Colcannon Twice Baked Potatoes with crispy Dillisk Flakes!

So I’m sure you are all familiar with twice baked potatoes right? Delicious, creamy, cheesy mashed potatoes cradled in their crisp, salty skin. Well, just in time for St. Patrick’s Day I’ve actually given the twice baked potato a bit of an Irish make-over. Yup! These savory little devils you see here are Colcannon Twice Baked Potatoes.

I shared a recipe for Colcannon with you a few St. Patrick’s Days ago. It is without a doubt, Irish comfort food at its finest! Buttery mashed potatoes whipped up with cabbage, leeks and bacon.

Mix that divine concoction just described with some lovely Irish Cheddar and that is the filling in these show stopping Colcannon Twice Baked Potatoes. And since I had picked up some Dillisk on my last trip to Ireland, I chopped that up and sprinkled it over the top! Sheer magic I tell you!

Turns out the nutty salty Dillisk is the perfect flavor enhancer for these potatoes. Dillisk (duileasc in Irish) or dulse, as it is also known, is an edible seaweed which has been harvested along the shores of the North Atlantic for generations. The earliest mention of it being harvested comes from 1400 years ago. St. Columba and his monks gathered it for food as well as medicine. It is an excellent source of protein, fiber, calcium, iron, potassium, vitamin A, iodine and zinc. You can often find it in health food stores in the US. It can be eaten dried or rehydrated to use in soups, stews, breads or salads.

Since we’re talking about potato dishes, I’ve gotta bring up Cheese & Onion pies! One of the things I was most excited about on our most recent trip to Ireland was taking The Husband to visit Cork. I went to college at University College Cork and wanted to show him some of my old haunts.

Quad at University College Cork.

Stunning Street Art!

It had changed quite a bit since I’d been there, but I was very excited to see that my favorite chipper…no wait….the best chipper in Cork – no…Hands down the best chipper anywhere – Jackie Lennox’s was still going strong!

I love Jackie Lennox’s. There is no substitute. Back in the day, myself and the college friends, filled to the brim with pints would stop by to get a little something to help us soak up that booze. And Lennox’s never failed us! Perfectly cooked fish and chips, great burgers and batter sausages.But the thing I crave, the thing I almost always got was – Lennox’s Cheese & Onion Pies! They served this crispy, crunchy, deep fried ball of cheese, onions and mashed potatoes with plenty of chips and a hearty lashing of salt and malt vinegar. YUM! I tried to recreate it once. But there is nothing like the original.

The cutest puppy in the world and my version of a Cheese & Onion pie!

I had talked about it so much over the years that The Husband couldn’t wait to get his hands on one and let me just say it did not disappoint!

College friends, Cheese & Onion Pies, Batter Sausages & Chips!

Once we’d gotten our Lennox’s fix. We strolled by St. Finbar’s Cathedral

Strolled through the English Market. And stopped for a few pints. Perfect day!

But let me get back to these awesome Colcannon Twice Baked Potatoes! You can make these babies ahead of time. Just complete the recipe through filling the skins. Refrigerate them in an airtight container for up to 4 days ahead of your shindig. On the day you want to serve them, just pop them in a 375 F oven and bake for 30 – 40 minutes. How easy is that?!!

With crispy, salty flavorful skin and savory creamy cheesy filling, these exquisite Colcannon Twice Baked Potatoes go well as a side next to any meat dish you might wish to serve. Or you could even just chow down on this hearty stuffed spud as your dinner, full stop! I have no doubt folks will go wild for this dish at your St. Patrick’s Day celebrations. Heck they will go wild for it on any day that it appears on the table.

Colcannon Twice Baked Potatoes

• Servings: 8
• Difficulty: easy
• Print

recipe adapted from: The kitchn

Ingredients:

• 4 large russet potatoes
• 2 Tablespoons salt
• 1 Tablespoon Olive oil
• 6 strips smoky bacon
• 1/2 small savoy cabbage, shredded (approx. 12 ounces)
• 2 leeks, white and light green portions, halved lengthwise, rinsed well and thinly sliced
• 4 ounces Irish cheddar cheese, shredded
• 8 Tablespoons/ 113 grams unsalted butter
• 1 1/4 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon dried mustard powder
• 1 bay leaf
• freshly ground pepper
• handful of chives, chopped
• sea salt flakes
• handful of dillisk, chopped – to sprinkle over the top

Directions:

Set the rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 450 degrees F. Line two rimmed baking sheets with aluminum foil.

