As a Cavan man, I can’t pretend that this is a genuine Dublin coddle recipe - but it is a Blacklion version that is well worth a try. My tip here would be to get the best quality sausages you can find and brown them off for a lovely flavour. For the restaurant, we get all of our Quality Assured pork and bacon from Pat O’Neill in Co Wexford. Worcestershire sauces is one of those store cupboard essentials that I like to use in this recipe. It is also very tasty in minces and stews.
This sticky pudding is very similar to a traditional sticky toffee pudding and it will make a lovely St Patrick’s Day dessert. You can make it a day ahead. The ginger gives it a lovely warmth and the treacle adds a nice, rich colour. This butterscotch sauce is lovely with ice cream. You will find lots of uses for it and it keeps well in the fridge - just warm it up again before serving.
Happy Cooking,
Neven
Serves 4–6
Ingredients
1 tbsp rapeseed oil
450g premium pork sausages
2 onions, sliced
150g dry-cured bacon lardons
1 tbsp plain flour
2 tsp fresh thyme leaves
4 carrots, sliced
750g potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
400ml chicken stock
15g butter
1 tbsp chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F/gas mark 4).
2. Heat half of the oil in an ovenproof sauté pan or casserole dish. Brown the sausages for 3–4 minutes, turning regularly. Transfer to a chopping board and cut each one into three pieces. Set aside.
3. Add the rest of the oil to the pan and sauté the onions and bacon for 6–8 minutes, until lightly golden.
4. Stir in the flour and thyme and cook for one minute, stirring. Tip in the sausage pieces, the carrots and half of the potatoes. Season generously, then shake the pan to get everything into an even layer.
5. Turn off the heat and arrange the rest of the potatoes on top in a nice overlapping layer. Stir the Worcestershire sauce into the stock, then pour this over the potatoes. Dot with butter and season to taste.
6. Cover with a lid and bake for one hour, then remove the lid and cook for another 30 minutes, until the potato topping is tender and golden brown.
7. Scatter over the parsley and serve straight to the table or freeze.
Serves 6-8
Ingredients
250g (9oz) pitted dates, chopped
400ml (14fl oz) boiling water
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
250g (9oz) light brown sugar
150g (5oz) butter, plus extra for greasing
3 large eggs
25g (1oz) stem ginger in syrup, drained and finely chopped
1 tsp ground ginger
350g (12oz) self-raising flour
100g (4oz) toasted pecan nuts, chopped
1 tbsp treacle
vanilla ice cream, to serve
For the butterscoth sauce
175g (6oz) light brown sugar
100g (4oz) butter
250ml (9fl oz) cream
3 tbsp golden syrup
1 tbsp treacle
½ tsp sea salt flakes
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F/gas mark 4).
2. Put the dates in a heatproof bowl and pour over the boiling water, then stir in the bicarbonate of soda and set aside to soak for 10 minutes. Butter a 1.5 litre (2½ pint) ovenproof dish.
3. Using an electric ?mixer, beat together the sugar and butter until pale and fluffy. Mix in the eggs one at a time. Add the stem ginger and ground ginger along with the flour, pecans, treacle and date mixture and beat until evenly combined.
4. Pour the cake batter into the prepared ovenproof dish and bake for 45–50 minutes, until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. If you think it’s becoming too brown close to the end of the cooking time, simply cover with foil. Remove from the oven and leave to cool for 10 minutes.
5. Meanwhile, to make the butterscotch sauce, put the light brown sugar into a heavy-based pan with the butter, cream, golden syrup and treacle. Bring to the boil, stirring until the sugar has dissolved, then allow to bubble for a couple of minutes, until you have achieved a smooth sauce. Stir in the salt.
6. Pour some of the butterscotch sauce over the warm pudding and put the rest into a jug to serve alongside. Add a scoop of vanilla ice cream to each portion to serve.
Entertaining at home: a celebration of great Irish ingredients