RETIRED professional chef Paul James, author of travel and food blog Recipes From My Travels, writes for our paper.
WHILE at home shielding and struggling with a chest infection, my mind is never far away from travel and food.
Lying in bed feeling sorry for myself I scrolled through recipes on my iPad and came across two dishes from Cornwall with recipes from a couple of hundred years back.
‘Kiddley Broth’ and ‘Potato Jowdle’ were simple and cheap for the hardworking folk of Cornwall.
Cornwall is always in my heart – magical and mystical, rugged coastlines with waves crashing against the rocks and beautiful beaches with golden sands.
Lovely childhood memories of running across the dunes at Perran Sands, playing football on the beach with my family, then as I got older, watching my own children and then grandchildren experience the same wonderful memories and loving family holidays as I did.
I’ve recreated these dishes with my son’s help. It’s difficult to keep to the original recipe especially with ‘Kiddley Broth’ where I added a vegetable stock cube.
Next time I will put all the ingredients in a slow cooker so the onions can be fully used to maximise the flavour.
For the ‘Potato Jowdle’ I again used a stock cube to help maximise the flavour of the onions so it would soak into the potatoes when cooking.
I used this dish to accompany my Pork Loin Chops with Pears Cooked In Cider.
Potato Jowdle was probably the best potato side dish I’ve had.
Recreating dishes like these makes you realise how fortunate we are to have an abundance of herbs and spices to add to our own dishes today.
Click here for Paul’s ‘Recipes From My Travels’ blog on Facebook.
Potato Jowdle
Ingredients
4 large potatoes sliced
1 large white onion thinly sliced
Vegetable stock ( enough to cover the potatoes )
Knob of butter
Salt & pepper
Method
1. In a frying pan heat the butter until it’s foaming then add the sliced onions.
2. Fry gently until the onions are soft and slightly caramelised.
3. Arrange the sliced potatoes around the pan, snuggling them amongst the onions.
4. Add the vegetable stock and bring to the boil.
5. Simmer until tender and the stock has soaked into the potatoes.
6. Taste for seasoning.
7. Serve as a side or on it’s own with bread and butter.
Kiddley Broth
Ingredients
4 large white onions roughly chopped.
Bunch of spring onions roughly chopped.
Bread cut into croutons
50g of Butter
Kale or Savoy cabbage shredded.
salt and pepper to taste
750ml Vegetable stock
Method
1. In a frying pan add the butter and sauté the white onions until nicely soft.
2. In a large pot make up the stock, add the sautéed white onions and all the juices then the freshly chopped spring onions. Bring to the boil then simmer.
3. The longer you can leave the broth to cook slowly the better, you want all of the onion flavours to infuse with the stock. At least two hours minimum.
4. While this is going on, put the breaded croutons in an oven and cook until golden, put to one side for later.
5. After a couple of hours ( minimum ) strain the stock into a clean saucepan pushing through all the juices.
6. (The remaining leftover onions can be used for making onion gravy)
7. Put the pan back on the heat, add your kale or cabbage and continue to simmer for another 6-8 minutes.
8. Season to taste and finish off with the croutons.
