Try making this delicious smoked salmon and colcannon recipe. 

Famous for its limestone landscape and an amazing spectrum of flora, the Burren is one of Ireland's most loved and popular tourist attractions.

The Burren Food Trail gives visitors a unique experience of enjoying beautiful local food, heritage, and surroundings. Local producers, cafes, and restaurants came together to create a map of food experiences and a new weekly event has just been launched.

How does kayaking your way to a gourmet picnic on the Finnavarra Peninsula sound?

When I think of the Burren I think of delicious thinly sliced smoked Irish salmon. I love smoked salmon, it's perfect and simple when putting together a quick lunch and great as a canapé topping. I keep a pack in the back of my fridge, it's a handy go-to when friends call around. If you have 2 minutes to spare you can pop some in the blender with a little sour cream, cream cheese, a few drops of lemon and salt and pepper. This makes a really tasty pâté alternatively it's hard to beat the traditional brown bread and butter topped with smoked salmon and some freshly cut chive.

The Burren Smokehouse is the family business of Peter and Birgitta Curtain. Since 1989 they have been smoking salmon, trout, and mackerel and are now even smoking some locally produced cheese. They shared with me their recipe for ‘Burren hot smoked salmon on a bed of colcannon with Stir Fried vegetables’ Birgitta uses two methods of smoking salmon. Cold smoking is the traditional Irish method, the temperature never rises above 35° degrees during smoking the result is smooth and easily sliced salmon. Hot smoking uses temperatures as high as 80°C and produces flakier salmon with a texture similar to grilled salmon.

Burren hot smoked salmon on a bed of colcannon with stir-fried vegetables

Serves:

Ingredients:

800g Burren Hot Smoked Organic Salmon plain

Colcannon:

  • 1 lb or 500g floury potatoes
  • 4 cups shredded leaves of cabbage
  • 2 tbsp chopped scallions (spring onions)
  • 2 tbsp butter or margarine
  • 50 ml or ¼ cup heated milk
  • Salt and black pepper to taste

Stir fry vegetables:

  • 1 red pepper
  • 1 onion
  • 1 courgette
  • 8 mushrooms
  • 1 tsp soya sauce
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • Mustard Cream Sauce:
  • 1 tbsp whole-grain mustard
  • 500 ml or 1 pint cream
  • 2 tbsp white wine

Method:

Colcannon:

Boil the peeled potatoes in lightly salted water until tender, then drain.

Boil the cabbage and onion for about 5 minutes.

Drain and set aside.

Mash potatoes with milk, butter, salt and pepper to taste.

Add the spring onion and cabbage mixture.

Stir Fry Vegetables:

Cut all vegetables in strips and stir fry in olive oil until they are soft.

Mustard Cream Sauce:

Mix all ingredients together and heat.

Salmon:

Cut the Hot Smoked Organic Salmon into 4 pieces.

Heat the salmon in a preheated oven for 5 minutes at 175°C or 350°F.

To decorate the plate start by placing the base of colcannon, add stir fry vegetables on top.

Pour the mustard cream sauce over the vegetables, and top the dish with the Burren Hot Smoked Salmon.

For more information on Burren Smokehouse products and the Burren Food Trail see the below links:

The Burren Smoke House

The Burren Food Trail

Originally published 2014. Updated Oct 2023.