Laverbread

Laverbread is probably one of the most iconic of Welsh dishes, but something of a niche ingredient and an acquired taste!  A taste well worth acquiring too!  It isn’t actually a bread but a cooked edible seaweed, found along the Welsh coastline.

It was a traditional breakfast staple for mineworkers, served with bacon and cockles for those who could get them fresh, or eggs for those living further inland.  Some cook the laverbread simply by reheating it in a pan with some bacon and cockles before spreading it on top toast, with the bacon and cockles on the side; others mix it with oatmeal before frying it and serving with bacon and cockles or egg on the side. 

My method is a simple one and the ingredients simply a matter of ratio – for every tablespoon of laver you mix in a tablespoon of oatmeal (porridge oats).  Season with a little black pepper but no salt because the laver is salty enough.

Per person :

1tb laverbread

1tb oatmeal

Black pepper to taste

2 rashers of bacon

1 egg or a handful of cockles

In a basin mix the oatmeal and laverbread together, seasoning with a little black pepper.

Heat a little lard or bacon grease in a frying pan – or, with the lovely Tefal non-stick pans just cook a few rashers of bacon for a few minutes until they release some fat, then drop spoonfuls of the laver and oatmeal mix into the pan and shape into patties.  It only needs heating through so cook it for as long as the bacon takes to cook through on both sides and turn the patties over once to cook through from the other side. 

If you’re adding cockles simply add them for the last few minutes to heat through properly.  

If you're using egg instead of cockles simply fry or poach as you prefer and serve alongside the laverbread patties and bacon.

Wholemeal Cheese and Ale Bread

I saw an idea recently for a Bara Brith made with stout and walnuts, a brief Google episode lead me to ale and cheese bread recipes and I looked no further! 

This isn’t a yeasted bread so is very quick to put together, it’s simply a matter of folding wet ingredients into dry.  It would make a lovely accompaniment to soup or a Ploughman’s lunch and is absolutely delicious toasted and buttered generously.

For one loaf you need :

200g wholemeal self-raising flour

175g self-raising flour

40g golden caster sugar

150g grated cheddar cheese (extra mature or vintage by preference)

1 ½ tsp mustard powder

1tsp cayenne pepper

1tsp salt

350ml ale (I used Gower Power)

30g grated cheddar to scatter over the top of the loaf before baking

Weigh out the dry ingredients into a mixing bowl and stir together to combine well.  Measure out the ale and add to the mixing bowl, folding gently to bring it all together. 

Spoon into a lined 2lb loaf tin and level off the top.  Scatter over the 30g of grated cheese. 

Bake at 150^oC (300^oF, gas mark 2) for 50 minutes – until a skewer comes out clean.

Anglesey Eggs (alternate version)

I came across a cauliflower variation on the classic Anglesey Eggs in a very old recipe book recently, with a little bit of tweaking to suit my tastes I rustled up this little beauty in next to no time.

This version lends itself very well to leftover cookery – especially if you cook surplus to make sure you have ‘leftovers’ (please tell me I’m not the only one who does that?!).  With a bit of forward planning and cheating this is really nothing more than a quick assembly job.

Quantities very much depend on your appetite and the number of people you are cooking for but the ingredient list for one, is :

1 cup cauliflower – par-boiled for a few minutes

The green part of a small/baby leek, halved and cut into fine half-moon slices

1 hard boiled egg cut into halves and then quartered, or chopped – as you prefer

½ cup or thereabouts of cheese sauce

Salt and pepper to taste and a scant sprinkle of cayenne pepper

Grated cheddar to scatter generously over the top

Layer the sliced leek at the bottom of an oven-proof dish, arrange the cauliflower florets on the top and poke the slices of egg among them, or scatter the chopped egg over the top and around the cauliflower.  Season with salt, pepper and cayenne pepper.

Cook in a hot oven for about 30 minutes until bubbling nicely and the cheese topping is browned.

Alayne's Tiesen Lap

There are any number of Tiesen Lap recipes; just like Bara Brith - there are as many recipes as there are families in Wales!  This recipe comes from a book my cousin inherited from our Grandmother.  The original was a little dry for my taste so I’ve tweaked it a few times to make it even better!  It reminds me very much of a big Welsh Cake.

