Wartime Bara Brith

Dydd Gwyl Dewi Hapus…. Happy Saint Davids Day

Welsh National Dress
1948

It was a beautiful morning... it felt like Spring. For the first time in a while we walked home from church. And yes...I wore my daffodil with pride

Back home.. Mr D joined a few of our neighbours with the weekly ritual of mowing the front lawn. I know pride is a sin... but boy... these men love their lawns!

Meanwhile.. I used the dried fruit I had soaking in tea over night and made a delicious Bara Brith.. the last of my Welsh dishes for this week

“Bara Brith” is a traditional Welsh fruit loaf that literally means speckled bread. The recipe calls for lots of dried fruit, soaked in tea overnight and orange zest to give it a little zing. Using only one egg it easily fit into a rationed diet... and could be easily adapted during the war to use orange marmalade instead of orange juice and zest. Finely grated carrot could also be used to replace some of the fruit.

Delicious spread with a little butter....and served with a nice cup of tea

Dried fruit soaking in tea

1lb of self raising flour (I used plain with 5 teaspoons of baking powder)

1/2 pint of tea

1lb of mixed dried fruit (substitute 1/3 with finely grated carrot to save on rations)
6 oz of light brown sugar
1 medium egg
1 or 2 teaspoons of mixed spice
1 tablespoon of honey
1 tablespoon or orange juice
1 tablespoon of orange zest (or use 2 tablespoons of orange marmalade to replace the honey, orange juice and zest)

• Make 1/2 pint of strong tea and add the dried fruit and grated carrot to the tea
• Place in fridge overnight
• The next day mix the honey, orange juice and zest (or marmalade) with the sugar and egg
• Add that to the fruit and tea mixture
• Sift the flour and spice into a large bowl
• Add the fruit/tea mixture
• Mix until all flour is mixed in
• Place in two small greased loaf tins or one large one
• Cook at 160C or 320 F for about 1 to 1.5 hours (use foil to cover if getting too brown)
• Remove and cool for a while then glaze with honey or a sugar water mix
• Remove from tin and cool thoroughly before storing in a tin
• Slice and serve with butter

We ended the weekend listening to the happenings of the week on the radio... 

with a nice cup of tea.. and of course.. a lovely slice of Bara Brith

Week Ending February 28, 1942 

 Old Time Radio

Ponch Maip

 Happy Saturday Lovelies..

And our celebration of our favourite Welsh food continues

With a very busy day ahead, we started the morning with a lovely breakfast of Ministry of Food Wartime Welsh Eggs..

Wartime Welsh Eggs

I’m not quite sure what Welsh about it unless it’s a play on Welsh Rarebit but all the same..it’s quite delicious.

We spent the day pottering in the garden Our lovely friend Primo had gifted us with a couple of plumeria trees from his yard and MrD had to get them in the ground pretty quick before the day got too hot. And believe me..it got hot. 91 degrees..and its only February

After tending my flowers, I managed to plant all my seed potatoes. 

I’m hoping for a bumper crop again this year.

Dinner was another Welsh dish and one of our favorites Ponch Maip

Ponch Maip.. also known as Ponchmipe.. is a local dish from North Wales, where I was born.  Maip is the Welsh word for turnip/swede. Ponch, as it sounds, means to punch or to mash.

So quite simply, its mashed potato and mashed swede or turnip, mixed together with a little butter and salt and pepper to taste. 

Often served with savory dishes like sausages it can also include carrots, be served with onion gravy, or be used as a topping for shepherd's pie.

Real comfort food... and absolutely delicious

And to end the day, we watched our favourite Welsh movie 

how green was my valley starring Maureen O’Hara and Walter Pidgeon 

Perfect!

Quick Welsh Rarebit

Happy Thursday Lovelies

Breakfast this morning was another Welsh favourite... Welsh Rarebit

Welsh Rarebit is basically posh cheese on toast...and there are many versions. this one comes from the Margueite Patten book Feeding the Nation and it quick..easy and tasty. It incorporates a layer of chutney.. a pefrect use for my Green Tomato Chutney that I made last year

2 slices bread
1 teaspoon margarine
1 teaspoon chutney, or yeast extract
2 tablespoons grated cheese

• Toast the bread
• Spread with margarine and a thin coating of chutney, or yeast extract.
• Cover with grated cheese
• Place under the grill till golden brown.
• Eat with a raw vegetable salad.

Wartime Welshcakes (Pice ar y Maen)

 Happy Wednesday Lovelies

Well the weather has suddenly turned much warmer. Even though there is still snow on the mountains, it actually felt like a Spring day today. Flowers are starting to bloom in the garden.. but what Im missing are daffodils.. especially this time of year. Daffodils are the national of flowers of Wales and where I grew up they were everywhere.. 

I will have to buy some on Friday as this Sunday is St Davids Day...  

the feast day of the patron saint of Wales

To celebrate.. over the next couple of days.. I will be making a few of our favourite Welsh dishes. To start..today I made a batch of  Wartime Welsh Cakes... or Pice ar y Maen.. which literally means "cakes on a stone" They are small, spiced, currant-filled griddle cakes cooked on a bakestone or hot plate rather than in an oven. They are a cross between a scone and a pancake and also known as a Welsh teacake.  A perfect sweet, afternoon tea treat. 

I used a WW2 recipe. Quick and easy to make, these little cakes are a wartime classic that provided soldiers and coal mine workers during the World War with a sense of happiness. to me they are a taste of home

You can take this girl out of Wales.. but you can’t take Wales out of this girl.

6 oz plain flour with 3 teaspoons baking powder added (or use self raising flour)
2 oz margarine, butter or dripping
2 oz sultanas (or mixed dried fruit)
1 small carrot grated
2 oz sugar
1 fresh egg or 1 dried reconstituted egg
1 tablespoon milk
1/4 teaspoon of ground nutmeg

• Rub fat into the flour and baking powder mix until resembles bread crumbs
• Stir in nutmeg, sugar and dried fruit
• Mix the egg and milk together and add to dry mix to form a stiff dough (add more liquid or more flour as needed)
• Treat mixture as pastry and roll out on floured surface to 1/4 inch thick
• Use 3 inch rounds to cut out
• Pre-heat griddle or heavy frying pan
• Grease
• Put in Welsh Cakes and cook until golden brown on both sides over a moderate heat (about 4 minutes)
• Set aside a cool
• Sprinkle with a little sugar
• Serve with butter/jam and a nice cuppa strong tea!