With this recipe, I put a bit of a twist on the traditional Irish colcannon (typically made with mashed potatoes and cabbage or kale) by using sweet potatoes alongside regular potatoes and cooking the cabbage with beer. Creamy mashed potatoes, smoky bacon bits, and malty beer meld together into a very rich and filling dish. I found this made a great meal on a cold night although for those of you looking to be less decadent, it would also work very well as a side dish.
Roasting a chicken is a culinary feat I used to think was reserved for better chefs than I. But this recipe easily yields a perfectly cooked, succulent chicken and is actually much simpler than many other dishes I take on. There are a couple tricks that make this recipe a cut above the rest – brining the chicken is the main key to its juiciness, and cooking at a high oven temperature turns the skin a fabulous crispy golden brown. This is also a recipe with a lot of downtime, so you have the opportunity to take care of some of those chores you’ve been putting off while the chicken is brining, in the oven, or resting.