Recipes: St Davids Day
Bara brith (pictured above)
This is not the traditional recipe for bara brith, meaning 'speckled bread' as the original recipe was based on an yeasted bread. However this version which is widely served, makes a beautifully moist cake as the dried fruit are soaked overnight in tea.Serves: 8-10 slices | Prep: 15 minutes | Cook: 1 hour
Ingredients
400g mixed fruit (e.g. sultanas, raisins, currants)
300ml strong hot tea
250g self raising flour
1 tsp mixed spice
100g dark brown muscovado sugar
1 egg, beaten
honey to glaze
Method
Put the dried fruit in a bowl and pour over the tea, mix in the sugar and stir well to dissolve. Leave to soak for at least 6 hours or overnight.
Next day, sift the flour and spice into the soaked fruit (no need to drain the tea) and stir in the egg. Blend well together.
Preheat the oven to 180°C /Gas 4. Line a 900g loaf tin with bakewell paper and pour in the mixture.
Bake for approximately 1 hour until the cake has risen and cooked through. Leave to cool on a rack and store for 2 days before eating. Serve sliced with butter.
This mixture can be doubled to make 2 loaves and will keep for up to 7 days.
Warm a little honey to drizzle over the surface of the warm cake for a glazed topping.
Glamorgan Sausages
This recipe traditionally uses Caerphilly cheese. You may wish to add some alternative ingredients to this recipe – for a Mediterranean touch mix together chopped red onion, chopped olives, small capers, and chopped sun-dried tomatoes (this mixture will replace the weight of the leek). Use basil in place of parsley and add some chopped herbs to the coating breadcrumbs. Fry in light olive oil.
Makes: 16 small sausages | Prep: 20 minutes | Cook: 15 minutes
![St-Davids-Day-590-4](/sites/default/files/images/joomla/images/2016/26_feb/St-Davids-Day-590-4.jpg)
Ingredients
225g fresh breadcrumbs
125g grated cheese
3 medium size free-range eggs
a little milk
salt and white pepper
½ teaspoon dry mustard
175g leek shredded finely and sautéed in a little butter for 2 minutes
1 heaped tablespoon of fresh, chopped parsley
Coating
100g fresh breadcrumbs
1 medium size free-range egg
4 tablespoons milk
Vegetable oil for frying
Method
Place the breadcrumbs, cheese, seasoning, mustard, leek and parsley into a mixing bowl, mix well.
Beat together the eggs, and add to the ingredients. Mix the ingredients to form a firm dough, you may need a little milk if the mixture is a little dry. Divide the mixture into 16, and form each portion into a sausage shape.
Coating the sausages is optional, however this does give a wonderful crispy texture to the sausages. Beat the egg and add the milk. Place the breadcrumbs on a plate and season lightly. Take each sausage and roll it in the egg mixture, drain a little, then roll in the breadcrumbs. Repeat until all the sausages are coated, chill for an hour.
Heat a heavy base frying pan, add a little oil, add the sausages a few at a time and cook over a medium-low heat until golden all over. The sausages should fry gently, if the heat is too high they will brown too quickly and not be cooked through.
Cawl
Cawl is traditionally a hearty dish made of meat and any vegetables available. There are many recipes often handed down through the family and vary from town to town throughout Wales. The dish is also known as 'lobscows' in areas of North Wales. It is often better the day after preparing when all the flavours have developed. It is served in some areas in a wooden bowl and eaten with a wooden spoon with chunks of homemade bread and Welsh cheese.
Serves: 6 as a main course | Prep: 20 minutes | Cook: 3 hours
![St-Davids-Day-590](/sites/default/files/images/joomla/images/2016/26_feb/St-Davids-Day-590.jpg)
Ingredients
1 kg middle neck or shoulder Welsh lamb, Welsh beef or ham hock
1 onion, roughly chopped
6 medium potatoes – peeled and chopped
3 carrots – peeled and chopped
1 small swede or 2 parsnips – peeled and chopped
2 leeks –washed and sliced
1 small bunch fresh parsley
vegetable stock
salt and pepper
Method
Place the meat in a large saucepan, cover with water and bring to the boil. Simmer for 2-3 hours over a low heat. Leave overnight to cool and the following day skim off any fat that has risen to the surface.
Cut the meat off the bone and return to the stock then add the potatoes, carrots, swede or parsnips and simmer until cooked. Add more vegetable stock if required at this point. Season with salt and pepper.
Finally add the shredded leeks and just before serving throw in the roughly chopped parsley. You can thicken the cawl if required with a paste made with flour and water or fine oatmeal.
Note: It is better to use a cheaper cut of meat on the bone so that maximum flavour
is obtained. You can also serve the meat separately to the vegetable soup.
Welsh cakes
Cooking on a bakestone or griddle has been common practice throughout Wales for centuries. The art of a good Welsh cake is to cook them quickly on both sides so that they stay moist in the centre, but take care not to burn them!
Makes: 15-18 | Prep: 15 minutes| Cook: 10 minutes
![St-Davids-Day-590-3](/sites/default/files/images/joomla/images/2016/26_feb/St-Davids-Day-590-3.jpg)
Ingredients
225g self raising flour
pinch of salt
1 teaspoon mixed spice
110g butter, lard or margarine
75g caster sugar
75g mixed currants and sultanas
1 large egg beaten
grated rind of half a lemon (optional)
Method
Sieve the flour, salt and spice into a mixing bowl. Rub in the fats until the mixture looks like fine breadcrumbs.
Add the sugar, lemon rind and dried fruit. Pour in the beaten egg and stir to make a firm dough.
On a floured board, roll or press the dough to approximately 5mm thick. Cut into discs with a 4-5cm cutter. Or cut into squares, you will not need to keep re-rolling if you use this shape.
Bake the Welsh cakes on a medium hot griddle, turning once, until golden brown on both sides but still a little soft in the middle.
Dust with caster sugar while still hot. If you do not have a griddle you could use a heavy base frying pan, lightly buttered.
Tinker's Cake
There are a few variations of this cake which was traditionally cooked in the South Wales valleys and baked in a Dutch oven in front of the fire. A stiffer dough was rolled out on a floured board into a large round around 1cm thick and cooked on a moderately hot bake stone for 3 to 4 minutes each side. This recipe is for a slightly wetter dough which is cooked in a cake tin in the oven.Serves: 4 | Prep: 10 minutes| Cook: 50 minutes
![St-Davids-Day-590-2](/sites/default/files/images/joomla/images/2016/26_feb/St-Davids-Day-590-2.jpg)
Ingredients
275g self-raising flour
150g butter
150g demerara sugar
450g cooking apples, finely diced
1 teaspoons cinnamon (optional)
150ml milk
Method
Rub the butter into the flour and add the sugar, cinnamon and the diced apple. Add the milk and mix well to make a fairly stiff dough.
Grease a 20cm square tin, flatten the dough evenly into it and bake in an oven 160˚C/Gas 3 for approximately 45-50 minutes until golden and cooked through. Test with a skewer to ensure that the centre is cooked.
Turn out onto a wire rack to cool and sprinkle with demerara sugar.
This cake is best eaten fresh but will last up to 3 days.