I wish a Happy St Patrick’s Day to all who read this post and who love celebrating this day.

I have decided to make a quintessentially Irish dish to share with you. Dublin coddle is an amazing Irish dish, so simple in its ingredients but so delicious.

It is made by layering of sliced onions, pork sausages, lardons made from rashers of thick cut bacon, chunky potatoes, pepper, and herbs. I used fresh thyme and parsley. Interestingly, it is often made in three layers, reminiscent of the three leaf shamrock made famous by St Patrick!

The fat rendered during frying the bacon can be used to cook the onions, so the taste permeates the entire dish.

I chose the wonderful Dutch Cream potatoes that hold their shape so well when baking, cut roughly into chunks of the same size. You could also use King Edward potatoes if available where you live. The amazing potatoes came direct from our farmers in Orange who travel each weekend to bring their fruit and other veg to Parklea markets in Western Sydney. If you live nearby do go and support our farmers.

The long, slow cooking in the oven for 3 hours brings out all the flavours and develops a really rich sauce. If you want, you can even extend this cooking time to up to 5 hours (checking the liquid periodically).

I did not have ordinary pork sausages in the fridge but did have some Carniolan sausages (a Slovenian sausage also known as Kransky here in Australia) and so I improvised. The Carniolan sausage contains at least 75 to 80% pork (aside from bacon) and at most 20% bacon, a little garlic, and black pepper.

The bacon on hand was a little thin but again, I used it. As there was not a great deal of fat on it I also used some butter. I made use of chicken stock that I had made yesterday, so this element was rich and tasty. You could also just use boiling water with a good quality stock powder or stock cube.

Following what is a really simple recipe and cooking the Dublin Coddle for 3 hours in the heavy enamelled cast Dutch oven casserole, as recommended, I was totally amazed at the flavour and richness of this dish. From humble ingredients came a masterpiece.

Before making the Coddle I made an easy soda bread that is also traditionally served with the Coddle. Slashed with a cross it makes a lovely symbolic meal for this day with the elements of the three layered coddle and the cross of St Patrick.

I recommend this amazing Irish dish and will be making it again.

Dublin Coddle feast for St Patrick’s Day

Ingredients:

• 250 g Thick cut rashers middle bacon with a good layer of fat, cut into strips
• 450 g good quality Pork sausages of your choice
• 2 Brown Onions, halved and sliced across wise into 1 cm strips
• 1 kg Dutch Cream potatoes cut into chunks
• 30 g butter (if you cannot find thick cut bacon)
• 1 1/2 cups of Chicken stock, kept hot on another burner
• 1 clove of garlic, chopped finely
• 6 sprigs of thyme, leaves removed from stems and stems tied with kitchen twine
• A small bunch of parsley, stems removed and chopped
• Freshly ground black pepper and salt to taste

Method:

1 Preheat oven to 150 C Fan Forced

2 Using a heavy Dutch oven casserole, heat the butter on a medium high heat

3. When the butter stops foaming, add the bacon strips and fry gently for 5-6 minutes till they are well rendered

4. Remove the bacon to a plate and set aside

5. Add the onion slices and cook for about 6-8 minutes till transparent and soft but not browned

6. Remove the onions slices to another plate and set aside

7. If needed, add a little extra butter and brown the sausage pieces, or whole sausages if you prefer, for about 6-8 minutes till well browned, enough to colour them but taking care not to dry them out.

8. Remove the sausages to a plate and set aside

9. Take the casserole off the stove top and begin to layer the ingredients in three layers

10. Cover the bottom of the casserole with 1/3 of the onions (and any juice left on the plate)

12. Cover with 1/3 of the potato chunks

13. Scatter 1/3 of the sausages over with any of the juices from the plate

14. Scatter 1/3 of the bacon over everything

15. Sprinkle over 1/3 of the fresh thyme and parsley

16. Continue layering like this for two more layers, three in total and (and any juice left on the plate). Place the tied stems into the stock

17. Dust with freshly ground black pepper

18. Carefully pour over the hot stock

19. Cover the dutch oven tightly with foil and place the lid on to seal it well

20. Place the Dutch oven into the preheated oven and cook for 3 hours. The longer it cooks the more rich the sauce becomes as the onions almost disappear.

* Check the level of liquid after 2 hours and add more if required. There should always be about 4cm of liquid in the bottom of the pot.

21. When cooked, remove the casserole from the oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes before serving with a sprinkle of parsley if you wish

22. Dublin Coddle is traditionally served with home made Irish Soda bread. My recipe for easy soda bread is at the link below. Just click to access.

Easy, Crusty Soda Bread