Vegetarian St. Patricks Day

This is the first year in a LONG time that I have not had the traditional Corned Beef and Cabbage, which I love. Actually I love corned beef hash which is more of the next day leftovers my dad has brilliantly made every year and passed on his recipe to me. Sweet creamy sauce, onions, potatoes and salty corned beef; a winning combination in my eyes.

Trying something new and somewhat Irish ended out as a hit and a dish I can make over and over for a side. At my job Whole Foods they started selling a few weeks ago Potato's Colcannon. At Whole Foods they used Kale I did a little bit of research and found that traditionally this has red potatoes, cabbage, leeks and onion. I also found some recipes that said it has bacon, buttered greens (which is pretty much any green such as kale, chard, collard, etc cooked in butter) The potatoes are cooked first, then you cook the leeks and onion in butter and add the cabbage. Once everything is hot and cooked you mash them all together. TA-DA fancy Irish style mashed potatoes. I wanted something with a little bit more oomph to it. I did some more web browsing and found this recipe :http://www.recipezaar.com/Rumpledethumps-182184

I prefer Yukon gold potatoes anytime I make mashed potatoes, they are so buttery on their own that I think you don't have to use as much butter in the mashed potatoes. I left out the cabbage, simply because I forgot it when I was at the store. I cooked the leeks and onions down in butter, clove, salt and pepper till they were almost caramelized. The recipe calls for mace which i do not have in my house so i so thats why there was cloves. I par-boiled the broccoli in super salty water to be sure the broccoli stayed green and then finished it off with the leeks and onions. I mashed up the cooked potatoes with with some yogurt (instead of sour cream) a little bit of milk, maybe a tablespoon of butter, salt and pepper. I tried to keep most of the salt, pepper and butter in with the leeks and onions. I mixed in with the potatoes the broccoli mixture trying to keep the broccoli pieces as whole as possible then topped the entire thing with lots of sharp cheddar.

My dinner guest loved it! A comment was made about the extra spice in it, but all in all it is a side dish that can be repeated over and over. Plus it is way easier then making a potatoes Au gratin with broccoli or greens. Slicing potatoes thinly is a pain in the butt! Except now I have a mandoline and all things are way easier to slice thin.