taste and easy prep, [name brand stuffing mix] is the perfect side dish solution that complements meat and vegetables alike. Each serving from the
convenient [name brand stuffing mix] flex canister takes just
two minutes to prepare in the microwave no extra pots or dishes to
wash. The [name brand stuffing mix] canister is re-sealable, so
you can make as little or as much as you need, as quickly as you need
it.

Examples:

- An image and story of talk show host potato that has put its guests
to sleep

- An image and story of a potato totally underdressed in it’s plain
old skin for an event

- Showcase kids talking about how boring potatoes are and how they
love [name brand stuffing mix]

- Showcase how potatoes don’t cut it – they’re so worthless to eat -
doorstoppers, brick-fixes (spoof on home entertainment show sponsored
by [name brand stuffing mix])

Seriously, the more creative your posts and images are (as well as
appropriate and non-offensive) the better! If it helps, think of the
type of humor found in The Onion (http://www.theonion.com) and
incorporate that style of comedy into your story.

All you need is your sense of humor (and we know bloggers have the
best sense of humor in the world)!

Post Requirements For Contest

- At least 200 words with your “story” about the [name brand stuffing mix]
Mix being the “HERO” over th BORING POTATO.

- At least one image and/or video about your BORING POTATO or [name brand stuffing mix].

(And so on and so forth…)

Now I pose you this question. You all have been with me a while now. Does this strike you as me? At all? Even in an alternate universe? Because frankly, it annoyed me big time. Hard core. Spuds to the wall.

No one -and I mean no one- disses my potatoes. The food of my people. Not in my house. Potatoes are quite possibly the most perfect food in all of the world (except maybe for bacon, with which they -not entirely coincidentally- pair beautifully.) They’re a nutritious, mineral packed, inexpensive, simple to prepare food. They’re versatile. They store well. They make people happy. And they are most emphatically NOT boring.

And so… because I am quite firmly a member of the “don’t whine unless you’re going to do something about it camp” I am presenting for your unboring cooking pleasure a round-up of the greatest potato hits here on Foodie With Family. And as a bonus? A homemade *gaspshriekfaintthud* stuffing recipe. That doesn’t involve anything at all from a box. And it doesn’t have any unpronounceable or unidentifiable ingredients*. BONUS!

*Unless you have a problem with the following words; cornbread, bread, buttermilk, chicken stock, onion, celery, sage. I know. Sage can be tricky. But under perfectly controlled lab environments with a herb guide book, sage is known to be safe and identifiable. Don’t worry. I’ll be right there with you.

My grand dreams for this round-up come in two parts. Part I (today’s part) wherein I plaster images of all the potato recipes from here on FWF, and Part II (next week’s part) where I publish a round-up of all YOUR favorite spud-centric recipes. The recipes can come from your blog, or link to another blog, or just be your Great Aunt Sally’s famous recipe.

So, pretty please, when you’re done reading this, leave me a comment or shoot me an email with a link to your mouthwatering potato recipe. If you don’t have a blog, please leave the recipe in the comment area or send it to me in an email. I may even get prizes involved. (Pssst. Maybe a jar of candied jalapenos to the recipe my family likes the best? What do you all think? Candied jalapenos are THE BOMB on baked potatoes. See? It all goes together!)

Let’s begin our celebration of the potato with dishes that are made either entirely or mostly from the humble and amazing tater.

Potatoes are the star…

Roesti (Swiss Crispy Potato Pancake)

All hail the perfect potato dish. Crispy on the outside, creamy on the inside. This makes it onto our table to accompany many, many main dishes, but it’s not just regulated to meal time. I make this dish for late night snacks for The Evil Genius and myself. I’m not a doctor or a fertility expert, but let me just say this. It’s one of our favorite snacks and we have five kids. Draw your own conclusions.

Colcannon Stuffed Twice Baked Potatoes

I mentioned that potatoes are the food of my people, right? As in the Irish people? This is Irish on Irish (which sounds bad, but is really quite tasty. Stop it.) Cabbage and onion studded mashed potatoes stuffed back into a baked potato shell, topped with Guinness and cheddar potted cheese, baked once more for good measure and crowned with glazed corned beef and more onions. Phew. I got happy just typing that.

