colcannon mushrooms

I was watching an episode of Cooking Up A Story where they made Irish Twice Baked Potatoes and it looked so good that I just had to make some for dinner.  Casting around my kitchen I realized that we only had one very large baking potato.  But we had two medium sized sweet potatoes.  Thinking back to  my childhood I remembered how my mother would make Mixed Twice Baked Potatoes by mixing together mashed sweet and baking potatoes and then restuff the shells.  I decided that this would be a good alternative to plain twice baked potatoes and it would give me two very stuffed halves of the baked potato.

Rummaging around in my fridge revealed some of the Russian Red River Kale from this week's farm share.  I also had one last onion from the farm share.  I made the stuffed potatoes and still had a fair amount of stuffing left over.  Back to the fridge I found three good sized portobello mushroom caps, cleaned and stuffed them and popped everything into the oven. The sweet potatoes added so much flavor that I didn't need nearly as much butter as the original recipe called for.  I also left out the buttermilk and didn't feel that I needed the cheddar cheese on top.  Oh my goodness was this good.  So good in fact that the next time I make it I am thinking of bypassing the stuffed potato part altogether and just stuffing mushroom.  Yes it takes time, but trust me, it's worth it.  (Apologies for the awful picture.  These were so delicious they disappeared before I could get another shot.)

Colcannon Mushrooms

Based on the recipe from Cooking Up A Story

6-8 leaves kale
1 medium onion
mushroom caps (how many depends on what size they are)
2 T. organic butter
2 T. olive oil
sea salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350F
Wash and prick with a fork one large baking potato and two medium sweet potatoes
Bake one hour or until done

30 minutes after you start the potatoes:

Wipe mushrooms with a damp towel to clean them
Dice the onion
Cut the kale into medium-fine chiffonade
Add 1 T. olive oil to a large pan
Saute onions on medium heat until golden brown
Add remaining olive oil and kale
Saute until kale is wilted
Add salt and pepper to taste

Remove potatoes from oven
Peel and mash with butter
Add in onion and kale mixing well
Stuff mushroom caps and bake 30 minutes

Enjoy!