Dublin Coddle: a dish for all seasons

Typical.The sun is now beginning to shine just as I'm pushing the 'publish' button and posting one of my favourite comfort dishes. But this dish is a comfort dish for any weather so I'll go ahead and share as planned. And I've needed some comfort recently.

Apart from the miserable weather we've been having the last week or so, we had our server at work fry when we had some weird, and as yet unexplained, power surges. And yes, we did have surge protectors on the computers but no, they didn't manage to cope with the number we had in one day! And yes, we do back up but no, we didn't notice that the back-up had co-incidentally stalled backing up almost 5 days beforehand. So we lost over 4 days of very productive work. Grrrr.

This is when all good Dubliners turn to the fabulous-tasting-but-plain-looking comfort dish that rivals all comfort dishes, Dublin Coddle. It doesn't really photograph well so I've illustrated it step-by-step. I add carrots which aren't actually necessary but I do it for the small splash of colour really (that's the designer in me) plus there are always carrots hanging around the veg tray in my house.

There are no strict measurements to this recipe but be light-handed with the stock. You don't want to drown it. I use a mix of potato varieties so that they break down at different rates, sometimes I even add a few waxy potatoes. But listen, if you're feeling low or stressed go make and feel hugged.

Feeling better yet? I know I am!