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photo of colcannon twice baked potato

Colcannon-Twice Baked

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Description

Make these today (St. Patrick’s Day) or tomorrow, or any day you need a little Irish cheer. Easy and tasty, they freeze well too.


Ingredients

Units Scale
  • 4 large potatoes* (about 8 oz each)
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil if needed
  • 46 oz. bacon or Canadian bacon (*see note), chopped into small pieces
  • 1 small leek, well washed and sliced thin (you’ll want a generous cup)
  • 1/21 cup buttermilk (or yogurt, half and half, whatever fresh dairy you have, heck use a combo, even better)
  • 4 tablespoon butter (optional, but tasty)
  • Kosher salt (affiliate link) and pepper to taste
  • Green onions (or chives, if that’s what you have on hand) sliced thin for garnish

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees, place the rack near the middle to top of the oven. 
  2. Scrub and rinse the potatoes well, prick the potatoes with a fork and bake until completely tender inside about 45-55 minutes. You want a skewer or bread knife to easily reach the center of the potato.
  3. While the potatoes are baking, get the filling started. If using streaky bacon (our typical bacon), sauté in a pan over medium high heat, until crispy. Remove from pan, and place on some kitchen towels to absorb the fat, set aside. 
  4. Remove all but 1 tablespoon fat** from the pan. Return pan to the heat and when the pan is quite hot, all the leeks. Sauté until almost tender, then add the cabbage (or kale or chard) to the pan and sauté until tender and tasty. Taste for seasoning, but you may not need much since the bacon has plenty of flavor.
  5. When potatoes are ready, remove from the oven, and cool until you can handle. Slice in half (the long way), and scoop the fluffy potato (leaving about a quarter-inch around the edge to make a sturdy shell) into a large bowl. Salt and pepper the shell well, and set aside. Mash to potatoes with a fork or potato masher (it’s a-okay for these to be chunky), add as much of the buttermilk or dairy of choice to moisten the fluffy potato, without making it soupy. Salt and pepper the mixture, and taste it, is it delish? Is the flavor nice? Add a little more if necessary.
  6. Mix the cabbage mixture in with the potatoes. Add more dairy if needed. Taste and be sure to season if needed. 
  7. Scoop the mixture back into the shells, and pop back into a hot oven for about 15 minutes to reheat.
  8. Top with sliced green onions and serve.

Notes

*In Ireland, I used Irish bacon, which is much leaner than our ‘streaky’ bacon. If I were making this at home, I’d use good Canadian bacon with a little olive oil, saute until crispy, set aside.

**Save the bacon fat, it’s good stuff! A tiny bit goes a long way.