Garlic Hasselback Potatoes

Pure posh potatoes. These elegant, intriguing potatoes are much simpler to turn out than you would ever think. Crispy on top and bottom, creamy and garlicky on the interior and making ample use of blessed butter, these would never, ever be mistaken as boring.

Loaded Baked Potato Skins

Oh my yes. And a big Amen. Potatoes, skins, bacon, cheese, creamy good stuff and green onions. Are you bored? I’m sure as heck not.

Loaded Baked Potato Soup

This is the glorious companion recipe to the Loaded Baked Potato Skins. You want this and you want it ba-a-ad. Creamy, thick potato soup made from baked potatoes and topped with all your favorite toppers for baked potatoes. Make this the night before or after you have the Loaded Baked Potato Skins. Or, dear ones? If life is treating you wrong, make them both on one night. The grey skies WILL clear up. That’s a guarantee.

Roasted Crispy Cheese Potatoes

I think the name pretty well explains this but I’ll break it down a bit. First, let me say this is my Grandma’s recipe which is pretty much all you need to know. Grandmas + potatoes= amazingcomfortfoodglorioushappiness. Am I right? But I digress. You cut up potatoes into bite sized pieces, put them on a baking pan with a full stick of butter (Oh merciful Father in heaven, you DO love us.) and a seriously dangerous amount of grated parmesan cheese. Ta da!

Campfire Home Fries

Being away from home is NO excuse to skip the potatoes. A little advance preparation can give you some of the best homefries of all time under the sky and canopy of trees. If I skipped the Campfire Homefries on our annual camping trip the minions would revolt.

Potatoes have a supporting role…

Creamy Garlic Lemon and Dill Pot Pies

Much like Natalie Portman’s dance body double in The Black Swan, potatoes don’t appear in the credits here, but they’re CRUCIAL to the overall finished product. No potatoes? No pot pie. No pot pies? Tears. And lots of them.

Yooper Pasties

As a self-respecting Yooper-born gal, I was acquainted very early on in life with the wonders of potatoes. A Yooper Pasty without potatoes is, well, like a pasty without rutabagas. It just ain’t done, people. You might as well leave off the ketchup. (Now sit back down. We’ll get into the ketchup vs. gravy debate another time. Right now we’re rallying behind the long suffering potato.)

Ultimate Corned Beef Hash

Here’s the thing you need to know about this dish. You can never make enough. It’s true. I made an 18-inch cast-iron skillet brimming with it. I counted on a couple days of leftovers. There. were. none. Sad doesn’t begin to cover it. The moral of the story? Make way more than you might ever think you could possibly consume. Not to put too fine a point on it…

Oh, stuffing. We love you, too. Just not from a box…

Grandma’s Famous Cornbread Stuffing

This is also not boring. And this is also not the aforementioned brand of stuffing. This is the best stuffing you will ever stuff in your face. Trust me. You’re going to stuff it in your face. Or you might stuff your face in the stuffing. It’s very stuffable. And it will stuff you. In a good way. With all pronounceable and identifiable ingredients. And it’s another one of my Grandma’s recipes. ‘Nuff said?

Here’s where you come in…

Please, Please, pretty please with potatoes on top send me your favorite potato recipes, either by links or full recipes down in the comments or by email. It is our privilege and our duty to protect and defend the ever wondrous potato’s reputation. Here are a couple fabulous ones from good blogger buddies for inspiration:

Potato Latkes with Smoked Salmon and Dill from Very Culinary

Hubba hubba. Smoked salmon AND dill AND crispy potato latkes? Amy, you temptress. I could eat approximately fifty bajillion of these little gems. I might need some help standing up later, but I’d go happy.

Potatoes Antico Modo from Evil Chef Mom

Speaking of going happy, Evil Chef Mom discusses last meals and potatoes with her Potatoes Antico Modo. I believe Antico Modo is translated loosely as “Heavenly thing to do to potatoes with butter and cream.” I’m pretty sure about that. Because look at these. Sigh.

