Cheesy and buttery with a hint of rich brown ale, this upgrade on a Welsh rarebit makes for a great lunch. Serve it straight from the oven – it’s also good served cold
When Nadine isn't busy developing delicious recipes and using her experience as a health food editor to create healthy treats, she's munching and reviewing her way around her beloved home town of Tottenham. Find out what she's cooking and eating on Instagram @n0sh.17
See more of Nadine Brown’s recipes
Nadine Brown
When Nadine isn't busy developing delicious recipes and using her experience as a health food editor to create healthy treats, she's munching and reviewing her way around her beloved home town of Tottenham. Find out what she's cooking and eating on Instagram @n0sh.17
See more of Nadine Brown’s recipes
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Ingredients
For the pastry
125g unsalted butter
200g plain flour, plus extra to dust
1 tbsp English mustard powder
1⁄2 tsp fine sea salt
1 medium egg, separated (reserve the egg white to glaze)
For the filling
3 tbsp olive oil
1 large leek (about 260g), trimmed, halved lengthways, rinsed and sliced
1 tbsp fresh thyme leaves, plus sprigs to garnish
15g butter
1 tbsp plain flour
1⁄2 tsp made English mustard
a splash of Worcestershire sauce* or Henderson’s Relish
85ml brown ale*
90g extra mature cheddar* (we used Welsh)
1 large baking potato (about 350g), peeled and thinly sliced
1 medium egg white
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Step by step
Before you start, place 125g butter in your freezer until really firm, then chop into very small dice. Put 3 tablespoons of water in a small bowl and add this to the freezer to get it extra-cold, without freezing it.
Put 200g flour, the mustard powder and salt in a food processor with a good few grinds of black pepper and pulse briefly. Add the chilled chopped butter and briefly pulse again until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Add the egg yolk and, while pulsing, drizzle in 2-3 tablespoons of the ice-cold water until the ‘crumbs’ look damp but don’t come together into a ball – you might not need to use all the water. Tip the dough onto a work surface and use your hands to shape it into a ball. Flatten into a disc, wrap and chill for 1 hour.
Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat then add the leek with a large pinch of salt. Sauté for 5 minutes until softened then add the thyme and cook for a further minute. Season and leave to cool.
Make the rarebit sauce. Melt 15g butter in a saucepan over a low heat then stir in the tablespoon of flour. Cook for a few minutes until the mixture starts to brown then stir in the mustard and Worcestershire sauce. Gradually whisk in the ale then add 75g of cheese, whisking until smooth. Remove from the heat and season with black pepper.
Preheat the oven to 200°C, fan 180°C, gas 6. Line a large flat baking sheet and lightly flour your worktop. Roll the pastry out to a rough circle, about 35cm in diameter and 3mm thick. Carefully transfer to the lined baking sheet. Add half the leeks to the pastry in an even layer, leaving a 5cm border, then cover with half the potato slices and some seasoning. Spoon on the rarebit sauce (you might need to reheat it slightly first) then repeat with the remaining leek and potato. Brush the potato with the remaining oil and sprinkle over the last of the cheese.
Carefully fold the pastry edge up and over the filling, overlapping and pinching the pastry where necessary. Beat the egg white with 1 teaspoon of water and use to brush the pastry edge. Bake for about 30 minutes or until golden and cooked through. Garnish with an extra grind of black pepper and some thyme sprigs.
*If vegetarian, use vegetarian cheese, brown ale, and Henderson’s Relish
Put the cheese, mustard, Worcester sauce and Tabasco sauce in and stir until melted. Beat in the egg yolks and flour and gently cook for a further 2 minutes. Evenly spoon over the bread and bacon then spoon the cheese mix all over and bake for 5 minutes until golden and bubbly.
A lighter ale would work nicely, as would a brown ale. I've also seen recipes that use darker porter beers. Often eaten as a main course or high tea, Welsh rarebit makes a light, yet filling meal when served alongside a nice green salad.
This classic Welsh rarebit makes a great lunch or brunch dish. You can use your favorite local beer, mustard, and any strong Cheddar cheese in this recipe. If you don't like beer, you can replace it with milk; it will still taste great!
Welsh rarebit, a traditional British dish consisting of toasted bread topped with a savory cheddar cheese sauce that typically includes such ingredients as beer or ale, Worcestershire sauce, cayenne, mustard, and paprika. If an egg is served atop the dish, it is called buck rarebit.
Is welsh rarebit just cheese on toast? No! Cheese on toast is made by grilling slices of pure cheese on toasted bread whereas welsh rarebit is a grilled cheese based sauce made from cheese, flour, beer and often added egg.
Cawl, pronounced "cowl", can be regarded as Wales' national dish. Dating back to the 11th century, originally it was a simple broth of meat (most likely lamb) and vegetables, it could be cooked slowly over the course of the day whilst the family was out working the fields.
Classic Welsh, Buck Rarebit or Elegance. Elegance being Classic Welsh with addition of poached egg and rashers of bacon.Buck being just the egg added. Which ever you have you will not be dissappointed.
Mrs. Beeton's epitome of Victorian times, The Book of Household Management, describes two recipes for rarebit, one Scottish, and the other Welsh. The Welsh rarebit recipe was made by slightly toasting bread, then melting either Cheshire or Gloucester cheese atop the bread and adding pepper and mustard.
“It's typically a cheese sauce, like a bechamel or mornay, and you can flavor it from that point however you wish.” Common inclusions in recipes for rarebit are elements that deepen and enhance the cheese sauce flavor such as beer, Worcestershire, mustard, cayenne, or nutmeg.
Bacon, along with the two Welsh staple vegetables leeks and cabbage, goes to make the traditional Welsh dish cawl, a broth or soup. This classic one-pot meal, originally cooked in an iron pot over an open fire, used all local ingredients: home-cured bacon, scraps of Welsh lamb, cabbage, swede, potatoes and leeks.
Staple fruits of the land include oats, barley, wheat and vegetables, including the famous Welsh leek – an enduring symbol of Wales and found in traditional dishes, such as Glamorgan sausage and the hearty broth known simply as cawl. Nothing showcases the Welsh tradition of simple wholesome fare more than cawl.
Method. To make butter put the cream into a kitchen aid with a whisk attachment. Whisk on high until the cream separates into butter and buttermilk, spoon into a sieve lined with muslin and strain off. Mix the butter with any of the above and season.
To make the gravy: Drain all juices from the turkey roasting tray into a clean saucepan. Add 1 tbsp of Bovril or Marmite yeast extract. Bring to the boil and reduce. To thicken add 25g softened butter to another pan with 25g plain flour and mix together to form a paste.
To make the melba toast, put the bread onto a baking tray, toast under a hot grill on both sides. Remove the crusts and the slice through the bread horizontally. Rub the underside on the board to remove any excess crumbs, cut each piece into two triangles put back on the tray untoasted side up and toast until golden.
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Prep time: 45 mins
