Taste of Wales

Celebrate St David’s Day by cooking up a Welsh-themed feast using the humble leek

LEEK CHESTNUT TWIST Ingredients

400g celeriac, peeled and roughly chopped 10 shallots

1 whole leek – whites and green leaves

3 apples

4 slices bread, crusts removed

1½ tbsp fresh sage leaves

½ tbsp fresh rosemary

7-8 chestnuts

2 sheets of puff pastry

Plain flour for rolling

20 ml Agave

20ml Rapeseed oil

Rosemary sprigs and dried cranberries to garnish

Method

Pre-heat the oven to 180C. Place the chopped celeriac in a bowl and drizzle with oil. Toss through the oil until each piece is lightly coated.

Place the celeriac on a baking tray and bake in the oven until tender, about 20 minutes.

On a separate baking tray place the shallots and drizzle with oil. Slice the leek lengthways and lay facing up on the same baking tray as the shallots. Drizzle with oil and place tray in the oven and bake both the shallots and leeks until lightly caramelised, about 15 minutes.

Peel the apples, remove the core and thinly slice. Boil the sliced apple in water until tender, drain well, then mash into a puree. Set aside.

Remove the celeriac, leeks and shallots from the oven and allow to cool slightly. Add to a food processor or blender and pulse until a roughly-textured puree. Break up the sliced bread roughly and add to the puree mix. Pulse a few times until the bread is mixed through. Add the apple puree and pulse one or two times times more.

Add the chopped chestnuts, sage, rosemary and salt and pulse one or two times until mixed through. Remove and add this mixture to a bowl, ready to use to fill the pastry.

Line a baking tray with baking paper and lay out your pastry sheets next to each other on the tray. Cut into four, so they are equal lengths and widths.

Starting 1cm in from the edge of each pastry sheet, add the filling mixture along the length of the pastry with a spoon, making sure to leave 1cm gap at all ends.

Being very careful not to tear the pastry, gently but tightly roll each pastry sheet with filling into a long sausage-shaped strand. Pinch each of the ends and edges to secure the filling, so that the filling does not fall apart when baking.

Now begin to plait your pastry. To start, secure all four sausage-shaped strands together at the top, by pinching the dough so they stick together. Starting from left to right start overlapping the strands in a plait, secure at the end by pinching together and overlapping the strands and tucking them under each other.

Place in the fridge for at least 20 minutes to firm up. Can be made up to this point a day in advance and kept covered in the fridge.

Mix the agave with the oil and brush all over the pastry, to prevent it from getting too dry and also to help give the pastry a nice golden colour.Then bake for 40-45 mins until golden brown.

Leave to cool for five minutes, then transfer to a serving platter and decorate with fresh herbs and dried cranberries if you wish.

WHILE many people wear a leek to mark Wales’ national day, you may prefer to chop and cook your leeks instead.

If that’s the case, then try these delicious Welsh-themed recipes that have been created for the British Leek Growers Association.

Leeks have been associated with Wales for many hundreds of years. Legend has it that in 640AD, the Briton King Cadwallader and his men were engaged in battle with invading Saxons. To distinguish themselves from the enemy, the Welsh wore leeks in their hats – and subsequently gained a great victory over their opponents.

The leek is also associated with St David – during the Middle Ages the leek was seen as a healthy and virtuous plant. Extraordinary qualities were claimed for it. It was the original health food, high in fibre, good for purging the blood, keeping colds at bay and healing wounds.

During this period the leek also acquired mystic virtues. It was claimed that girls who slept with a leek under their pillow on St David’s Day would see their future husband in their dreams.

The leek is worn in the caps of today’s Welsh soldiers every year on St David’s Day. On the same day, in the prestigious Welsh Guards Regiment, a large raw leek has to be eaten by the youngest recruits. The green and white plume worn in the bearskin hats of the guards also identifies them as belonging to a Welsh Regiment. According to tradition, the 600 soldiers of the Royal Welsh Regiment drink “gunfire” – tea laced with rum – served by officers on St David’s Day.

Leeks are fabulously versatile and can be enjoyed in all sorts of ways including sautéing, stir-frying, baking, roasting, braising and even adding raw to salads. Simply boiling leeks will turn the veg soft with a mild taste, while frying gives crunchy leeks with a stronger flavour.

Perhaps the most traditional use of leeks is Welsh Cawl, a stew-like dish consisting of meat and vegetables that has been enjoyed by the nation since the 14th century. Its ingredients tend to vary, but usually include lamb and leeks.

Consumption of leeks within the UK has surged over the past 12 months, rising by 16% in 2021. This has been attributed in part to the Covid-19 pandemic and ensuing lockdowns, which have seen Britons increasingly cooking at home and cooking from scratch. Other factors include a rise in veganism, with many more of us eating meat-free recipes and a growing awareness of how our diet can affect our gut health – leeks are a natural prebiotic and good source of fibre.

LEEK ‘CANNELLONI’ GRATIN WITH CHICKEN, APPLE AND CAERPHILLY CHEESE SAUCE

Ingredients

For the ‘cannelloni’ filling:

6-8 leek ‘cannelloni’ tubes, made from the white part of the leek

300g chicken (breast, leg or thigh), minced 1 clove of garlic, crushed

1 small onion, finely chopped

1 tbsp apple puree

2 tbsp fresh parsley, leaves only, roughly chopped

1 sprig of fresh thyme, leaves only

1 tbsp breadcrumbs, plus two tbsp more for the gratin topping

½ tsp salt

½ tsp black pepper

For the Caerphilly cheese sauce:

200ml double cream, mixed with 50 ml cold water

2 tbsp plain flour

25g margarine or butter 50g grated Caerphilly cheese

Method

In a food processor combine the onion, garlic, minced chicken and apple puree and blend to combine. Add the fresh parsley and thyme, a tablespoon of breadcrumbs, salt and pepper and blend to combine. Remove from the blender, and place in a bowl.

To fill the leek ‘cannelloni’ tubes, take a teaspoon at a time of the chicken filling mix and gently insert into the tube, making sure not to tear them.

Fill to half way, then turn over and fill from the other end, until the entire tube is filled. Be sure not to overfill, so make sure no filling protrudes beyond the edge of the tube.

Lay each filled tube horizontally inside a baking dish, with the sides of each tube touching.

To make the cheese sauce, mix the double cream and water in a jug. Melt the margarine or butter in a saucepan over a low heat.

Remove from the heat, add the flour and stir quickly to combine, making sure there are no lumps.

Return the saucepan to the low heat, and slowly pour the cream and water mixture whilst stirring quickly and continuously. You want to make sure that no lumps form. If lumps do form, remove the saucepan from the heat temporarily and stir through quickly to remove them. Once the sauce is smooth again, you can return the saucepan to the low heat.

Continue to heat the sauce, stirring continuously, until it starts to thicken.

Remove from the heat and add the grated cheese and stir quickly until the cheese is melted and you have a lovely silky smooth sauce.

Once you have made the cheese sauce, pour it over the filled ‘cannelloni’ tubes in the baking dish, covering them completely. Sprinkle the remaining breadcrumbs evenly over the top.

Bake in the oven until golden brown, about 30-40 minutes.