Cawl

[Gadget]

On Friday I gave some leeks to my fitness instructor who said if he ever gets any he would make some Cawl - yesterday as promised had the most fantastic lunch of Cawl.  Asked him for the recipe and this is the one he follows but said he "did bastardise it like" but wouldn't tell  :)  Anyway if anyone would like to try it was very scrummy:

Cawl should be started the day before so that any fat can be skimmed off and all the flavours amalgamate.

2lb best end of neck Welsh lamb
1 small swede
1 medium parsnip
1/2 carrots
1lb potatoes
2 leeks
1oz parsley
1/2 oz flour
salt and pepper

METHOD
1. Place the meat in a large saucepan and cover with water, add salt and pepper.
2. Slowly bring to the boil and skim carefully.
3. Add the chopped carrots, swede, parsnip and whites of leeks and simmer for 2 hours. If in season cabbage, celery etc. can all be used.
4. Add chopped potatoes and simmer for a further 1/2 hour.
5. Thicken with flour and water and add the chopped parsley and green of leeks.
6. Simmer for a further 15 mins.
7. Serve hot.
8. Cawl is particularly tasty when left overnight and again served hot.

[Gadget]

[Pescador]

Remember it well. Definitely better the next day. Lovely!!

[Debs]

Will give this a try - sounds just the thing for a cold day :P

Debs

[gazza1960]

Does sound scrummy Gadget,out of interest ive messaged a mate in Pontyprid to see if he or his wife have a local welsh version ..or at least a version they cook...I did speak to my local butcher who suggested the neck O Lamb might be a bit fatty (I say this cos I said to jude about  trying the recipe).. and I said.....well......fat adds flavour.....she just said......fat adds fat..... :(...I might just cook it and tell her I used leg..... ::)

Gazza

[rugbypost]

We use the breast of lamb it used to be a cheap meal for us all coming out of school on acold winter . Boil the lamb for 2 hours , remove from the pan on to kitchen roll and cover. Leave the water till the following day skim off all the fat, (This was kept for other things years ago) Add swede, leeks, onions ,carrots, parsnips, in nice size chunks. And my mother would make Dough boys and put them in after everything else was cooked, filled you up for an hour then always felt hungry again :P God bless her  we all grew so fast  :)

[Debs]

Have the cawl cooking in slow cooker as we speak.

I've used neck of lamb as I had some in the freezer & yes it was fatty but needed to be used, so cooked the neck and skimmed fat off the cooking liquid & addded mutton chops as the neck does not have much meat.
It smells divine but will wait until tomorrow to eat as recommended.

Debs x

[Ophi]

If you want to avoid fat your butcher can bone the neck of lamb.  It works out dearer but is very lean.

[queenbee]

What a coincidence, I made a very similar thing today, both OH and myself are down with very bad colds and have not been able to shop for nearly a week. looked at my freezer contents and found some lamb bones, boiled them up yesterday and skimmed the fat off this morning and added all manner of veg and put in some barley. I discarded the bones and added the small amount of meat left on these bones. It was absolutely delicious, a tin of fruit in a flan case covered with fruit jelly finished the meal. Cost virtually nothing as I got the bones free from my butchers. It gives me pleasure to make such tasty food for next to nothing. I give the credit to my old mum for feeding us this sort of thing in the lean years just after the war.   

[Debs]

The cawl was absolutely delicious  :P

Debs