Bara Brith Biscuits

Although not a national holiday, St. David's Day is nonetheless celebrated in a variety of ways, from the well-known parades in bigger towns and cities, to children dressing up in traditional Welsh costume. Another ubiquitous event is the school eisteddfod, a festival of poetry, recitation, music, singing and dancing. These played a big role in my childhood, with extra-curricular activities at school nearly all revolving around these important competitions. My favourite was the individual and group recitation but I also enjoyed taking part in the country dancing, as evidenced in the photo below.

Kneeling down in the front row, squinting into the sun, my smile says it all. Unlike our recitation where we regularly reached the national finals, our dancing group never progressed beyond the first few rounds but that never dampened our enthusiasm. Even the opportunity to wear the costume was exciting enough.

Taking the flavours of a traditional bara brith, these biscuits are lightly spiced, crisp round the edges with a slight chewiness from the raisins. The Welsh dragon cutter adds a celebratory touch but obviously any shape would work well.

Dydd Gwyl Dewi hapus.

RECIPE

Makes about 15 dragon biscuits, or 25 smaller round ones

90g soft salted butter

50g caster sugar

45g soft brown sugar

1 large egg

45g raisins, finely chopped

half a teaspoon mixed spice

200g plain flour

half a teaspoon baking powder

2 large baking trays lined with baking parchment

Pre-heat the oven to 180°C

I use an electric mixer for the whole process but it could be done by hand. Cream the butter and sugar until pale. Beat in the egg, then add the chopped raisins, mixing well.

Sift the flour, mixed spice and baking powder together, then add to the butter and eggs, mixing until everything is combined.

Form into a ball, cover with cling film and put in the fridge for about 1 hour.

Lightly flour your work surface and rolling pin. Remove the dough from the fridge and roll out to a thickness of about half a centimetre. Cut into shapes and place on the baking sheets.

Bake for about 10-12 minutes until lightly golden.

Remove with a spatula to a wire rack to cool.

Store in an airtight container.

Monmouth Pudding

This year's St. David's day recipe is Monmouth Pudding. It's an old-fashioned kind of dessert, popular in Victorian times and similar to the English Queen of Puddings. This Welsh incarnation doesn't however have a meringue topping although a lot of the recipes you see for it do include the extra layer. 

Looking at the list of ingredients you might be fooled into thinking it's stodgy and heavy but it's really not. It's light, fruity and just sweet enough. You can serve it either with cream or, my preference, a fresh raspberry sauce to really enhance the fruit flavour. Monmouth pudding is at its best about 10 minutes after it's come out of the oven, still warm but not scaldingly hot. 

Traditionally, this pudding was one of those thrifty type of recipes that used up stale bread, milk and fruit from the garden to make something so much more than the sum of its parts. My version is not quite so austere; I've used cream and brioche crumbs to give an updated, more luxurious taste. I hope my Welsh ancestors would approve.

Dydd Gwyl Dewi hapus.

RECIPE - serves 4-6

225 ml milk
200 ml double cream
25g caster sugar
grated zest of one lemon
175g brioche crumbs
2 eggs
200g jam (strawberry, raspberry or any other kind)

You can make this as one large pudding or 6 individual ones, as in the photo.

For the large one, you need a 23x20cm ovenproof dish, buttered. For the individual ones, 6 buttered ramekins. 

Pre-heat oven to 150°C.

Pour the milk and cream into a pan, add the sugar and lemon zest and heat gently until just boiling. Remove from the heat, pour over the brioche crumbs and leave the mixture to cool for 15 mins. 

When cooled, separate the eggs, stirring the yolks into the crumb mixture.

Whisk the egg whites until they form stiff peaks then gently fold them into the crumb mixture with a metal spoon.

Heat the jam until it's runny, then drizzle half over the bottom of the prepared dish.

Spoon half the crumb mixture on top. 

Repeat the jam and crumb layers, making sure that the final layer of brioche mixture is level.

Bake in the oven for about 30-40 mins until the top is golden. The pudding should be set but still with a slight wobble.

