Colcannon with a Sunny-Side Up Egg

So, at the time I didn't know I was eating a traditional Irish dish. But really, when I think about it, colcannon is sort of like the filling in pierogis. When I was younger, my mom would sometimes make this for dinner on Fridays because it was meatless and would top it with a fried egg. My even more favorite version of this was made on non-Fridays, with chunks of fried slab bacon. (I know, I know...so wrong yet, so right.) As I've grown up to make my own variation, I top mine with a sunny-side up egg and the yolk just runs into the natural butteriness of the potatoes (although butter does help the level of butteriness of this dish) and the sweetness of the cabbage. Such great comfort food. This is great for breakfast or dinner. If you like, top the colcannon with crushed potato chips for a little bit of crunch. Enjoy! Happy weekend and St. Patrick's Day!

• 1/2 a head of green cabbage, sliced and roughly chopped (about 1&1/4 pounds)
• 4 Yukon Gold potatoes, (about 1&1/2 pounds) peeled and roughly chopped
• 1 medium onion, sliced (a heaping cup)
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter plus 2 tablespoons
• 1/2 cup half and half, divided
• sea salt (obsessed with pink Himalayan sea salt right now.)
• 4 eggs *optional
• a handful of kettle cooked potato chips, crushed *optional

In a large Dutch oven, combine the onions and 4 tablespoons of the butter, allow to sweat, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes. (If you like your onions a little more caramelized, allow to brown a little more.) Next, add in your cabbage and sea salt. Cover and cook for 40 minutes, stirring occasionally. If it begins to brown, add a little bit of water, about a tablespoon at a time, as needed just to stop the cooking process a bit. The water will evaporate. In the meantime, cook your potatoes until fork tender. Once done, add to your potatoes the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter, 1/4 cup of half and half (milk or heavy cream is fine to substitute) and the sea salt. Mash until nice and smooth, although chunks are just fine, if you are in a chunky-mashed-potato-kind-of-mood. Once the cabbage is tender, add in the mashed potatoes and the remaining 1/4 cup of  half and half. Combine well and adjust the seasoning, if needed. If topping with the egg, make the eggs one at a time and keep the colcannon piping hot. Once ready, spread it on a plate and top with the egg and pass around the crushed potato chips. Serves 4.