I’ve been meaning to make my Aunt Carrie’s colcannon recipe since she prepared it for us at Christmas. Colcannon is a traditional Irish dish of mashed potatoes and cabbage. It’s simple fare—something homey to throw together when you’re overstocked with potatoes and cabbage as I was last week with an enormous head of savoy cabbage and several pounds of red-skinned potatoes in the CSA box.

I didn’t have Carrie’s precise recipe, but I figured an approximation would work. Colcannon is nearly foolproof. Just saute onion and cabbage and combine with smashed potatoes, butter and milk. The potatoes envelop the cabbage to make silky, creamy pot o’ veggies.

I also served a modified version of this Chow recipe for chicken in a white wine and mustard sauce. I used whole grain mustard rather than dijon and threw in fresh thyme since I had some on hand.  All the the ingredients are pantry staples, and the sauce was super tasty slopped over the colcannon.

Irish Colcannon
2 to 3 pounds potatoes
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 onion, diced
1 small head cabbage
3/4 cup warm whole milk
Salt and pepper

Instructions
In a medium pot, cover potatoes with cold water. Bring to a boil, salt the water, and cook until tender, 15 to 25 minutes.

Meanwhile, melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a large frying pan, and cook onion on medium heat until it softens, 5 to 8 minutes. Add cabbage, turn heat up to medium high, and cover. After about 5 minutes, remove the lid, and toss the cabbage. Continuing cooking until cabbage is tender. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

When potatoes are ready, drain them, and return them to the pot with the remaining butter and warm milk. Mash the potatoes, and add salt and pepper to taste. Combine cabbage and smashed potatoes, and serve.

Serves 6

Peruvian causa is one of the few Latin American dishes that you could sneak unnoticed into a Southern Baptist potluck. Some might question the potatoes’ subtle, smokey heat; just call it layered potato salad and you’ll be golden.

Those layers are made of smashed potatoes with olive oil and aji amarillo paste and a light tuna salad with mayo, lemon and parsley. The golden aji amarillo is the ingredient that sets this dish apart from standard American fare. Made from yellow Peruvian peppers, you can order it online if you don’t have access to Peruvian goods or make your own if you can grow or find the peppers. Traditional causa garnishes include black olives, tomatoes, boiled eggs, lettuce and lime.

Causa’s comfort factor transcends continents, and it makes a great light meal or sturdy side dish. You eat causa cold, so allot plenty of time for the dish to cool down in the fridge. I made this batch a day in advance.

Peruvian Causa
3 pounds yukon gold poatoes
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil, plus 1 teaspoon
2 tablespoons aji amarillo paste
Salt and pepper to taste
12 ounces canned tuna, packed in olive oil
1/4 cup chopped parsley
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons mayonnaise (or more to taste)

Garnish:
Sliced or chopped tomato
Sliced hard-boiled egg
Olives
Sliced avocado
Shredded lettuce
Lime wedges

Instructions
In a medium-sized pot, cover unpeeled potatoes with cold water. Bring to a boil, salt the water generously, and reduce to a simmer. Cook until potatoes are tender, 20 to 25 minutes. (If you prefer potatoes without the skin, allow them to cool for a few minutes, and peel.) Smash the potatoes with olive oil, aji amarillo paste, and salt and pepper to taste.

Meanwhile, drain canned tuna, and mix with parsley, lemon juice, mayonnaise, and salt and pepper to taste.

Line a 9×9 inch baking pan with plastic wrap. Divide potato mixture in half. Spread half of the potato mixture into the bottom of the pan. Top potatoes with tuna salad. Spread remaining potatoes over the tuna. Cover and chill for at least 4 (and up to 24) hours.

Once cool, invert the causa onto a platter, peel off the plastic wrap, and cut into desired portions. Top with garnishes, and serve.

Serves 6

It’s hard to screw up a fritatta. I suppose you could overcook or under-season one, but they lovingly take on all sorts of vegetables and dairy products. This week I assembled a frittata of potatoes, spinach, cheddar cheese and buttermilk—we ran out of regular milk, but its sour cousin was a successful substitute. 

Don’t take my word for it, though. Crack open eggs, empty your fridge of veggies and cheese and prepare to enjoy. 

Potato and Spinach Fritatta with Cheddar
9 ounces fresh baby spinach, stems removed
1 tablespoons dry white wine or sherry
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small onion, sliced
1 pound yukon gold potatoes, peeled and sliced into thin rounds 
1 tablespoon butter
8 large eggs
1/4 cup milk or buttermilk
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
White pepper
2/3 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese

Instructions
Preheat oven to a 500° broil.

Warm up an 8-inch non-stick frying pan, on medium high heat. Add spinach and wine, and cook until most of the liquid has evaporated. Remove spinach from pan, and continue to drain, if necessary.

Return the pan to the stove, and heat olive oil over medium high. Add onions, and sweat for 3 to 5 minutes. Add potatoes, and cook for 5 to 7 minutes, until they begin to soften.  

Meanwhile, beat eggs, milk, and 1 teaspoon kosher salt and white pepper. 