Leave for about 10 minutes before serving. 

Anglesey Eggs - Ŵyau Ynys Môn

I think it's fair to say that Welsh cuisine does not play a prominent role on the world's culinary stage. However, Wales does now take pride in supplying some fine produce, enjoying international recognition for its beef and lamb, fresh fish and seafood and some unique cheeses. There is an increasing number of chefs in Wales eager to make full use of local foods, made and supplied by artisan food producers and traditional dishes are slowly finding themselves back in the limelight.

This then is my St. David's Day contribution to the Welsh culinary revival. Traditional to Anglesey, this delicious dish of potatoes, leeks, eggs and cheese reflects a time when meat was a scarce luxury, like the other more well-known recipes for Glamorgan sausages and Welsh rarebit. I like to think I haven't strayed too far from how my ancestors would have made it; the leeks and potatoes came from ten miles away, the eggs from a local farm and the cheese... well, the cheese is Caerphilly so it admittedly had a slightly longer journey. 

As I'm sending this to the Shop Local challenge, created and hosted by Elizabeth from Elizabeth's Kitchen Diary, I would like to mention the Llainwen eggs I used in this dish. These beautiful free range eggs have a deep orange yolk that I haven't found anywhere else. The farm, situated in the Vale of Clwyd, has been in the family since 1739 and all their eggs come from a variety of traditional breed hens who happily roam around the fields, truly free-range. Visitors are always welcome on the farm, to see first-hand how the hens are looked after. As you can see from the photos, you get seven, multi-hued eggs in every gorgeous box. 

             

RECIPE - Serves 4 as a starter or 2 as a main course

300g potatoes

3 leeks

oil (olive/sunflower/vegetable)

3 eggs

300ml milk

20g butter

20g plain flour

50g Caerphilly cheese, grated

salt and pepper

Peel the potatoes and cook in boiling salted water for about 15-20 minutes, until soft. 

In the meantime, prepare the leeks by slicing them in half length ways and then chopping them finely. Put them in a colander and wash thoroughly under running water. Drain well. Heat a drizzle of oil in a large frying pan, add the leeks and cook gently until softened, being careful not to colour them as leeks can turn very bitter if they start to brown. 

Hard boil the eggs, drain and remove the shells when they're cool enough to handle.

Pre-heat the oven to 200°C. 

Drain and mash the potatoes, then mix with the softened leeks and season to taste with salt and black pepper. 

To make the cheese sauce, melt the butter in a saucepan and add the flour. Cook for a couple of minutes, then off the heat, slowly add the milk, whisking continuously. When all the milk has been added, bring slowly to the boil and keep whisking over a medium heat until thickened and smooth. Remove from the heat and stir in half the cheese. 

Slice the eggs in quarters and arrange in an ovenproof dish (or use individual dishes as I have done in the photo). Spoon the potato and leek mixture around the eggs and pour the cheese sauce over the top. Sprinkle over the remaining grated cheese. 

This can all be prepared in advance and left in the fridge until you want to cook it.

Cook in the preheated oven for about 15-20 minutes, until bubbling and golden brown. 

Sticky, whisky-scented Bara Brith for St. David's Day

Do the little things, the small things you've seen me doing

This simple, rather contemporary statement, was surprisingly uttered over 1500 years ago by St. David in his last sermon to his monks and I thought it a fitting way to start St. David's Day.

Not an awful lot is known about St. David so here are a few facts about the man himself and the celebration in his honour:

• He was at the heart of the Welsh church in the 6th century and founded a large monastery in West Wales
• He was one of the early saints who helped to spread Christianity among the pagan Celtic tribes of Western Britain
• The most famous story about St. David tells how he was preaching to a huge crowd and the ground is said to have risen up, so that he was standing on a hill and everyone had a better chance of hearing him.
• He was baptised by the wonderfully named Saint Elvis (I kid you not).
• The national emblems of Wales are daffodils and leeks and these are worn on 1st March by most people in Wales. 
• On March 1st, numerous celebrations take place, including parades, food festivals, concerts and street parties.

