Tasteful Tuesday: Welcome to Ireland!

This Monday I started the "Tour of Europe". I decided that for the next few weeks I will explore and make traditional meals from some European countries. Just a way to branch out and try something new!

So this week in honor of St. Patrick's Day (on Thursday) I made a dish that you would find in Ireland. No, not corned beef and cabbage. I made Dublin Coddle and Irish Strawberry Bread for dessert. When looking at Irish recipes I found that many are simple and do not include a lot of ingredients. So here it is...

Dublin Coddle

1 1/2 pints of water (2 cups in 1 pint)

8 think slices of ham cut into chunks

8 pork sausages

2 large onions peeled and sliced

1 1/2 lbs of potatoes peeled and sliced

salt and pepper

2 heaped tablespoons fresh chopped parsley

1. Bring the water to the biol in a saucepan, then add the ham and sausages and cook for 5 mins. Drain well and reserve the cooking liquids for later.

2. Set oven to 300 degrees

3. Place potatoes and onion in pan (I also added carrots)

4. Place the ham, sausages, and chopped parsley in pan and pour over just enough cooking liquid to cover (I did use it all) and cover with a piece of buttered greaseproof paper (parchment paper will do) and cover with lid (or foil) and cook for 1-1 1/2 hours or until the liquid is greatly reduced and the vegetables cooked but not mushy

*Adding some Guinness to the Coddle will give it an extra kick!

Strawberry Bread

3 cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

2 cups sugar

4 eggs

1 3/4 cups vegetable oil

2 cups strawberries, rinsed, hulled, quartered

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two loaf pans.

2. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and sugar. Add eggs and oil and mix well. Stir in strawberries and mix again (will not be runny!)

3. Divide the batter between the two pans and bake 1 hour until golden brown on top.

4. Cool in pan 10 mins before turning out onto wire rack and cool completely before slicing.

 Leave a comment if you have a recipe or suggestion for a meal. Maybe you went to Europe and had a to-die-for meal, well let me know what it was!

 I hope you enjoyed this little visit to Ireland and stay tuned because next week we will be visiting France!