Traditional Welsh food is still popular in the Principality of Wales here are two suggestions that make a filling healthy breakfast and a delicious elevensies.
British regional cuisine in vast in its variety from Scotland’s Haggis, to the West Countries faggots, to Irish stew and Yorkshire pudding. But there is one part of Britain that does not receive the attention it deserves – Wales.
Welsh cuisine is unique in British tastes as the national dish is cooked seaweed or lawr. This is the same kind of seaweed as is used in Japanese cooking and found wrapped around morsels of sushi.
Traditionally the seaweed is harvested around west Wales’s Gower Peninsula coast then it is boiled for several hours and once cooked it is drained and mixed with oatmeal to make bara lawr. The mixtures is rolled into shape and strips of bacon wrapped around the bara lawr which is then shallow fried in the bacon fat.
The traditional way to serve this breakfast dish is with cockles or accompanied by triangles of fried bread and fried tomatoes.
To lift a dish of soup, any sauces, or pasta dish just add a touch of bar lawr and it elevates the dish to new heights of taste while bestowing its own distinctive and refreshing tang to any dish.
The seaweed is also a very healthy option as it is highly nutritious containing iodine, iron and many necessary minerals, vitamins and trace elements.
Bara lawr has a distinctive taste which is not at all fishy or overly salty but the essence of its ingredients gives it a characteristic flavour reminiscent of oysters and just a little of caviar.
Welsh Rabbit
But perhaps the most well known of Welsh foods is Welsh Rabbit or is it Rarebit?. The Oxford English Dictionary insists that the correct name is Welsh Rabbit. No matter the name this snack is a quick, easy and filling treat using simple ingredients to make a tasty bite.
The dish is a two-step process, first toast the bread and then prepare the cheese-based topping. At its simplest Welsh Rabbit is the humble cheese on toast, but it can be much more than this.
There are many versions of this dish the, I tend to fall back on is the easiest, cheese on toast version. But for a real treat try a more elaborate recipe.
The basic ingredients are simple and few, butter, milk (or ale), mild mustard, salt and pepper and of course mature Welsh farmhouse cheese.
To these can be added tomatoes, onions, finely chopped chives or leeks, cooked ham, fresh chillies, garlic, crispy bacon or sun-dried tomatoes. Now that’s a versatile topping for a fillet of roast beef, roast cod or poured over roast vegetables and baked until a golden colour.
