Colcannon (Baked Mashed Potatoes with Cabbage)

Strip the heads of kale away from the stems and shred them finely. Kale is a tough vegetable which needs to cook for 10-20 minutes depending on its age. Cook as you would for any green vegetable in furiously boiling salted water until it is just tender. (Some people add 1/2 tsp baking soda to the water to help keep the kale at its brightest green.) Strain it and refresh it with cold water. Drain it thoroughly and squeeze out any excess water. Nowadays I put the kale into a food processor with the hot milk and blend them into a green soup which I then mix through the mashed potatoes. I then reheat it in the oven until it is very hot. This produces a dish fit for St. Patrick's Day in greenness. It is perfectly acceptable just to mix the kale and milk into the potatoes without recourse to the food processor, but the resulting dish is just speckled green. Do not use the processor if you are making colcannon with cabbage instead of kale. Don't forget the coin and the ring to amuse the children.

(from THE POOLBEG BOOK OF TRADITIONAL IRISH COOKING, Biddy White Lennon)