Irish Bacon & Bean Stew (with Barley & Beer)

I'm really on my Irish kick lately. It's not often I'm not around this time. Why? Not only because I have a lot of Irish in my blood, but it's because I continue to research & get inspired by Irish fare to make traditional dishes (as authentically as I can) or to create an Irish spin on a meal that could be served in the Emerald Isle.

Pardon me, another moment, while my Irish continues to show thru... (my list of Irish & Irish-like fare, HERE)

I was thinking about some Irish dishes, like Colcannon (find my recipe in this post HERE), but with a healthier spin (hope to have a recipe for that when I've tried it), and then I got thinking about the greens used in it, and what could be substituted.
That led me to thinking about the greens I use in my NEW YEAR'S HAM & BEANS (a twist my usual LAZY COOKER HAM & BEANS).
What if I did an Irish spin on ham & beans??

Something to think about is the fact that Irish bacon is actually more of a cured piece of ham, much like Canadian bacon. So a great substitute is cured pork belly. I also found that Navy Beans are pretty typical in that part of the world. I could totally do a ham & beans stew, lazy cooker Irish style!
(I'm also including a stove top "hot pot" style, too.)

Here's what I did:

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IRISH BACON & BEAN STEW

with Barley & Beer

Ingredients:

* 2-3 lb cured pork belly, trimmed or pork shoulder
* 1 lb bag dried navy beans
* 1-2 can(s) navy beans, drained & rinsed
* 1 lb potatoes, lightly scrubbed & diced
* 32 oz chicken stock/broth (you can use pork, beef or vegetable stock/broth, too)
* 1- 2 12 oz bottles/cans Irish stout/ale,can or bottle (I used a bottle of Boulevard Irish Ale)
* 1 C apple cider
* 1 C pearl barley
* 2 T honey (local or Irish honey - I used Irish honey with Jameson whiskey)
* 1 handful coleslaw mix (with carrots)
* 1 sweet onion, diced
* 2 C turnip greens or curly kale, shredded or torn into small pieces
* 1 medium to large parsnip, scrubbed & diced
* 2 medium to large carrots, scrubbed & diced
* 1/2 C brown sugar
* 2-4 bouillon cubes (I used chicken, but you can use beef or pork)
* 1 T liquid smoke (optional)
* seasonings: ground pepper, thyme, caraway seeds, marjoram, parsley, dried chives
* 2 bay leaves


Directions - Lazy Cooker:

~ Soak dry beans in beer & water (or all beer), about 1 inch over the beans, for about 8 hours in a tightly covered container; or soak overnight in water 1 inch above the beans in refrigerator in a container with a tight-fitting lid
     ** If using all beer from 2 containers of the beer, use the reserve of the 2nd container in the stew

~ Once beans are soaked, spray the insert of your lazy cooker with cooking spray

~ Drain & rinse the beans; sort thru them to make sure there are no pebbles; if you find any, discard the pebbles

~ Add the rinsed beans to the lazy cooker insert

~ Take your trimmed pork belly, then add to the lazy cooker (I had some leftover cedar plank smoked ham I augmented with the pork belly)

~ Add in the barley and all of the root vegetables

~ Add in all the seasonings, bouillon cubes, brown sugar, honey, and liquid smoke (if using)

~ Pour in all of the liquids over the beans, pork belly/ham, barley & veggies

~ Place the 2 bay leaves on top of the mixture

~ Close the lid of the lazy cooker

~ Depending on how long you have, either set the lazy cooker to low for 6-8 hours OR set on high for 4 hours

~ Open can(s) of navy beans; drain & rinse

~ After the first round of cooking times, open the lazy cooker lid, remove the bay leaves, add the rinsed canned navy beans, stir, breaking up the pork, then add the bay leaves back & cook on low for 4 more hours OR on high for 2 hours

~ In the last 45 minutes to 1 hour of cooking, open the lid of the lazy cooker, remove & discard the bay leaves, add in the leafy green pieces & coleslaw mix, stir, and close the lid until done

~ After the cooking is done, give one more great big stir & get ready to ladle into bowls

~ Garnish with a little bit o'parsley, and eat it up



Directions - Stovetop:

~ Soak dry beans in beer & water (or all beer), about 1 inch over the beans, for about 8 hours in a tightly covered container; or soak overnight in water 1 inch above the beans in refrigerator in a container with a tight-fitting lid
     ** If using all beer from 2 containers of the beer, use the reserve of the 2nd container in the stew

