Happy St. Patrick's Day!

In our BK days (Before Kids), St. Pat's was OUR holiday! We were known amongst our friends for our annual Irish celebration.  And while we love a good corned beef and cabbage meal, our goal was to share Irish cuisine with our friends that they probably hadn't heard of, let alone tried. And music! With a husband who is a musician and happens to also be Irish, you KNOW there will be good, authentic, Irish tunes!  Well, with the birth of each of our 3 beautiful girls, our annual St. Pat's bash has become less and less of a bash.  It's kind of hard to get kiddos to sleep when you have a boisterous party with 40+ friends, ever flowing food & alcoholic beverages, and great Irish music going on in your house well into the wee hours.

And so this year, we are sharing our love of our Irish heritage with just our girls! We plan to put on some of our favorite Irish tunes and introduce them to 2 of our favorite Irish foods.  On the menu is Dublin Coddle & classic Irish soda bread. We've tried out various Coddle recipes over the years, but my Aunt's is the absolute BEST! Dublin Coddle is a stew of sorts with bacon, sausage, onions, and potatoes simmered for hours in a rich Guinness / ham gravy. We make it in our 6 qt. crockpot and the recipe below has been adjusted to fit that size. For the Irish soda bread, we've tried a few recipes and the one that follows is also another favorite. I hope you will try one or both recipes! And let me know what you think by leaving a comment! Happy St. Patrick's Day!

DUBLIN CODDLE
Ingredients:
3 lbs small red or yellow potatoes
2 large onions - chopped into a large dice
2 lbs pork sausages - sliced into bite size chunks
2 lbs thick cut bacon - sliced into 1 in pieces
2 cans ofGuinness Stout
Water
2 T.  ham stock base dissolved into 1/2 cup of hot water
3-4 T. fresh parsley - minced (plus more for garnish)
salt and pepper

Directions:
1)   Brown the sausage in batches and set aside (Don't skip the browning! It will not taste NEARLY as good). Cook the onions in the same pan until just a tad softened and the edges are a bit browned. Set aside. Brown the edges of the bacon but do not cook all the way - you are just looking to render some of the fat and get the meatier parts a bit browned.
2)  Begin layering the ingredients in your crock pot: 1/2 the potatoes, followed by 1/2 the sausage, 1/2 the onions, 1/2 the bacon, 1/2 the parsley, & sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Now repeat with the remaining ingredients and top with the ham stock Guinness, & water to fill an inch from the top.
3)  Cook on high for 3 to 4 hours, or low for 6 to 8. Check 1/2 way through the cooking process and add more liquid if necessary.  There should always be at least 1 inch of liquid in the bottom.
4)  Ladle into bowls, top with a sprinkle of parsley, and enjoy!

IRISH SODA BREAD
Ingredients:
3 cups AP flour
1 cup cake flour
2 T. sugar
1 1/2 t. baking soda
1 1/2 t. cream of tarter
1 1/2 t. salt
2 T. unsalted butter, softened (+ extra, melted, for brushing the top after baking)
1 1/2 cups buttermilk

Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment.
2) In a large bowl, whisk together all of the dry ingredients.
3) Using a fork or pastry blender, work the butter into the dry ingredients until it looks like coarse crumbs. Stir in the buttermilk with a fork just until the dough comes together.
4) Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead just until the dough comes together, about 30 seconds. (Do not knead until smooth.)  Pat the dough into a 2 inch thick disk and place onto the prepared baking sheet.
5) Cut a large 1/2 inch deep X into the top of the loaf using a serrated knife. (This is actually the sign of the Cross.) Bake until golden brown, approximately 40 - 45 minutes (only takes 30 minutes in my convection oven).
6) Let cool at least one hour on a wire rack. Brush with melted butter before serving.