Yukon Golds with Shallot Butter by Alosha’s Kitchen

WHU-POW! That was the sound of my head exploding thinking about these Yukon Gold potatoes with Shallot Butter from Melissa at Alosha’s Kitchen. And all God’s people said? (Here is where you say “Amen!”) First, you have my favorite variety of potato. Second, you’re bathing them in shallot butter. Oh yes, she did. And you should, too.

Crispitty Crunchitty Potato Crack by Saint Tigerlily

If you’re going to tell me that you can resist these accurately named, duck fat roasted, crispy potato rounds from Saint Tigerlily, I’m going to call you a liar. A big, sad, liar. Because no one can resist these. Unless they have no tastebuds in which case, we should feel pity. No. Never mind. Even those without tastebuds couldn’t resist these because of the otherwordly texture. So we’re back to people who say they can resist this being liars. So there.

One quick note. Pictures, while not necessary to participate in the round-up, are certainly appreciated. If you send them to me, pretty please size them to about 550 x 400 or at least 400 x 400. Give me a shout if you need help with that!

One last question. Were you bored by these recipes?

Filed Under: Rebecca, Round Ups Tagged With: potatoes, take that boxed stuffing, unpotatofest

Corned Beef Hash

February 22, 2011 by Rebecca 8 Comments

I love Corned Beef Hash. Have you ever played the “What would you eat for your final meal” game? This is on my list.

It’s nearly impossible to go too far wrong when you combine corned beef, potatoes, carrots, onions, salt and pepper. But a sublime Corned Beef Hash is a thing of beauty. The corned beef takes on a concentrated meaty, savoury, salty, chewy intensity that can’t be achieved without a good spell in a very hot pan with a hearty dose of butter. And oh boy, those potatoes and onions…

Potatoes are meant to have crispy bits. That is how it was written from the beginning of time. A crackling, fat-crisped exterior with little caramelized nubs of onion surrounding a soft, creamy interior is my definition of the perfect potato. Don’t think I’m forgetting the carrots. While it might look like they’re a walk-on in this scenario, but they play a crucial role. They are the lightly sweet counterpoint to the salt and starch and meat.

There’s a psychological component to this dish that’s hard to beat. Smelling onions and carrots sweetening in butter with frying potatoes and spiced beef is my idea of transcendental meditation. My brain blanks out to everything but the sound and scent of sizzling fat lapping at the edges of diced potatoes. You can’t buy medication or drugs that do that for you. Science just can’t replicate the full-body anticipation you experience while frying up a pan of this glorious peasant food.

Like most peasant food, hash originated as a way to make use of odds and ends and bits and pieces. Waste not, want not is the sentiment that has inspired many of the world’s best dishes. And also like most peasant food, it’s really hard to royally botch this dish.

When it comes down to it, you could just toss all the chopped ingredients into a pan and it would yield something edible. But why settle for edible when you can shoot for incredible with the same set of ingredients? Here are some of my tips for creating the ultimate Corned Beef Hash.

Pre-boil your potatoes. Don’t skip this step! Boiling your potatoes lightly ahead of time helps you achieve that dreamed-of soft center and crisp outside. Skins on or off is up to personal preference completely. For myself, the only time I remove the skins in this dish is if they’re a little on the green side.
Press the hash down in the pan with a sturdy spatula or spoon. This increases the amount of potato/carrot/corned beef surface area that comes into contact with the super hot pan. This ensures a high ratio of my favorite part of hash: the crispy bits.
Don’t stir the cooking hash. I know. It’s like scratching an itch. You want to stir things. I want to stir things, but avoid the temptation. Remember that letting it sit there squashed against the hot pan equals crunchy goodness. You’ll be turning it every so often, but stirring is out!
Potatoes love black pepper. Don’t skimp on the black pepper or your hash will be sad and so will you.
Potatoes also love salt. But exercise a little caution on this front. Corned beef is salty. You salt the cooking water for the potatoes. You add a little salt to the onions and carrots to help get them cooking. You may want to soft-shoe the addition of salt to the actual hash because the flavors (and saltiness) will continue to concentrate until the whole thing is done cooking. Don’t worry. You can always salt it at the plate.
Make more than you think you’ll need. Leftover hash stores in the refrigerator or freezer and reheats beautifully. I almost always wish I had made more.

