Amber & Dublin Coddle

In 2008, I make one crock pot feast every weekend so I have a nice hotdish to take to lunch during the work week. The year started off meaty with a pot of Dublin Coddle.I've been craving starches and this seemed like a hearty winter way to fill that craving. It's basically layers of sliced potatoes, carrots, bacon and banger sausages. It's delicious but definitely not the most healthy food.

To make the coddle, you fry four strips of lean bacon in a large frying pan until crisp. Once you remove the bacon and have them draining on a paper towel, you then add 1-1/2 pounds (6 to 8) banger pork sausage to the bacon pan and cook those just until browned. They don't have to be completely cooked-- just browned. Then, you drain the extra fat from the pan and add 2 thinly sliced yellow onions and lightly brown those in a little bacon sausage fat. Then, in your crock pot you make layers: half the onion, half of two slices potatoes (peeled), the bacon, the sausages, two sliced carrots, and the potatoes. In between each vegetable layer, you sprinkle salt and pepper . Then, you add 1 cup of water, hard cider, beer or chicken stock. (I used beer.) It cooks on low for 5 hours. You can make it in a pot, I'm sure, and there seem to be recipes all over the web for other cooking methods. I topped it with chopped parsley. The recipe came from The Gourmet Slow Cooker which is a must have for the crock pot cook.

Yum! Winter isn't so bad with Dublin Coddle in your tummy.