Colcannon is one of my favourite side dishes. So much so that I would happily eat this on its own straight from the pan!!

Its origins are decidedly Irish, although my version makes a nod to the Northern Irish champ, which focusses on Spring onions rather than cabbage. You could also add in chopped bacon to this dish to make a real meal of it.

This is amazing served with Gammon steaks and parsley sauce, or equally as good with Sausages and gravy. You could even use this as a topping for a shepherds or cottage pie – its uses are endless.

Ingredients

• 1.5 kg bag of potatoes peeled to within an inch of their life
• 100g butter
• 100ml Milk
• 1/2 a Savoy cabbage
• 3 spring onions/scallions
• salt and white pepper

Method

• Boil the peeled and halved potatoes in a large saucepan of salted water until softened. Then strain and leave these in a colander over the pan with a cloth on to dry out.
• Slice the cabbage thinly and finely chop the spring onions
• Heat a knob of the butter in a large pan, then fry the spring onions and cabbage for 5 mins.
• Add the butter and milk to the potatoes in the saucepan then mash until creamy and whipped – I use a handheld mixer with 2 beaters to get this super smooth.
• Lastly fold in the cabbage and spring onions to the mash, season with salt and white pepper (trust me it works better then black pepper here) and serve.

Now this dish is never going to win any beauty pageants – but if you are looking for a bowl of comfort food to snuggle up with as we head away from summer you couldn’t do much better than this !!