Corned Beef Hash

Scroll to the bottom for an easy-print version of this recipe!

Ingredients:

1 1/2-3 cups leftover fully cooked corned beef brisket, depending on how much you have and how much you want in the finished product
8 largish Yukon Gold potatoes, scrubbed and peeled if preferred
1 large yellow onion
1 large carrot, scrubbed and peeled if preferred
1/2 cup (1 stick, 4 ounces) butter, plus extra if needed
salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

Optional for serving:

Stir-fried kimchi
Fried eggs
Hot sauce

Place a large pot of water over high heat and allow it to come to a boil while preparing other ingredients.

Place a large, heavy, well-seasoned cast-iron skillet over low heat and allow the butter to melt slowly in it while you dice your onions. You want the pieces of onion to be no larger than 1/4″. Lob the root end off of the carrot. Slice it in half crosswise, then lengthwise. Lay the carrot quarters cut sides down on your cutting board and slice into 1/4″ thick strips lengthwise. Turn the strips perpendicular to your knife and chop roughly into 1/4″ cubes. When the butter is fully melted, add the carrots and onions to the pan, sprinkle with a pinch of salt, then stir.

Raise the heat to medium low and let cook while dealing with the potatoes then corned beef, stirring occasionally to prevent scorching. The carrots and onions should cook for about 8-10 minutes.

To dice the potatoes, first slice them in half lengthwise. Lay, cut side down, on the cutting board and cut into 1/4″ thick ‘cards’. Lay a stack of the potato ‘cards’ on the cutting board, cut sides down, and slice into 1/4″ strips. Turn the strips perpendicular to your knife and chop roughly into 1/4″ cubes. Don’t sweat this too much, you just want pieces that are approximately the same size so they cook in about the same amount of time.

Salt the now boiling water with a hearty pinch of kosher salt and carefully add the diced potatoes. Return to a simmer. The potatoes should be mostly tender within 3-5 minutes. Do not cook them until they’re mushy. Drain and set aside.

To dice the corned beef, cut across the grain into 1/4″ thick slices. Stack the slices and cut into 1/4″ strips. Turn the strips perpendicular to your knife and chop roughly into 1/4″ cubes.

By this time, your carrots and onions should have softened and the onions should be beginning to turn golden around the edges (at the 8-10 minute mark.) Turn the heat to medium. Add the boiled potatoes and diced corned beef to the pan and toss to evenly distribute the onions, carrot, potatoes, corned beef and fat. If it looks dry, you can add a little more butter or canola oil. Use a sturdy metal spatula or wooden spoon to press the mixture down toward the bottom of the pan. This promotes more caramelized bits and goodies. Grind black pepper over the mixture, to taste. Since I’m flush with attractive young men at my house, I had one of them do it for me.

Do not stir at this point!

If you hear sizzling and popping you are on the right track. If you don’t hear it, raise the heat a bit and see if that sets the sizzling in motion. If you still don’t hear good things happening, add a bit more fat (either butter or canola oil), and that should do it. After about 5-8 minutes, when things start smelling toasty, slide a metal spatula under the hash and lift a bit to examine the progress. If it is starting to get golden brown bits, use your spatula to slide underneath and flip over the hash in sections. Don’t stir it, or you’ll break up all those lovely crisp parts. Press the hash down again to bring more surface area in contact with the pan. This is how you achieve the best coloring and texture on the hash. Cook for about 5 minutes, then lift and flip sections again. Carry on doing this until you get the degree of caramelization you prefer. When it is the color you desire, remove the pan from the heat. Beware. If you let one of those good-looking people hanging around your house wield the pepper grinder, they may feel entitled to snitch from the pan. Happens all the time around here…

Cast-iron retains heat, so if you do not want it to cook any further, you should transfer it to a serving dish immediately.

Serve hot.

