My mother doesn’t have any recipes for “Brack” or “Barm” in her files.  She doesn’t even have a recipe for Irish Soda Bread.  So, maybe this is one of those crazy things I’m going to do now that I’ve lost my mother -  embrace St. Patrick’s Day.

In kindergarten, my daughter came home one day bursting with fabulous news -

“Mommy!  There’s a whole holiday we didn’t even KNOW about!  It’s called St. Patrick’s Day!”

Poor thing, to have a mother like me.  Not being one little bit Irish, I had considered it a holiday I had off.

But this year I feel like not just paying attention but honoring it.   We live in a cold climate.  It’s gray here the way it is in Ireland.  St. Patrick’s Day is part of getting us through March to spring.  - I like Guinness.  I love Irish Poetry.  I like an accent of any kind.  How can I resist this holiday anymore?

And there are all those food names!  Tea Brack, Barm, Pratie Oats, Boxty, Champ, Poundy.  Who wouldn’t want to make these things on a damp, gray day when the breaking waves out in Ipswich Bay look like herds of roaming sheep?  And who wouldn’t want to cozy up to a culture whose answer to every woe is a cup of tea or a glass of whiskey?

 

I’m starting with Colcannon which apparently carries far more emotional currency in Ireland than Corned Beef and Cabbage,  from Malachi McCormick's Irish Country Cooking.   It’s basically potato, leek and cabbage gratin.  Leave your stereotypes at the door.  This is a light, fluffy dish with wonderful textures of cabbage leaves and leeks threaded throughout.  The mace - I added a little extra - takes this dish away from the staff meal, and sends it upstairs to the dining room.  We had it as dinner with a salad, which was not very Irish.  In truth, it's begging for a roast chicken, if not corned beef, but I'm taking this one recipe at a time.

 

Colcannon

serves 6 - 8

Ingredients

1 pound white cabbage

1 teaspoon salt

2 pounds red potatoes, scrubbed, and sliced with skins on.

2 medium leeks, thoroughly washed and sliced

1 cup milk

1 1/2 teaspoons mace

salt and pepper to taste

2 garlic cloves

1 stick butter

Instructions

Bring a pot of salted water to a boil, and boil the cabbage until tender, about 12 to 15 minutes.  Drain off teh water and chop the cabbage.  Set aside.  bring another pot of water to a boil and boil the potatoes until tender.  Drain off the water and set aside.  Put the leeks in a saucepan. cover with the milk, bring close to boiling, and then turn down to a simmer until tender.  Set aside.

Add the mace, salt and pepper, and garlic to the pot with the potatoes and mash well.  Now add the leeks and their milk and mix in with the potatoes.  Try to keep the texture of the cabbage and leeks.  Add more milk if necessary to make it smooth.  Mash in the cabbage and then the butter.  You want it to look smooth and butter with threads of cabbage and leek running through it.

Transfer the whole mixture to an ovenproof dish.  Draw a fork in lines over the surface, and place under the broiler until well browned on top.