Scrub the four potatoes and prick all over with a fork.

Dissolve 2 Tablespoons of salt in 1/2 cup of water. Dip the potatoes in the water covering all sides and then set on one of the prepared baking sheets.

Arrange the bacon in a single layer on the other prepared tray.

Place both baking trays in the oven. Bake until the bacon is browned and starts to ripple, or to desired doneness, 10 to 20 minutes. (Because the cook time depends on the thickness of the bacon and how you like it cooked, start checking doneness at the 10-minute mark.) I usually bake my bacon for 13 minutes.

Remove the bacon from the oven and transfer to paper towel lined plate to drain. Reposition the baking tray with the potatoes so that it is centered in the oven and continue to bake, turning after about 30 minutes, until the internal temperature reaches 205 degrees F – about 45 minutes to 1 hour total baking time.

Once the potatoes have reached 205 degrees F, remove from oven and brush all sides with olive oil. Return to oven for 5 more minutes. Remove and set aside.

Meanwhile, prepare the filling ingredients. Cut the core from the cabbage and finely chop. Slice the leeks. Grate 4 ounces of Irish cheddar cheese. Crumble the bacon. Finely chop the dillisk.

Place 2 Tablespoons of the butter into a deep frying pan over medium heat. Add the cabbage, leeks and 1/4 teaspoon of kosher salt. Cook until cabbage begins to wilt, 5 -6 minutes.

Add the milk, dried mustard powder and the bay leaf to the pan. Stir to combine and bring to a simmer. Cover and reduce the heat. Cook for 20 -25 minutes.

Once the potatoes are ready, cut them in half lengthwise and carefully scrape the potato flesh out of the skins into a bowl, leaving 1/4 inch thick shell. Try to keep the skins intact as you will be refilling them. Place the skins on the baking sheet and place in a warm oven while you are finishing the filling.

Pass the potato flesh through a ricer into the bowl of a stand mixer. You can just mash with a potato masher if you wish, but a ricer will yield and much more creamy mash. Add two tablespoons of the butter and mix on low. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the cabbage and leek mixture to the potatoes, discarding the bay leaf. Again mix on low to combine. Slowly add the reserved milk from the cabbage mixture until your mash achieves the desired texture.

Add the cheese and 2/3rd of the crumbled bacon and mix until combined. Taste and season with kosher salt and black pepper.

Remove the warm potato shells from the oven and spoon the potato mixture into them. Dot each stuffed potato skin with 1/2 Tablespoon of butter. Turn the oven back up to 375 F and bake for about 20 minutes, or until the edges are browning and the filling is hot.

Remove from oven. Transfer to serving platter and top with reserved bacon, chopped chives, flaky sea salt and the chopped dillisk.

Enjoy!

Useful links for Kitchen Tools & Ingredients for Colcannon Twice Baked Potatoes:

Dillisk

Travel Planning Guide:

Getting there: Icelandair! We love Icelandair and have always had great experience with them. Icelandair flies to Dublin, Ireland. Take advantage of their Stopover program on your next flight to Europe.

Car Rental: New Way Car Hire – Love the all-inclusive pricing on these cars as well as the Dublin Airport pickup!

The English Market – Don’t visit Cork without stopping by The English Market! This 18th Century covered market is chock full of fresh local produce as well as many international delights! A must see!

Pubs & Grub:

Jackie Lennox’s Chip Shop

An Spailpín Fanac – great pub. Take note of opening hours. Doesn’t open until 6 -7 pm.

Hotels:

The River Lee Hotel – I didn’t actually stay overnight in Cork on this trip. But when we visit in the future – I’ve my eye on the River Lee Hotel. Looks awesome and is in a great location!