I prefer mine with stir-fried kimchi and a fried egg on top, but most of my kids love it straight up with hot sauce.

Leftovers can be stored in a tightly covered container in the refrigerator and reheated in a skillet or in the microwave.

Corned Beef Hash

Author: Rebecca Lindamood

Recipe type: main, breakfast, dinner

Prep time: 25 mins

Cook time: 30 mins

Total time: 55 mins

Serves: 8

When corned beef hash is done right, you get concentrated meaty, savoury, salty, chewy intensity that can’t be achieved without a very hot pan and butter.

Ingredients

1½-3 cups leftover fully cooked corned beef brisket, depending on how much you have and how much you want in the finished product
8 largish Yukon Gold potatoes, scrubbed and peeled if preferred
1 large yellow onion
1 large carrot, scrubbed and peeled if preferred
½ cup (1 stick, 4 ounces) butter, plus extra if needed
salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
Optional for serving:
Stir-fried kimchi
Fried eggs
Hot sauce

Instructions

Place a large pot of water over high heat and allow it to come to a boil while preparing other ingredients.
Place a heavy, well-seasoned cast-iron skillet over low heat and allow the butter to melt slowly in it while you dice your onions. You want the pieces of onion to be no larger than ¼”. Lob the root end off of the carrot. Slice it in half crosswise, then lengthwise. Lay the carrot quarters cut sides down on your cutting board and slice into ¼” thick strips lengthwise. Turn the strips perpendicular to your knife and chop roughly into ¼” cubes. When the butter is fully melted, add the carrots and onions to the pan, sprinkle with a pinch of salt, then stir. Raise the heat to medium low and let cook while dealing with the potatoes then corned beef, stirring occasionally to prevent scorching. The carrots and onions should cook for about 8-10 minutes.
To dice the potatoes, first slice them in half lengthwise. Lay, cut side down, on the cutting board and cut into ¼” thick ‘cards’. Lay a stack of the potato ‘cards’ on the cutting board, cut sides down, and slice into ¼” strips. Turn the strips perpendicular to your knife and chop roughly into ¼” cubes.
Salt the now boiling water with a hearty pinch of kosher salt and carefully add the diced potatoes. Return to a simmer. The potatoes should be mostly tender within 3-5 minutes. Do not cook them until they’re mushy. Drain and set aside.
To dice the corned beef, cut across the grain into ¼” thick slices. Stack the slices and cut into ¼” strips. Turn the strips perpendicular to your knife and chop roughly into ¼” cubes.
By this time, your carrots and onions should have softened and the onions should be beginning to turn golden around the edges (at the 8-10 minute mark.) Turn the heat to medium. Add the boiled potatoes and diced corned beef to the pan and toss to evenly distribute the onions, carrot, potatoes, corned beef and fat. If it looks dry, you can add a little more butter or canola oil. Use a sturdy metal spatula or wooden spoon to press the mixture down toward the bottom of the pan. This promotes more caramelized bits and goodies. Grind black pepper over the mixture, to taste.
Do not stir at this point!
If you hear sizzling and popping you are on the right track. If you don’t hear it, raise the heat a bit and see if that sets the sizzling in motion. If you still don’t hear good things happening, add a bit more fat (either butter or canola oil), and that should do it. After about 5-8 minutes, when things start smelling toasty, slide a metal spatula under the hash and lift a bit to examine the progress. If it is starting to get golden brown bits, use your spatula to slide underneath and flip over the hash in sections. Don’t stir it, or you’ll break up all those lovely crisp parts. Press the hash down again to bring more surface area in contact with the pan. This is how you achieve the best coloring and texture on the hash. Cook for about 5 minutes, then lift and flip sections again. Carry on doing this until you get the degree of caramelization you prefer. When it is the color you desire, remove the pan from the heat. Cast-iron retains heat, so if you do not want it to cook any further, you should transfer it to a serving dish immediately.
Serve hot.
I prefer mine with stir-fried kimchi and a fried egg on top, but most of my kids love it straight up with hot sauce. Leftovers can be stored in a tightly covered container in the refrigerator and reheated in a skillet or in the microwave.

