A Cook's Year in a Welsh Farmhouse

by Elisabeth Luard

In an old farmhouse on the slopes of a mountain lying between Tregaron and Aberystwyth, Elisabeth Luard brings the produce of the land into her kitchen and turns it into delicious food. This book is her response to the changes she sees in her garden and the surrounding countryside throughout the seasons, with distinctive recipes at the end of each month's chapter. It is the story of a year spent planting and picking in the garden, roaming the countryside with her grandchildren and introducing them to the pleasures of rural living. Elisabeth's cooking is rooted in the culture of the Mediterranean where she once lived, as well as being inspired by traditional Welsh recipes and by her own garden. In winter she stirs up warming dishes like Spanish biscocho or Welsh winter cawl; in the spring she waits until the first mayflower comes to bloom before planting lettuces, mangetouts and broad beans in her garden. She relies on locally sourced meat for dishes like Partridges with baby onions and cinnamon in red wine, Rabbit with tagliatelle, cream and mustard or Ceps with potatoes and bacon, and rakes the countryside for ingredients like fruit for Hedgerow jelly, nettles for soup, elderflowers for cordial, cake or even fritters. With full colour photography by Clare Richardson that perfectly captures the sense of life in the Welsh countryside, this is a unique and beautiful book.

Genres: Cookbooks, Food, Foodie

288 pages, Hardcover

First published May 3, 2011

About the author

Elisabeth Luard is an award-winning food-writer, journalist and broadcaster who often illustrates her own work. Her most recent cookbook, A Cook's Year in a Welsh Kitchen with photography by Clare Richardson, was published by Bloomsbury in 2010. Previous books include European Peasant Cookery (US The Old World Kitchen), Festival Food and Tapas, all of which are in print with Grub Street. Others include Classic Spanish and Soups (Octopus), The Latin American Kitchen, The Food of Spain and Portugal and Food Adventures: Introducing your Child to Flavours around the World (Kyle Cathie) - written with daughter-in-law Frances Boswell, and Truffles (Frances Lincoln). She is currently Trustee Director of The Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery, contributes a monthly column to Richard Ingrams The Oldie Magazine, and is a member of the team at online culinary magazine Zester Daily. She has published 2 novels, one of which, Emerald, won the WH Smith Thumping Good Read Award. Her work as a journalist appears regularly in The Daily Mail, The Scotsman, Country Living, Cambria Magazine, The Jewish Chronicle and the TLS.

Reviews

[Staphysagria]

My absolute favourite kind of cook book is a mix of stories and recipes. This one was a present from a dear friend in Wales, so naturally the content also met my interest on a personal level, too. If you enjoy the editorials or farmhouse stories on Country Living magazine you will immediately feel at home with this cookbook. The author tells the story of her life in a remote Welsh farmhouse, her grandchildren and rural life in Cardiganshire in general. It is unhurried, descriptive and full of lovely memories. At the end of each story you get the monthly recipe selection. The author grew up with Mediterranean kitchen and her cooking is a blend of both British and Mediterranean. A friend of the author drew these pretty illustrations and each recipe is accompanied by a photograph that is as tasteful as the dish hopefully turns out. I haven't had time to cook anything yet, but I read the stories which is an extremely relaxing and positive read.

[Ricki Treleaven]

I have read A Cook's Year in a Welsh Farmhouse by Elisabeth Luard several times. I. Love. This. BOOK! I really do love it. It is part cookbook, part journal, and a treat for the eyes. Clare Richardson's photography is eye candy, I tell ya!
Elisabeth Luard is a food writer who lives in Wales at Brynmerheryn Farm. Her farmhouse is pink! :D
The book is divided in chapters, one for each month, and each chapter has a seasonal theme. July's theme is Campfire Cooking; March is all about Comfort Food; and September features The Fruits of Autumn.

I adapted a recipe from August's Chapter, Pack a Picnic. I hope you try it! Mr. Art @ Home loves cobblers, so I thought I would try the Plum Cobbler with Cinnamon. Did you know that "to cobble" means to throw something together quickly? I have learned much from this book, and I must say that Elisabeth Luard is living my dream.

[Lynne]

Nice illustrations but recipes not ones I am likely to ever make. Had it’s charm.

[Amy]

My obsession with Elizabeth Luard started with European Peasant Cooking and will never end until I’ve read all her books. This book was a delightful look into her home, life and kitchen! The perfect combination of British seasonal meals and ingredients with a Mediterranean influence.

[Leigh Austin]

I really love this little book. Although quite a few of the recipes are far bolder than I am (the author's use of ALL ingredients to hand is quite impressive, though I will pass on the squirrels, thanks), her picturesque prose illuminating the passage of the year in Wales is utterly delightful.