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We grew swiss chard in our garden this summer.  When it came time to harvest I was looking for a new recipe to use it in.  I came across a recipe for colcannon that I just had to try.  The whole family really enjoyed it.  You can serve with butter, but we think it’s just fine without.

 Ingredients:

• 2 slices of bacon (optional)
• 6 potatoes
  (we used yellow fleshed potatoes, but any potato that you like to mash will work)
• 2 to 4 cups of chopped cabbage, kale or swiss chard
  (swiss chard ‘melts’ a little more when you cook it, so you may wish to use more of it)
• 4 spring onions or 2 shallots, chopped fine
• 1/2 cup low fat sour cream
• 1/2 cup skim milk
• Optional: 1/2 cup chopped ham

Directions:

• Peel potatoes, cut into 1 inch chunks and boil in a pot of water for 20 minutes (as if you’re making mashed potatoes).  You could leave the peels on if you would like the health benefits of the potato skins.
   
  
• While the potatoes are boiling, heat a frying pan to medium. Slice the bacon into small pieces and fry in the pan until the crispiness you prefer.
• If you are not using bacon, add 1 Tbsp cooking oil (olive or canola oil) to the pan.  If you are using bacon, the bacon drippings will be your oil.  Add the cabbage, kale or swiss chard to the pan. If using ham, chop into bite sized cubes and add to the pan.  Add the onions/shallots to the pan about a minute into cooking.
• If you did not use bacon or ham, add about 1/2 tsp of salt – both meats are salty so do not add any additional salt if you are using either of them.  Saute until greens are wilted – I don’t like to overcook my greens so I stop when they have just wilted but some people like them cooked down more – cooking time should be somewhere between 5 and 10 minutes on medium heat.  Turn off the heat and they can just sit while you’re working on the potatoes.
• Drain the water from the potatoes.  Add 1/2 cup sour cream and 1/2 cup skim milk and mash them well.
• Add the greens to the mashed potatoes and stir them well.

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