Last week we had Irish Cheddar and Stout Fondue with Irish Soda Bread – which, needless to say, was pretty rich. A little high in the old calorie count for my dieting needs. This week, I whipped up a healthy – veggie-full – version of an Irish favorite: Bangers and Colcannon with Guinness Onion Gravy.
The Colcannon recipe calls for 1 pound of potatoes, which I replaced with 1 head of cauliflower, steamed and blended for a mashed potato consistency. I mixed in some plain Greek yogurt as a sour cream substitute, a little garlic powder, salt and pepper to complete the transformation. And while the cabbage and bacon are usually mixed into the mash in Colcannon, I thought they looked too pretty to hide under mash, so I spooned them on top and finished with Guinness Gravy. The bangers were my favorite smoked chicken apple sausage.
Healthy Bangers and Colcannon with Guinness Onion Gravy
(adapted from Closet Cooking)
Serves 2
Ingredients
- 1 head cauliflower, steamed and blended
- garlic powder, salt and pepper to taste
- 1 strip bacon, cut into pieces
- 1 Tb butter
- 1/4th head of red cabbage (or green, I just like the color)
- 1 leek, chopped (rinse leeks after you chop them since dirt can hide in the layers)
- salt and pepper
- 4 smoked chicken apple sausages
- 1/2 yellow onion, chopped
- 1 clove garlic, chopped
- 1 tsp thyme
- 1 Tb flour
- 1 bottle Guinness
- 2 Tb Dijon Mustard
- 1 Tb Worcestershire sauce
- 1 Tb brown sugar
Directions:
1. Chop your cauliflower into large chunks and steam until mashable with a fork. Blend (I love my immersion blender for this), and add garlic powder, salt, pepper, and a large dollop of Greek Yogurt to taste.
2. Cut your bacon into pieces and set in a skillet on medium heat. When almost cooked, add the leeks and cabbage. Saute until cabbage is tender. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
3. In a second skillet, saute onions and add the sausage links to cook until golden brown. Set aside the sausage links when done. Add the garlic and thyme to the skillet and cook until fragrant.
4. Whisk the flour in with half the bottle of Guinness and pour into the second skillet. Add the rest of the Guinness, mustard, Worcestershire sauce. Simmer until thickened.
5. Divide the mashed cauliflower between two plates and top with the cabbage mixture. Place the bangers on top of that, and pour gravy over everything.
Definitely enjoy with a Guinness.
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