Champ

Ingredients:
1 1/2 lb peeled, cooked potatoes, still hot
1/2 cup milk
2 bunches green onions, green and white parts chopped
butter
salt
white pepper

Directions:
Mash the potatoes, salt, pepper and milk together until fairly uniform in texture. Stir in the green onion. Arrange in a tall pile on a plate then make a well in the middle and top with a pat of butter. Eat from the outside in, dipping bites into the well of butter.

My thoughts:

I wasn't familiar with champ until I saw it on the menu of James Joyce Pub. It didn't come with my meal, so I never found out what it was. Some time after that I was reading a book set in Ireland and from the description, I realized that champ was mashed potatoes with green onions! I also read that champ is some times known as poundies, because "champ" is also a colloquialism that means to bruise or smash and you mash (pound) the potatoes. I had some potatoes sitting around so, in honor of St. Patrick's Day, I made champ. It is really simple but satisfying, and I like having butter on top, rather than mixed in. We made mashed potatoes this way when I was a child (no green onions, though!) and I had forgotten how much I enjoyed them.