Colcannon Pie

When my friend Abra was studying at the Ballymaloe Cookery School in County Cork, Ireland, we maintained a regular pen pal correspondence. In her letters, she told tales of living in a cottage on the farm while excitedly learning new culinary skills that were often Irish in flavor but upheld broader values of farm-to-table, seasonal, traditional yet creative, and fresh. We also bounced around dreams of future collaborative farms and restaurants, schools and artist collectives.

Abra has since set forth on those aspirations. She works as a chef in Chicago and is part-owner of Michigan's Bare Knuckle Farm, where she runs beautiful farm dinners (she also just shared this fantastic Celery Ham Tart recipe on the blog!). Recently, I was asked to contribute St. Patrick's Day-related recipes to Domicile DC's spring issue, and was browsing through The Hoosier Mama Book of Pie, where I remembered I'd seen a recipe for Colcannon Pie. Then upon reading the headnote, I discovered that the recipe was inspired by Ms. Abra Berens herself. Of course!

Colcannon is a traditional Irish dish made of mashed potatoes with kale or cabbage, combined with leeks or scallions and butter or cream (as most traditional dishes go, there are many different regional variations). In Ireland, colcannon is historically associated with Halloween--charms hidden inside the colcannon bowl were a game of marriage divination for young girls. Here in the United States, the dish is affiliated with St. Patrick's Day, like many Irish and pseudo-Irish things.

This recipe uses colcannon as a double crust pie filling and adds a few extra ingredients like pickles, maple syrup, and apple cider vinegar. Abra uses spicy pickled ramps in her colcannon and Paula Haney of Hoosier Mama calls for celery and shallot pickles in hers, but this time I used Hot Chili Spears from DC locals Gordy's Pickle Jar. The added spice was superb, though you could really use any type of savory pickle you have on hand. Since making it for Domicile and the blog, I also prepared it with friends on a snowy weekend in the Hudson Valley--the perfect context for it, as this is a hearty pie that really sticks to your ribs (I could insert some nerdy potato famine joke here, but I shall refrain). And as a warning, this recipe has a lot of steps and takes some time to make. It's best made when you have some time on your hands, have prepared some items--like the mashed potatoes-- in advance, or have extra hands to help out.

Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes

Adapted from The Hoosier Mama Book of Pie

Ingredients

2 heads roasted garlic

Approximately 2 ½ pounds potatoes, peeled and chopped into 1 ½ inch cubes

Kosher salt

1 cup sour cream

1 stick unsalted butter

¼ cup whole milk

Directions

1. Place the potatoes in a large pot and cover with cold water by 2 inches. Add a few pinches of salt and bring to a boil over high heat. Then reduce the heat.

2. Continue to boil the potatoes at medium-high heat until they are fork tender, about 15-20 minutes. Transfer the potatoes to a colander and set aside until the water is drained.

3. Add the sour cream and butter to the still warm pot and warm over medium heat until the butter is melted.

4. Mash the potatoes (I used a standing mixer) and stir them together with cream mixture. Squeeze the roasted garlic from the heads. Add the whole milk and fold in the roasted garlic. Season to taste with salt.

Colcannon Pie

Adapted from The Hoosier Mama Book of Pie

Ingredients

Nothing in the House pie crust

¼ head green cabbage, shredded

2 Tablespoon olive oil

Kosher salt & fresh ground black pepper, to taste

1 bunch kale, de-stemmed and finely chopped

¼ cup hard cider

¼ cup apple cider vinegar

2 Tablespoon maple syrup

2 Tablespoon water

½ cup sour cream

3 Tablespoons buttermilk

4 cups roasted garlic mashed potatoes (recipe below)

¼ cup Gordy’s Pickle Jar Hot Chili Spears, diced (or your favorite pickle variety)

1 large egg, beaten

Directions

1. Prepare Nothing in the House pie crust as per the directions. After chilling the dough for at least 1 hour, roll and fit half the crust into a greased and floured pie pan. Return pan and top crust (rolled or unrolled) to the refrigerator while you prepare the filling. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Toss the cabbage with olive oil and add salt and pepper to taste. Spread out on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Roast the cabbage for 25-30 minutes, turning the pan halfway through, until leaves are soft and starting to brown.

3. Meanwhile, toss the chopped kale with hard cider, vinegar, maple syrup and water in an ovenproof baking dish. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Cover pan tightly with aluminum foil and braise in the oven for 25-30 minutes (it can go in while the cabbage is still roasting).  Halfway through, stir and add a bit more water and hard cider if the bottom of the baking dish is dry.

4. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, stir the sour cream and buttermilk into the mashed potatoes. Set aside.

5. Once the cabbage and kale are cooled, combine them, discarding any remaining liquid. Fold the diced pickles and greens into the mashed potatoes. Taste and adjust salt and pepper, if needed. Pour the filling into the pie shell, spreading evenly with a spatula.

