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 st
david's day:
 March
1st marks the national day of my home, Wales.
St David the patron saint of Wales, was born around 500AD.
(actual date is not known), he was a church official and noted
teacher and preacher. He is said to have died on March 1st.
Growing up in Wales, St David's day was a special day at
school. Off we would go in our Church best clothes, wearing
a either daffodil or leek pinned to us (hand crafted from
coloured wool by my mother). Both of which are national symbols
of Wales along with the dragon.
The Welsh food is as diverse as its people and countryside.
Thrifty housewife's and farmhouse cooks learned centuries
ago how to transform root vegetables, grains, and home grown
lamb into savoury, substantial cawls (soups); practically
the national dish. Or that the same basic ingredients can
be topped with a pastry crust to make a succulent lamb pie.
An essential part of either preparation is leek, one of the
few root vegetables indigenous to Wales. The dishes are mainly
hearty, filling ones, to feed the hungry colliers after they
returned from a long day 'down the pit' (coal mines); it meant
they had a warm and filling meal on their return. With a supper
served later in the night.
Broth has always played an essential part in any Welsh household,
it is nutritious, can be filling and often served as a meal
in itself. It could have be made with any ingredients that
were at hand, readily available or cheap at the market or
shops. In this version we have used traditional ingredients
and refined the cuts to suit a three course meal, in a typical
Welsh household the vegetables would have been just roughly
cut in big pieces and maybe bulked up with sliced potatoes.
To accompany the soup pair it with the world famous Welsh
rarebit, which is made with another famous Welsh ingredient:
cheddar or Caerphilly cheese (known as caws in Welsh). Which
in itself has a strange and quirky history, steeped in folklore.
For the main course try some fish and seafoods, or a traditional
roast (Welsh) lamb. Fish cakes while found in the most basic
café or fast food establishment in Wales, (known as
fish and chip shops) is making a big resurgence and can now
be found on the menu of even the most up market restaurants
around the world. Cockles to the Welsh are what snails are
to the French or what calamari is to the Italians. Often gathered
and cooked at the seaside, then eaten immediately with lashings
of salt and malt vinegar. Swansea is the next village to my
hometown and birthplace of many a fine voice, including Tom
Jones.
To finish the Welsh experience, try an adaptation of my grandmother's
recipe. The original recipe was for quite a heavy pudding,
but I chose to change it to suit the more modern tastes, by
separating the eggs and lighten the dish by whipping the whites.
With its lightness and refreshing lemon flavour it is a perfect
way to round off the evening. In recognition and memory of,
I chose to name it after my family's home town in South Wales.
Or try one of the many other dessert recipes I have posted.
recipes links:
email
chef@tallyrand.info
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