Dydd Gŵyl Dewi, unwaith eto!

St David's Day and, for children that means dressing up in national costume for school and, for everyone else, it means CAWL!!.  As three of the four of us had already eaten cawl at lunchtime, however, I decided not to repeat it at supper, opting instead to prepare another of our favourite Welsh dishes, Wyau Ynys Môn.

I love the patriotic enthusiasm that March the 1st brings out in the Welsh, and as Wales is my adopted homeland and the birthplace of my children, I do all I can to embrace it.  People may joke about the Welsh; the language, the long placenames, coracles and the ever-popular sheep gags, but their passion for their country should never be denigrated.  A straw poll of my Saes (English) friends revealed that no-one does anything to celebrate St George's Day (though I do wear red roses in my hair on the day, most years in any case!) and none could tell me when the English patron saint's day fell (23 April, if you're interested).  If you can find me a Welsh person who doesn't know the date of St David's Day, it would be rhyfedd iawn (very surprising)!  Just a thought...

Cath xx

Dydd Gŵyl Dewi Sant

Yes, it's the 1st of March - St. David's Day. Christopher has been full of excitement for it, having done various activities and crafts at school this week. He even had me on the floor earlier, attempting to make a Welsh dragon out of red building blocks. Not so good, however I was very pleased with my Lego Daffodil!


For our supper tonight there was only one choice. Cawl is peasant food; good food to warm the cockles on the coldest night and has, beyond a doubt, the right to be called Wales' national dish. As it is proper home food, recipes vary hugely - as I found when I picked the brains of the other ladies at our W.I. cawl supper the other night. Opinion is divided between whether cawl should be made with beef or lamb; I've eaten both and lean towards the beef versions (cawl cig eidion), as does one of our near neighbours, who also introduced the notion of the lentils to me.

Cawl

I like shin of beef best for stewing, but chuck or skirt would do very well too. Replace the beef with lamb, if you fancy a cawl cig oen more


25g beef dripping or other cooking fat
1 onion, peeled and chopped
400g stewing beef (and see above), cubed
4 medium potatoes, peeled and chopped
1 swede, peeled and chopped
3 carrots, peeled and chopped
100g split red lentils
knob of butter
3 leeks, sliced
parsley

Melt the fat in a large casserole and fry the onion until softened. Brown the meat, then add the chopped vegetables and lentils and turn them in the fat. Pour over 1.2 litres of water and bring to the boil. Scoop out any scum that rises to the top as you can, adding a knob of butter to disperse any that remains. Transfer the pan to a 160c oven and cook for an hour, then add the sliced leeks to the pan and cook for 30 minutes more. Swirl in some roughly chopped fresh parsley just before serving.

The only accompaniment you need is bara menyn (bread and butter) a caws (and cheese), and perhaps (if you feel like going really Welsh) some Bara Brith for pwdin.

Mutton Dressed As...Mutton, actually

Today was Karl's day off work. For a family dinner that was low on effort but high on enjoyment, I decided to do a warming mutton stew, which I could leave in the oven while we got on with all those little jobs that inevitably get left until we're both in the house. I defrosted some organic shoulder of mutton that I bought from Elan Valley Mutton at the farmers' market in Aberystwyth, then cooked it with rosemary and red wine; good, gutsy flavours for good, gutsy meat.

Mutton with Red Wine and Rosemary

I know the wine quantity is a little vague, but this is always the way I do stews and things; one for me and the rest for the pot. Some chopped bacon, fried with the onions before browning the mutton, would also be nice, if you've got 100g or so in the fridge.

2 onions, halved and sliced

650g mutton, diced

leaves from a large sprig of rosemary, finely chopped

75cl bottle red wine, less one large glassful

Heat some oil (garlic-infused, if you've got it) in a large casserole and fry the onions until soft and tinged with brown. Add the mutton and brown it well, then stir in the rosemary and pour over the red wine. I used a fairly basic 'French Country Red'. Bring to the boil, then cover the pan and transfer to the oven. Cook for 2 hours at 150°c.

The obvious accompaniment to a stew, for us at least, is mashed potatoes. I steamed them for half an hour, then mashed them with a (huge) lump of butter - in for a penny, in for a pound I say - and served huge dollops to slowly soften in the gravy as we ate. We had some carrots too, just steamed and scattered with parsley. No pudding was really necessary after that lot, but the boys like to have something, so they shared an orange, which squirted juice in my eye, the git.

