Sausages with Colcannon and Roasted Pumpkin

Okay, so I found this pumpkin recipe somewhere online and it's not fully mine, but I had to share it because it was delicious, and managed to get rid of at least one of the fresh pumpkins we've had hanging round the house since Halloween. The Colcannon I made on Halloween, but forgot to write down the recipe, so I BS'd it last night and it still tasted great! Just had a little extra kale because of some unfortunately rotten potatoes. Did you know that they don't sell bags of red potatoes in California? You have to buy them individually. It sucks.

Pumpkin Ingredients:

One 2-3 pound whole fresh pumpkin
6 shallots, peeled and quartered
6 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 Tbsp fresh chopped oregano
1 Tbsp fresh sliced sage leaves
2 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp coarse ground pepper

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Chop the ends off the pumpkin and cut it in half, and take out the seeds. Then slice it up into wedges as you would a watermelon. Toss them in a large roasting pan with the shallots and garlic. Mix all other ingredients together in a small bowl and pour over the pumpkin as if it were a dressing, then toss to coat. Roast in the oven for 60 minutes, but make sure you toss the pumpkin every 20 minutes of that time. Serve immediately. You will have leftovers if you're not feeding a ton of people. Sorry, but I totally forgot to take photos of the process here.

Colcannon:

4-5 red potatoes, peeled and cubed
1/2 pound (minimum) fresh curly kale, ripped into 2-inch strips and the stems pulled out

1 cup chicken broth
3 Tbsp butter
1/4 cup milk
1/3 cup onion, chopped small
salt and pepper

Place the cubed potatoes in a pot and just cover with water, then set to boil. Once boiling, turn down to medium heat and cook for about ten minutes or until they are fork tender.

Using the chicken broth in place of water, steam the curly kale until wilted, about 5-6 minutes once broth is bubbling, on medium heat. Drain potatoes and add the milk, butter, and some salt and pepper. Toss in the steamed kale and mash like you're mashing regular potatoes. When thoroughly squished, add the onion and mix well, adding more salt and pepper if desired.

If potatoes are too thick, add a little of the chicken broth from the kale pot. Serves 4.

I served this up with store-bought sausages (which I just steamed in a frying pan with some water for 20 minutes, then fried with the lid off for another 15 minutes). A very tasty, filling meal!