Ham, Leek and Goat's Cheese Tart

Over the years I’ve made all manner of quiches, but this one really is my absolute favourite.  Leeks are a real feature in Welsh cooking, and a firm standby in my kitchen – they put an appearance in dishes often. 

This quiche really is a winner.  The buttery sweetness of the leeks, the subtle tang of the goat’s cheese and the creamy unctuousness of the cheesy duck egg custard were a perfect combination.  Do look out for Welsh goat’s cheese if you can, it has a much better flavour; ditto good Welsh Cheddar cheese.  Collier’s is my favourite.

 For an 8” (20cm) tart I used :

 ½ a 500g pack of ready-made pastry

 3 thick rashers of bacon, cooked and then chopped (or use cooked ham)

1 baby leek
4 slices of Welsh goat’s cheese
2 – 3oz (60 – 90g) cheddar cheese
½ pint (250ml) milk
2 eggs (duck if you can find them, they make a much better quiche)
Salt and Pepper to taste

 Roll out the pastry and line a greased flan tin.  You can part-bake the pastry case, but I’ve never had any success doing it so have long abandoned this step!

 Halve the leek and wash carefully, then dry as best you can before slicing up and sweating gently in a little butter for 5 minutes.  You just want the leek to soften, not brown.

 

Scatter the chopped cooked bacon or ham into the bottom of the pastry case, then add the cooked leek.  Slice the goat’s cheese and then add that and finally scatter over the grated cheddar.

 Combine the eggs and milk together with the seasoning and then pour over the contents of the flan tin. 

 Cook at 180^oC / 350^oF / gas mark 4 for 35 to 40 minutes, until the quiche is golden and set.

March - Spring is Springing

After all the dark days of winter, March arrives like a welcome old friend.  We have noticeably lighter evenings, and slightly warmer sunny days and the first of the days when drifting outside with a cuppa becomes irresistible.  Often I have to retreat back indoors the minute I’ve drained by cup, but nonetheless – the season has begun!

Hopefully now the tumble drier can be retired until next winter, there should be enough dry, sunny and windy days to make drying flannel bedding outside possible.  I love my flannel bedding, and as lovely as it is out of the tumble drier, nothing but nothing beats the smell and feel of the sheets after being dried outside in the fresh air.

Cawl

My dog walks now start to become a pleasurable pastime in the warm and sunny afternoons, less of the hunched down marching against driving rain and more of a head up soaking up the sunshine stroll.  These days are the reward we loyal owners get for all the soaking, wind-lashed walks we took during the winter.  Evening walks are now a pleasure to take too, not a chore to be hurried over before a restorative cuppa and a hot bath!

Welsh Cakes

The first of March is the feast day of our Patron Saint, Saint David.  Tradition dictates that little girls set off for school in “Welsh Costume” – that lovely but peculiar combination of lacy apron, fringed shawl and a hat that’s a combination of topper and witches hat!  The rest of us wear either a daffodil or a leek, usually a pin but on rugby days only the real thing will do!

Teisen Lap

To celebrate St David’s Day only the best Welsh cooking will do – crempog (pancakes) for breakfast, cawl (stew) for dinner and Welsh rarebit for tea followed by either a couple of Welsh cakes with a cuppa or a nice slab of Teisen Lap!  No St. David’s Day is ever complete without a big bunch of daffs in the window, such sunny and colourful flowers they really let us know that the worst of the winter is over.

The vernal equinox comes in March, firmly putting the dark dreary winter days behind us.  From now on, things can only get better!

http://thehappyhousewife12.blogspot.co.uk/2017/02/cawl-welsh-lamb-stew_24.html

http://thehappyhousewife12.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/welsh-cakes.html

http://thehappyhousewife12.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/teisen-lap.html

Welsh - Irish Soda Bread

In reality this is simply a classic Irish soda bread with a bit of bacon, leek and good strong Welsh cheddar thrown in for good measure!  The leek and Welsh cheddar are what make it a Welsh soda bread!