~ Once beans are soaked, spray the inside of a Dutch oven or heavy stock pot with cooking spray

~ Drain & rinse the beans; sort thru them to make sure there are no pebbles; if you find any, discard the pebbles

~ Add the rinsed beans to the Dutch oven or stock pot

~ Take your trimmed pork belly & add to the pot (I had some leftover cedar plank smoked ham I augmented with the pork belly)

~ Add in the diced onion

~ Add in the barley

~ Add in all the seasonings, brown sugar, honey, and liquid smoke (if using)

~ Pour in all of the liquids over the beans, pork belly/ham, barley, onions & seasonings

~ Turn up the heat on the burner, and bring the stew to a boil

~ Once boiling, turn down to low to begin simmering, and place the 2 bay leaves on top of the mixture

~ Put the lid of the pot (hopefully it has one) onto the pot to cook, at a simmer, for about 2 hours

~ After 1 hour of cooking, remove the bay leaves & set aside, then add in the potatoes, carrots, and parsnips; place the bay leaves back on top, and put the lid back onto the pot, slightly askew, and continue simmering for another hour

~ Open can(s) of navy beans; drain & rinse

~ In the last 30 minutes of cooking, open the lid, remove & discard the bay leaves, add in the canned beans, coleslaw mix and leafy green pieces, stir, and close the lid until done

~ After the cooking is done, give one more great big stir, making sure the pork is broken into pieces & get ready to ladle into bowls

~ Garnish with a little bit o'parsley, and eat it up

Tip: You can use hulled barley, just soak it overnight, like the dried beans, and add it in

Yield: approximately 8

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This is a dish that would work so well for St. Patrick's Day! So much more Irish in this inspired dish than Corned Beef & Cabbage could ever dream of being.
(I saw it put that Corned Beef & Cabbage is as Irish as spaghetti meatballs, and as American as apple pie. Stew on that. <<< Yep. I just said that.) And no worries about the stew being served to the kiddos. The alcohol of the beer gets cooked off in the process.

I usually serve up my ham & beans with cornbread (as it should be), but with this dish being Irish-inspired, I highly recommend a beautifully traditional and super simple Irish Soda Bread (which only has 4 ingredients), like my lazy cooker version, HERE.

OK...I cheated a little. That's shredded carrot in there. Just because I had it.
And I forgot the canned beans because I was distracted. Still really good!

This is a perfect dish for a cold night or for when you need to feed a slightly larger crowd. And a fabulous comfort food!

Sláinte! 
(That's an Irish toast to "Good Health"!)

ENJOY!

New Year's Ham & Beans

Happy New Year, everyone! Looking forward to a brand new start...

And, to start the new year, we decided to take in some of the long-standing traditions. In case you need a reminder of what some of the mainstays are, here you go:

= black eyed peas - to bring you luck in the new year for nourishment & survival

= pork - pigs are the animals who root forward while they eat & are associated with their girth size; symbolized moving forward in the new year & prosperity 

= greens - to bring you money in the new year

= cornbread - the color of gold

= round foods - the shape of coins, in hopes of bringing money

Well, I incorporated all of these things in our noon-day meal for New Year's Day! One dish to cover all of this? Perfect!

What might have been that perfect dish? It's my Lazy-Cooker Ham & Beans (my original recipe HERE), but with a twist. I kind of touched on it in the original post, but here's what I ended up doing:

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NEW YEAR'S HAM & BEANS

Ingredients:

~ 1-3 lbs. ham, cubed or chunked (the pork)

~ 1 bag dry beans (I use the 15 bean mix), soaked, drained & rinsed

~ 2-3 cans white beans (Northern, Navy, Cannelli), drained & rinsed

~ 1 can black eyed peas (tradition covered), drained & rinsed

~ 32 oz. chicken broth

~ 1/2 C apple cider

~ 1/4 C lemon juice

~ 2 T liquid smoke

~ 2 T honey

~ 2 celery stalks, rinsed & chopped

~ 2 carrots, rinsed & sliced (left in rounds...for the coin shape)

~ 1 parsnip, rinsed & sliced (left in rounds...for the coin shape)

~ half to 1 whole sweet yellow onion, chopped

~ 1 large kale, cabbage, collard greens, Swiss chard leaf (or more - green of choice), rinsed, spine removed & chopped (greens tradition); massaged in ground sea salt & a tsp lemon juice (may add more greens if desired)

~ 2 handfuls brown sugar

~ handful minced onion (optional)

