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Cooking Up a Celtic Feast
30 June 2008
67 cooks from the Celtic nations: Brittany, Wales, Ireland, Scotland, and the Isle of Man, share their culinary heritage with us in this sumptuous new book by well known cookery writer and broadcaster, Gilli Davies.
67 cooks from the Celtic nations: Brittany, Wales, Ireland, Scotland, and the Isle of Man, share their culinary heritage with us in this sumptuous new book by well known cookery writer and broadcaster, Gilli Davies.
The book features Rick Stein’s famous Cornish Fish pie, a luscious Breton fish soup from Simone Morand, as well as contributions from Darina Allen of the world-famous Ballymaloe Cookery School, recipes from Glasgow’s much-feted eaterie, The Ubiquitous Chip, and glorious Welsh dishes from the author herself.
The Celtic nations share the sea as their common bond, and make fine use of ocean bounty such as lobster, crab, oyster, sea trout, scallops and salmon.
Celtic stockmen reared livestock with pride, providing succulent meat for the table, and giving rise to recipes such as Gilli’s delicacy - roast leg of Welsh lamb with ginger, honey, cider and rosemary.
And foraging for wild fare helped the Celts supplement their diet with grouse, pheasant, mushrooms, berries, herbs and nutritious laverbread (seaweed).
“Celtic cooking was borne of necessity,” explains Gilli Davies. “Long before the Celtic Tiger roared, these nations were impoverished, and the population was forced to make the best of what was available on their doorstep.
“Ironically, of course, the Celts’ basic fare is now highly prized in contemporary culinary concepts - fresh, local produce, and the tastiest natural ingredients have greater kudos than exotic delicacies flown in from afar with their attendant ‘carbon footprint’.
“The book features time-honoured favourites such as Cornwall’s Stary Gazy pie, Ireland’s ‘colcannon’, and Welsh rarebit, but also brings in modern recipes with a light, contemporary touch,” she adds. “Today’s cooks want to prepare tasty, imaginative meals with minimum fuss, and these recipes are perfect for that.”
Tempt your guests with:
· Deep fried Penclawdd cockles
· Sorrel soup
· Warmed oysters with chive
· Seared Anglesey king scallops with capers and sage
· Roast woodpigeon with pearl barley, chanterelles and wild garlic
· Red onion, apple and Welsh cheese tart
· Saffron cake
· Elderflower sorbet
Celtic Cuisine is published by Graffeg (029 2037 7312, www.graffeg.com), price £14.99, and is available from Waterstones, Borders, Amazon, Graffeg web site, and all good independent book stores.
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