275g wholemeal flour (I used spelt wholemeal for its nutty flavour)

75g plain flour

50g oatmeal

1tsp bicarbonate of soda

1 ½ tsp salt

1tsp sugar

1 egg

1 x 284ml carton buttermilk

100g strong Welsh cheddar

3 rashers of bacon

The green part of a medium leek

Cut the bacon rashers into strips and dry-fry until crisp, leave to cool and then chop finely.

Halve the leek lengthways, half lengthways again and then slice across to dice fairly small and then cook in appx 1tsp of butter for a few minutes until softened and starting to brown.  Add the finely chopped bacon and combine.

Grate the cheese and add to the cooled leek and bacon mixture.

Combine the flours in a mixing bowl with the oatmeal, salt, sugar and bicarb.  Stir in the cheese and bacon mixture.

Beat the egg in a large-ish basin and then add the buttermilk and mix well together then add to the flour and cheese mixture.  Mix together gently and then tip onto a well floured worktop, shape into an oval and pop onto a greased baking sheet.

Brush with a little milk and then scatter a little more grated cheese over the top.

Bake at 190^oC for 50 – 60 minutes. 

(190^oC / 375^oF / gas mark 5)

Cawl - Welsh Lamb Stew

The only real difference between a traditional Welsh Cawl and its Celtic cousin Irish Stew is the more broth-like consistency, lack of barley and inclusion of leek, swede/turnip and dumplings in the Welsh version.   

It’s a delicious stew which benefits from being made a day in advance so that it as it sits in the oven overnight the flavours meld and mature.

For two to three people :

2 lamb leg steaks

1 stick of celery
1 large or two small leeks
2 medium carrots
½ medium swede / 2 small turnips
2 medium potatoes

Scant ½ tb flour
2 pints of lamb stock
1tb olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

To make the dumplings you need :

1tb self raising flour
1tb suet
Salt and pepper to taste
Enough water to bring together to a slack dough. 

Firstly cut the leg steaks into large pieces, coat with the flour and fry in the olive oil to brown on all sides.  Remove to a plate as they are browned.

Slice the leek/s lengthways and rinse well under running water, then cut into slices approximately ½ an inch thick.  Finely chop the celery stick, peel the carrots and swede/turnip and cut into coarse dice and then do the same with the potatoes.

Add a little more oil to the pan if needed, and gently sweat the vegetables for 10 minutes.  Return the lamb to the pan and add the lamb stock then add the potatoes and season with salt and pepper.  Cover and cook on a very low simmer for two hours, or pop it into the oven to cook at 150^oC for two hours.

At the end of the cooking time make the dumplings by adding the flour, suet and seasoning to a small basin and mix with enough cold water to combine to a slightly wetter dough than bread or pastry.  Scoop tablespoonfuls onto the stew and pop back into the oven.  If you’re cooking ahead of time and you have an electric oven, you can turn the oven off now and the dumplings will cook in the cooling oven.  If you have a gas oven they will need about half an hour cooking before you can turn the oven off.

* I had this delicious Cawl recently on a short holiday to the lovely coastal town of Aberaeron, and they serve it in the 'Brecon Style'.  Instead of a suet dumpling, you get a lump of cheese on the side and a bread roll.  For those of us obsessed with maintaining our cheese intake, this method is highly recommended, and probably better for the cholesterol levels too!

(150^oC = 300^oF = gas mark 2)

February - Transitions

With January behind us, things are starting to look a bit brighter at last.  Little by little the days are starting to grow a little longer and our outside lives can start to take shape again.  Hopefully the shock of January’s parsimony is behind us and we’ve adjusted to smaller portions (adjusted to, lost hope – potayto, potarto!) and the excesses of Christmas a dim and distant memory. 

