Potatoes are a must for any Irish Table
If your having Corned beef then you might want to try Champ on Saint Patrick’s Day. Often around my house, the corned beef and the potatoes will be gone way before the cabbage at St. Patrick’s day dinner. My kids, are not much at eating cabbage, although it is a major crop around when we live. I soon switched over to making Colcannon, sometimes with cabbage and sometimes with kale. It was an improvement, but I noticed that when dinner was finished, the vegetables would still be on the plate. They managed to eat the potatoes without to much of the vegetable. So I switched to Champ and the problem was solved. Champ comes to us by way of Northern Ireland.
Belfast Botanic Gardens, Northern Ireland
Champ can be made with many different greens, from freshly chopped chives, to scallions or even green peas. It makes a wonderful side dish to corned beef as well as other meats and sausages.
Ingredients:
1 1/2 pounds of potatoes
1 bunch of scallions, sliced thin at an angle.
1/2 pint of half and half (You can use 2 percent milk, but why?
1 stick (4 ounces) butter, cut into small slices.
Salt and freshly ground black pepper.
Peel and Boil the potatoes in salted water until tender. remove from stove and drain, then return to the pot they were cooked in.
Warm the half and half, but do not boil.
Mash the potatoes, and while mashing slowly add the half and half, until the potatoes are fluffy, add the butter a little at a time and mix into the potatoes so that it melts.
Next add 3/4th of the sliced scallions, and mix well.
Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.
Transfer to a serving dish, and sprinkle with the remaining scallions.
Serve with the corned beef.
Chefs note; Some people will cook the scallions in the half and half, we prefer to serve them uncooked. Also sometimes the butter is left out, then when the champ is served, each person will add some butter to their serving of champ. At our house, the cook controls the amount of butter used or we would need to buy a dairy farm.
May You Live as long as you want and never want as long as you live! – Irish Toast
May all Your Days be Blessed
It you enjoyed this article, please share it with your friends by clicking on the buttons below the article. You can follow this blog by clicking on NetworkedBlogs in the lower right corner of this page, Thanks.
Eat Healthy, Laugh Often and Enjoy Life~
Sounds tasty. Add this to the corned beef in this meal and the cabbage is the only thing left for healthy calorie intake
. You’ll cringe at this one, I know, Chef William, but I’ve seen a lot of kids scarf down cabbage when it’s served with ketchup. I’m still debating feasting in traditional fashion on St. Patrick’s Day. Yummy, but not working off those pounds as I used to . . .
Nanette Levin recently posted..What’s your super power as a small business owner?
No Nanette, I won’t cringe, I have a son that puts ketchup on just about everything he eats.
and his older brother lived on Chef Boyardee Ravioli’s. throughout high school. John would eat just
about anything I cooked, but he would drowned it in ketchup. Richard would double down on the starch.
and protein but steer away from anything that looked remotely like healthy food.
My youngest son, Mark, is the health food person. Him and I are both into non-GMO foods and concerns
about saving the planet. He is also the one with long multi-colored hair that lives a Bohemian
lifestyle that only I understand. (been there – done that) He is also the one that is a student of
life. Then there are the four girls, but that’s another story.
Chef William recently posted..Champ On Saint Patrick’s Day
This sounds wonderful, Chef. I’m going to try it next week!
Amy recently posted..“Impossible Week” Chopped Salad
make a lot, it’s real “comfort” food. champ also goes well with a good meatloaf.
Chef William recently posted..Champ On Saint Patrick’s Day
Sorry… I pass on the first mention of potatoes…
(Not that I am familiar with St. Patrick’s day, either…)
Roy A. Ackerman, Ph.D., E.A. recently posted..Fish Tales
Well, St Patrick’s day is a lot like Christmas, it depends on which side of the fence
one is standing on. It is interesting to note that St. Patrick’s day is a Holiday
that gives Catholics and non-Catholics alike the chance to drink green beer until they
turn green and claim to be Irish for the day. Thats’ good PR by the Catholic Church. They
have half the world honoring an Irish priest, but St Patrick was not Irish, he only
worked there. It is interesting. But then I wonder why the christian pictures of Jesus
tend to portray his is a young, light skinned caucasian. Now as for the potato, that is
a completely different subject to be addressed later.
Chef William recently posted..Champ On Saint Patrick’s Day
Yummy I love champ. It’s the ultimate comfort food
Anita-Clare Field recently posted..The Kitchen Garden – Mint Julep
My husband (the cook) normally makes colcannon – I will ask for this instead for this year. We just returned from Savannah, GA where St. Patrick’s Day is a huge city wide party. Everyone was preparing….
Alana recently posted..Author Blog Challenge – A Flock of Seagull
Ah Savannah, I took my wife there a couple of years ago on a trip to visit one of our
daughters, (She’s a Marine) I had no idea that they would be big on St. Patrick’s day.
Good luck with the Champ, it really is a comfort food.
Chef William recently posted..Champ On Saint Patrick’s Day