~ handful smoked paprika

~ handful cinnamon

~ handful garlic powder

~ handful dried parsley

~ sprinkle chili powder

~ sprinkle allspice

~ sprinkle McCorrmick's Smokehouse Maple seasoning

~ 1-2 pinches ground cayenne pepper or red pepper flakes (optional if more heat desired)

~ 2 bay leaves

Directions:

* soak dry beans in enough water to cover the beans by 1 & a half inches over for about 8 hours

* when beans have soaked appropriately, drain, rinse & discard any pebbles

* spray the lazy cooker insert with cooking spray, then add the beans (not canned) & ham

* pour in the chicken broth, apple cider, lemon juice, liquid smoke & honey

* add in the veggies except the greens of choice

* add in the spices except the bay leaves

* give the mixture a really good stir

* pop in those bay leaves & close the lid

* either set the lazy cooker on high for 4-5 hours

OR

set the lazy cooker on low for 8 hours (if wanting for lunch, so do all of this before bed after you've toasted in the new year)

* remove the bay leaves, add in the canned beans, give a good stir, add the bay leaves back in & close the lid

* set lazy cooker on low for 4 more hours

* in the last 20-45 minutes, remove the bay leaves & discard, then add in the greens, stir & close lid

* give one more really good stir, ladle into bowls & serve with cornbread

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Since we were serving this for lunch on New Year's Day, I started soaking the dry beans at lunch the day before, then started getting everything assembled & started after we toasted in the new year (as a tip: I would have everything already sliced, chopped, cubed, etc. so that you are not trying to do all of the slicing, chopping, cubing, etc. with a champagne buzz at 1:00 in the morning). The beans & ham were cooking for about 12 hours, total. When I got up in the morning, things were smelling like ham & beans, and I got to go right into the last steps.

We had a get-together to start out the new year with great friends...so I doubled this recipe. Yep! I had two lazy cookers going! But I'll tell you what...not everyone showed up and we went thru 1 whole lazy cooker & half of the other one. Many got seconds, too!

If you have someone who cringes at the thought of consuming black eyed peas &/or the greens...you could not taste a difference in this version from my original one! My hubby is not fond of black-eyed peas OR the kale/greens. He is one that got seconds!

And...it was perfect for the super cold day that set it while it filled us up for the rest of the evening.

I also had the whiners covered: I had my daughter make up some cole slaw for the greens, and I made up some canned black eyed peas with a stick of butter, a handful of brown sugar & some [turkey] bacon bits (had to be fake pork due to my non-pork eater).

For something a bit sweeter, I made cheater Danish pastries (my variation of the recipe HERE, but used the original recipe) & added a strawberry half to the top to resemble a heart to bring love in the new year.

bowl of ham & beans with black eyed peas & kale
served with cornbread
and shown with Love Danish Pastries

What a great start to the new year! I think we may have found a new tradition in these traditions! And they were delicious!

Hope this inspires you to keep up & find ways to work in these traditions...even if you have whiners. 

ENJOY!

Summer Dublin Coddle

Since my family is trying to eat better & cleaner, there have been some switch up in dishes & recipes. Even though we haven't given up EVERYTHING...we have been working hard to work in some better-for-you stuffs &/or changing up some of the ingredients we use.

With that said, I still had some overstock of mixed greens (find out my leafy greens mix HERE), so I was trying to figure out what to use. After doing the cleaner eating research, I knew it was pretty good to get some turkey in the mix. And since I had some cabbage & kale to use, I decided revisit my Dublin Coddle (recipe HERE)! However, it's pretty heavy & perfect for fall & winter eating. With my previous recipe, there were some things missing that could help lighten it up! Well...I changed that a bit.

Here's what I did:

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SUMMER DUBLIN CODDLE

Ingredients:

~ 1 pkg. turkey Lit'l Smokies
~ 1/4 C turkey bacon bits
~ 1 lb. baby potatoes, quartered
~ 1 small onion, sliced
~ 6 C brewed green tea
~ 2 chicken bouillon cubes
~ 1/8 C chopped parsley
~ 2 medium carrots, sliced
~ 2 red cabbage leaves, torn or chopped
~ 3 green cabbage leaves, torn or chopped
~ 2 curly kale stems (just use the leaves), torn or chopped & massaged in lemon juice & sea salt
~ 2 T marjoram
~ 2 T dried (crushed) rosemary
~ 2 T dried thyme
~ 2 T minced garlic
~ salt & black pepper to taste

Directions:

* Place all prepared ingredients into a large pot on medium-hi heat

* Bring coddle to a boil, then slightly lower burner temp (medium-lo), stir occasionally

* Allow to boil for about 15-30 minutes until potatoes & carrots are tender, stirring occasionally

* Turn burner down to lo to allow to simmer & until the cabbage leaves are tender & kale is slightly wilted

* Serve

Yield: about 4 servings

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When I made this, I could only get a hold of ruby potatoes. I really like a mixture of colors, but it was still really pretty! Imagine if I'd thrown in some Yukon &/or purple potatoes!