For the past several months I've been using duck eggs almost exclusively for baking and they really do make a huge difference.  My friend tells me that it's the fat content in the yolk - whatever it is, it's well worth looking for them to try, if only once or twice.

Grease and line an 8” diameter cake tin (approx. 20cm)

You will need :

220g self raising flour

1tsp mixed spice

60g each butter and lard, cut into small pieces

90g caster sugar

120g mixed fruit (sultanas and raisins)

2 large eggs

150ml milk

Caster sugar for dredging

Combine the flour, spice, sugar and fats in a mixing bowl and beat together to form a breadcrumb consistency.  Add the dried fruit, then the eggs and the milk and bring together to form a good thick batter.

Turn into the lined cake tin and bake in a medium oven for 35-45 minutes – until a skewer comes out clean.  I cooked mine at 180^oC (350^oF / gas mark 4) for 45 minutes.

If you use a springform tin and cake tin cases, you can loosen the tin as soon as the cake comes out of the oven, loosen the paper slightly and dredge the still hot cake with caster sugar.  Leave to cool completely before slicing and serving with a nice cup of tea!

Bacon Hotpot

I first encountered this lovely dish on holiday in Newquay many years ago and had completely forgotten all about it until our recent trip to my old family homeland of Cardiganshire! 

It’s one of those lovely dishes that sits quietly in the oven taking care of itself, after some very basic preparation – and it’s a very frugal dish too.  It really sums up the best of traditional Welsh cooking, like the Italian Cucina Povera.  You can make it with some rashers of bacon, or use up the last ends of a bacon, gammon or ham joint.

 For one person I used :

 1 small onion

4 rashers of back bacon (I used up some cooked ham from the freezer)

2 -3 baby potatoes

Just under 250ml chicken stock*

 Melt a knob of butter in an oven-proof pan while you peel and slice the onion, then sauté the onion in the butter for a few minutes.

 Coarsely chop the bacon or ham and add to the cooking onions, then thinly slice the baby potatoes and add three quarters of those to the pan too.  Season and give everything a good stir before pouring over the stock, then top with the remainder of the sliced potatoes.

Simmer gently for 10 - 15 minutes, until the potato slices are cooked through and the stock is reduced.

 *  Knorr have recently introduced ham stock cubes, if you can get hold of these you could use one instead of the chicken stock.

Anglesey Eggs

This is such a lovely dish and well worth making, despite being quite labour intensive!  It involves one pan to cook the leeks, another for the potato, another for the eggs and yet another for the cheese sauce – BUT, there are corners that you can cut and it freezes like a dream so you can bulk cook for the freezer.  If you do that, to ring the changes, you could add some grated cheddar to the mashed potato and leek to make a cheese and potato pie for the freezer (link to recipe below)

 To make things simple, I cooked the eggs the day before I wanted to make it and used a ready-made tub of cheese sauce.  It’s a dish that you can prepare well ahead of time, as long as you don’t put the cold eggs and cold cheese sauce onto the hot mashed potato it will come to no harm.

 Quantities will depend on the number of people you are serving, but for four serves I used :

 3 large potatoes

4 small leeks

A generous knob of butter for the leeks

4 hard boiled eggs

 1 x small tub of ready-made cheese sauce

 2 oz or so of grated cheddar for the topping

 Salt and pepper to taste

 Peel and boil the potatoes.  While the potato is cooking clean and dice the leek and sauté in a generous knob of butter.  Grate the cheese for the topping.

 When the potato is cooked drain and mash then and add the buttery leek, combine together before turning into an ovenproof dish. 

 Peel and coarsely chop the hard boiled eggs and distribute evenly over the top of the mashed potato.  You could slice the eggs if you prefer.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.

 Pour over the cheese sauce into a thin layer and then top with grated cheddar cheese

 If you are eating straight away simply pop under a pre-heated grill until the cheese sauce is heated through and the grated cheese is golden and bubbling.  If it has been prepared ahead and is cold it will need about 30 minutes in a hot oven.

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

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.