Stwmp, stwmp, slam

Words are wonderful things, and words that make you feel good are extra special. For me, that means not only the words like "cake", "gin" and "sleep", but alliterations like "luscious lickable lemons" and anything that fools around with sound somehow. Onomatopoeia is, to me, the highest form of wordplay and tonight's dinner bears witness to that. Stwmp (say 'stoomp', like a Yorkshireman describing a tree stump) is derived from stwmp naw rhiw (mash of nine sorts); the name of a Welsh vegetable dish, traditionally served at Hallowe'en, supposedly to ward off evil spirits, but it's good all through the colder months. I don't use nine vegetables, just potatoes, carrots and swede. I have been known to chuck in a bit of parsnip or some shredded leek, but on the whole I stick to this basic 'root vegetable medley' idea. I used to make it for both the boys when they were still gummy-mouthed, newly-weaning babies (where did the time go?). It's great baby food, comforting and sweet, but still filling and nutritious.

Stwmp

The quantities given here are flexible, to say the least. Roughly speaking, I use:

500g potatoes
500g swede
500g carrots
a large lump of butter
salt & pepper

Peel and chop all the vegetables. Steam for half and hour until really soft, then mash with the butter and plenty of seasoning (and hear the fabulously onomatopoeiac 'stwmp' sound as you do) .

Stwmp is a great side dish (tonight, for us, it accompanied a roast shoulder of lamb), but it can also be a great veggie main course; pack it into an ovenproof dish, top with grated cheese and either grill or bake until browned and bubbling. In fact, that's what I'm doing with tonight's leftovers for the boys' supper tomorrow!

Wyau Ynys Môn - Get me, eh!

The whole 'learning Welsh' thing is going surprisingly well. I'm using a lot of little bits and pieces with the children and even trying it out with real Welsh speakers when I feel brave. Of course, being me, I have made a big effort to learn what lots of different foods and drinks are so I can now proudly offer the children a choice of breakfasts and lunches yn Gymraeg. They are, as promised by all authorities on the matter, having no trouble with it whatsoever.

With all this in mind I have been on a bit of a theme lately, cooking lots of Welsh food. Tonight's dinner was a real Welsh classic and a great family meal, containing lots of our favourite things; leeks, potatoes, eggs and cheese. I have no idea why this dish is known as Anglesey eggs, nor have I been able to find out. It's very lovely, popular with the children and, as an added bonus, it can be prepared in advance and baked at suppertime if you prefer, which is what I did today.


Anglesey Eggs (Wyau Ynys Môn)

500g potatoes
3 leeks
6 hard-boiled eggs
300ml milk
1 tbsp plain flour
3 tbsp butter
handful grated cheese

Peel the potatoes and cut them into chunks. Steam for 25 minutes,, then mash with 2 tbsp butter. Halve the trimmed leeks lengthways and thinly slice them. Steam these for the final 8 minutes, then stir into the potato once it is mashed. Meanwhile, put the milk, flour and 1 tbsp butter into a pan and heat to boiling point, whicking all the time. When the sauce boils and thickens, reduce the heat and simmer for a few minutes, before switching off the hob and whisking in the cheese.

Spoon the potato and leek mixture around the edges of an ovenproof dish, then halve the hard-boiled eggs and pile these into the centre hollow. Pour the cheese sauce over the surface and either brown the surface under a hot grill, or cool quickly and chill until ready to cook the dish. In this case it will need 30 minutes or so at 180°c . Serve with some nice bread to mop up the cheesy sauce

Siarad Cymraeg?

I've finally bitten the proverbial bullet and decided that after 10 years living in Wales, I need to try to learn to speak Welsh properly, at least conversationally. Largely because Christopher will be starting nursery school in January and will be taught, in part, bilingually. I don't think children should be encouraged to have a secret language that Mummy can't understand, do you? I have picked up bits and bobs over the years, mainly numbers and hello, how are you?-type things (sut mae?), and I can sing along to Welsh hymns yn Gymraeg when we go to church (though I don't understand them at all), but none to use 'properly'.

