Themes

I love to plan a meal with a theme in mind. This week I was adamant to make a traditional Indian curry with homemade rotis. I was inspired by a conversation I had overheard by two collegues at work. I rushed home with the plan of making and experimenting with the making of roti. I turned on the laptop typed roti into the google task bar and picked out the elements I liked of all the recipes seen. I went into action mixing the flour and water together to make the dough and within 5- 10 minutes I was rolling them out into flat discs and dry pan frying them. Everything went so well. I waited until small brown dots appeared on the roti and flipped the disc over to cook the underside. The only issue I was having was getting the roti to puff up. After several attempts I had it cracked. I gorged on my achievement with a generous amount of mango chutney. I was happy. This lead me think of themes closer to home. Irish soda bread and Dublin Coddle. Yes I know I'm from England but I miss foods that are closer to home and Irish food often appears in our old pubs, and old pubs is what I am missing the most. Nothing beats that feeling from having a long walk it the countryside and then spending  the whole afternoon in a traditional pub eating traditional foods whilst washing it down with a good beer. (Ahhh the old times). Ian loves to have hearty comfort food, so with him in mind and my fondness of experimenting with foods Dublin Coddle here we come.

I ventured down to the market to gather all the ingredients needed. I always go to the same butcher as they know exactly what I need. I was after thick pork sausages and either thick cut bacon or a small ham. I had thought that bacon may cause the stew to be too salty and after talking to the butcher I chose a small ham that I could dice up into bite size pieces. If extra salt was needed I could always add it during the cooking process A small bag of red new potatoes, a yellow onion and a handful of fresh parsley was also purchased. On return from the market I couldn't stop myself from visiting 'The Lobster Man' where I picked up some oysters to go with our Irish themed meal (An after thought, but a good one at that!!). I poached the sausages and bacon in water and then began to cut the veggies up adding them to the pan and letting the broth gently simmer for around an hour. The smell from the kitchen was amazing and I couldn't help myself from picking at the cubes of ham.  Salt, pepper and chopped parsley finished the stew off nicely. Big chunks of fresh bread helped mop up the gravy (in my opinion that is the best bit). .

Dublin Coddle (Serves 2)

2 Thick Slices of Ham cubed

2 Thick Pork sausages

Red New Potatoes

1 medium Yellow Onion

2 Cups Water

Salt & Pepper

Fresh Parsley

In a large saucepan add the sausage, diced ham and water and bring to a simmer. Poach the meat for approx 5-10 minutes. Drain off the cooking liquor reserving it for later use. Remove the meat from the pan and cut the sausages into inch thick pieces. Don't worry if the sausage is raw in the middle, it will be cooked through later. Cut the potatoes in half and dice the onion thickly placing them in the bottom of the pan. Add the meat to the pan and cover with the reserved cooking liquor. If you need more liquor add some more water. Season with pepper and more salt if needed. Cover and simmer for approx 1 hour stirring occasionally. Remove the lid halfway through cooking to allow the broth to reduce and thicken slightly. The potatoes will turn soft and often break up (helping the stock to thicken). I like to add a few further potatoes at this stage as these ones will remain whole when cooked through. When the potatoes are tender add further seasoning if needed and finish off with a handful of chopped parsley. Serve with soda bread for an originally Irish meal.