A tour of Welsh London
Breakfast broad beans on toast recipe
“At one time, there were 700 Welsh dairies in London”, my guide Caroline tells me as we wind our way from Farringdon Station to the London Welsh Centre on Gray’s Inn Road. I’m on a Welsh walk of London – of the many Caroline has done over the years. Usually, they take place around St David’s Day, and you amble through The City learning of Welsh societies or eminent Welsh businesspeople. This particular tour coincides with the Welsh Centre’s annual Welsh Emporium, a showcase of Welsh crafts and food, with suppliers and producers coming up to London from Wales.
Farringdon and Clerkenwell are not areas of London that I know particularly well. London is one of those funny places that you tend to know small pockets very well and then others not at all. Thankfully, Caroline knows these streets like the back of her hand and I’ve no fear of getting lost. As I mentioned in a previous newsletter about the Welsh in London, Welsh people have been coming to the city for centuries for work and to live. We head by Smithfield market sporting its brightly coloured Victorian wrought iron beams and gates. The drovers would have brought their cattle from Wales (an eight-day walking journey at least) to be sold here, when this grand marketplace first opened.
We wander to Clerkenwell Green to nose at the oldest building on the square. It’s the Marx Memorial Library & Workers School (pictured above) now but it was originally the first purpose-built Welsh school in London when it opened in 1737. The school moved to increasingly bigger sites over the years due to the demand for Welsh language education in the city.
We continue up to the corner of Amwell Street and Lloyd Baker Street, and I’m delighted to get to see my first original London Welsh dairy (pictured above). Thankfully, the frontage is protected meaning the pastel-pink and glass sign with gold writing is here to stay for as long as people are willing to maintain it. It reads, “Lloyd & Son. High Class Dairy Produce”. Apparently, there are a few more persevered in London – so I know where my weekends are going from now on, as I play London Welsh dairy treasure hunt.
The tour ends at the London Welsh Centre (pictured above) – its Welsh flag noticeable in the autumn sunlight along with that of Ukraine. It sounds a bit sentimental, perhaps even cliché, but walking over the threshold of the Centre gives you a feeling of coming home. Even if you don’t know anyone, you can be sure that someone will speak to you – and will probably know someone that you know. After browsing the stalls selling everything from hand-knitted socks to artwork, gin to cheese, candles to bobble hats, I head upstairs to the famous bar. Even though the centre has been here since the late 1930s, the bar was only added in the 70s – a shocker for a Welsh social club! Of course, I see some familiar faces smiling back at me from the velvet-covered banquettes – the constantly evolving but ever-present family of the London Welsh.
The Recipe
Breakfast broad beans on toast
Broad beans have been grown in Wales’s cottage gardens for centuries, and while mostly considered peasant food, are a brilliant source of protein and nutrients that our bodies need – clever Welsh peasants! I’ve spoken about my love of bean and peas and lentils and pulses before, but broad beans were never as much on my radar.
Peter Segger of Blaencamel farm near Lampeter offers an explanation in Welsh Food Stories by Carwyn Graves, “Peter explains that because broad beans are so bulky, they take space on display shelves and in lorries, and for the supermarkets’ distribution systems that makes them expensive. ‘Now broad beans are rare on supermarket shelves, but they ought to be abundant.’”
It’s true, trying to find broad beans in the supermarket is a challenge but take a gander in the frozen section and you’ll likely find them – that’s where I get mine anyway.
This recipe is as simple as they come, yet ever so satisfying. I’ve called it breakfast broad beans, but it could be for lunch, a snack, brunch or a starter. Being a typical millennial, I can’t get enough of avocado on toast (it’s also the reason I can’t afford to buy a property apparently), and this recipe essentially substitutes the avo for crushed broad beans – I guess my mortgage is just around the corner!
Ingredients (serves 2)
200g broad beans
3 rashers of bacon, cut into small pieces (I like to use bacon with a bit of fat for this. You could use lardons)
2 free-range eggs
2 rounds of bread ( I use chewy sourdough)
Squeeze of lemon juice
Chilli flakes (optional)
Method
Place the broad beans in boiling water and simmer for about 5 minutes until you can crush one against the side of the saucepan with relative ease.
Meanwhile, fry the bacon in a pan until crisp and then remove to a plate. Pop the eggs on to fry (or you could poach them) and pop your bread in the toaster.
Drain the broad beans and add them to the pan you’ve had the bacon in and squeeze the lemon juice over. Gently mash and stir them so they mix with the lovely bacon flavours left in the pan.
Put your toast on a plate and spread with butter (or drizzle with olive oil), top with the broad bean mash, bacon and eggs. Sprinkle with chilli flakes and serve immediately.
You could replace the bacon with chorizo, mushrooms, or even crumble on some cheese instead – feta would be nice.
If you try the recipe out, don’t forget to tag any photos with #mywelshkitchen.
The Playlist
To me, cooking and music go hand in hand, whether that’s singing at the top of your voice using a wooden spoon as a microphone while waiting for pasta to boil, or dancing around with the oven gloves on as the oven timer counts down. Here are this week’s ideas for your Welsh Kitchen playlist.
This week we have the gorgeous voice of Sir Harry Secombe. This video popped up on my Facebook feed and I thought it was a great version of the classic Cwm Rhondda, which was first performed on 1 November 1907. With the World Cup kicking off soon, the second piece is the new ‘anthem’ for the Wales team, Yma O Hyd by Dafydd Iwan – I dare you not to get a little bit emotional.
Cwm Rhondda by Sir Harry Secombe and Treorchy Male Choir
Yma O Hyd by Dafydd Iwan (and many, many football fans)
The Pantry
Good food is nothing without good ingredients and thankfully there are plenty of fantastic Welsh products on the market. Here is where you’ll find recommendations to stock up your cupboard, fridge or fruit bowl, or a really great place for food.
Siver Circle Distillery Damson Negroni
One of the producers showing at the Welsh Emporium was Silver Circle Distillery. They were delightfully handing out some very generous measures to taste. While they do a range of spirits, it was the pre-mixed negroni that really got my attention. I’m not a big cocktail person but I’m partial to a negroni as long as long as it’s not too sweet. Over a little ice with a slice of orange or lemon, this negroni would make a much-welcome addition to a Christmas party.
