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Welsh leek recipes are the perfect go-to when you want something savory to pair with bread, as a side dish to a meal, or to be enjoyed on their own. While both Welsh and Scottish dishes incorporate leeks quite a bit, Wales is the only country with leeks as its national emblem, so it’s no wonder this onion-related veggie has permanently established itself as a delectable part of Welsh cuisine.
Welsh leek recipes you may have already heard of, if not tried, include Welsh leek soup called “Cawl” (the Welsh word for soup or broth). It’s the national dish of Wales. “Cawl” is pronounced a lot like the English word “owl,” beginning with a hard “c” sound. Tracking down the origins of this filling soup isn’t precise, but we do know that Neolithic farmers cooked the earliest cawl around 2500 BC! The dish is traditionally made with lamb or beef. It also features vegetables such as cabbage, carrots, onions, and, of course, the noble leek. Nowadays, there are many variations.
Welsh Rarebit is called “Caws Pobi” in Welsh and means “toasted cheese.” Its origin has even more ambiguous beginnings than cawl. Whether the proper name is “Welsh Rarebit” or “Welsh Rabbit” is up for debate. 1725 has been pegged as the earliest known time that the term “Welsh Rabbit” was used. “Welsh Rarebit” then appeared some sixty years later in 1785. No matter what you call it, this popular fare of toasted bread covered in melted cheese and spices is a favorite among recipes using leeks. It has come a long way from its humble beginnings in Cymru and is now enjoyed worldwide.
Last but not least is a Chicken and Leek Pie recipe that will make you wish you’d heard of it sooner! This recipe is much like chicken pot pie with the addition of leeks and ham, bacon, or beef’s tongue, and the right amount of Welsh cheese.
This post is about the 3 Welsh leek recipes: Cawl, Welsh Rarebit, and Chicken and Leek Pie and their history.
Welsh Leek Recipes: Savory Year-Round Favorites
Welsh Rarebit Recipe
The recipes below incorporate traditional ingredient lists that often contain wheat. However, please note that you can make any of these recipes gluten-free if needed by substituting gluten-free flour or bread. Oat flour blends work well (and hold together better than other gluten-free flours, in my experience). Oats were also traditional Welsh and Celtic fare and helped bolster the limited quantities of meat available for meals.
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Prep Time 5 minutes mins
Cook Time 15 minutes mins
Course Side Dish, Snack
Cuisine Welsh
Servings 2
Calories 376 kcal
Ingredients
- 2 medium leeks washed and dried
- 4 slices bread toasted on one side
- 8 oz/225g sharp cheddar grated (Welsh cheddar recommended)
- 1 tbsp salted butter Welsh butter recommended
- 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
- 2 tbsp milk or unsweetened almond milk for dairy-free
- 1 tsp dry mustard can also substitute Dijon
- 2 tsp plain flour
- 2 tbsp beer or ale
- 1 whole egg yolk beaten
- black pepper ground, to taste
- butter extra for frying
Instructions
Preheat oven to broil at 450F/232C
Cut the leeks into thin slices.
Melt a few tbsp of the Welsh butter in a pan and let it get hot. Add the leeks. Fry leeks gently until they soften. Remove from heat and set aside.
Combine cheese, butter, egg, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, flour, and pepper in a pan and blend well.
Next, add the beer and milk. More than 2 tbsp of each can be added if the mixture gets too thick, but don’t add so much that the mixture becomes too soupy.
Stir ingredients over low heat until well mixed and melted. When the mixture becomes a thick paste, add the cooked leeks. Stir until blended.
Remove from the stove or turn off the heat so the mixture cools slightly.
Prepare the bread by toasting it on only one side. Put the slices on a plate or tray with the toasted side down.
Spread the rarebit over the untoasted sides of the bread.
Place cheese-topped bread slices directly on the top rack inside the oven, or use baking sheets with racks until the cheese starts to bubble and brown.
Notes
Prepared Welsh Rarebit will last several days in the refrigerator.
Keyword Welsh Leek Recipes
What is Welsh Pie?
I’m so glad you asked! Welsh pie consists of a meat-and-vegetable-filled pastry in a pie pan, casserole dish, or prepared as a handheld pie (think rectangular or empanada-ish shape). You might also know this food as a “meat pie” or “pot pie.” While meat pies are not specifically Welsh, they’re enjoyed throughout Wales.
Meat pies were introduced to Britain by the Romans. The pies were initially made with a tough dough covering called a “coffin.” This durable pastry shell served as a vessel to preserve the meat inside while the food was carried to work or while one was on the road for long periods.
The Welsh Oggie (a handheld meat pie made with lamb, leeks, and potatoes) is an example of a meat pie from Wales that evolved for practical reasons. Coal miners in Wales needed an easy way to transport hearty food for lunch that wouldn’t spoil. Welsh Oggies solved this problem.
The Perfect Rainy-Day Welsh Chicken and Leek Pie Recipe
The Chicken and Leek Pie is just as portable but suits our modern needs quite well. It’s one of those dishes you absolutely must try if you’re craving an entrée with leeks—not to mention that it will make your kitchen smell incredible!
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Prep Time 20 minutes mins
Cook Time 1 hour hr 10 minutes mins
Course Main Course
Cuisine Welsh
Servings 6
Calories 215 kcal
Ingredients
- 1 lb chicken dark meat such as thighs substitute white meat if preferred
- 113 g/4oz ham or smoked beef’s tongue cut into 1-inch cubes
- 2 leeks sliced into ½ inch coins
- 1 celery stalk sliced thin
- 2 cups chicken stock or enough to almost cover the chicken and vegetables
- 2 cups milk or unsweetened soy or almond milk for dairy-free
- 8 peppercorns
- ¼ tsp dried thyme
- 1 tsp dried parsley
- ½ yellow onion diced
- 1 bay leaf
- 3 tbsp plain flour
- 1 egg beaten, for the glaze
- 30 g/1oz butter
- 3 tsp dried mustard
- 2 375g/13oz packs of puff pastry
- Parmesan grated, for topping
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6.