Cheese and Potato Pie

Outside we can begin tidying up the garden and gearing up for a lovely spring and then a glorious summer.  Already in my garden the bulbs are showing through now, snowdrops and crocuses at first, daffs and tulips to come.  As pretty as the little snowdrops are, the crocuses are my real favourite, the golden yellow and glorious purple flowers always raise a smile.

I
n the kitchen not much has changed yet, soups, casseroles, mashed potato topped pies and pasta bakes are still very much the order of the day.  We need the comfort and sustenance. 

Spaghetti Carbonara

One of my favourite winter treat pies is the very calorie laden cheese and potato pie that I first learned to make in cookery lessons in school.  I replaced the onion (which used to be boiled up with the potato!) with chopped leek which I slowly sweat in butter before adding to the mashed potato and cheese.  Another one of my favourites is good old spaghetti carbonara.  A classic treat and it takes next to no time to prepare - it can all be done in the 10 minutes it takes the pasta to cook.

At least February is a nice short month, and the last one of the winter season too!  Spring is just around the corner with all its the promise. 

http://thehappyhousewife12.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/cheese-and-potato-pie.html

http://thehappyhousewife12.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/spaghetti-carbonara.html

January - Resolutions and Recriminations

If January had a face it would be that of a wizened old crone.  After the brightness of December, the anticipation of the Christmas festivities, the jollity, the excesses and the bright twinkly Christmas lights, the world retreats to a dreary gloom.  We can’t even cheer ourselves up with a food treat because parsimony is the byword for January as we attempt to make up for December’s gluttony.  The only bright spot on the horizon is that the afternoons will start slowly drawing out by the end of the month.  There’s always the hope of a little snowfall to change the palette of grey – lying snow will throw up a bit of welcome light at night and make a change of scene for the days.

The Christmas decorations have gone away, the last of the pine needles have been vacuumed up and the last of the mince pies, Christmas cake and turkey have been consumed.  January’s kitchen treats are going to have to be light and low calorie. 

Since we have to be careful what we eat this month, we need food that’s both low on calories but full of flavour and satisfying.  While it’s far too cold and dreary to be thinking about salads proper, a spelt (or barley) salad will bring a reminder of the summer to come, serve while the grains are still warm to keep the chill off and bring out the flavours. 

http://thehappyhousewife12.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/barley-salad.html

Soups too are a handy fall-back this month.  Fill up on veggie-thick, fat free soups and it won’t seem such a dreary chore.  Soups are such a lovely way to warm up on cold days.  This lovely minestrone soup can be prepared the night before working days and just re-heated with the pasta when you come home from work. 

http://thehappyhousewife12.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/good-old-minestrone-soup.html

 

Fish is a useful meal when we’re watching the calories too.  This lovely Venetian baked fish is really full of flavour and very satisfying, the drizzle of olive oil won’t break the diet, but you can leave it out if you prefer.

http://thehappyhousewife12.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/venetian-baked-cod.html

Puddings are going to have to be light too, or hard earned!  Soft fruit compotes are a handy fall-back, and lovely if you can make them with fruit frozen from last summer.  Serve them with fat free yoghurt for a guilt-free treat.  A rice pudding is a nice treat, but make it with skimmed milk rather than full fat, and cut down on the amount of butter and sugar too.

http://thehappyhousewife12.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/rice-pudding.html

Good walks every day will blow away the cobwebs and bring some much needed daylight onto our skin.  Of course, the icy pavements, salt and antifreeze are a hazard to be aware of this month, especially for those of us with dogs.  Being towed along an icy pavement by a four legged companion intent on getting as much distance under her feet in as short a time as possible is always entertaining!  I escape danger at every turn this month.

By the end of this month the days will at last start to show the earliest signs of drawing out.  We’ll be hanging onto the last dregs of daylight by our fingernails by 5pm – but it’s a start!

The Twelve Leftovers of Christmas

Christmas, the season of good cheer and gluttony.  After all the hard work in the run-up to Christmas, this little housewife doesn’t believe in lifting a finger beyond defrosting, re-heating or vaguely assembling ingredients in the days between Christmas and New Year.  If she could get away with it, she would see the inside of the supermarket for the duration either! 