Irish Coffee Martini

All right folks…let’s get this party started! Let the countdown to St. Patrick’s Day 2023 begin! And what better way to kick things off than with this caffeinated, boozy delight of a cocktail – the Irish Coffee Martini!

This boozy libation with an added kick of caffeine is easy to make. Just throw some cold brew coffee, quality Irish Whiskey and Irish Cream Liqueur with a bit of simple syrup and ice into a shaker and well…give it a good shaking! Voila! You’ve turned your favorite hot beverage into a irresistible adult coffee cooler!

Now while we are at it – I do have some suggestions for which quality Irish Whiskey and Irish Cream you use. These are new discoveries for me from our most recent trip to Ireland in October 2022 and I am absolutely wild about both of them!

Before this most recent trip in October, we had not visited Ireland since 2012. So we were long overdue! Our first stop after flying into Dublin and renting a car was the gorgeous town of Trim in County Meath. This charming town, situated on the River Boyne, is one of the best preserved medieval towns and is only a 40 minute drive from Dublin airport. Great place to shake off your jet lag after an overnight flight from the States. The town dates back to the 5th Century. In fact, St. Patrick is said to have founded a monastery there. It was taken over by the English in the 12th Century. That is when Hugh de Lacy began work on Trim Castle, which is the largest Norman Castle in Ireland. We were delighted to have stayed at the lovely Trim Castle Hotel in one of their plush Heritage Rooms. Our room boasted a balcony which looked out on the Castle.

Although Trim may be smaller in population, it certainly does not lack in things to do, like touring the above mentioned castle and strolling along their river walk. A great base for touring Meath it is very close to all the Bru na Boinne valley has to offer (more on that in a later post) and has plenty of restaurants and bars to ease your transatlantic recovery.

1st Pint, but not to be the last by any means, of the trip!

But let me get back to those Irish Whiskey and Irish Cream recommendations. The Husband and I have a handful of godchildren in Ireland and I have them to thank for introducing us to these delightful tipples. I strongly recommend that you get ahold of some West Cork Irish Whiskey as well as some Five Farms Irish Cream. They were my go to’s for this Martini and you will see them again in other recipes to come this year. Both of these products hail from County Cork which is the largest and southernmost county in Ireland. This county has it all from lush fields of green, to mountains to rugged coastlines. And the fiercely independent folk there have a reputation for challenging authority. Cork is often called the “Rebel County” or “The People’s Republic of Cork”

West Cork Distillers, who craft smooth triple distilled, non-chill filtered whiskey, have the largest wholly Irish owned distillery in the country. Situated in Skibbereen they source the best local ingredients to craft their products. I am using their Bourbon Cask matured whiskey here, but they also offer whiskey matured in various other casks. Five Farms single batch Irish Cream liqueur is also produced in beautiful County Cork in the southern portion where the land meet the sea. The fresh cream used in this rich smooth liqueur is sourced entirely from 5 family owned farms. It is combined with premium triple distilled whiskey. In fact, there is a greater amount of Irish Whiskey in this product than most other brands of Irish Cream. This results in a warm sweet creamy taste in which the complexity of the whiskey shines through. I know all you hear this time of year is Jamesons and Baileys, and they are very good. But maybe you should branch out a bit this year and try something new.

This Irish Coffee Martini is gonna give you just the right combination of caffeine jolt and boozy smooth and mellow. Guaranteed to be a hit at any St. Patrick’s Day festivity. What are ya waiting for? Get shaking!

• Servings: 1 martini
• Difficulty: easy
• Print

recipe slightly adapted from: Burrata and Bubbles

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon espresso powder
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 4 ounces cold-brew coffee
• 1 1/2 ounces West Cork Irish Whiskey
• 1 ounce Five Farms Irish Cream
• 1/2 ounce simple syrup*
• Ice
• Coffee bean or even better, chocolate covered coffee bean to garnish (optional, but very nice!)

Directions:

Chill your martini glasses by filling with ice and a small amount of water. Leave this in the glass while you are preparing the cocktail. Once you are ready to serve, pour the ice water mixture out and dry the glass.

Mix together the espresso powder and sugar on a small plate.

Run some simple syrup around the rim of your martini glass. Then, swirl in the espresso powder-sugar mixture. Set aside.

