Witchy Kitchen

Tag: welsh

  • Rye Popovers with Welsh Rarebit Sauce

    Rye Popovers with Welsh Rarebit Sauce

    I adored Tim Burton’s 2016 film Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children based on the book of the same name by Ransom Riggs. I can attribute most of my love to the film’s charming and spookyl atmosphere, from the Burtonesque settings, to the paranomal abilitied children I’ve described as X-Men through an Instagram filter, to the hauntingly lovely Florence and the Machine song that plays through the credits. I can attribute the rest of my love to the luminous Eva Green as Miss Peregrine.

    Illustration by Andrew Tarusov

    Miss Peregrine’s school is located in Wales, and to my American sensibility the most iconic Welsh food is Welsh Rarebit (please comment and school me if there are more dishes I should know). As far as dishes go though, this is a good one, the sauce is simply amazing. One of my peculiar children declared “dis is yum!”

    I made the lovely rarebit creamy cheese sauce flavored with dijon, worcestershire sauce and ale (I used pumpkin beer!) but rather than on rye toast, I made some light and airy rye popovers to evoke Emma (yes in the book it’s Olive) who is lighter than air. I wonder if she’s a good cook – she’s probably great at things like popovers, soufflees, meringues, puris, foams and lattes.

    Just a note, in a rare twist I adapted nothing this time, both unaltered recipes came out really nice.

    Rye Popovers with Welsh Rarebit Sauce

    For the popovers
    Recipe from Food.com

    • 3⁄4 cup rye flour
    • 1 cup all-purpose flour
    • 1⁄2 teaspoon salt
    • 1 cup milk
    • 1 tablespoon butter, melted
    • 2 eggs, lightly beaten

    Heat over to 450° and grease a muffin tin.

    Whisk together flours and salt, then add milk, butter, and eggs. Mix well and divide between muffin cups.

    Bake for 20 minutes, then reduce heat to 350$deg; and bake for another 5 minutes. Cool on a rack. Serve with rarebit sauce, below.

    For the rarebit sauce
    Recipe from Alton Brown

    • 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
    • 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
    • 1 teaspoon dijon mustard
    • 1 teaspoon worcestershire sauce (vegetarian sauce to make vegetarian)
    • 1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
    • 1/4 teaspoon freshly cracked pepper
    • 1/4 cup beer (porter is best, I used a lighter pumpkin beer, also good)
    • 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons heavy cream
    • 3/4 cups shredded cheddar

    On low heat in a saucepan, heat butter and flour, whisking continuously for several minutes (do not let flour brown). Whisk in in dijon mustard, worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper until well combined. Whisk in beer and cream, and add cheddar. Cook, whisking constantly, for 5-7 minutes until cheese is melted completely and mixture has slightly thickened. Remove from heat and serve warm with popovers.

    Recipe for Fiction Kitchen Podcast Episode 48: MISS PEREGRINE’S HOME FOR PECULIAR CHILDREN in which Carrie and Diana discuss the 2016 Tim Burton film and the novel by Ransom Riggs that it’s based on. Giant carrots, weird little back-teeth, eyeball munching, carnival food; all very peculiar.

  • Turniphead Cawl

    Turniphead Cawl

    Howl’s Moving Castle is a 1986 fantasy novel by Diana Wynne Jones and subsequent 2004 Ghibli movie directed by Hayao Miyazaki. It’s the tale of the young hatmaker Sophie who was cursed with old age, and escapes to Howl’s castle, a steampunk fortress home to several enchanting characters, careening across the countryside. They are tonally different, the book having that very matter-of-face Britishy voice and the movie being soft, strange and meandering, but both very charming and observant. They explore themes of destiny – and the movie dips into pacifism – and a refreshing take on old age, when a person can be at peace with themself and therefore truly free.

    When brainstorming a dish for Howl’s Moving Castle, I thought Welsh Cawl might be a nice choice – is the national dish of Wales from whence hails Howl, and although Sophie hates turnips she has somewhat affectionately named the stalky scarecrow Turniphead. I carved little faces into my turnips, so Halloweeny – keep Halloween in your heart all through the year.

    Recommended, do the meat and broth step the day before so it has time to cool and you can spoon off the fat.

    Turniphead Cawl

    • 1.5 pounds bone-in lamb shoulder, cut into 1 1/2 inch pieces
    • flavorless oil
    • salt & pepper
    • herbs (I used several sprigs of thyme and a sprig of rosemary)
    • 2 leeks, trimmed and sliced into half moons
    • 1 large carrot, peeled and sliced into half moons
    • 3 medium turnips, peeled, halved, and carved into faces
    • handful parsley finely chopped

    Salt and pepper the meat and heat 2 tablespoons oil over medium high in a large soup pot. Brown in two batches, then add 6 cups water and the rest of the meat into pot, stirring well to scrape up any brown bits. Add herbs, bring to a boil, and reduce to a simmer for an hour.

    Cool completely in the fridge. Scrape off fat and discard. Strain the meat out to a plate, and strain the broth.

    In the soup pot, gently heat 2 teaspoons oil. Add leaks and carrots to the pot and gently stir to coat, cooking several minutes until wilted and soft. Add broth, meat, and turnips. Bring up to a simmer and simmer until turnips are soft and can be easily pierced with a paring knife, 10-15 minutes.

    Arrange in a bowl and serve hot, garnished with parsley.

    Recipe for Fiction Kitchen Episode 49: HOWL’S MOVING CASTLE in which Carrie and Diana discuss the novel by Diana Wynne Jones as well as the Ghibli movie – with fire demon-cooked bacon, luscious cream cakes, magical honey and questionable turnip heads.