Llongyfarchiadau Cymru! #shopcardiff

I don't know if you heard, but Wales did pretty well in the rugby yesterday? In celebration, I thought that I would share some of the good Welsh eating that I've been up to of late!
As you will have gathered, I am a big fan of independent food shopping where possible. So I was delighted to see the @tweetcardiff campaign to #shopcardiff. It just so happened that just the week before I had ordered my first @welshbox veggie box and received my order of half a hogget from Square Farm in Mitchell Troy near Monmouth.

So I've spent the last couple of weeks cooking with some truly exceptional base ingredients. I've found that having the veg box is encouraging me to re-visit some more traditional Welsh recipes. Here are my top 5 from the last couple of weeks:

1. Cawl; deeply flavoursome hogget neck fillet with fabulous @welshbox carrots, potatoes, baby leeks, parsnips and a small handful of barley. The difference between the taste of this root veg and the stuff you get in supermarkets is incomparable. Even as you cut the parsnips and carrots you can really smell the flavours. After a long day at work, a bowl of this and a glass of red is just ideal- chop it all up, chuck in it a pot, cover with water/stock and simmer until tender. What could be easier?

2. Corned Beef Hash with Poached Hen's Eggs and Crispy Greens. This was surprisingly tasty, and very simple! First of all brown some leeks in a little butter, until they start to brown, then add cubes of corned beef coated in Welsh mustard to the frying pan and sauté with the leeks for a minute, before adding a good dollop of mash. Give the contents of the pan a stir, then leave it to catch- you actually want it a little bit burnt as that's where the crispy bits and caramelised flavour comes in. I poached my eggs in the potato water whilst the hash finished off. In order to make the crispy greens, simply finely slice and toss in a bowl with Welsh rape seed oil, salt and a little sugar- then lay out the shiny seaweed-looking greens onto a baking sheet and place in a hot oven for 5 mins, or until crispy. I love greens this way, they provide the ideal topping to the dish.

3. Hogget Chops with Fairy Potatoes. This could not be easier, simply place your chops on a baking tray, add cubed potatoes, whole cloves of garlic- sprinkle with a good grinding of salt, pepper and perhaps a pinch of dried thyme. Drizzle a little oil over the potatoes then roast in the oven until golden. The fat from the chops will render away and give the potatoes and garlic the most wonderful flavour. Why 'Fairy' potatoes? I'll be straight with you- I'm not really sure. Mr B's Nan used to make these little roast potatoes for tea from time to time, and this is what they were called! I like it, It makes me picture greedy little fairies eating the mini roasties.

4. Ok, so this might not be strictly a Welsh dish, but we do love a curry here in Wales- so I feel justified in including this! Madgetts Farm Chicken Wings in my special Tandoori seasoning with roast chunks of spring cabbage. Simply coast the chicken in your favourite spice mix or seasoning, cut a small cabbage in quarters (drizzle in oil and sprinkle with salt) then place in a medium oven to roast. The roast cabbage quarters was a great suggestion from the veg box, which comes with recipe ideas every week. I love wings, and these meaty organic Welsh ones are particularly delicious.

5. Ham and Pea Soup. This one is actually bubbling away as I write, I like to make a good hearty soup and freeze the portions to see us through the working week lunches. So what's in the pot? More of those intensely flavoursome carrots, baby leeks, a ham shank bone that I had frozen for this very purpose (left over from a meaty lunch), split peas, and a small handful of bacon bits from Thompson Family Butchers in Penarth. Whenever I see a big vacuum pack of miscellaneous bacon bits in a local butchers I snap them up- I tend to divide the 'bits' into handful portions and pop them in the freezer, ready for when the need for bacon is there (let's be honest, when is it not?).

So as you can see, when the quality of your ingredients is this good- all you need is to introduce them to each other in simple, but delightful combinations.

I've also eaten out locally, a fair bit in the last couple of weeks, and met some incredible foodie inspiration! I look forward to writing up some of these experiences shortly and sharing.

But for now, well done Wales! Land of Champions- for rugby and food.