In a cocktail shaker, add the cold-brew coffee, West Cork Irish Whiskey, Five Farms Irish Cream, simple syrup and ice. Pop on the top and shake vigorously for about 15 to 30 seconds.

Strain into prepared martini glasses.

Enjoy!

*Feel free to use store bought or home made simple syrup. To make at home you simply (ha ha ha…) bring 1 cup water and 1 cup sugar to a high simmer on the stove in a small saucepan, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Once the mixture simmers and the sugar dissolves, remove from heat. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator. This can be done well in advance and will keep for several weeks. Easy peasy!

Links for Helpful Kitchen Tools & Ingredients for Irish Coffee Martini:

Espresso Powder

Chocolate Covered Espresso Beans

Drizly – Not sure if this will work for you as all states liquor laws are different, but if it does work in your state, Drizly will deliver alcohol right to your door! It is worth checking out.

Travel Planning Guide:

Getting there: Icelandair! We love Icelandair and have always had great experience with them. Icelandair flies to Dublin, Ireland. Take advantage of their Stopover program on your next flight to Europe.

Car Rental: New Way Car Hire – Love the all-inclusive pricing on these cars as well as the Dublin Airport pickup!

Trim, Ireland

Accommodation: Trim Castle Hotel – Contemporary Luxury Accommodation in the heart of Ancient Ireland! This fantastic, family owned hotel boast 68 relaxing modern rooms. We stayed in their Heritage Room which offered a spectacular view of Trim Castle. This hotel has a very comfortable atmosphere and has a cafe, bar and restaurant on site. It offers parking as well, but if you’d rather not rent a car but wish to get out of Dublin, the hotel offers transfer to and from Dublin Airport. We can’t wait to visit again!

Pubs & Restaurants:

Sally Roger’s Pub: Friendly folks and great atmosphere! Besides the cozy interior, this pub also has a large outside balcony over the River Boyne with a great view of the old bridge. This bridge was built in 1393 and is one of the country’s oldest complete and unaltered working bridges.

Wau Asian Cuisine: I know you might be thinking, why are you eating Chinese in Ireland? Well we knew there would be plenty of amazing Irish dishes to come in this trip and sometimes you are just craving Chinese, no matter where you might be! So this is where we landed and we are so glad we did! Located right above Sally Roger Pub, we got take-away from Wau Asian which was really delicious! Their tasty tofu is homemade. I highly recommend a tofu dish. And if you want to add a bit of “Irishness’ to your dinner, get chips to go with your main dish instead of the usual rice! Yup…it’s a thing.

Spiced Beef Sandwiches

Spiced beef is more of a Christmas/New Years tradition in Ireland, but I thought it would be fun to include here. I mean, I don’t think there are any Spiced Beef Police who would take you into custody if they saw you serving it on St. Patrick’s Day. It is always served cold, cut in thin slices, and often accompanied by brown bread & mustard or chutney. Here I’m serving it as little two bite, quartered sandwiches on that Honey-Oat Pain de Mie I just told you about, slathered with spicy mustard.

So what, you may ask, is spiced beef? Spiced Beef, or Mairteoil Spíosraithe in Irish, is sort of the cousin of Corned Beef or Pastrami I suppose. Basically it is beef which has been marinated for a week, or perhaps longer, in spices such as juniper berry, allspice, brown sugar and pepper and cured with some kosher salt and Sel Rose or curing salt. Many older recipes call for salt petre to do the curing, but that may be difficult to obtain due to its use in explosives. The Sel Rose or Prague Powder as it is sometimes called is what gives the finished beef such a rosy pink color. This spice marinated beef is then cooked in Guinness or a similar stout. In Ireland, come the Holiday season, you will see Spiced Beef in many butcher shop windows. Now a days it is not often cured at home, but purchased ready to cook. Each butcher’s recipe for the spice mixture/curing time is slightly different, which results in a lively debate about exactly whose is the best.

