Pantry pick 'n' mix
Leicecs (light cakes) recipe
Is it weird that I get pantry envy when I go to people’s houses? I’m not on about kitchens, the likes of which you see on Pinterest or Apartment Therapy, but the storage cupboards or larders packed with tins and jars.
There’s something rather exciting about a poke around someone’s tinned goods, seeing brightly coloured cans of tuna or sardines, jars of caster sugar, Branston Sandwich Pickle and mint sauce, malt vinegar shakers, tubs of Ovaltine, packets of Oxo stock cubes of different colours, the weird oil that was bought for a single recipe and never used again but is still in there “just in case”, and the tin of Campbells’s Condensed Chicken Soup that expired in 2011 but they’ve reasoned is still probably okay.
I get the envy every time I visit my brother and brother-in-law’s house (Yes, Alex and Mark, you’ve finally got your mention in the newsletter!). You step into the kitchen and there in front of you like an old-fashioned sweet shop, are their pantry shelves, full to the brim with Kilner jars. For a cook, it’s a veritable pick ‘n’ mix of provisions, and like a child, my eyes dance over the jars studying their contents, choosing what I should select given the opportunity. Would it be the giant pasta shells that would hold such satisfyingly large mouthfuls of bolognese, or the semolina that would elevate a simple pizza base to a glorious crunchy-crisp crust? Perhaps the plump sultanas just itching to be weighed out ready for a rich fruitcake with a perfectly moist crumb, or the bright orange lentils simply calling to aid the thickening of a leftover chicken stew.
Pantries are ripe with possibility, often giving you the most basic of ingredients with which you can make the most imaginative of meals. Of course, a fully stocked panty is a time capsule, a thing built up over time. It contains varying levels of herbs and spices that you’ve bought for one recipe or another, some precariously low to be added to next week’s shopping list and others that barely show a hint of use (looking at you ground fenugreek).
Then there are the jars. The weird preserves you got given by your neighbour at Christmastime, the pickles that only seem to make an appearance on Boxing Day, the icing sugar that’s so rock hard that you could use it to maim someone rather than delicately dust a Victoria sandwich.
I love the pantry cupboard – it’s that dependable friend when you just can’t be bothered to cook and end up digging your hand into the Crunchy Nut Cornflakes box, the place you turn to when the supermarket is a bit too far away, or you just fancy being inventive in the kitchen.
I try to keep my cupboards pretty well stocked but there are certain things that I have to know that I have there hiding behind the doors. Flour is the first, both self-raising and plain. I like to have bread flour in there for when I get the spontaneous urge to make bread, but so seldom do that I can usually do without until I can get to the shop. But flour of any kind mean I can bake, something I find hugely relaxing. I always have oats, both for porridge and for throwing in stuff to thicken it, to use as breadcrumbs, for making flapjacks or for a crumble topping. Oats and oatmeal have always been mainstays of a Welsh kitchen pantry, too.
I couldn’t do without a bottle of lemon juice. My Nanna Lena always had the lemon-shaped Jif lemon juice in the cupboard for when we make cakes. I use it too, but the bigger bottle. It’s so handy when you don’t need a whole lemon and a lot more cost effective. I use it to splash on risotto, to liven up sea bass, on pancakes with sugar, or for cleaning my hands after handling fish or garlic.
The list goes on and on but you get the gist. To me, a well-stocked pantry allows us all to play Willy Wonka in the kitchen – giving us the ability to make something from nothing more than a few basics and a little bit of magic.
The Recipe
Leicecs (light cakes)
A few weeks back, I spoke all about batter. Such a simple mixture that gives such pleasure in so many forms, from Yorkshire puddings to pancakes – all mainly using ingredients found in your pantry. This recipe is a version of a pancake but more of a sweet treat, and would have traditionally been make on the bakestone over the open fire when people called unexpectedly at your house.
I think they work great for breakfast or an afternoon snack, but are definitely best eaten straight away, although you could pop them in the toaster the next day to reheat through if needed. To me, they work best when made with buttermilk, but as I’m always one for using what you’ve already got in your kitchen, you can easily use milk mixed with a little lemon juice instead.
Ingredients (makes 10)
125g plain flour (self-raising will do if that’s what you’ve got)
50g caster sugar
1/4tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda for my US readers)
Good pinch of salt
1 free-range egg
90ml buttermilk (or 90ml milk mixed with 1tsp lemon juice)
Butter or oil for greasing
Method
If you’re using the milk/lemon juice combo, mix together first to let it thicken up. Don’t worry if it looks like it’s splitting, that’s normal.
Preheat your bakestone, griddle or heavy-based frying pan to a medium heat. Remember to bring it slowly up to temperature rather than putting it directly on a high heat and then turning down.
In a mixing bowl, stir together the dry ingredients of flour, sugar, salt and bicarb.
Tip in the egg and buttermilk and give the whole thing a jolly good whisk until you’re left with a thick, glossy batter.
Grease the bakestone surface with a little butter or oil and then drop on tablespoonfuls of the mixture. You’re aiming for circles about 8cm/3in in diameter.
When bubbles start to form all over the surface, flip the leicecs over and cook for another minute or two until both sides are golden brown.
Keep in a low oven or on a warmed plate while you use up all the batter..
I love these spread with jam or honey and stacked high or sandwich together and then cut into quarters.
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.
Two pieces to wake you up this week (or get you motivated to deep-clean the kitchen). Firstly, it’s the queen of Welsh music, the fabulous DSB, Dame Shirley Bassey with a little number sure to shake any cobwebs away. The second is a from ‘voice of an angel’ herself, Charlotte Church, from her fantastic pop album Tissues and Issues.
Get The Party Started by Dame Shirley Bassey
Crazy Chick by Charlotte Church
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.
Penderyn Whisky
There’s something about the Celtic and Gaelic nations that excels in distilling spirits and Penderyn is perhaps the most famous Welsh whisky producer. This week I tried their Legend bottle. It’s a light amber-coloured single malt with a hint of cream soda and Christmas cake on the nose and a smooth, fresh taste. The Penderyn story is a relatively new one, having only launched their first whisky in 2004, but in doing do they revived a tradition of whisky distilling that had long since disappeared in Wales. Being based at the southern tip of the Brecon Beacons means that every bottle is made using the fresh natural spring water from the mountains.