Cawl
Serves 4
I love traditional recipes and learning about their origin. I’m particularly fond of traditional Welsh dishes because I was married to a Welsh lass for 20 years, lived in Wales for 10 of those years, and my three boys were born in Wales. One of our favorite Welsh recipes is Bara Brith, which is made once a month and always served with a hot cuppa’ tea along with the occasional Welsh cake. Leek and potato soup is a must in the winter months. One dish that always gets made the first of March, usually around St. David’s Day, is cawl. My boys love this because it is made with lamb.
Cawl is recognized as a national dish of Wales. In the modern Welsh language, the word cawl is used to refer to any soup or broth. In the English language, it is referred to a traditional Welsh soup or cawl Cymreig in Welsh. Historically, ingredients tended to vary, but the most common are lamb, leeks, potatoes, swedes, carrots, and other seasonal vegetables. The dish was traditionally cooked in an iron pot or cauldron over a wood or coal fire the day before and then reheated to be eaten with wooden spoon, not metal. Hope you enjoy this traditional Welsh favorite as much as we do in the Davies clan.
Ingredients:
2lb neck of lamb (on the bone, preferably Welsh) or 1lb of shoulder of lamb, cut into medium size cubes
6 cups low sodium lamb stock or chicken stock
2 cups fingerling potatoes, washed and cut into quarters
1 onion, peeled and roughly chopped
1 cup carrots or one cup mixed baby carrots, washed and roughly chopped
1 cup swede, peeled and roughly chopped
1 large leek, washed and sliced
How to make:
Place the lamb into a large saucepan and pour over the stock. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for one hour. Skim the surface of any impurities and discard.
Add the potatoes, onion, carrot and swede and cook for a further 45 minutes. Add the leeks the last 15 minutes of cooking. Remove from the heat and ladle into warm soup bowls. Serve with lots of black pepper, a wedge of mature Caerphilly cheese and, if you can get some, a good Welsh artisan bread and butter for dunking.
For even tastier results, let the cawl chill overnight. If you do that simply stir in the raw leeks, cover, and pop into the fridge. The soup will keep for up to three days. When you’re ready to serve, gently simmer the cawl until warm through, season and serve.