Colcannon & Ribs

Spare ribs were on the menu last night and I'd been looking forward to using Josh & Joanie's plum barbecue sauce that they put up last summer and sent us for Christmas. I was debating making a turnip and carrot gratin that I had tasted at my director's house over Christmas but while walking through the store I saw this beautiful bunch of kale. Didn't know what I was going to do with it but...

A recent conversation with my significant other revealed that while I thought he didn't like greens, he thought I didn't like them, thus we were not eating them. Excited, I resolved to put more greens into our diet. The recipe came from The Victory Garden Cookbook which is organized by vegetable. I popped it open to K and there it was, what better way than to mix them with my favorite.... mashed potatoes.

Kale needs to be stripped of its stalks, washed and blanched before sauteing. It reduces by about 3/4. The lb of kale to 1.5lbs of potatoes suggested worked nicely. I sauteed leeks in butter, then added the blanched chopped kale and sauteed in more butter, then mashed the potatoes (which I boiled in the liquid from the kale) and added some 1/2 and 1/2 (she says milk or cream). I did cut down the butter from 8 tbsp. to 3 so I figure for this recipe I did quite well on fat content, especially when paring it with the ribs. :-)






Anyway, the barbecue sauce was perfectly sweet and spicy, the kale and potatoes set it off nicely. Though the picture is not perfect, it was quite tasty. Thanks guys!!!