Also, if you have other root veggies to throw in, do it! If you have some parsnips or turnips to throw in, cut 'em up & do it. The more, the merrier! And, if you use turnips, throw in the turnip greens, too! Some mustard greens work in this coddle, also.

It's lighter, it's pretty, and it lends to that cleaner eating. My hubby liked it, too!  I'm thinking this one needs to be done again! And it's a lighter version, perfect for Spring or Summer dishes!

Short on time that day? Throw it all in the lazy cooker & let it cook on low for about 6-8 hours.
TA-DA!

ENJOY!

Ham & Mixed Beans - Lazy Cooker

I'm almost embarrassed to say that I had never had ham & beans until one of our groups at church invited us to one of their annual Christmas dinner events. So, the hubby & I decided we would go & mingle with the group while enjoying these ham & beans with cornbread we'd heard so much about.

Now then, hubby has apparently been a fan of ham & beans. He especially loves the cornbread! But this might mean I would have to figure out how to fix this meal. Amm-i-rite? And I had gotten some dry beans (15 bean mix) and wasn't sure what to do with them, but then we had some leftover ham...so...time to make some ham & beans!

After looking thru and researching a LOT of ham & bean recipes, this is what I came up with:

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HAM & BEANS

Lazy Cooker

Ingredients:

1 lb bag (mixed) beans
1-3 cans white beans (i.e. Navy, Northern, Canelli, etc.) rinsed & drained
8 C (apprx.) chunked/cubed ham
¼ C minced onion
1 T garlic powder
½ T onion powder
½ C brown sugar
1 T honey
2 bay leaves
(kosher/sea/table) salt to taste
Black pepper to taste
1 t lemon juice
¼ C celery, chopped
¼ C carrot, chopped or shredded
1 t chili powder (more if you want more kick)
42 oz. chicken broth + additional water (if needed)
1 T apple cider (optional)
1 t allspice
1 T cinnamon

Directions:

* Place dried beans in a large pot or bowl & soak beans for at least 8 hours (i.e. overnight) or longer in about 2 qts. water  

* When good & soaked, drain the beans & rinse them. 

* Spray the inside of your lazy cooker with vegetable cooking spray. 

* Place the soaked & rinsed beans into the lazy cooker

* Cover with chicken broth & enough water to about an inch over the beans

* Cube the ham (I used leftover ham) to 1” squared or smaller and add to the lazy cooker

* Add the lemon juice, cider (optional), honey, veggies, spices, brown sugar, salt & pepper (not the bay leaves) to the lazy cooker & stir

* Add the bay leaves into the lazy cooker

* Cover & set the lazy cooker to high for 4-5 hours

* After the 4-5 hours, add the rinsed, canned white beans, stir, then set low for another 4 hours

* Remove bay leaves & stir

~ Serve with cornbread.

~~ Yield: Approximately 12

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* NOTE: I really love the appley zing of the cider. If I don't have any around, I will add an envelope of apple cider mix. That's how I roll.

My kids really won't eat beans...and we have that darn non-pork-eating kid! So it's mostly my hubby & I that eat it...but so worth it!! And my hubby LOVES it! So do I!

Oh...I just make a cornbread from a mix...and my hubby still loves it, too! The kids will eat the cornbread with some honey butter.

No matter...it is awesome smelling & perfect comfort food for a cold night! Or anytime for that matter. Plus? It's pretty!! I love the color & variety in the beans. YUM!

ENJOY!

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P.S. ~ For a New Year's version, add a can of black eyed peas, rinsed & drained, plus a 16 oz bag of cole slaw mix or a head of chopped cabbage. Add these in with the white beans. 

