St Davids Day

Spring-time is a start of many religious and national celebrations. St David’s day or Dewi Sant as pronounced in the Welsh language is celebrated on the 1^st of March who was a Celtic Priest in the sixth Century who spread the word of Christianity to his Celtic followers. He later became the Archbishop of Wales before he died to become celebrated as the Patron Saint of Wales. In Wales today we celebrate this day with cooking traditional welsh food.

A traditional welsh breakfast would consist of having fresh cockles and laverbread along with your bacon and eggs. Whenever I visit the Swansea Gower I always have to indulge in fresh cockles with lots of malt vinegar and white pepper. Cawl is the welsh name given to soup that is made up of lamb, potatoes and vegetables. My Grand-mother was notorious for cooking the best home-made cawl ever, and it was always comforting to eat on a cold evening for supper or when feeling a bit under -the-weather.

Recipe for Cawl:

600g of Lamb pieces, 600g of diced potatoes, 200g of Carrots, 200g Swede, 200g Parsnips, 1 Cabbage, 2 Leeks, 1 Onion, Fresh Parsley, Salt and Pepper.

Firstly you need to brown the lamb in a frying pan with a little bit of oil making sure you drain out the fat, you can add a bit of salt and pepper when browning. Then whilst that is cooking boil some fresh cold water in a large stock pot and then once the meat is done add it to the boiling water. This has to boil further for another half an hour. Then chop up all your vegetables and add to the pot with a bit more seasoning. This has to be covered and left to cook for a good hour before it is ready to start serving. Serve this with a nice handful of fresh parsley on top and a bit of extra pepper if you want.

Welsh Cakes or ‘Pice ar y mean’ was a tea-time favourite in our house when I was a young. Whenever I eat them now brings back nostalgia to a time arriving home from school being greeted by my mum and the smell of the fresh cakes being cooked on the hot stove. I sometimes would add a nice spread of butter and my favourite jam. I enjoy cooking this with my children as this recipe is so simple and most cost effective as it is made from the cheapest ingredients so you will not break your bank balance!

Recipe for Welsh Cakes:

For the ingredients you would need; 200g of Plain Flour,  85g Caster Sugar, ½ teaspoon of Mixed Spice, ½ teaspoon of Baking Powder, 50g of Butter, 50g of lard, 50g of Currants, 1 egg and 1 tablespoon of Milk.  


Firstly, sieve the flour and using your hands rub the lard and butter into the flour, then add the currants, mixed spice and the egg. Now get a wooden spoon to mix the rest and add a splash of milk. Once it is all mixed into a dough and start rolling it out. Start cutting out into circles about 10 cm using a cutter. Grease the flat pan and then start heating up to add the cakes. Once they start cooking keep checking to turn the cakes over to the other side then remove and serve!!