Not long ago, when travel was a tad more carefree, we spent Boxing Week in Dublin. That’s the week between Christmas and New Years. December 26 has been ‶boxing day″ forever, but the merchants of Ireland and the United Kingdom have made what evolved into a one-day sale into a week-long event of inventory-trimming bargains.
The mercantile nature of Boxing Week, it turns out, transforms a potentially grim and depressing holiday letdown period into a social occasion that turns out crowds in the streets. It also fills the cafes and pubs with shoppers whose cheeks are ruddy with the cold. Truth be told, it’s a lot warmer in Dublin than in Boston. For us, visiting at the turn of the year was actually a respite from the sharpest bite of New England winter.
That’s not to say that we didn’t enjoy popping into a cozy pub like Davy Byrnes (where Leopold Bloom ordered a Gorgonzola sandwich in Ulysses). Or visiting a legendary watering hole like the Palace Bar (where Brendan Behan was said to have tossed back a dram or two of whiskey). Oh, that’s the Davy Byrnes pub on the right.
Pub fare in Dublin leans toward the stick-to-your-ribs school of culinary arts, but it isn’t all Guinness stew and bangers and mash. Over the course of a week, we enjoyed a number of casual soup and sandwich combinations. Irish cooks seem to excel at warming soups that are perfect for the season. The most interesting was prepared by Darren Mathews, who was then the chef at Sophie’s Rooftop Restaurant (33 Harcourt Street, +353 1 607 8100, sophies.ie) at The Dean Dublin (thedean.ie). (That’s Sophie’s at the top of the post.)
Mathews cleverly transformed the Irish standby of bangers and mash into a filling—and fulfilling—soup. He roasted the potatoes until they were dark brown, then puréed them in a mix of cream and stock. He further flavored the dish with crumbles of cooked sausage.
We’ve been making his ‶smoked potato soup″ for a while now, and have made a few adjustments that work best for us and for ingredients available in the U.S. We like to serve the soup with a side salad of shaved fennel, spring greens, and supremed orange segments topped with chopped pistachios.
SMOKED POTATO AND SAUSAGE SOUP
Serves 4
INGREDIENTS
- 2 lb. russet potatoes
- 2 teaspoons dried thyme leaves
- 7 tablespoons olive oil + extra for drizzling
- 2 small onions, chopped
- 6 cloves garlic, minced
- 8 cups chicken stock
- 16 oz. half-and-half
- meat from two large links of pork sausage, crumbled
- soft goat cheese log
- 1 bunch basil, cut in fine chiffonade
- extra virgin olive oil for finishing
DIRECTIONS
Chop potatoes and place them in a roasting. Sprinkle with thyme and roast at 450°F for 45 minutes or until very brown.
Add olive oil to soup pot and sweat onion and garlic over low heat until soft.
Add cooked potatoes, stock, and half-and-half. Bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes.
In a separate pan, fry crumbled sausage meat, breaking up into small pieces with spatula. Remove from heat and reserve. If pieces seem too large, chop when cool.
Using an immersion blender, process soup until smooth. Stir in cooked sausage, and bring back to a simmer. Add water (or more stock) if necessary to reach desired consistency.
To serve, place a 1-inch slice of goat cheese log in each shallow bowl. Ladle in soup and garnish with chiffonade of basil and a think drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.