Idit, March 21st 2022

Or: WE ATE WALES

Because Idit found a list of traditional Welsh dishes on BBC Good Food – and cooked it. The whole bloomin’ lot.

Here it is:

  1. Welsh Rarebit
  2. Glamorgan Sausage
  3. Bara Brith
  4. Lamb Cawl
  5. Conwy Mussels
  6. Leeks Tart
  7. Laverbread
  8. Crempogs
  9. Sewin and Samphire
  10. Salt Marsh Lamb

No, I tell a lie. She skipped items 5 & 10. I’m not sure what Conwy Mussels and Salt Marsh Lamb have done to offend her, or indeed what we’ve done wrong to be denied these delicacies, but they were unceremoniously and inexplicably left out.

We did get every other item on that list though – which was no mean feat.

I should say at this point that some of these items have very misleading names: the Laverbread is not remotely like bread, but is, in fact, puréed seaweed (colloquially known as ‘Welsh Caviar’); the Bara Brith has nothing to do with the Jewish baby-naming ceremony, and is, actually, a bread; and the Glamorgan Sausages are really croquettes, and don’t contain a shred of meat.

But I’m jumping ahead of myself.

So – Wales. Not technically a sovereign state. But (and you’re welcome to check this for yourselves – don’t take my word for it) there are no sovereign countries starting with W. Not one. And Wales is a country, though not separate from the UK – much like Scotland and England; And besides we’ve already made much bigger diversions from our rule…. so here we are.

‘We’, on this particular evening, consisted of Idit and Oliver, Dorottya and Alistair (who both arrived very unfashionably late!), Bernhard & yours truly, and two fab new folks – Donna and Rob, close friends of Idit & Oliver’s. Lianne, sadly, couldn’t make it, but gave us her blessing.

So, after a bit of a mix-up as to whether or not this dinner is actually happening, and a quick emergency trip to Waitrose for ingredients, Dinner prep was well under way.

We have already come to expect beautiful staging from Idit, and when we stepped into her apartment, we were not disappointed: big and small Welsh Dragon flags adorned every surface, little cards marked the various dishes, and daffodils graces the beautifully laid table.

I’ve said before that Idit is a formidable cook. She is. But now I learned there is one cooking process that she finds oddly intimidating – frying. Apparently it’s the one kitchen activity her mother does well, and the one and only she doesn’t. I’m sure there’s a psych essay in there somewhere… Anyway, I was more than happy to jump in, and so can take a little credit for the Glamorgan sausages (= croquettes), which turned out lovely crisps and golden!

But that was a comma in a parade of excellent dishes:

First came the Lamb Cawl: a rich, heady stew of lamb and root veg, which, paired with the cheesy-fluffy Welsh Rarebit muffins (a variation on the cheese-on-toast original which turns them into a brilliant snack), could have been a lovely wintery meal all by themselves.

Then came the Leek, goat’s cheese, walnut & lemon Tart – a summery puff pastry open bake, which I had never eaten before but definitely will, and the Glamorgan Sausages: vegetarian croquettes, in fact (sorry for banging on about this) made with Caerphilly cheese, leek and coated in breadcrumbs. These went perfectly with the Laverbread – puréed seaweed collected at the shores of the Gower Peninsula, also known as Welsh Caviar – I can see why.

Everybody was nice and full by now, but we still had the pièce de résistance to face: Sewin and Samphire: Sea Trout baked with samphire and potted shrimp, served with buttery new Jersey potatoes. This was too good to deny even in our satiated state. At this point I was also reminded that I had totally ignored the aromatic Bara Brith at the other end of the table: a dense, spiced fruit loaf, mildly sweet, and completely irresistible with butter… I ate that too. So good.

Then – dessert. Of course we had dessert. This was in the form of Crempogs – Welsh buttermilk pancakes, served with clotted cream and jam. I’ve given you the recipe – but happen to know you can also buy good ones at Waitrose…

And that’s finally it. Lord knows where we put it all, or how Idit managed to make all of this in a day and a bit!! But it was ALL delicious, and washed down with generous amounts of bubbly.

We somehow made our ways home, to let our bodies digest, and to find out, the next day, that Idit is Covid-positive – just to remind us that the world is not quite back to normal yet.

Next it’s Lianne’s turn, with X – Can’t wait to see what she’ll pull out of the bag!