With a bit of forethought, planning and some advanced prepping and cooking, you can join me in my well-earned holiday.

In no particular order, here are my leftover superstars:

Bubble and squeak 

A Boxing Day tradition, this is a lovely lunch before taking off for an afternoon at the beach blowing off the cobwebs and topping-up the mermaid blood.  This requires nothing more than chopping up the leftover cooked veg from Christmas Day in a little turkey, goose or duck fat – it’s Christmas, push the boat out!

http://thehappyhousewife12.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/bubble-squeak.html

Sausage and turkey pie with sage and onion stuffing

This is a lovely way to use up some of the leftover turkey and stuffing.  True, you will need to skin the sausages and roll out the pastry, but the results will be worth this bit of effort – trust me!

http://thehappyhousewife12.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/sausage-and-chicken-pie-with-sage-and.html

Golden turkey and vegetable soup

All this beauty requires is a bit of leisurely peeling and chopping of root vegetables and then you just pop the casserole in the oven for the magic to happen.  This is a lovely welcome-home after a long cold walk.

http://thehappyhousewife12.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/golden-turkey-and-country-vegetable-soup.html

Brussels sprouts with bacon and Stilton

This is an absolute superstar of a dish and it requires no more than peeling and slicing some sprouts, chopping up some cooked ham, forking a bit of Stilton and stirring in a pot of cheese sauce. 

I make it to use up leftovers, or as a stand-alone meal, but it would make a lovely side-dish to any meal.

http://thehappyhousewife12.blogspot.co.uk/2016/11/sprouts-and-bacon-with-stilton.html

Broccoli, leek and Stilton gratin

This is another simple assembly job if you have leftover cooked broccoli.  If not, 10 minutes boiling won’t be too arduous and can be done ahead of time.  It’ll be worth that bit of effort!

http://thehappyhousewife12.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/broccoli-leek-stilton-gratin.html

Turkey Tettrazini

Strictly speaking this doesn’t come under my assembly- line Christmas rules, but if you make and freeze the sauce and the pasta before Christmas then all it needs are some cleaned, sliced mushrooms and the leftover turkey stirring in.

http://thehappyhousewife12.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/turkey-tettrazini.html

Turkey and Ham Pie

Again, this doesn’t fit the assembly-line ethos, but you can make and freeze the sauce ahead of time to save doing it on the day.  I’d still be inclined to make the mashed potato on the day though, potato doesn’t do terribly well in the freezer.

http://thehappyhousewife12.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/chicken-leek-and-bacon-pie.html

Quiche Lorraine

Aside from rolling out the pastry, this is simplicity itself and a lovely way to use up a bit of cooked ham.  If you have some Stilton to spare, fork a bit of that in as well – it’ll be worth the sacrifice!

http://thehappyhousewife12.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/egg-bacon-flan.html

Chicken tortilla soup

This is such a treat at Christmas, after all the rich food this is a lovely fresh soup and makes a complete contrast, it’ll be well worth the bit of extra effort required. 

http://thehappyhousewife12.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/chicken-tortilla-soup-with-avocado.html

Stilton stuffed chicken breasts

This only falls under the leftover category if you have leftover Stilton, but if you do then it’s a lovely way to use some up.

http://thehappyhousewife12.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/stilton-stuffed-chicken-breasts-wrapped.html

Pan haggerty

This is a very calorie-laden dish, but a lovely way to use up some cooked ham – and it is Christmas after all!

http://thehappyhousewife12.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/pan-haggerty.html

Salmon Pasta Bake

Again, this is a sauce that you can make ahead of time and stash in the freezer ready for when you need it.  It’s a lovely way to use up some smoked salmon, or cooked salmon.

http://thehappyhousewife12.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/zingy-salmon-pasta-bake.html

From my home to yours, Merry Christmas!