There is also a bit of a debate about where this dish originated. The author of the cookbook I cite below claims it is a Dublin tradition, (I believe he is from Dublin) whereas I was always told it was a Cork tradition (I went to university in Cork), so I’m not sure. But Chef Armstrong does mention that he remembers eating these spiced beef sandwiches on white bread with spicy English mustard after Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve. I had just baked a gorgeous loaf of Honey-Oat Pain de Mie, which I told you about a couple of days ago and it worked out perfectly.

I think these sandwiches would do nicely along with a pint or two…And just think, maybe next year we can actually go out for some St. Patrick’s Day parades and festivities. You could whip these up ahead of time and have them waiting for when you stumble back home. Or perhaps you can serve them at Christmas. You’ll have plenty of time to gather your ingredients. Keep these tasty nibbles in mind for whichever Holiday strikes your fancy.

• Servings: 8
• Difficulty: easy - but remember to allow yourself enough time for the beef to marinate
• Print

recipe from: My Irish Table: Recipes from the Homeland & Restaurant Eve by Cathal Armstrong & David Hagedorn

Ingredients:

• 2 packed Tablespoons light brown sugar
• 2 Tablespoons Dublin Spice (see below)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 2 teaspoons pink curing salt, such as Sel Rose or Insta Cure #1
• 3 lb. eye of round roast
• 1 bottle Guinness
• Pain de Mie or Sandwich Bread of your choice
• English Mustard for serving

Directions:

Season the beef:

In a small bowl, combine the sugar, spices, kosher salt and curing salt. With your hands, rub the spice mix all over the meat, creating a thick coating. Place the meat in a 2 gallon zip-top bag. Refrigerate for 1 week, rolling the meat around in the accumulated juices once per day.

Cook the beef:

Transfer the meat to a pot. Do not rinse the spices off. Pour the bottle of Guinness over it and add enough water that the meat is covered. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Lower the heat to medium, cover the pot and simmer for 3 hours, or until fork tender, but not completely falling apart. Remove the beef fro the heat and let it cool completely in its cooking liquid. Drain the meat and place in a clean storage container. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours before serving. Tightly wrapped beef can be refrigerated for up to 3 days.

Serve the dish: Spread the bread slices with mustard and make sandwiches with the thinly sliced beef.

Enjoy!

***Dublin Spice: In a spice grinder, grind 2 Tablespoons of juniper berries into a fine powder. Transfer to a small bowl and combine with 3 Tablespoons ground black pepper, 2 Tablespoons ground allspice and 2 Tablespoons ground cloves. This will make about 1/2 cup – more than you need for this recipe. It can be stored in an airtight container for us to 3 months.

Links for helpful Kitchen Tools & Ingredients for Spiced Beef Sandwiches:

Pure Prague Powder #1

Coleman’s Original English Mustard

Cuisinart Spice & Nut Grinder

My Irish Table: Recipes from the Homeland and Restaurant Eve

Cheese & Onion Pie

Yay, its March! That has to mean that spring temperatures can’t be too far away and St. Patrick’s Day will be happening soon. St. Patrick’s Day has always been a fun time for me because we get to celebrate all things Irish…well…I guess we get to wear green from head to toe, drink green beer and eat corned beef and cabbage-all things that my friends in Ireland do not actually do on the day. But hey, who am I to argue with the American adaptation. It’s all fun! And I usually get to eat plenty of fantastic Irish food that I love for the month. I’m sure there are a few raised eyebrows when I mention ‘fantastic” and “Irish food” so close together. Irish food has gotten a bit of a bad rap in the past for being somewhat boiled and tasteless. However, that is simply not the case. I’m really not so much of a fan of the ole corned beef and cabbage, but love the really thick french fries, or chips, soda bread, brown bread, Shepherd’s Pie, Beef and Guinness pie, I could go on and on. So, for the month of March I plan to blog about the great food I enjoyed when I was living in Cork. Perhaps I can give you some menu ideas for a fabulous St. Patrick’s Day dinner party. Check back often this month.

