Dublin Coddle

Last weekend, we visited Bord Bia's Bloom festival in the Phoenix Park, here in Dublin (check out our Instagram & Facebook for pictures). This is mainly a showcase of some amazing garden exhibits but over the years it has grown and now it boasts an impressive selection of flowers, gardening equipment, traditional arts & crafts, and more. The main attraction for us, of course, was the large Food Village! There were dozens of stalls selling and sampling a multitude of amazing food and drink from around the country - we were definitely in our element. 

As we were exploring all the wonderful foods, we spotted a butcher selling some lovely pork sausages and bacon rashers. The sausages had 82% pork content and the bacon looked great. After trying a free sample (yum!) we were immediately inspired and decided that this week we would make a Coddle! Although, it's not really a summer dish - it's a real comfort food, ideal for a cold, winter-y evening - we still wanted to use these delicious sausages and rashers. We gathered up some fresh vegetables from various other stalls to complete the recipe. 

Coddle, also know as Dublin Coddle, is a traditional Irish dish that was typically made to get rid of leftovers. It was generally eaten more regularly in the capital than the rest of the country. Like most traditional dishes, there's no fixed recipe and everyone has their own way of making it. The basic ingredients are pork sausages, bacon rashers, potato and onion, all cooked together in a broth. We'll be adding a few more ingredients to this recipe than the traditional but I'm basing it on one I received from my Dad.

For this we'll be using a leek and potato soup as the broth. Some people use vegetable stock, but I like the extra flavour the soup adds to the dish. We'll be making our own soup in this recipe, but you can use any shop bought vegetable soup if you prefer for convenience. You'll need enough to make 1.5 litres of soup. It is also not necessary to brown the sausages and bacon, this is up to your own personal preference. We think they look and taste a little better when browned, so that's what we'll do here. 

This hearty dish goes very well with some fresh bread, slathered with real butter to slop up the last few mouthfuls.

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Soup: 10 minutes Coddle: 10 minutes

Soup: 20 minutes Coddle : 50 minutes

6

Ingredients

For the soup :
2 medium onions
2 celery sticks
2 large leeks (~400g)
2 cloves garlic
1 tablespoon real butter
4 large potatoes (~400g)
1.5 litres of vegetable stock
Salt & Pepper

For the coddle :
6 plain pork sausages
6 Irish unsmoked bacon rashers
3 carrots, sliced finely
1 large onion, diced
6 large potatoes
1.5 litres of vegetable Soup
Fresh Parsley
Salt & Pepper

Bakeware :
Large cooking pot

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Start on the leek & potato soup base

>>  Slice the onions, cut the celery and quarter the leeks.
>>  Peel and crush the garlic cloves
>> In a large saucepan, add a tablespoon of butter and place on a high heat. Add the onions, celery, leek, and garlic and cook for about 10 minutes - until the onions and leeks are golden.
>> Peel the potatoes and dice into ~1cm pieces, add them into the pan.
>> Pour the vegetable stock over your chopped vegetables. Bring this to boiling point then cover and simmer for 10 minutes.
>> Remove from the heat, and season with salt and pepper to taste.
>> Let it cool slightly and blend in a food processor, or use a plunging liquidizer, and set aside.

This will be used as the broth for the coddle, so ideally we want a very liquid-like soup. 

Brown that meat

>> Add a splash of olive oil to your saucepan and brown the sausages on a high heat, and set aside.
>> Fry the bacon until brown, but not crispy. Set them aside.
>> Add the diced onions and sliced carrots to the pan and cook until the onions are soft and translucent. Leave them in the pan and take off the heat.
>> Peel and quarter the potatoes.

Bringing it all together...

>> Now time to bring the ingredients together in the saucepan. Add the potatoes, bacon and sausages to the onions and carrots.
>> Pour your vegetable soup into the saucepan and season with some fresh chopped parsley, and mix lightly.
>> Place this on a high heat to bring this to the boil and then simmer on a low heat for about 50 to 60 minutes - Until the potatoes are cooked through. Season with the salt and pepper to taste.
>> Spoon generous amounts into your serving bowl and sprinkle with a pinch of fresh parsley to serve.