Celebrate St. Pat's with healthy bangers and mash

Tucking into a heap of bangers and mash (sausages and mashed potatoes) certainly fits the St. Patrick's Day spirit. It just doesn't often fit into a healthy diet.

Bangers and mash, which is popular throughout England and Ireland, typically is made with a mild pork sausage containing lots of breadcrumbs, a bit of sage and gobs of fat. Pile those onto a mound of buttery mashed potatoes topped with greasy gravy and you've got a nutritional nightmare.

But this inexpensive and comforting dish is easily remade without sacrificing the hearty flavors that make it seriously good pub grub.

To start with, not all sausages are made the same. Some pork bangers, such as the Irish-style links made by North Country Smokehouse, contain as little as 6 grams of fat each. Lower-fat chicken and turkey sausages also would be a good choice.

To make the mash a bit healthier, this recipe blends small red potatoes (with skins), cooked kale, tangy buttermilk, zesty coarse-grained mustard and only a tiny pat of butter. The result is deliciously similar to the classic Irish dish called colcannon.

The gravy, also spiked with mustard, is made with reduced-sodium chicken broth, onions, flour and very little oil, so you can say goodbye to the grease.

The recipe calls for cooked sausages, so if you are using an uncooked variety, boil them first, then split then down the center and brown them.

To complete the St. Patty's theme, serve with some hearty, whole-grain bread and (if you can spare the calories) a wee bit of stout.