Market day
Sausage, pear and sage bake recipe
This might come as a shock, but I loathe supermarket shopping. Bargain hunting in a supermarket, yes. General grocery shopping, no. Unless I'm abroad, and then every unknown item on the shelves intrigues me, plus supermarkets in Europe tend to have big fresh counters where you can choose individual carrots etc rather than having to buy a whole bag. But, while supermarket shopping bores me to the back teeth, market shopping thrills me.
I doubt I'm alone in loving a market. Perhaps it's the unknown. What produce will there be? Can marrows actually grow that big? Why is there a stall also selling batteries and light bulbs?
I was in Rotterdam recently and visited the Saturday Blaak Market. It's the type of street market that I remember from growing up in South Wales, but seldom see any more. Firstly, there were lots and lots of greengrocers, all selling pretty much the same thing. I watched as locals went to particular stalls for certain items; oranges from this one, potatoes from another. Then there were cheesemongers carving great chunks of soft, creamy cheese from giant wheels and weighing on sheets of greaseproof paper. Then, as ever with these sorts of markets, there was a stall selling women's nighties and knickers, one selling bags and flat-caps, another selling lighters and filter-tips, another general bric-a-brac. I love the randomness of it, the eccentricity that you might stock up on gouda and gardening gloves in one fell swoop.
Something I also don't see that much now, but something that used to (and still does) fascinate me and my brother, is the man selling meat from a big open-sided trailer truck. Usually, it’s a great big ox of a man wearing a headset and drumming up business with a well-rehearsed yet seemingly spontaneous patter. Part circus, part ring master, part gameshow host, part auctioneer. "I've got a lovely joint of beef here, £18. Who wants to take it off my hands? Get the family round for a roast, this'll feed 'em all. A bit big you said love? I tell you what, I'll cut it in half, £12 each." And with that, people can't get enough, and it's not until they are back home or on the bus, they realise his masterful sales patter trickery.
As markets go, the indoor sort might be my favourite. Thankfully, in Wales there are still quite a few in the centres of town and cities. I popped into Cardiff Indoor Market this week. It was frenetic. A lovely sight to see. I popped by the Sage Deli for a wonderful toasted reuben sandwich on sourdough, then stopped to buy a tin loaf for 90p, a thick wedge of bread pudding, and a square slice of corned beef pie. Suitably laden with all my faves, I nosed at the glistening fresh fish, fragrant blooms, and even more fragrant Welsh cakes cooking on the bakestone. And at each stall I stopped at, there was a warm welcome, the stallholders only too happy to have a chat or explain their products, where they are from and how they’d recommend cooking them. It sure beats a self-service checkout!
I'd quite like to make a list of Welsh markets, so please get in touch and let me know if you there’s one near you that’s still trading.
The Recipe
Sausage, pear and sage bake
Pears. I love them. Sadly, like apples I have grown mildly allergic to them as I’ve got older. It's infuriating, but something to do with pollen and being a hayfever sufferer. Mercifully, if they are cooked, I can eat them without risk of the itchy throat and sore gums. So, crumbles, tarts, pies, stewed fruit are all on the cards.
This recipe uses wonderful, in-season British pears in a savoury way (I love mixing sweet and salty), fresh sage that's going strong on my tiny balcony kitchen garden, and all some good, woody autumn vegetables. And it's an easy one that you can pop in the oven and 45 mins later, you've got dinner. The pears are wonderfully soft, sweet and sticky and the sage beautifully crisp.
Ingredients (serves 2 with leftovers)
6 good quality sausages
2 large potatoes, roughly chopped
2 medium parsnips, roughly chopped
2 pears (I like comice ones), cut into wedges
1 onion, roughly chopped
1 small leek, roughly chopped
Good handful of fresh sage leaves
Sea salt
Black pepper
Olive oil or lard (or another cooking fat or oil)
Runny honey for drizzling (about 1tsp)
Method
Preheat your oven to 180°C/375°F/Gas Mark 5.
Arrange the potatoes, parsnips, onions and pears on a large baking tray and drizzle liberally with olive oil (or melt your lard gently first and drizzle) and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Toss the vegetables on the baking tray to give them a good coating. Add the sausages and place in the oven for 30 minutes.
After half an hour, give everything a good turn and shake, add your leeks and sage leaves and return to the oven for a further 15 mins until everything’s cooked through and golden brown.
Plate up and drizzle with honey. Serve with a good splodge of your favourite sauce – English and Dijon mustard, mint sauce and ketchup all work well.
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.
I’m delighted that I get to feature some of my friends this week on the Welsh Kitchen playlist. First up, we have Emilie Parry-Williams and Thomas Mottershead. I’ve known Emilie for quite a few years and it was a real treat to hear her and her boyfriend Thomas singing on The Voice. This is their blind audition. Secondly, we have Ceri James. Like Emilie, I know Ceri from singing in the Borough Welsh Choir. Ceri grew up in Swansea and is a regular on the London live music circuit as well as having several studio albums under his belt. This song has additional vocals from Rebecca Devereux.
Bring Him Home by Thomas and Emilie
Oh Your Careless Heart by Ceri James
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.
Wye Valley Meadery
I’ve been reading Welsh Food Stories by Carwyn Graves. There’s a chapter all about cider, in which he explains that Wales and Welsh people have always seemed to prefer slightly sweeter, fruitier alcohol than their Anglo neighbours, from cider and perry to mead. Mead seems like one of those things you only read about in books of the Middle Ages or stories of Merlin, but thankfully, the tradition of mead making in Wales has been picked up by brothers Matt and Kit at the Wye Valley Meadery. They’ve brought mead into the 21st century at their Caldicot meadery, producing refreshing honey-based brews packed full of Wye Valley flavour. Try their sparkling meads or opt for the special edition traditional mead.