Colcannon for St. Patty's Day

I came across this recipe in the Orlando Sentinel which was adapted from a recipe by Darina Allen. The Colcannon recipe appeared in the section about St. Patty's day - how Irish it is, I am not sure - this Armenian is no Irish expert, but it will give you some variety to the regular corned beef and cabbage.

3 pounds starchy potatoes (Yukon Golds or Russet will work best), unpeeled
1 pound kale
1 cup milk (you might want to use 1% for a little more creaminess)
1 tablespoon salt
fresh cracked black pepper

my additions to this would be for extra flavor:
2 strips bacon, cooked until crispy, drained, fat reserved
1 sweet yellow onion, diced

1. Put the potatoes in a pot of COLD water, make sure potatoes are covered by at least 1 inch of water. Add salt. Cover and bring to a boil, when water boils, reduce heat to simmer. When potatoes are cooked half way (about 20 minutes), pour off about 2/3 of the water, replace lid and let potatoes continue to cook (they will be steaming at this point).
2. Strip the stems from the kale and roughly chop the leaves (discard stems). Throw leaves into pot with potatoes and let steam until they are wilted.
3. Meanwhile heat milk in a separate saucepan until warm - be careful not to let milk boil. Keep warm until potatoes have finished cooking.
4. Saute chopped onion in 1-2 teaspoons of reserved bacon fat (or you could use olive oil) until nice and soft.
5. When potatoes are finished cooking, drain water and quickly mash them. Then beat warm milk into potatoes to make them fluffy. Mix kale in with potatoes, add onions, crumble bacon on top and season with black pepper.

ENJOY!