6. Remove crust from refrigerator. Position the top crust over filling and flute and seal the edges. Be sure to add vents so the steam can escape. Freeze the pie at least 1 hour before baking.

7. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Place the frozen pie on a baking sheet and brush the beaten egg over the pie crust and sprinkle with salt, if desired.

8. Bake from frozen for 50-60 minutes, rotating 180 degrees halfway through, until the crust is golden brown and filling is heated through and bubbling out of the vents slightly. Remove from oven and let cool slightly. Serve warm.

Related recipes:

Abra Berens' Celery Ham Tart aka Pissaladière

Gordy's Cherry Pepper Spread Galette

Hoosier Mama's Hoosier Sugar Cream Pie

Tri-color potato, Caramelized Onion, Goat Cheese, and Rosemary Galette

Update: Thank you to Food52 for featuring this in their "8 Food Blog Links We Love"!

Grasshopper Pie

Grasshopper Pie is a 1950s chiffon-style diner pie in full, unabashed glory, complete with an Oreo crust, gelatin, and a shockingly bright hue not readily found in nature (it also happens to be a very 50s shade of green). According to Jean Anderson's The American Century Cookbook, the recipe may have been developed by the Knox Gelatine and Heublein Cordial companies as a way to promote their products. Though there is a mention of "grasshopper pie" in the New York Times, dating back to 1904, that one is made from real grasshoppers and is said to have originated in the Philippines. Food historians date the creme de menthe version to the late 1950s and early 1960s. The grasshopper name comes from the similarly flavored green cocktail-- made from cream, creme de menthe, and white creme de cacao--that had its heyday in that era.

I whipped up this version, adapted from Martha Stewart's New Pies and Tarts, for the new local magazine Domicile DC's spring issue. The green color makes it a natural pick for St. Patrick's Day, and the mint-chocolate combination paired with an icebox treatment allows it to be a refreshing choice for both winter, summer, or the dawning of spring.

Grasshopper Pie

Adapted from Martha Stewart’s New Pies & Tarts

Ingredients

For the crust:

¾ cup sweetened shredded coconut

1 ½ cups chocolate wafer cookie crumbs (about 25 cookies)

1/4 cup sugar

6 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

For the filling:

1 ½ cups whole milk

1 cup loosely packed fresh spearmint leaves

1 cup heavy cream, cold

3 Tablespoons green crème de menthe

2 ¼ teaspoons (1 envelope) unflavored powdered gelatin

5 large egg yolks

½ cup sugar

For the topping (optional):

Whipped cream

3 chocolate sandwich cookies

Chocolate shavings

Shredded coconut

Directions

For the crust:

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly grease and flour a 9-inch pie plate. In a medium bowl, whisk together coconut, cookie crumbs, and sugar. Add melted butter and stir until well combined. 

2. Press crumb mixture into the pie plate, forming a crust. Bake until firm for 10-12 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely.

For the filling:

1. In a medium size bowl, prepare an ice water bath and set aside. In a small saucepan, bring milk and mint just to a boil. Remove from heat and cover. Let steep 15 minutes, then pour mixture through a fine sieve into a glass measuring cup or bowl. Discard the mint leaves and set aside milk. 

2. Beat cream in a chilled medium-sized mixing bowl until stiff peaks form. Cover the bowl and refrigerate while you prepare the rest of the filling.

3. Pour the crème de menthe into a medium heatproof bowl and sprinkle the gelatin over it. Let stand 5 minutes to soften. In another medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and sugar. Add the steeped milk to the softened gelatin, whisking until well-mixed.

4. Set the bowl with the milk mixture over (not in) a pan of simmering water. A double boiler works well for this if you have one. Whisk continuously until the gelatin is dissolved, about 1 minute. While whisking, pour the hot milk mixture in a slow, steady stream into the yolk mixture. Return the combined mixture to the heatproof bowl and set over the simmering water. Cook, whisking continuously, until the mixture is slightly thickened and reaches 150 degrees F on a candy thermometer, about 8-10 minutes.

5. Transfer the bowl to the ice water bath, whisking until the mixture thickens to the consistency of mousse or pudding (about 2-5 minutes). Remove the bowl from the bath and whisk in 1/3 of the reserved whipped cream until combined. Gently fold in the rest of the whipped cream using a rubber spatula. Spoon the mixture into the pie crust, then refrigerate until set for 6 hours or up to 1 day.

For topping:

1. Scoop whipped cream onto the center of the pie and sprinkle with chocolate shavings and shredded coconut. Top with sandwich cookies, if desired. Serve chilled.

Related recipes:
Bourbon Icebox Pie
Lemon Icebox Pie
Nutella Icebox Pie
Peppermint Pattie Tart

Photos by Kelly Alfaro for DomiCile Magazine