hultberg.org - home: Magnus Hultberg, aka Manne

WHY: it is cheap, packed with great nutrients such as lots of vitamin C. Good stuff for January where wallets are thin and the sun nowhere to be seen.

HOW: brown with bacon, boil with sausage and potato, wrap around mince meat as a "dumpling" (in Swedish called "kåldolmar"), cut in thin strips and sautee to serve as a side dish (LCHF people often serve this as a pasta replacement), fermented (mmm... sauerkraut!, use fresh in a salad, or as described below cook the Irish dish colcannon!

Cabbage boiled with sauasge and potato in porter and beef broth, sounds lush!
Originally uploaded by Krista76, made available through Creative Commons, thanks!

January is to me one of the worst months of the year. It is cold, dark, short on money after all the partying leading up to Christmas and New Year's and there are no holidays to look forward to for weeks. It all adds up to a rather long and dreary month.

We can at least watch telly, surf the web and peruse all the free stuff London has to offer. I wonder what people did in the old days to not be bored to death while trying to keep warm!

When it comes to cooking, January is the month of winter cabbage and kale. This very versatile vegetable available in so many wonderful varieties, cavolo nero being my personal favourite, is hardy enough to withstand the coldness of the winter months.

Inexpensive, available in abundance and packed with iron and vitamin C it is quite obvious why the cabbage always has been and still is a staple food in so many parts of the world.

Anybody following this blog already know I love cabbage. From the Swedish browned christmas variety to crispy kale baked in the oven, it is the perfect ingredient to serve with meat for anyone trying to keep carb content low and fat content up.

Kepping cabbage cold will keep it fresh longer, and help keeping the vitamin C. Once you cut it the vitamin C levels quickly deteriorate so if you are only using half a head say, wrap it in cling film, keep it in the fridge and try to use the rest within a few days.

Last weekend we decided to make use of this seasonal vegetable and try cooking a dish I have loved since I first tried it on Ireland a few years ago, yet never attempted to cook: colcannon. Unsurprisingly, as often is the case with what I would call traditional homely fare, googling "colcannon" brings up a staggering amount of recipes, all slightly different. I am sure every mother in Ireland has her own way of cooking this hearty dish.

Colcannon as a bed for lardons and sauteed kale and leek
Originally uploaded by Manne.

Based on a variety of recipes I cobbled together what I thought would be the most tasty combination of all suggestions on offer. While the colcannon that came out of this method was really flavoursome and satisfying, we ended up using far too much cream. So rather than posting my version I will just link to some of the more delicious sounding ones I found. I guess I will have to keep trying until I can post my own take on this great dish.

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's colcannon is partly pan fried, like a bubble and squeak.

This sounds like a very traditional Irish recipe, no frying here, but mashed with cream and served with lots of butter.

Colcannon cakes with pancetta and stilton, how is that for a feast!

Colcannon by Anthony Worrall Thompson, using carrots.

And last, perhaps the best one, colcannon with spring onion served with pork belly... Three of my favourite things on the same plate!

Check the recipes and you will find what a variety of ingredients are being used. Leek, spring onion, carrots, onions, kale, cabbage, savoy, cream or no cream, parsnips... The only common ingredient is the potato.

Served with some nice bacon, or fried lardons and some extra sauteed cabbage on top, a proper feel good dish to chase the winter blues away.