I think we all know what holiday is fast approaching and it’s a big one in Chicago … St. Patrick’s Day! If you’ve never been to St. Patty’s day in Chicago, you should come one year but be prepared to see some straight up debauchery. St. Patrick’s Day the year Andrew and I started dating, might’ve been when I first realized I loved Andrew. That sounds legit insane because we had only been dating for like 2 months, but it was a beautiful day and we successfully drank Jameson and Ginger Ale outside for about 12 hours while having the most fun together. It was an amazing day. With all its craziness I still have a soft spot for St. Patty’s day, and this year I’m celebrating on the blog with several special recipes and today’s recipe is this incredible Semi-Traditional Irish Breakfast.
When I was planning my St. Patty’s Day post, I had been doing research for a few days on what Irish people typically eat (other than corned beef and cabbage obviously). I was trying to find a traditional Irish recipe that I could put my own spin on, I am only 1/8 Irish after all. I learned a couple things through this research. The first is that all Irish food sounds like an amazing mess of the most perfect hangover cure you’ve ever heard of. These people may not be the French when it comes to cuisine, but they are experts at filling up a belly full of beer. The second thing is that Irish food is extremely meat centered and meat heavy in a way that is sometimes difficult to imitate. That being said, I think I nailed this one.
So, let’s break this down, first I put a slight spin on traditional potato pancakes by making them not only with leftover mashed potatoes, but more specifically with leftover colcannon, another Irish dish. Colcannon is literally mashed potatoes mixed with cabbage and bacon so trust me, it’s one of the best things you’ll ever eat. I made mine with roasted cabbage and leeks to give it that extra flavor and coconut bacon because it’s the best for bacon bits. Did I mention I also used a whole head of roasted garlic in the mashed potatoes? YUM!
Using the colcannon for the potato pancakes makes them heartier and more flavorful, plus you’ll have leftovers of the colcannon you can either make into more pancakes or literally just eat over your sink like an animal.
The other part of Irish breakfast is of course meat, specifically, bacon and sausage. I elected to use store bought vegan breakfast sausage but make my own bacon. This was my first time making eggplant bacon and it’s tasty AF. I have to tell you I still prefer tempeh bacon because it’s meatier, but eggplant provides that thin crunchiness and really absorbs the marinade well.
Finally, this ridiculous plate of deliciousness is finished with fried eggs, and broiled and/or grilled tomatoes. Trust me, don’t skip on the grilled tomatoes, they’re the perfect accompaniment to this dish. You’ll literally want to just pile a fork high with all this shit and take one gigantic bite!
Lots of Love,
Jackie
- Potato Pancakes
- 4 russet potatoes, peeled and chopped
- 1 head garlic, roasted (cut the top off the garlic, drizzle with oil, salt and pepper, bake wrapped in foil at 400 degrees for 30 minutes)
- ¼ cup sour cream
- ¼ cup almond milk
- 3 tbsp butter
- 2 tsp salt
- 1 leek, washed and chopped
- ½ head cabbage, sliced into strips
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp pepper
- ⅓ cupcoconut bacon
- 1 egg
- ½ cup flour
- 2 more tbsp butter (for frying, may need more)
- Eggplant Bacon
- non-stick spray
- 1 large eggplant, sliced per directions
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- ¼ cup soy sauce
- 1 tsp liquid smoke
- ½ tsp black pepper
- 2 tsp maple syrup
- 1 tsp chili powder
- ¼ tsp cayenne
- 1 tsp cumin
- ½ tsp salt
- The Rest
- 4 tomatoes (1 per breakfast plate)
- 8 fried eggs (two per breakfast plate)
- 4 vegan sausages (1 per breakfast plate)
- Sour cream for topping potatoes
- Start by making the ingredients for the potato pancakes. Now, if we were in Ireland, you would have already made Colcannon the night before and you'd be using those leftovers for the pancakes. Do as you will, I can tell you it's worth it to make the colcannon ahead both for ease and the deliciousness of eating it by itself. Boil your potatoes for the mashed potatoes until fork tender.
- While the potatoes are cooking, preheat your over to 400 degrees. Place the sliced leeks and cabbage on a baking sheet and toss in the olive oil and 1 tsp each of salt and pepper. Bake the leeks and cabbage for 15 minutes on the top rack until they start to brown. Bake the coconut baconduring this time. You will also want to bake the roasted garlic as well. I placed it in with the cabbage, then swapped the cabbage out for the coconut bacon, leaving the garlic in. By the time they're both done, the garlic will be just about done as well.
- After the potatoes are tender, remove from the water and transfer to a large bowl or stand mixer. Squeeze the roasted garlic out of it's shell and transfer to the bowl with the potatoes. Add in the sour cream, almond milk, butter, and the remaining tsp of salt. Mix with the stand mixer, a hand mixed, or a potato smashed and spatula until smooth and the garlic has been mixed evenly.
- When the potatoes are finished and fully prepared, add in the cabbage and bacon and stir with a spatula until fully incorporated. Separate two cups of the mashed potato mixture into a separate bowl to make the pancakes an enjoy anything you have left alone! Trust me, it's delicious.
- Prepare the eggplant bacon by spraying a wire rack with non-stick spray and placing it on a baking sheet. Cut the ends off the eggplant and slice it longways into thin pieces, about ¼ inch. Place the pieces onto a cutting board, sprinkle with salt and let sit for 10 minutes. When the 10 minutes is up, wipe the excess moisture off the eggplant and place on the wire rack.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the remaining ingredients for the eggplant bacon until combined. Then brush the top side of the eggplant with the marinade. Bake for 15 minutes in a 400 degree oven then flip and brush the other side with marinade and bake for an additional 15 minutes. You can use any other veggie bacon for this part, but please keep in mind if you're using eggplant bacon, only actually bake what you're going to eat because it doesn't reheat well, save the rest of the sliced eggplant and save the marinade.
- To make the potato pancakes, take 2 cups of the mashed potato/cabbage mixture into a large bowl and add the flour and egg. Mix until it thickens up, it should be a slightly thicker texture than pancake mix and you should be able to scoop it. Melt butter in a large cast iron skillet. Scooping about 2 tablespoons at a time, scoop the potato mixture into the skillet and flatten slightly with a spatula. Cook for 3-5 minutes on each side per pancake until they are golden brown on each side.
- Finish up preparing your total Irish breakfast by frying or otherwise preparing your eggs and frying your breakfast sausage if using. If you're broiling the tomatoes, simply cut them in half, place on a baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper, broil for 3-5 minutes cut side up until they start to brown on the edges.
- Assemble a plate with two eggs, one tomato, one sausage, strips of bacon, and two potato pancakes. Enjoy with an early morning beer, bloody or Irish coffee!
Vegan: If you're looking to make this vegan, you'll have to eliminate the eggs altogether unless you have a great substitute, I have not been able to find one I think that isn't a huge pain. Second, substitute the butter in every recipe for vegan butter. For the mashed potatoes I would recommend buying a vegan sour cream or a vegan cream cheese rather than just cutting it out entirely. I have tried to make these without adding in one of the two and they just do not come out like mashed potatoes. I will say, Kite Hill almond cream cheese works great in them!