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Adapted Authentic Dublin Coddle - Lazy Cooker

This year, for St. Patrick's Day, I had to celebrate my Irish heritage! This totally includes the food. And I'm not talking turning mashed potatoes green or serving up the completely American dish of corned beef & cabbage! I wanted something more authentic for the family to enjoy, so I found Dublin Coddle. It's Irish sausage, bacon, potatoes & onion all in a broth. I did mine in the lazy cooker & a couple of adaptations...but here's what I used:

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DUBLIN CODDLE 

(in the lazy cooker)

Ingredients:
1 lb. (Irish) Sausage* - thickly cut
1 lb. Bacon*+ - thickly sliced
1 lb. potatoes, diced/quartered (I used quartered baby potatoes in gold, red & purple)
1-2 onion(s), thickly sliced (I used 1 medium yellow onion)
4 C water OR broth/stock (ham, chicken, beef)
2 bouillon cubes (chicken or beef - if using water)
1/4 C chopped parsley
1 T salt (I used fine sea salt)
1 T black pepper

* Because we have a non-pork eater in the house, I used turkey bacon & turkey smoked sausage. I added minced garlic, dried thyme, dried rosemary & some marjoram to mimic Irish sausage.

+ I used the American version of bacon since Ireland views cured pork loin as bacon. Since we have a non-pork eater, I stuck with the turkey bacon. I also baked the turkey bacon at 375 degrees for 15 minutes, but should have done 20. Set on cooling racks resting in foil-lined baking sheets/jelly roll pans to catch the grease. Then I cut each bacon slice into slightly smaller pieces. I should have cut it into much smaller bits.

Directions:

After spraying the inside of the lazy cooker with cooking spray, place liquid in the insert. Place sausage, bacon, potato pieces & onion slices into the pot, along with bouillon cubes (if using water for your liquid). Add in all of the seasonings.

~~ I had some leftover chopped greens from another dish, so I added it to the Coddle. This could be kale, collard greens, turnip greens (you could throw in the turnip, all sliced up, too), mustard greens, etc. But the original recipe does NOT call for this!

Place the lid on the lazy cooker, make sure it's plugged in & turned onto low for 4-6 hours. (I placed on high for 1 hour, and then low for the rest of the time...and it came out great.)

Stir & serve.

You could probably add in some stout beer, like Guinness, to the pot, too!

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All I know is that the Dublin Coddle turned out to be amazing comfort food for a chilly day! I so want to do it again!

I served it with Mustard Dill slaw. It didn't turn out as great. Too much bite for us. So we may end up scrapping the mustard & dill part. I think sticking with our favorite KFC-style cole slaw will work out just fine from now on! Plus, due to timing issues, I just served a loaf of Old Style Potato bread. Meh. 

I hope to have time to make Traditional Irish Soda Bread next year. But the plate sure was pretty!

I followed up this hearty meal with my APPLE IRISH CREAM CAKE for dessert! I was so happy with this much more authentic meal!

Dublin Coddle & a slice of Apple Irish Cream Cake

This is also a challenge for you to either try Dublin Coddle or find another authentic Irish dish for St. Paddy's Day. Corned Beef is not your answer. If you like it...have it another time.

But in the meantime...

ENJOY!

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UPDATE: Made on the stovetop...

It's April 23rd, and I decided to make the coddle for lunch. It's a cold & nasty, wet day. It's a perfect day for warm comfort food. Since a couple of my potatoes were going bad before they were supposed to, I thought I'd better use 'em up. So I threw my stuff in a pot on the stove. Here's how that went:

Directions:

Since I try to make turkey smoked sausage mimic the likes of Irish sausage, and had already planned on making this dish very soon, I cut up the sausage into chunks & placed them into an airtight container with the garlic, thyme & rosemary. I punctured the sausage pieces so they could absorb the flavorings better. My original plan was to marinade it this way the night before hand, but I let it set for a couple of days...only because of family scheduling being out of whack.

I had some beef broth to use. I poured it into a large pot on the stove. I also had a couple of chicken bouillon cubes that I threw in, too. I brought it to a boil, then added parsley, salt & pepper. After letting that boil for a moment. While I let the broth boil, I cut up my potatoes & onion. 

After letting the seasonings boil for a moment, I turned the heat to mid-hi, then added the potatoes & onion slices. I, then added in the marinaded sausage. I placed about 1 cup of water in the sausage container, closed it, shook it up, and then poured the water & remaining marinade into the pot. I didn't have time to work up any bacon, so I threw in some turkey bacon bits that we had on hand.

Then I brought all of that up to a boil, turn down to a simmer, and then placed the pot's lid on top. I allowed the coddle to simmer for 45 minutes to about an hour...until the potatoes were tender.

Once the potatoes are good & tender, serve it up! YUM!