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Filed Under: Breakfast Foods, Main Dish, Meat, Recipes, Stretching your dollars Tagged With: fried potatoes, leftover corned beef, one pot dinner, one pot dish, potatoes

Colcannon Stuffed Twice Baked Potatoes: Part II of a St. Patrick’s Day Feast!

March 11, 2009 by Rebecca 4 Comments

I don’t know what’s going on with my computer today, but half of my photos are out of whack. Please pretend they’re all centered. Thank you.

Colcannon: Mashed potatoes studded with tender cabbage or kale, onions, salt, pepper, butter and cream. Oh my. It’s the stuff of dreams. This wondrous concotion graces our St. Patrick’s Day table, but it also makes frequent dinner appearances throughout the colder months. We love our colcannon recipe. We adore it. And in the name of my pet theory that you can never have enough good potato recipes I messed with it.

The usual way we go about preparing our colcannon is pretty straightforward. Peel, chop and bring potatoes to the boil. Add cabbage. Drain, mash, add butter, salt and cream. Stir in chopped green onions. And occasionally add an indecent quantity of shredded Cheddar cheese then stir. Okay, not so much occasionally. We pretty much do that every time. And normally, I would then add this to a buttered casserole, top with an equally indecent quantity of Cheddar cheese and pop in a hot oven until bubbly and lightly browned on top. That makes colcannon pretty hard to beat. Wouldn’t you agree?

But let me clue you in about how my brain works. My brain is a pendulum swinging wildly between the two extremes: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” and “To boldly go where no man has gone”. (Even though that requires me to split an infinitive. Anathema I tell you.) As I was gathering the ingredients to make colcannon my eyes flitted across the Guinness and Cheddar Potted Cheese in the fridge. A little voice inside my head said, “Hey! Wouldn’t that potted cheese be good dolloped on a baked potato?” And from there the grey matter skipped lightly over twice baked potatoes and straight to colcannon stuffed twice baked potatoes topped with Guinness and Cheddar Potted Cheese. Why the heck not?

And boy, did these things end up being good. I’m afraid to admit how many of them I ate, because they’re not really, er, diet friendly. Not that I’m on a diet, mind you, but I might need to be if I eat too many of these. They’re just plain good. And even though I could just save myself the trouble and strap them to my thighs, the flavor and texture makes it all worth it. Please make some of these and eat them with me. I don’t want to be the only one not wearing corduroy slacks because my thighs whisper “Po-ta-to. Po-ta-to” when I walk.

Oh! I should mention that you can whip these up ahead of time and then bake them just before serving. How handy is that? Delicious and flexible. All food should be so friendly.

Speaking of friendly, be sure to come back tomorrow for my corned beef recipe to end all corned beef recipes. It is amazing. It is delicious. It just might help achieve world peace. Yes, it is that good.

: Oh so yummy. Totally worth my thighs rubbing together and whispering, “Po-ta-to. Po-ta-to…”

For a printer-friendly, photo free version of the recipe, click here!

Colcannon-Stuffed Twice Baked Potatoes

Ingredients:

14 medium sized all-purpose potatoes
1 small head white or green cabbage
1 cooking onion
1 cup warm whole milk
½ cup warm cream or half and half
3 TB butter (for cabbage)
¼ cup butter, melted (for mashed potatoes)
1 cup shredded extra sharp Cheddar cheese
3 Tablespoons Guinness and Cheddar Potted Cheese
salt and pepper to taste

Optional for serving:

Additional Guinness and Cheddar Potted Cheese
sliced green onions
minced cooked corned beef

Preheat oven to 425F. Wash potatoes, prick all over with a fork, and place on a rimmed sheet pan.

Storage potatoes. A bear to clean, but cheap, plentiful and great to have on hand.

Show them who the boss is. Jab 'em.

Bake for about 45 minutes or until they pierce easily all the way through with a skewer. Allow to sit and cool slightly while working on cabbage.

Fresh baked potatoes. Mmmmm. See all the holes from poking it with a fork?

