Dublin Coddle with Guinness

You know I never really believed the saying less is more. For me, (mostly) more is more. Especially when it comes to chocolate. And shopping. Come on ladies, you know what I mean. Which is why I was so pleasantly surprised at this very pedestrian meal of essentially boiled potatoes and pork. Sound exciting? Didn't think so.

Unfortunately (or fortunately in hindsight!) I didn't really have a choice in the matter as I needed to make something Irish for the Regional Recipe roundup. And let me tell you - it's damn difficult thinking of appropriate Irish things to make when the last few days of summer insists on being swelteringly hot. Sure Irish beef stew sounded good, but in this weather? Um... And on I plodded until I happened across various incarnations of this recipe on quite a few websites. I'll be honest, it didn't sound particularly appealing. But it did have a catchy name, and wouldn't you know it ended up sealing the deal.

And it seems I'm in good company - Dublin Coddle is said to be a favourite of the original (and some would argue best) James Bond, Sean Connery. It also appears in various Dublin literary references, which includes the works of James Joyce.* Don't you just love how that makes you feel all important-by-association? 

I'm going to be honest with you - this is not a quick weekday meal. But wouldn't you put in a little bit of effort for your own James Bond-esque supper? And I'm definitely not exaggerating when I say that the somewhat lengthy cooking time is worth it through and through. I don't know if it's the Guinness or the bacon, but the sauce ends up being oh-so-flavourful which, in my opinion, makes this one of the best simple meals out. Maybe less really is more?

I'm submitting this to Regional Recipes (March's theme is Ireland), hosted by Joanne of Eats Well With Others
and created by Darlene from Blazing Hot Wok.  

Dublin Coddle with Guinness

Serves 4 - 6

170g lean back bacon, cut into chunks

350g pork sausages (bangers), cut into thick slices

1 large onion, sliced

4 large potatoes, scrubbed and cut into chunks

salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

2 tbsp (30ml) fresh chives, roughly chopped

1 cup (250ml) water

1 cup (250ml) Guinness

1. Preheat oven to 160C

2. Dry fry the bacon in a large non-stick frying pan over high heat for a few minutes to brown. Remove (draining the fat if necessary) and repeat with the pork sausages.

3. Arrange bacon, sausage, onion and potatoes in an ovenproof dish. Season with salt and pepper (bearing in mind the sausages and bacon are quite salty already) and scatter chives over.

4. Pour water and Guinness around the meat and potatoes, cover and place in the oven for approximately one hour and fifteen minutes or until the potatoes are soft and the meat cooked.

Serve as is, with perhaps a pint of Guinness and a chunk of Irish soda bread on the side.

Nutritional info (per serving): Calories 521.3, Total fat 20.0 g, Saturated fat 7.0 g, Polyunsaturated fat 0.2 g, Monounsaturated fat 0.0 g, Cholesterol 54.0 mg, Sodium 1,120.8 mg, Potassium 1,329.9 mg, Total carbohydrate 58.8 g, Dietary fiber 6.0 g, Sugars 2.8 g, Protein 28.6 g

Good source of: Vitamin C 42.6 %, Manganese 28.5 %, Iron 19.6 %, Folate 18.5 %

*source: Wikipedia