Add butter to the frying pan, and stir until melted. Stir in spinach and season the vegetables with 1/2 teaspoon (or more) kosher salt. Pour egg mixture into the pan, turn down heat to medium-low, and cook gently. As the eggs cook, lift a small side of the frittata with a rubber spatula and let uncooked egg run to the bottom of the pan—repeat 5 to 8 times. 

When the eggs are still runny on top but set on the bottom, top with cheese, and put the pan under the broiler for 5 minutes, until the frittata is completely set and puffy. 

Serves 4

This Provençal dish from “Backyard Bistros, Farmhouse Fare” by Jane Sigal satisfied a growing hankering for big hunks of lamb—or any meat for that matter—with minimal ingredients and supervision. I just devoted a few evening hours to this stew and tucked it into the refrigerator for overnight safe keeping until I re-warmed it the next day. 

Briny olives (the original recipe calls for the wrinkly Nyons variety, which I found at Whole Foods) played with hearty potatoes and a wondrous lamb-y sauce, whose most illustrious ingredient was eau de Miami. And the familiar scent that wafted from my kitchen—the love child of thyme, onions and meat—brought me back to my short time cooking in France. 

I served the lamb atop buttery rice pilaf to round out the rustic meal, for which we spit out olive pits and polished off plates with our fingers.

Provençal Braised Lamb with Potatoes and Olives
1/4 cup olive oil
Salt and pepper
2 pounds boneless lamb, cut into 1 1/2-inch chunks
3 onions, halved and thinly sliced
2 large cloves garlic
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 cups water
1 bouquet garni (1 bay leaf, fresh thyme, and parsley bound by twine)
1 1/2 pounds yukon gold potatoes, cut into 1 1/2-inch chunks
1/2 (heaping) cup black olives with pits, preferably Nyons

Instructions
Heat olive oil in a wide, heavy-bottomed pot. Sprinkle salt and pepper over meat, and add meat to pot in batches. Cook meat for 5 to 7 minutes, until lightly browned on all sides. Remove meat from the pot; set aside. Add onions and garlic to the pot, and brown, cooking for 8 to 10 minutes.  

Wipe  any excess fat from the pot. Scatter flour over the onions. Cook the flour, stirring, until it turns golden—about 2 minutes. Pour in water, scraping up brown bits from the bottom of the pan.

Place the meat and bouquet garni into the pot; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce to a slow simmer, and cook the lamb for 1 hour. Add potatoes and olives. After the olives have given some of their salt to the pot (just a few minutes), taste and add more salt as needed. Cook the stew with olives and potatoes 1 hour.

Remove bouquet garni and serve.

You can make this 1 to 2 days in advance and store in the refrigerator. If you do chill the dish, skim the layer of fat from the top of the lamb before reheating. 

Serves 4

This recipe was born out of William’s love of pies and a link of smoked sausage in our freezer. Why not combine the flavors of Cajun country into a gooey casserole and top them with a buttery pie crust? My sentiments, exactly. 

The recipe relies on sausage, the trinity (onion, peppers, and celery) and a dash of Tobasco to anchor its Louisiana flavors. Shrimp stock provides a subtle seafood background, and whole shrimp (which I feared would overcook but didn’t) brought in a solid reminder of the Gulf. Just because I felt like being excessive, I used heavy cream. This is not a recipe for the  cholesterol-fearing dieter. 

But if you’re looking for a lively but comforting dinner to enjoy as a family or with guests, dig right in.

Cajun Pot Pie
1 recipe pastry dough (I used this galette dough)

Filling:
1 tablespoon butter
1 cup diced smoked sausage
1 medium onion, diced
1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper
1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper
1/2 cup chopped celery
1 1/2 small carrots, chopped
2 small to medium Yukon gold potatoes, diced
1/3 pound medium shrimp, peeled and de-veined, reserving shells for shrimp stock

Sauce:
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup concentrated shrimp or seafood stock (recipe follows)
3/4 cup heavy cream (or half and half, if you must) 
1 teaspoon tomato paste
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Dash of Tobasco

Instructions
Preheat oven to 375°.

For filling: Melt butter in a large frying pan. Add sausage and render some of its fat, cooking 2 to 3 minutes. Add onion, bell pepper, celery, and carrots, and cook 5 minutes more. Toss in potatoes, and cook until they barely begin to soften, about 5 minutes more. Season with salt and pepper. Set aside to cool. 

For sauce: Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in flour, and cook for 1 to 2 minutes. Stir roux constantly so it doesn’t burn. Pour in shrimp stock, whisking and breaking up any clumps of flour. As soon as the mixture thickens, pour in cream, and add tomato paste. Continuing to stir, bring mixture to a boil, and cook 1 minute more. Stir in cayenne, Tobasco, and salt and pepper to taste. 

Remove the sauce from the stove, and combine with pot pie filling. Pour mixture into a deep, 9-inch pie pan. Allow this mixture to cool as much as possible. Stir in shrimp.

Roll out pastry dough into a 10-inch circle. Cover pie dish with pastry. Crimp the edges, and cut slits in the top of the pie. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until crust is golden. 