Cut the blossom end off the onion, stand on the flat spot, and cut in half. Lay halves on their cut sides, slice down from about ½” below the root end all the way to the cut end at ¼” intervals. Turn the onion 90 degrees and cut across the slices you already made to dice the onion. (For step-by-step photo instruction on how to do this, see this post!) Add the onion to the cabbage in the pan and toss to coat.

Slice a round off the stem end of the cabbage to make it stand sturdily on the cutting board.

Again. Round things roll on cutting boards. Rolling things are dangerous to cut.

So remove that end and give it a flat spot.

Place cabbage, cut side down, on the board and cut in half.

Now that it can stand still, cut it in half from top to bottom.

Even better flat surfaces! Yippee for safety!

Carefully cut the core away from the cabbage. Lay the half on its side and slice as thinly as possible without getting out the ruler. We’re just slicing cabbage here, folks.

Don't worry about precision here.

Turn knife (or cutting board) 90 degrees and cut your thin slices into small squares.

And don't worry about precision here, either.

This is the size you want.

Melt 3 TB butter in a heavy-bottomed skillet over medium-high heat.

Am I the only one in the world who wants to bathe in melted butter?

Add cabbage to the pan.

Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste and toss to coat.

Be generous with that pepper!

Cook, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes. Add diced onions and toss to coat.

Continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until the cabbage is tender and beginning to brown.

See this? Not done yet. It's not at all tender. Put it back on the heat.

Perfect! Tender but not mush. Everything cabbage should be...

I could just eat a big bowl of this alone.

Remove from heat and turn your attention back to the potatoes.

Cut each potato in half so that they will lay, cut side up, on a sheet pan. With a spoon, scoop most of the insides of each potato into a bowl, leaving a ¼” thick potato shell.

Mash or rice the potatoes in the bowl.

Are you a masher or a ricer? I'm a ricer kind of gal. You can use either method here, though...

Aren't riced potatoes just pretty?

Add the warm milk, cream and melted ¼ cup of butter to the potatoes and toss with a fork until evenly mixed. Add the potted cheese, the shredded Cheddar, and the cabbage and onion mixture to the potatoes and stir to combine.

Guinness and Cheddar Potted Cheese. Sneak a bit of this into everything!

Preheat your oven to 375F (or simply lower the heat if it is still going from baking the potatoes.)

Use an ice cream scoop or a spoon to fill the potato shells.

Lightly spread the colcannon filling so that it mounds and covers the entire cut surface of the potato.

If you wish to freeze some of these to prepare later, place desired portions on another sheet pan.

Is anyone else getting twitchy fingers seeing that back pan hanging over the edge of the counter? I assure you that I moved it and nothing fell!

Cover lightly with plastic wrap and place in freezer until frozen solid. Transfer frozen potatoes to a zipper top bag and store in freezer for up to three months. See cooking instructions for frozen stuffed potatoes below.

Otherwise, return to the sheet pan with the potatoes to the oven and bake for 30 minutes or until hot all the way through and lightly browned on top.

You're beautiful just the way you are...

Serve topped with Guinness and Cheddar Potted Cheese, finely chopped cooked corned beef and thinly sliced green onions. Yum. Store leftovers (minus toppings) tightly wrapped in the fridge for up to a week.

Colcannon. The cure for the common potato.

Fully loaded with Guinness and Cheddar Potted Cheese, Corned Beef and Green Onions. Commence drooling.

Minus the Guinness cheese spread for the little honyak who still likes the works.

: And minus everything but the green onions for the honyak who inexplicably decided to dislike Corned Beef.

But you? You're all mine. Let's go somewhere we can be alone.

To Cook Previously Frozen Stuffed Potatoes:

Preheat oven to 350F. Place desired number of potatoes on a sheet pan and loosely cover with foil. Bake for about 45 minutes, remove foil and bake an additional 15 minutes or until they are hot all the way through.

Not as good, but much quicker, is microwaving these potatoes from frozen on high for about 8-10 minutes. Like I said, it won’t be as good, but it’s still a sight better than fast food.

Don’t forget to come back for the corned beef tomorrow. I’ll save you a slice. Maybe.