Traditions go hand-in-hand with more healthful dishes

SCRIPPS HOWARD
DUBLIN SEAFOOD CODDLE (BIA MARA)
This stew-like Irish dish is traditionally made with bacon and pork sausage. Here, it's updated with fresh seafood and peas.
1 to 2 tablespoons oil
5 shrimp
2 scallops
5 mussels
1/4 cup diced cooked potatoes saved from Coddle Broth recipe
1/4 cup chopped onion
3 tablespoons chopped bacon
5 Irish sausage (mild turkey sausage can be substituted) saved from Coddle Broth recipe
1/4 cup peas
1/4 cup chopped green onions
1 cup Coddle Broth (recipe below)
2 pats of butter
1 piece Irish Gravlax (recipe below)
Salt and pepper
Add oil to a saute pan and heat until hot. Add all ingredients except broth, butter and gravlax. Begin to saute.
Add broth, cover and simmer gently until the liquid is reduced by half, about 4 to 5 minutes. Add butter to thicken. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Serve in bowl, topped with a thin slice of gravlax.
Makes one large serving, or two small servings.
CODDLE BROTH
1/4 pound bacon
1 pound mire poix (3 parts onion, 2 parts celery and 1 part carrot)
3/4 pound fish scraps and bones
3/4 gallon water
1 pound small Irish sausages (See note)
2 large potatoes, diced
Salt and pepper
Cook bacon until crisp and set aside. Sweat mire poix in bacon fat. Add fish scraps and bones. Add water and bring stock to a simmer. Cook for 30 minutes.
Strain and return fish stock to a simmer. Poach sausages and potatoes in fish stock until sausages are cooked and potatoes are tender, about 15 minutes, then strain and reserve broth, setting aside cooked sausages and potatoes to add to coddle later. Add bacon to stock.
The broth will keep for 3 to 4 days in the refrigerator, or freeze in 1-cup batches or ice cube trays for up to six months.
Note: Irish sausages are available, at about $3 a pound, at Celtic Foods Inc., Bronx, N.Y.; (800) 734-2686 or celticfood@aol.com.
IRISH POTATO BOXTY (PRATAI)
This easy-to-make potato dish uses both fresh potatoes and leftover mashed potatoes. It is celebrated in the rhyme: "Boxty on the griddle, boxty in the pan. If you can't make boxty, you'll never get your man."
2 Yukon Gold potatoes
1 egg
1/4 cup sour cream
1/4 bunch green onions, chopped
1/4 bunch chives, chopped
1/2 cup mashed potatoes
Salt and pepper
Julienne potatoes or shred on a box grater. Mix with remaining ingredients and season to taste. Form into pancake-sized discs, about 4 inches in diameter.
Sear in a hot pan or griddle for about 4 to 6 minutes on each side, until crisp and golden brown.
Serve with tart apple sauce, a dollop of sour cream or -- for a more upscale treat -- grilled vegetables with mushrooms and goat cheese.
Makes about 8 pancakes.
FREE-RANGE ROASTED CHICKEN (CEARC)
1 whole roasting chicken, cut in half
Spice Rub (recipe below)
1/2 cup honey
1 cup mead
1 cup Guinness stout
Spice Rub:
2 tablespoons onion powder
2 tablespoons garlic powder
1 tablespoon nutmeg
Pinch mace
1 tablespoon juniper berries
2 tablespoons Cajun seasoning
2 tablespoons thyme
2 tablespoons kosher salt
Mix Spice Rub ingredients together.
Season each piece of chicken with rub. Lay in a dish and top with honey. Pour mead and stout over top, making sure both halves are covered. Marinate in refrigerator for 1 to 2 days.
Remove chicken from marinade and sprinkle some Spice Rub on top for seasoning and crunch. Roast in a 350-degree oven for about 35 to 45 minutes, until internal temperature is 140 degrees and juices run clear. Chicken will be brown and crispy.
Serves 2 to 4 people.
IRISH GRAVLAX
2 pounds fresh salmon, skin on, with pin bones and scales removed
Cracked black pepper
1/2 cup brown sugar
3 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
4 cups kosher salt
1 ounce whiskey
Season salmon with a thick coating of pepper, sugar and dill. Put a 1/2-inch layer of salt in a dish, and lay salmon skin-side down on salt. Drizzle whiskey over salmon.
Top salmon with a thick layer of salt, making sure it is completely covered. Tightly wrap in plastic wrap and weigh it down with a 1-pound can or weight. Refrigerate for 2 to 3 days.
Remove salmon from salt crust and rinse off. With a very sharp knife, slice salmon on the bias as thinly as possible.
Serve as a garnish with Dublin Seafood Coddle or as an appetizer with brown bread and a dill creme fraiche or dollop of sour cream. Gravlax can be stored, tightly wrapped, in refrigerator for up to a week.
Yield: 2 pounds, or about 16 2-ounce servings.
-- Recipes :Brian Duffy, executive chef of The Shanachie Irish Pub & amp; Restaurant