Now, although it's tradition to eat Cawl, a Welsh stew, made up of lamb and leeks on St David’s Day, I didn't have time to make it, so today's recipe is my family's Bara Brith, a very traditional Welsh loaf cake and tea-time classic. The name literally means "Speckled Bread" and is baked and sold commercially in most parts of Wales, but virtually every Welsh region, town or family seems to have their own special variation.

There are two basic versions - as a yeast bread with dried fruits or it can be made in the style of a fruit cake with self-raising flour and packed with candied peel, raisins and currants which have been soaked in tea overnight. This is the sort I prefer - it's ridiculously easy, it gets better with time (within reason of course) and it tastes wonderful. I still don't really understand how a cake that doesn't contain any butter or indeed fat of any kind, can taste so good but it does, trust me. Of course, the butter usually comes into it at the end when it is spread on the thinly sliced bara brith. My only variation to the family recipe is to add a little whisky to the liquid used for steeping the fruit.

One last thing: although David was known as ‘Dewi Ddyfrwr’ (David the Water Drinker) because he drank nothing else, I don't really think that many Welsh people follow his teachings in this particular aspect. I will certainly be marking the occasion with something a little stronger...

Iechyd da.

RECIPE

1 cup soft brown sugar
1 generous cup dried mixed fruit
200 ml black tea
50 ml whisky
300 g self raising flour
1 teaspoon mixed spice
1 tablespoon treacle or syrup
 pinch of salt
 1 egg

In a large bowl soak the fruit and sugar in the strained tea and whisky and leave overnight.

Next day preheat the oven to 170ºC

Mix the remaining ingredients into the fruit mixture and beat well

Pour the mixture into a loaf tin that has been well greased or lined with buttered paper

Place the tin in the oven and bake for about one and a half hours.

Leave in the tin to cool before turning out.

If you can (I can't), keep the bara brith in an airtight tin for a few days before eating as the flavour and texture really improves.

A dish for St. David's Day - Risotto with leeks and Perl las

The daffodils are out, classrooms are full of singing children and the Red Dragons are flying high, all of which can only mean one thing - it's St. David's Day (and we're doing rather well in the Six Nations rugby).

In previous years, living in Italy, I tried to celebrate St. David's Day with some Welsh feasting but while Brains SA and Penderyn whisky have always gone down very well with the Italian side of the family, my efforts at making some traditional dishes of Wales have not met with the same success. It is perhaps better to draw a line under the Welsh faggots (made from pig's liver) incident; suffice to say that the meal did not tempt GL to delve further into 'Cuisine Cymraeg'.

So this year, I'm taking the 'Entente Cordiale' approach, using Welsh flavours and ingredients to make a very Italian risotto. Leeks, the national vegetable and symbol of Wales form the base of the risotto, and Perl Las, a Welsh blue cheese is added at the end. Both sides of the Italo/Welsh alliance are satisfied.

Dydd Gwyl Dewi hapus.

RECIPE

Serves 2 generously

2 leeks

50g butter

1 teaspoon olive oil

1 glass dry white wine

1 litre vegetable stock

250g carnaroli or arborio rice

120g Perl Las or other blue cheese (Gorgonzola is used in Italy)

10g parmesan, grated

Chop the leeks very finely. Melt the butter with the oil in a wide saucepan, add the leeks and cook gently until softened, being careful not to colour them as leeks can turn very bitter if they start to brown.

When the leeks are soft, tip in the rice and stir well so that all the grains are coated in the buttery juices. Turn up the heat to medium and pour in the wine. Keep stirring until it is absorbed.

Start adding the stock, a ladleful at a time, making sure it is all absorbed before adding the next, stirring all the while to make sure the rice doesn't start to stick.

The rice should be cooked after about 18-20 minutes (it should still have a slight 'bite' to it). You might not need all the stock or you may need a little more (you could just add boiling water).

Add the blue cheese, roughly crumbling it in and stirring so that it melts into the risotto. You can also beat in the parmesan at this point or you can sprinkle it over just before eating if you prefer.