A lovely girl from Twf came to start us off on 'Using Welsh with your children' at playgroup yesterday and, all fired up by her enthusiasm, I came home and began to put the ideas into practice with the boys. Yesterday evening I had a look at the BBC Welsh learners' site and learnt quite a bit in just a little while from the in-site, free, Colin and Cumberland course.

Today I made Bara Brith ,which I make regularly anyway but which seems particularly apposite at the moment, and cooked a dinner of cig oen, tatws a pys (lamb chops, potatoes and peas). I was far too excited by writing what was for dinner tonight on the blackboard in Welsh, but there you go.

A Greener Shade of Kale

This week there was a bag of luscious deep green kale in our organic veg box. It came from Blaencamel Farm, just a few miles up the road in Cilcennin. I love this kind of green vegetable; iron-rich and deeply flavoured, man enough to stand up to any number of strong tastes.

Dinner tonight was courtesy of Queen Nigella; her Chicken with Chorizo & Cannellini Beans from Nigella Bites. I did make one alteration to her method; I cooked the chicken breasts in the oven (15-20 minutes at 200°c) rather than poaching them in stock. I also increased the quantities to serve all of us.

While the chicken is cooking, plunge 150g roughly torn-up kale into boiling water and cook for 5 minutes or so until tender. Heat a little olive oil in a deep frying pan and add 200g chorizo sausage, peeled of its papery 'wrapper' and cut into chunks. Sizzle this for a couple of minutes then add three 300g tins of cannellini beans, drained and rinsed. I added a little bit of the vegetable cooking water to lubricate it, then put the lid on the pan and let it bubble until the chicken and kale were ready. Pile the chorizo and bean mixture into a shallow dish, then top with some kale. Perch the chicken on top and sprinkle over some smoked paprika.

Boxing Clever

Our first organic fruit and veg box from the Treehouse in Aberystwyth arrived this morning. It felt like Christmas (albeit a warm and sunny one) as we rummaged through to see what we'd got. Christopher was very excited as he listed all the things he was going to eat and in what order. For a very reasonable £12-00, we got a 'medium mixed box', containing a couple of peaches, a head of Cos lettuce, some broccoli, a bag each of carrots and potatoes, some bananas and apples, a few onions and a bag of lovely little plums. We used some of the lettuce straightaway, to fill, along with some cheese, the last few granary rolls in the bread bin. A nice lunch made nicer by being able to eat in the garden. After lunch Christopher ate one of the apples from the box, while I snaffled a few more of those luscious little plums.

We had a family appointment with the dentist this afternoon, then had a nice walk round town, including a trip to Ultracomida to buy some cheese; a chunk of Gorwydd Caerphilly, easily our favourite Welsh cheese, and a lait cru Camembert de Normandie, one of my real weaknesses.

Supper tonight was in the garden again. We've really got to make up for the weeks of dreadful weather and enjoy the sun while we've got it, so Hubby fired up the barbecue. I made some burgers and prepared some salads. While we were getting minced beef for the burgers (from Rob Rattray on Chalybeate Street in Aberystwyth) we picked up some pork sausages too, which were really tasty; good and coarse. While we were there, Karl spotted some Barnsley chops in the window display, so, being a good Yorkshireman, he had to have one of those too. Bearing in mind that he's not had one in the 8 years we've been together, and only rarely shut up about them in that time, this double lamb chop, cut across the back, had a lot to live up to. I'm happy to say that the tiny taste I got surpassed all my expectations, and I will be happily bringing home the Barnsley chops for future barbecues. We finished off Tuesday's lemon cake for pud.

Not Gonna Stop!

The last week has just been so hectic. After a week of barrelling around with Hubby's parents and our nieces, doing all sorts of fun things, I am definitely ready for a rest. Thankfully, my Mum has come to stay for a couple of nights, so the boys can play with their Granny for a bit and we can all be a bit spoiled.

We took the boys into Aberystwyth this afternoon. Because of a combination of holiday traffic, roadworks and the like, it took us an hour to drive 10 miles! We were definitely ready for lunch after that, so we took the boys to Shilam, a lovely Indian restaurant in the centre of Aberystwyth. They run a lunchtime buffet, with 'all-you-can-eat' for a very reasonable £5.99. I'm very proud to say that Christopher loves his curry. Today he was especially keen on the onion bhajis and potato pakoras. Despite having taken some food for James with us, he still tasted a good variety of the dishes on offer.

