Welsh Cook-Along & Cocktails

Here in Wales we have a strong tradition of living off the land, stretching back as far as the ancient Celts. Today Wales is a place to delight the taste buds - whether it’s sweet or savoury, meat or vegetarian. Welsh food and drink is famous for its provenance, and has never been so diverse. With so many local quality ingredients to choose from the dilemma lies in deciding what to try next!

Why not join us for our virtual online event: “Welsh Cook-Along & Cocktails” on July 6th (5-6pm UK time)

As part of Wales in Germany 2021, Nerys Howells, a successful cookbook author and Sian Roberts, TV presenter and owner of Loving Welsh Food are going to cook a selection of delicious traditional Welsh dishes including  Glamorgan Sausages and the famous Welsh Cakes. There will also be a couple of gin cocktails thrown in too!

You can choose to just watch or perhaps try your hand at a few of the dishes and cook-along with us, the recipes are listed below.

To register free online: https://wales-cook-along.eventbrite.co.uk

Ingredients

• 175-200g white breadcrumbs
• 75g Snowdonia Black Bomber or Cheddar
• Half a leek, finely chopped
• 1 tbsp chopped parsley
• half a tsp fresh thyme
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 tsp Welsh mustard
• Salt and pepper
• 45g butter or 3 tbsp sunflower oil

Method

Mix 150g of the breadcrumbs with the cheese, leek, parsley, thyme and plenty of salt and pepper. Beat the eggs with the mustard.  Set aside 2 tablespoons of this mixture and stir in the remaining egg mixture into the breadcrumb mixture. Divide the mixture into eight and shape each portion into a sausage.

Put the remaining egg and mustard mixture into a shallow bowl, and spread the breadcrumbs on a plate.  Dip the sausages into the egg mixture and then coat with the crumbs.  If you have time, chill the sausages for 30 minutes before cooking.

To fry the sausages, heat the butter or oil in a frying pan and fry for about 5 minutes until brown, reduce the heat and fry for a further 3 – 4 minutes.

Ingredients for 4 persons

• 8 French trimmed Welsh lamb cutlets/8 lamb chops or 1 cauliflower
• 1 large handful fresh mint
• 1 large handful fresh parsley
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 1 tsp capers 
• 6 mini gerkins  
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• Zest of 2 lemons and juice of 1 lemon
• 2 tbsp laverbread
• 4 tbsp breadcrumbs
• 1 tbsp oil
• 15g butter

Method

Score the fat on the lamb and season well.  Sear both sides in a hot frying pan until golden, reduce the heat and cook until pink. Remove and allow to rest for 5 minutes. Finely chop the mint, parsley, garlic and gherkins.  Add the olive oil, zest of 1 lemon, lemon juice and laver bread and stir and season to taste.

Heat the oil in a frying pan and add the butter, leave to melt before adding the breadcrumbs and toss. Cook over a medium heat until crisp and golden. Remove from the heat and add the remaining lemon zest. Serve the cutlets with the dipping sauce and lemon breadcrumbs. 

The best way to eat these cutlets is to dip in the laverbread and herb sauce followed by the lemon crumbs. Any green vegetable goes very well with the dish or a light salad.  Gratin dauphinoise or roast sweet potatoes are also delicious!

Laverbread (Welsh: bara lafwr) is a traditional Welsh delicacy made from laver seaweed. The seaweed is washed repeatedly and boiled for several hours until it becomes a dark green mush, which can be eaten pure, or deep-fried and rolled in oatmeal. In Wales, laverbread is also fried with bacon and served with cockles as part of a traditional Welsh breakfast. However, you can easily make a similar version yourself.

Ingredients

1 pack Nori dried seaweed
hot water

Method

Crumble the seaweed into a bowl. The number of sheets to crumble should not exceed 2 or 3 as it will make a lot. Start with 2 sheets and add a tablespoon of hot water at a time. If it is too watery, then crush a bit more seaweed and add to the existing mixture until it is as thick as a pudding.

Ingredients

• 250g self-raising flour
• 125g salted butter
• 100g caster sugar
• 1 tsp mixed spice*
• 80g sultanas/raisins
• 1 large beaten egg
• 1 tbsp milk

* A spice blend similar to gingerbread and pumpkin spice blends. It has a warm and sweet-spicy flavour and aroma and most commonly includes cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg and/or mace, cloves, ginger and coriander.

Method

Rub the butter into the flour until the mixture looks like breadcrumbs. Add the sugar, mixed spice and sultanas and mix well. Add the beaten egg and mix all the ingredients together with a spoon, and then use your hands to bring everything together to form a dough.

Sprinkle some flour on your worktop. Roll the dough out to a thickness of about 5 mm. Cut into shapes and keep rolling and cutting until the dough is used up.

Cook the cakes on a griddle/frying pan until they are brown on both sides – usually a few minutes. If using a griddle make sure it is really hot – pre heat for a good 10 minutes.  Cook 1 – 2 Welsh Cakes first to check the temperature. Cool on a cooling tray and sprinkle with sugar.

Ingredients

• 100 ml Aber Falls Welsh Orange Marmalade Gin
• 1 tea bag black tea
• 150 ml hot water
• 60 ml honey
• 50 ml peach liquor
• Ice
• Orange and Lemon slices
• Fresh mint
• Tonic water

Method

Brew a black tea bag, add the honey into the hot tea and set aside to cool. Fill a tea pot with ice, orange and lemon slices and some fresh mint. Add the Welsh Orange Marmalade Gin, peach liquor and the cold tea mix and add a light tonic to top.

Here’s an extra recipe for Mussels, bacon and leeks which you can try yourself at home. If you have any questions relating to this recipe feel free to ask on the day of the cook-along – just post your comments or questions in the chat bar.

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp oil
• 1 leek, trimmed, washed and sliced
• 2 garlic cloves, sliced   
• 90g streaky bacon diced
• 1½kg mussels
• 2 sprigs fresh thyme
• 300ml white wine or local cider
• 2 tbsp fresh parsley roughly chopped

Method

Thoroughly rinse the mussels discarding any that are broken. Scrub well to remove any sand, mud or grit. If the shells are open, give them a light tap; if they do not close, discard. Heat the oil in a large pan and sauté the leek and garlic over a medium heat for a few minutes until the leeks are soft and translucent but not coloured.

Add the bacon and cook for 5 minutes until beginning to brown then tip in the mussels, thyme and white wine. Steam with the lid on for 4 minutes or until the shells have fully opened. Spoon the mussels into serving bowls and sprinkle the parsley on the top. Pour over the cooking juices and finish with black pepper. Serve with wholemeal or garlic bread.