Place the chicken, peppercorns, and bay leaf in a pot on the stovetop. Pour in the mixture of milk and chicken stock. Bring mixture to a boil and let it simmer for 25 minutes or until all the chicken pieces are thoroughly cooked.
Meanwhile, fry the ham or beef’s tongue in the butter. Add the sliced leeks, celery, onion, parsley, and thyme, and simmer until they soften.
Once the chicken is fully cooked, use tongs or a spoon to remove it from the milk. Use a fork to pull it apart into strips/flakes. Discard the bones, if any, depending on the cuts of meat chosen. Now add the pulled chicken meat back into the pan with the ham or beef’s tongue and leeks.
To the mixture of meat and leeks, add the flour. Fry for two minutes until well combined.
Pour the milk into the pan through a sieve to remove the bay leaf and peppercorns.
Add the dried mustard. Stir the mixture constantly until it thickens. Turn off the heat.
Roll out the puff pastry into rectangular sheets about 3mm thick.
Spread the filling over one rolled dough sheet. Cover it with another dough sheet and crimp the edges with your fingers.
Beat one egg in a bowl.
Glaze the top of the pie with the egg by brushing it on. Sprinkle the grated Parmesan across the top to taste.
Bake the pies on lightly greased baking racks for 35-45 minutes.
Keyword Welsh Leek Recipes
Easy Welsh Leek Recipes: Cawl
Welsh Cawl is the national dish of Cymru. This traditional hearty Welsh stew or soup dish got its start as early as 2500 BC by farmers living in the area. Since then, it’s been prepared with whatever meat and veggies were available and paired well together. Today, the most common ingredients are lamb, leeks, and potatoes as the staples.
Cawl is affordable, super tasty, filling, and easy to make. Since there are so many ways people make cawl, family members pass down recipes to their children, and ingredients and methods are unique depending on what part of Wales they came from. This comforting dish is also called “lobscows” in some parts of North Wales. It comes from a word of unknown origin—“lobscouse”—which refers to a sailor’s stew served with hardtack. So now you know!
You may also have heard of “Cawl Cennin” (“leek soup”), which isn’t the same stew-like dish mentioned above. Cawl Cennin is a thinner soup that focuses more on the flavor of the broth and leeks. However, a lot of recipes call traditional cawl “Cawl Cennin.”
Traditional Welsh Cawl Recipe
If you’re like me and prefer to cook for the week and store meals in the fridge, you’ll be happy to know that cawl is often even better the day after you cook it. This gives the ingredients in the dish time to rest and combine, bringing out all the flavors.
Cawl is customarily served alongside homemade bread and Welsh cheese. It’s also traditional to eat it from a wooden bowl with a wooden spoon in some parts of Wales.
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Prep Time 30 minutes mins
Cook Time 4 hours hrs
Course Main Course
Cuisine Welsh
Servings 6
Calories 650 kcal
Ingredients
- 1 kg/2.25lbs Welsh lamb neck or shoulder, or Welsh beef or a ham hock—the meat should be on the bone for maximum flavor. (If you can’t get Welsh lamb or beef where you live, local lamb or beef is fine.)
- 1 onion roughly chopped
- 3 carrots peeled and diced
- 6 medium Maris Piper or Russet potatoes peeled and cut into 1cm cubes
- 1 small swede or 2 parsnips peeled and diced
- 2 leeks rinsed and cut into thin slices
- 64 oz vegetable stock recommend getting extra stock to thin the stew if desired
- 2 tsp black peppercorns
- 1 bunch fresh parsley including stalks, roughly chopped
- 2 sprigs of rosemary finely chopped
- ½ oz fresh mint roughly chopped
- Salt to taste
- Mature Caerphilly cheese for serving. If you can’t obtain Caerphilly cheese where you live, you can substitute Gouda or Cheshire—or you can get a wheel of authentic Caerphilly cheese on Amazon if you want to stock up.
Instructions
Place the meat on the bone in a large pot, cover with water, and bring to boiling. Simmer gently for several hours (3 hrs recommended). Remove from heat until cool and refrigerate.
The next day, remove any fat that has congealed on the surface with a spoon.
Remove all of the meat from the pot and pull the meat off the bones. Discard bones. Return meat to the stock.
Add the potatoes, swede or parsnips, carrots, onion, rosemary, and peppercorns. Add salt to taste. Simmer stew until vegetables are tender—check after 20 mins so potatoes don’t overcook. Add more vegetable stock if needed.
Add the shredded leeks, mint, and chopped parsley. If you want your cawl to be thicker, you can thicken it with a flour and water paste (regular flour or substitute oat flour if gluten-free) or fine oatmeal.
Serve with Caerphilly cheese (or Gouda or Cheshire as substitutions. Sharp cheddar such as Black Bomber by Snowdonia Cheese Company can also be used.)
Notes
- Cook time: 4 hrs (+ refrigeration overnight)
- Remember, aside from using meat on the bone, potatoes, and leeks, there’s really no right or wrong way to make Welsh cawl since this dish was originally prepared using simple ingredients that people had on hand. It wasn’t about precision but necessity. So there’s all the more reason to enjoy bringing a little piece of Cymru into your kitchen!
Keyword Welsh Leek Recipes
This post was about 3 Welsh leek recipes with serving suggestions and variations and gave some of the history behind these dishes.
You may also enjoy theCopper and Cobalt Trilogy, a fantasy series set in North Wales. Click here for all eReader formats:Universal Book Linkand here for Amazon Kindle and paperback:Amazon