Duck Confit & Angel Delight

Last Saturday we made the welcome and familiar trip to Broadhaven (Pembrokeshire ) to stay with friends. Stopping in at gorgeous Narbeth on the way there is compulsory. We headed straight for Ultra Comida, which was reassuringly busy as always. When joining the orderly queue for the tiny cafe area, we were quickly acknowledged, and in less than 5 minutes offered a seat at the bar. The plan was to make a late Tapas feast that evening so we opted for Bara (baguettes) for a relatively light lunch, Mr B and I opted for Tortilla and Red Pepper filling, and a mature Spanish cheese and Chorizo in the other- with a side order of Pan Fried Squid (as you do). On reflection it would have been more sensible to split a Bara between the 2 of us, these bad boys are sizable! The bread at Ultra Comida is fabulous, although we should NOT have nibbled a whole bowl of it with olive oil prior to the main event, or perhaps devoured that whole bowl of complementary olives- but we did, obviously, and they were gorgeous. However- it did mean that we very much struggled to eat our Bara- the bread was crisp on the outside and delightfully fluffy (for want of a better word) on the inside. The chorizo was strong with a paprika and garlic tang, the slightly melted cheese tasted incredible mixed with the bright red chorizo oil leaking onto the bread.

Now this is a rare thing for me to say, but perhaps the Bara would have benefited from a little less cheese, as the rich combination and generous portion proved a little sickly towards the end (but I suspect that is my bread and olive lined tummy talking). The tortilla Bara was excellent, I've said it before- but I'm always so pleasantly surprised at how delicious a simple omelette can be in the right hands. The garlicky (by definition) aioli and sweet red peppers were the ideal matching for this simple combo. The squid was well seasoned, although perhaps a little under done for our liking- although I would much rather under than over when it comes to seafood. The salsa verde and aioli on the side managed not to overpower the delicate sweet flavour of the squid. Service throughout was attentive and friendly- despite the incredibly busy lunchtime crowd. On the way out, although we could barely move- we did manage to make a few purchases in the deli: a stick of the wonderful house Bara (a bargain at £1.10), a wedge of ‘Don Luis Romero’ Rosemary coated cheese (divine), and 2 bottles of the house wine (£10 for both, ideal for our Spanish evening ahead).
 
That night, we joined our friends in Broadhaven and together whipped up a Spanish feast. Highlights of the spread included home made Croquetas - the recipe was really simple to execute actually and very good to eat- crispy shell and oozing centre. The crispy aubergines, sausagey meatballs and fine cheese selection also went down a treat with Ultra Comida's house wine, and a Rioja or two...
 

I can't mention our trip to West Wales and not include some photos of the beautiful beaches that we visited.

 
Following our trip to West Wales, we spent Monday in Monmouth with family- remembering someone very cherished in my life who is no longer with us. We like to celebrate memories at this time of year, so decided to treat ourselves to a nice lunch in town. We walked past Prego just before 2pm and decided to head in. The restaurant was relatively busy, but the serving staff quickly acknowledged us- and offered that we could wait for a table to be cleared to sit in the window, however we were happy to sit towards the back and did so to make things easier. Service was slow, it took 10 mins to get a menu and over 30 minutes for a drink to arrive at the table, in fact I had to get up and ask for this as we were getting very thirsty. I think that we were forgotten about, rather than the restaurant being so busy it took that long to serve drinks. However I must add that staff were apologetic about this fact, and explained that they were one member of staff down, following this apology our drinks (of the soft variety) were on the house, a welcome gesture. When the food arrived, we were delighted with our choices. I had Confit Duck leg served on a white bean Cassoulet with Toulouse sausage- the duck was delicately tender and flavourful, the cassoulet perfectly seasoned and tasty- dotted with plenty of good Toulouse sausage.

Mr B had a beautifully slow cooked rib of British Veal in a tomato and wine sauce, the meat was suitably unctuous- falling off the bone (and into my mouth). The sauce was robust with a hum of red wine that complemented the veal rather than dominated it- a really good dish, served with very buttery mash.

My mum enjoyed the buffalo mozzarella salad, especially with the sneaky side of herby chips (which obviously I didn't steal at all). When it came to the meal ending we were offered coffee/ desserts- which we politely declined (rare moment of self restraint) and asked for the bill. We were forgotten again at this point and the bill didn't come (we were now pretty much the only table in the restaurant)- so we got up and paid at the counter, which wasn't an issue. In summary- the food was incredibly enjoyable, the surroundings welcoming and the staff friendly. The service lacked efficiency, but in all honesty I got the feeling that we were just unlucky on the day, and this certainly wouldn't stop me visiting again.
 
The rest of the week's eating was a relatively muted affair due at an unfortunately timed Migraine. However, Mr Bailey did bring me back to life with a cup of Butterscotch Angel Delight mid-week, perhaps not the most gastronomic of dishes, but it did the trick.

The 500 cals a day, twice a week is going well by the way (I’m not even being sarcastic!). I have been tweeting dishes as I go- and am collecting up some recipes to share soon.