Happy Halloween!

Despite the welcome squashes at the doorstep, these were our only trick or treaters tonight:

I got home with some daylight to spare today, with an itch for something warm and cozy to eat on a dark and chilly evening.

Potatoes from the root cellar:

...and kale from the garden:

Colcannon! With a side of kraut.

Colcannon, my cookbook says, is a traditional Irish dish especially associated with Hallowe'en, when it is likely to be made with curly kale and would have a ring hidden in it- predicting marriage during the coming year to the person who found it. Also served throughout the winter, using green cabbage.

We make it a lot around here... easy hearty big-batch food, good for leftovers. No jack-o-lanterns here tonight, but a boston marrow squash pie is in the oven. O, Fall!

Colcannon

Serves 3-4 as a main dish; 6-8 as an accompaniment
1 # potatoes, boiled
1 # kale or cabbage, cooked
milk, if necessary
2 tbsp butter
1 large onion, finely chopped
salt and ground black pepper

Mash the potatoes. Chop the kale or cabbage, add it to the potatoes and mix. Stir in a little milk if the mash is too stiff.
Melt a little butter in a frying pan over a medium heat and add the onion. Cook until softened. Remove and mix well with the potato and kale or cabbage.
Add the remainder of the butter to the hot pan. When very hot, turn the potato mixture on to the pan and spread it out. Fry until brown, then cut it roughly into pieces and continue frying until they are crisp and brown.
From The Irish Heritage Cookbook by Biddy White Lennon and Georgina Campbell