Cartref (Week 27 - Wales)

We are on the home (cartref) leg of our year long journey. My sister picked this one out, which was of funny as it was on her birthday and her nephew (my son) had just given her a card with a 3-d whale on it! I could find recipes from Wales, all using welsh ingredients, but the only true Welsh dishes I could find (I am sure there are more, I was just looking in the wrong places) were Welsh Cakes, Cawl, Bara Birth (bara meaning eat, sustenance) and Rarebit. I also came across a Huish cake, and eventually a recipe for it. The Welsh cakes were a big hit, even cold. I have made them before and I recall one cold winter’s eve when some Jehovah Witnesses called we were cooking these, so I offered them some at the door! As I don’t eat cheese, I found a recipe for Cawl; and as lamb was the meat I opted for this. It was lovely, although I tried to cook it in the oven and it failed, I did it again – the proper way and it was a hit. It was similar to the Bulgarian ‘stew’ I invented from last week.


I do have recipes for Bara Birth but never got round to cooking it, instead I made a treacle cake, which turned out to be the oddest textured cake I have made; I liked it my son didn’t and my husband never tried it. I also did a simple dish with leeks, I cut some leeks into thirds, cooked then in water for 10 minutes, then wrapped them in bacon and put them in the oven for 15mins, while I cooked some sweat potato (or parsnip works just as well). This is then mashed, topped with the bacon rolled leeks and covered in hollandaise sauce or parsley sauce. Mmm, lovely….


Next week we are jetting off to Singapore, which my son is really looking forward to as he gets to use his chop sticks!

 

Cooked with score (out of 100):

Cawl (Lamb stew)…………………………………………………..85
Welsh Cake………………………………………………………….…80
Cacen goch (Treacle Cake)……………………………………..50
 
Wanted to cook:
Bara Birth
Tiessennau Mel (Honey Cake)

Cawl

Serves 6

6 x small Welsh lamb shanks
1.2L/2pts water
225g/8oz potatoes, peeled and diced
225g/8oz swede, peeled and diced
225g/8oz onion, peeled and chopped
225g/8oz carrots, peeled and diced
225g/8oz leek, cleaned and sliced thin
A bunch of herbs: Bay, thyme, rosemary and parsley
½ a small Savoy cabbage
2tbsp vegetable oil
Salt and pepper

 

1. Heat the vegetable oil in a large pan, season the lamb shanks add to the pan together with the onion and brown all over (you may have to do this in batches if your pan is not large enough).
2. Pour over the water and add the bunch of herbs. Bring to the boil then reduce the heat to a simmer.
3. Cover and cook for 40 minutes.
4. Add all the vegetables except for the cabbage, bring up to the boil again, reduce to a simmer and cook for a further 40 minutes.
5. Shred the cabbage and add to the cawl, cook for about 5 minutes, then serve.
   
   Cawl can be made throughout the year, just adjust the vegetables according to the season. Chopped runner bean, broad beans and peas are wonderful during early summer; add a little chopped mint at the end of cooking. During cooking the stock will reduce somewhat, so top up with more water, or some wine. You may also wish to add pulses such as lentils, or beans, pearl barley is also good during the winter months.
    
   Substitute lamb with a piece of gammon, just make sure you soak it before cooking. The broth will make an excellent soup, add peas and fresh mint. Serve the gammon with creamed potatoes, broad beans and parsley sauce.
    

Welsh Cakes

Source: Step-by-step Baking by Caroline Bretherton
 Makes 24
Ingredients:

200g /7oz self-raising flour

100g / 3 ½ oz unsalted butter, chilled and diced, plus extra for frying
75g / 2 ½ oz caster sugar, plus extra for dusting
75g / 2 ½ oz sultanas
1 large egg, beaten
 A little milk, if needed
 

Method:

1. Sift the flour in a large bowl, and rub the butter in until it resembles breadcrumbs. Mix in the sugar and the sultanas and pour in the egg.
2. Mix the ingredients together, bringing the mixture into a ball using your hands. This should be firm enough to roll out, but if it is too stiff add a little milk.
3. On a floured surface, roll out the dough to about 5mm (1/4 inch) thick and cut out disks, using a pastry cutter.
4. Heat a large, heavy frying pan (cast iron skillet, or flat griddle) over a medium-low heat. Fry the cakes, in batches, in a little melted butter for 2-3 minutes on each side, until they puff up, are golden brown and cooked through.
5. While still warm, generously dust the cakes with a little caster sugar, before serving. Welsh cakes are best eaten immediately. If you freeze them, reheat in the oven before after defrosting.
    
   
   

Bara Birth

Source: Step-by-step Baking by Caroline Bretherton
 

Makes 2 loaves

Ingredients:


2 tsp dried yeast
250ml (8fl oz) warm milk
60g / 2oz caster sugar, plus 2 tbsp for sprinkling
1 egg, beaten
500g / 1lb strong white bread flour, plus extra for dusting
1tsp salt
60g / 2oz unsalted butter, softened and diced
1tsp mixed spice
Oil, for greasing
225g / 8oz dried mixed fruit (sultanas, raisins and mixed peel)

Method:

1. Whisk the yeast into the milk with 1 tsp of caster sugar and leave in a warm place for 10 minutes, until the mixture froths. Add most of the beaten egg, reserving a little for glazing/
2. Rub the flour, salt and butter together until the mixture resembled fine breadcrumbs. Stir in the mixed spice and remaining sugar. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients. Pour in the milk mixture, and mix it together with your hands to form a sticky dough.
3. Turn it out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead for up to 10 minutes until soft and pliable but still quite sticky. Add more flour, 1 tbsp at a time if it is not forming a ball. Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl and cover with cling film. Leave it to rise in a warm place for 1 ½ - 2 hours until double in size.
4. Turn out onto a lightly floured work surface, punch the air out with your fists and gently stretch to around 2cm (3/4inch) thick. Scatter the dried fruit over the surface of the dough, and bring it together from the sides into the middle to form a ball again.
5. Now either shape the dough into your own desired shape and transfer to a greased baking sheet, or halve it and put into greased 2lb loaf tines, Cover with oiled cling film or a clean tea towel, and leave in a warm place to prove for another 1 ½ - 2 hours until doubled in size again.
6. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 190C (375F, GM5). Brush the bread with a little egg wash and sprinkle it with 1 tbsp of sugar. Bake for 25-30 minutes for loaf tines, 35-40 minutes for a large free-form loaf. Cover halfway through with a piece of foil or baking parchment if it browns too quickly.
7. The bread is done when it is golden brown, firm to the touch and the bottom is hollow when tapped. Leave it to cool for 20 minutes before cutting, as it will continue to cook after being removed from the oven. Cutting too early causes the steam to escape and the loaf to harden.
    
    

Tiessennau Mel (Honey Cake)

Ingredients

Serves: 6 

110g (4 oz) honey

1 tsp cinnamon
110g (4 oz) soft brown sugar
1 egg
225g (8 oz) plain flour
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
110g (4 oz) butter or margarine
caster sugar
a little milk

 Method

1. Preheat the oven to 220 C / gas 7. Cream together butter and sugar. Separate the egg yolk from the white.
2. Beat the yolk into sugar and butter then, add the honey, gradually. Stir in the flour with a little milk as required and mix all together lightly.
3. Whisk the egg white into a stiff froth and fold into mixture. Half fill the cups in a small bun tin with the mixture; sprinkle the top of each with caster sugar. Bake for 20 minutes.
4. When ready sprinkle a little more sugar, if you like.
    

Cacen Goch (Treacle Cake)

Source: MyfanwyR

Ingredients

Makes: 1 treacle cake

225g butter

450g plain flour

225g dried mixed fruit

4 tablespoons soft brown sugar
1 teaspoon mixed spice
1 pinch ground cinnamon
150ml to 300ml milk
5 tablespoons black treacle

1. Method
   Preheat the oven to 190 C / Gas 5. Grease a deep baking tray.
2. In a large bowl, rub the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add the fruit, sugar and spices. Gradually add the milk and treacle to form a stiff mixture (you may not need the full 300ml of milk). Pour the mixture into the prepared baking tray.
3. Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour until the cake is firm. Remove from the oven and serve. 

About Wales...

Wales is less than a sixth the size of England and while Wales is part of the United Kingdom and a member state of the European Union, it also has its own devolved Welsh Government, responsible for certain local affairs.   A quarter of the people that live in Wales were born outside of the country, the vast majority being migrants from England, yet the country is officially a bilingual nation. Almost a quarter of the population also speak Welsh, the strongest survivor of the Celtic languages. The vast majority of Welsh-speakers are concentrated in the north and west of the country.

 

Much of Wales’ appeal lies outside the larger towns, where there is ample evidence of the warmongering which has shaped the country’s development. Castles are everywhere, from the hard little stone keeps of the early Welsh princes to Edward I’s incomparable series of thirteenth-century fortresses and grandiose Victorian piles where grouse were the only enemy. The entire welsh coast is now linked by the 860-mile All-Wales Coast Path: much of which is unspoilt, although seldom visited.

Portmerion is the grandest folly of all, a unique village set on its own private peninsula on the southern shores of Snowdonia. It was created by Welsh architect Clough Williams-Ellis (1883-1978) to demonstrate how a naturally beautiful place could be developed without spoiling it. It is made up of about 50 buildings most of which are now used as hotel or self-catering accommodation and surrounded by 70 acres of sub-tropical woodland gardens

 

CUISINE

Traditional Welsh cooking derives from the diet of the working man: fisherman, farmer, coal miner or labourer. Thus fresh vegetables from the garden, fish from the rivers, lakes or sea, meat from the family pig etc. form the basis of traditional Welsh cooking. Welsh lamb and beef feature prominently as do freshly caught fish such as salmon, brown trout, white crab, lobsters and cockles.

 

Bacon, along with the two Welsh staple vegetables leeks and cabbage, goes to make the traditional Welsh dish cawl, a broth or soup. This classic one-pot meal, originally cooked in an iron pot over an open fire, used all local ingredients: home-cured bacon, scraps of Welsh lamb, cabbage, swede, potatoes and leeks. Recipes for cawl vary from region to region and from season to season, depending on what vegetables and produce are available.

 

Only in Wales, and some parts of Scotland and Ireland, is an edible seaweed known as laver gathered and processed commercially. Available already cooked and prepared in numerous markets throughout Wales, bara lawr or laverbread is usually eaten sprinkled with oatmeal, then warmed in hot bacon fat and served with bacon for breakfast or supper. The seaweed itself can be found in some parts of the west coast, clinging to the rocks at low tide.

 

Caerphilly is a mild crumbly white cheese which originated in South Wales and is probably the best known Welsh cheese. Today farmhouse Caerphilly, made in traditional rounds with natural rinds, is made only in the West Country of England, not in Wales, although mild, crumbly block cheese is made in creameries in the Principality.

 

The Welsh love teatime! Traditional bara brith (the famous speckled bread of Wales), Teisen lap ( a shallow moist fruit cake) teisen carawe (caraway seed cake), tease sinamon (cinnamon cake) and teisen mêl (honey cake) are favourites for the tea table. Such cakes are still made today throughout Wales, although the ancient recipes have been updated to suit modern methods of cooking.

Source: http://www.historic-uk.com/CultureUK/Traditional-Welsh-Food/