I will be starting it all off with the Cheese & Onion Pie. I LOVE Cheese & Onion pies. I hadn’t had one in I can’t tell you how long. I have never found any establishment here in the US serving these scrumptious items. I didn’t really find them offered in many places in Ireland either I must say. However, there is an awesome chipper in Cork that is still serving these to this day-Lennox’s-located on the Bandon Road, very close to University College Cork. Back in the day, my friends and I would often stop by there on the way home from the pub for a late night snack. I would always get the Cheese & Onion pie which they served up with plenty of chips and healthy lashings of salt and malt vinegar. YUM! This pie was not like a traditional meat pie in that it was not in a pie crust. Rather  Lennox’s offering was more like a deep-fried ball of cheese and onion mashed potatoes, crunchy on the outside and warm and gooey on the inside.  And all of that for a measly 60 pence (which was about $1.10 at the time). What an incredible bargain! There couldn’t have been anything more perfect at the time. Cheap, which was great since I was a starving student, as well as hot, salty, crunchy, carby and available at oh…say 11:30 pm when I was full of pints and headed home from the pub.What a Godsend. I looked around online for the recipe, but sadly could not find anything similar to Lennox’s version. I did find lots of recipe requests from other American’s who had gone to college in Cork and were jonesing for  Cheese & Onion pies. Unfortunately these requests were often answered with recipes for cheese & onion baked within a pie crust. Not the same! So I set out to recreate the Lennox’s version. I broke out my deep fryer. Took some leftover mashed potatoes, mixed in some flour to give it some body, some wonderful Irish cheddar cheese and fried onions and garlic.

Cheese & Onion Pie Dough

I rolled this mixture into balls which were about 2 inches in diameter. This was about the size of Lennox’s pies. My husband said he thought they would be better smaller, perhaps the size of golf balls, so I did a few that size as well.

Full sized pie & mini pie

I was not sure what the pre-frying step should be. I didn’t think that Lennox’s coated theirs in any type of batter before it hit the deep-fryer, but I wasn’t quite sure. So I made some without any batter, and some coated in a deep-frying batter. I was curious whether a Panko coating might also be tasty. It was certainly not what I found at Lennox’s, but I thought I might be able to make some small improvements to the dish.

Naked Pie

Battered Pie

Panko Pies

I fried all three versions up and then the fun “tasting” part of this experiment began!

Naked Cheese & Onion Pie

Panko Cheese & Onion Pie

Battered Cheese & Onion Pie

The results? The “naked” version was what I remember as being closer to the Lennox’s experience, you got a definite crunch when you bit down, with warm gooey, cheesy goodness inside.

Yum!

The Panko version was very good as well, somewhat lighter and still quite crispy. The battered version was still tasty, super crunchy on the outside, though the batter made it a bit heavy and I don’t think worth the extra trouble.  They were all good. I believe my husband is on to something concerning the size as well. The mini pies, though not true to the Lennox’s experience were better! I don’t believe Lennox’s has anything to worry about though, they still reign supreme. However, if you find that you are not in Cork and are really dying for a Cheese & Onion pie, try this recipe.

Cheese & Onion Pie

For the pies:

1  Cup left over mashed potatoes

1/2 Cup all-purpose flour

1/2 Cup grated cheddar cheese

1/2 Cup onions-diced

1-2 cloves garlic-diced fine

salt and pepper to taste

1 Tbs. butter

For Panko Breading (should you wish to try this version)

1/2 Cup flour

2 eggs-lightly whisked

1/2 Cup Panko flakes

Deep-fry Batter-(in case you want to try this one!)

1 cup buttermilk

1 tablespoon oil

1 cup flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions:

Saute the onions and garlic in butter until softened. Let cool.

Mix the mashed potatoes, flour, cheddar cheese, salt and pepper  and onion garlic mixture together until a dough forms.

Shape dough into pies of your desired size. This recipe makes 4 Cheese & Onion Pies of 2 ” diameter.

If you are not going to try the Panko version, you are now ready to deep-fry. If you wish to try the Panko version, gently roll the pies in flour until coated. Then dip in egg wash and roll in Panko until thoroughly coated. If you are trying the battered version, try to make sure the pie is completely coated and gently lower it directly into the oil. If you place it in the deep-fryer basket, it will stick to it!

Deep fry at 375° F for 10 minutes or until golden brown. If you are making mini pies it will only take 5-6 minutes.