Remove from oven, and allow the pie to cool for 5 to 10 minutes before serving. 

Serves 4

The simple pleasure of making something beautiful from waste—that’s the essence of shrimp stock!

Concentrated Shrimp Stock
2 teaspoons olive oil
1/2 carrot, roughly chopped
1/2 small stalk celery, roughly chopped
1/2 cup chopped leeks or 1/2 onion, roughly chopped 
1 sprig thyme
1 bay leaf
Shells from 2/3 to 1 pound shrimp (I store them in my freezer until I need them)
1/3 cup dry white wine

Instructions
Heat olive oil in a medium sauce pan. Add vegetables and herbs, cooking just a few minutes, until fragrant. Stir in shrimp shells (or fish bones if you have them), and cook until they are slightly golden and fragrant.

Pour in wine, and cook until most of it has evaporated. Add two cups of water or just a bit more to cover shells and vegetables. Simmer on medium-low heat for 30 minutes.

Remove stock from heat. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve. Rinse out sauce pan.

Return stock to sauce pan, and reduce liquid to 1 cup. 

Tortilla topped with sauteed spinach and tomato

Tortillas and frittatas make it into our dinner rotation every few months. Sometimes I use a recipe, but more often I craft these types of egg dishes based on the contents of my refrigerator. This was no exception.  

A lonely yukon potato provided the bulk of the tortilla. And since rosemary is a flavor I tend to neglect in summer, I decided to pluck a few fresh sprigs for this dish. I also topped the tortilla with sauteed spinach and tomatoes that begged to be eaten.  

A few notes on the recipe: The egg-to-potato ratio is a high compared to traditional recipes, but since this dish was built for one (hungry girl) I played with the proportions. Also, parmesan is clearly not a Spanish ingredient, but with a block in the fridge, who could resist. 

Spanish tortilla with rosemary
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 onion, thinly sliced
1 medium yukon gold (or other) potato
2 teaspoons minced, fresh rosemary
3 large eggs
Splash of cream or milk
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tablespoon parmesan (optional)

Instructions
Preheat oven to broil. Heat olive oil over medium high in a 6- to 8-inch non-stick pan. Add onions, and cook until light golden. Add potatoes, and cook for 5 to 7 minutes, until they begin to soften. 

Meanwhile, beat eggs, cream, and salt and pepper. 

Add rosemary to pan with onion and potatoes. Cook for 1 minute, and turn heat to low. Pour egg mixture into the pan, and cook gently. As the eggs cooks, lift a small side of the tortilla with a rubber spatula and let the uncooked egg run to the bottom of the pan—repeat 3 to 4 times. 

When the eggs are still runny on top, but set on the bottom, put the pan under the broiler for 2 to 3 minutes, until the tortilla is completely set and puffy. 

Remove pan from over, and invert tortilla onto a plate.

Serves 1

P.S. A little wedge of this makes a mean breakfast sandwich. I stuffed a sour dough English muffin with tortilla and melted cheddar. Hmmm.

This meal is my parting ode to Miami’s seasonal farmers’ markets, which pop up around the city January through April while the rest of the country is still frozen solid. 

Almost all but the zucchini for this dish came from my favorite Bayfront park vendor. I stumbled upon this Greek stew (it’s traditionally called fassolakia Iadera) while searching epicurious.com for a fitting way to dispose of my vegetable bounty. I took a few liberties with the original recipe: I pureed fresh tomatoes instead of using canned, utilized my overstock of new potatoes with the skins left on, and threw in as much oregano as my tiny plant would yield (a mere tablespoon).

Chunks of feta absolutely made this dish. Bites without tasted like, well, vegetable soup. But add a fleck of feta and now we’re talking. I’m also boycotting the $5 loaves of bread at my grocery store, so I worked on dough for no-knead bread in a hurry this morning and baked it while my stew simmered. 

I also prepped the green beans and zucchini this morning before heading to work (so I wouldn’t be starving before the stew hit our bowls). To no avail, William and I were so hungry we forgot to snap a picture.  

Greek Green Bean, Zucchini, and Potato Stew
1/4 cup olive oil
1 medium onion chopped
1 pound green beans, trimmed and snapped in half
1/4 teasspoon cayenne pepper
8 ounces small new (red) potatoes, quartered with skins left on
8 ounces zucchini, cut into 1-inch rounds
3/4 cup chopped parsley
2 large tomatoes, pureed
1 tablespoon fresh oregano (or 1 teaspoon dried)
2 teaspoons kosher salt
Pepper to taste

Accompaniments
Feta
Crusty bread

Instructions
Heat olive oil in a 3- to 4-quart, straight-sided (or deep) saute pan over medium high heat. Add onion and cook 5 minutes. Toss in green beans and cayenne and cook an additional 3 minutes. Add zucchini and potatoes to the pan, and pour in tomato puree. Stir in parsley, oregano, and salt. Bring mixture to a boil. Cover the pan, and turn heat to low. Simmer for 35 to 45 minutes, stirring occasionally until potatoes are tender. Season with pepper and additional salt to your liking.

Serve topped with feta and heart bread for sopping. 

Serves 4 to 6