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With Peggy Morgan Speakman
Beef Cobbler
When the holidays are over and winter sets in, most of us are ready for simple comfort food. Beef Cobbler is just such a dinner – an economical, slowly cooked casserole with a topping of savory scones. It was usually served with buttered boiled potatoes and an extra vegetable, such as cabbage.
Casserole Filling:
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2 lbs. stewing beef, cubed |
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2 med. carrots, sliced |
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¼ cup well seasoned flour |
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2 med. tomatoes, chopped |
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2 Tbls. fat or oil |
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1 ¼ tsp. salt |
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2 med. onions, thinly sliced |
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5-6 ozs. water |
Heat oven to 300 degrees. Fry the onions and carrots lightly. Toss the beef cubes in the seasoned flour, add to the pan and fry for 5 min. Put into a casserole, adding tomatoes, salt and water. Cover and cook in the center of oven at 300 for 2 to 2 ½ hours. During the last ½ hour, turn oven up to 400 and prepare the scones.
Savory Scone Topping:
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2 cups flour plus 3 tsp. baking powder and 1 ¼ tsp. salt (mixed) |
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1 ¼ tsp. finely chopped parsley |
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¼ cup margarine and lard (mixed) (I use margarine and Crisco) |
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8-10 Tbs. milk |
Sift flour mix. Rub in fat and add parsley. Mix to a soft dough with the milk. Knead lightly on a floured board. Roll out to ½ inch thick. Cut into 10 rounds and cut out center of each round with a smaller cutter. Arrange the rings on top of the nearly cooked casserole. Brush with milk and return to the top of the 400 degree oven for 20-30 minutes until scones are well risen and brown.
Mashed Rutabaga with Potatoes and Leeks
What is more Welsh than that? I found this dish on the Internet and it immediately brought back memories. Rutabaga was served frequently in our home. Mother called them “swedes.” If any was left after dinner, Mom mixed it with the left over mashed potatoes for the next day’s menu. In those days nothing was wasted. To this day, rutabaga is a must for Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners at our house. I am reminded every year by my children --don’t forget the rutabaga.
Serve this dish to first time, or hesitant, rutabaga eaters. More than one rutabaga skeptic has been hooked with this dish and turned into a rutabaga appreciator.
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4 cups peeled rutabaga, cut into 1 inch dice |
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approximately ½ cup whole milk, warmed |
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2 cups russet potatoes, peeled, cut into 2 inch pieces |
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1 tsp. lemon juice |
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1 cup trimmed and cleaned leeks, sliced thin |
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Salt and pepper to taste |
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½ stick butter |
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chopped scallions or chives for garnish |
Peel rutabaga, cut into 1 inch dice. Cook rutabaga in a large pot of boiling water until very tender, approximately 20 minutes. Remove rutabaga with slotted spoon to a colander. Add potatoes to SAME POT of boiling water; cook until tender, about 15 minutes and drain well. While potatoes are cooking, melt butter in a medium size sauté pan and cook the leeks, covered, over low flame until very tender, approximately 12 minutes, stirring often to make sure they don’t brown. Discard the cooking water and return the rutabaga and potatoes to the same pot. Stir over a low flame for 2-3 minutes to release excess water. Add cooked leeks and mash well. Add warmed milk, as needed, to obtain a creamy texture and mash until smooth. Stir in lemon juice and season to taste with salt and pepper. Transfer to serving bowl and sprinkle with scallions and/ or chives.
If you’ve tried recipes from this column or you have a Welsh recipe you’d like to share, write to: Peggy Morgan Speakman, % WSCO, PO Box 12023, Columbus, OH 43212; or email pmspeak[at]insight.rr[dot]com.
Speciality salt wins Michelin chefs’ praise
A Welsh sea salt has been named one of the world’s top five gastronomic products by a meeting of some of the world’s finest chefs.
The accolade afforded Anglesey’s Halen Môn came from the cream of the world’s Michelin-starred chefs who said the product, which comes from the Menai Strait, had “significantly raised the quality of gastronomy.”
The company said the salt is taken from very pure water under a sandbank in the sea, which has already been filtered by mussels. The company boasts its product is fully traceable, with the initials of the person who picked the salt even printed at the bottom of the containers.
The salt has joined this year’s (2007) elite top five gastroproducts from around the world that include a chocolatier, a cheese maker, a rice grower and an oyster grower.
Excerpted from an article on the icwales website.