After that huge meal at lunchtime, Mum and I decided on bread and cheese for supper - so that meant a trip to Ultracomida to buy some lovely Welsh cheese. We decided on Drewi Sant, Perl Las and, as an experiment, Caws Preseli, which we haven't tried before. Cheese, bread, a few tomatoes and a good bottle of red wine - what a treat.

Well Bread

The enormous Sunday dinner went very well - we even had enough left over to purée and freeze for James' dinners. The children were shattered last night - we put them to bed nearly on time, but after a late night on Saturday and a busy, exciting day yesterday, I wasn't at all surprised that Christopher slept late this morning. Actually, it was quite nice just to have a little time with James, who was in a lovely mood and very good company. I also made some Bara Brith this morning. I'd soaked some fruit last night, anticipating a nice bit of gentle kitchen pottering.

I make quite a lot of loaf-type cakes and like to bake two at a time in 1lb loaf pans; one for now and one to freeze. The one in the freezer is earmarked for the day before James' christening, as we will doubtless have people popping in and out as they arrive and I'd like to offer them something more than just a cup of tea.

Bara Brith is Welsh for 'speckled bread' and recipes for it vary. Some are very 'bready', or even made with a yeast dough. I prefer quite a cakey texture with a lot of fruit, so this is more like a traditional tea loaf than a bread, I suppose. It does taste best if you soak the fruit overnight, but if you forget (or if it's a spur-of-the-moment kinda thing) you could give the fruit and tea just enough time to cool down and go from there. The fruit itself is up to you - I use sultanas, raisins and plenty of mixed peel, which I love, but all sorts of things are good. In fact, it's quite a good way to use up all those funny ends-of-bags that are lurking in the cupboard. Well, in my cupboard, anyway. I usually use ordinary orange marmalade, but have made it with other preserves too. Apricot jam and ginger marmalade were particularly good.

Bara Brith

500g mixed dried fruit
cup of hot tea (with no milk added!)

Put the fruit in a bowl and pour the tea over it. Cover the bowl and leave it overnight.

100g butter
a good dollop of the jam or marmalade of your choice
2 eggs, beaten
450g self-raising flour
175g light muscovado sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp mixed spice
1 tsp ground ginger
splash of milk, if needed
demerara sugar, for sprinkling

Butter and flour two 1lb loaf pans. Melt the butter and jam or marmalade in a large pan, then set aside to cool a little. Stir in the beaten eggs, then add the soaked fruit. Mix in the flour, sugar and spices, adding a little milk if you think the mixture is too stiff. Divide the cake batter between the two tins, sprinkle over a little demerara sugar and then bake at 160°c for an hour. Cover the tins with foil after 30 minutes, to ensure that the cakes don't burn on top before they are cooked through.

Rabbiting On

Another busy day with the boys today. James' gums are still giving him grief, compounded by the fact that he has lost interest in lying down or sitting in any sort of chair. No, he prefers to be held in a standing position or carried around. At all times. Obviously this results in my getting diddly squat done while he's awake. Took them out shopping this afternoon, buying some bits for when we all go camping in the summer. Can hardly wait.

Chris and I had Welsh Rabbit for lunch today, while the baby was napping in his cot upstairs (and therefore, thankfully, not needing to 'stand'). I always feel that I should make more of an effort to connect with the land we've adopted as home and, me being me, that has so far meant cooking some Welsh food.

Welsh Rabbit

I find a good farmhouse Caerphilly (such as Gorwydd, from Tregaron) to be the best cheese for this, but the main thing is that it's strong-tasting and not too oily. Today I used Singleton's creamy Lancashire.

100g strong cheese, grated
20g soft butter
1 tsp mustard (I generally use Dijon, use less if you prefer English mustard)
2 tbsp plain flour
1 egg, beaten
1 tbsp milk (or use beer if you're not making it for a child)
2-4 slices of bread, toasted on both sides

Beat everything (except the bread, natch) together. Spread on the slices of toast and grill until brown and bubbling. Eat immediately, with a green salad to accompany.

This made enough for me and Chris between us, but I'm sure it would stretch to 2 adults and 2 small children. For a two year old, Chris has an amazing appetite and breastfeeding makes me, already a glutton, even hungrier than usual. I'm sometimes horrified by the amount of food I can put away at the moment, but it's (nearly) all good stuff and at least I'm not putting on weight this time.