Anna Jones’ green olive Welsh cakes

We were so excited to get our hands on Anna Jones’ new book this month: One.  In her fourth book, the `queen of the greens’ shares over 150 recipes alongside dozens of ideas for super-quick one-pan, one-tray suppers.

There are interesting articles peppered through the book too, exploring some of the biggest issues facing our planet today, and what we can do, on a very practical level, to help.

We are so happy that she has shared a beautiful recipe for Welshcakes here – we’ll never look at this staple in the same way again.

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I grew up eating Welsh cakes. My dad is from a massive Welsh family (11 brothers and sisters), so Welsh cakes were a permanent fixture and are still my dad’s favourite. I make the traditional raisin-studded ones a lot, but I’ve been meaning to try a savoury version for years, and I finally got around to it. This green-olive-and-caper version is my favourite; the cakes come together as quickly as pancakes, but are much more satisfying. Add some chutney and a quick salad and they are a great easy dinner.

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Heat the oil in a 25cm non-stick frying pan and add the leeks or spring onions along with a pinch of salt. Cook over a medium-low heat for 8 minutes until soft and translucent. Tip the spring onions or leeks into a mixing bowl. Wipe out the pan with kitchen paper and remove from the heat.

Sift the flour and bicarbonate into the bowl with the spring onions. Use your hands to rub in the butter until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Add the olives, capers, herbs and cheese to the bowl (if using). Season well with salt and pepper and mix to combine. Add an extra pinch of salt if you are leaving out the cheese.

Stir in the egg or yoghurt and add a splash of milk, if needed, to form a dough – you want to be able to roll out the dough, or shape it with your hands, so don’t let it get too sticky.

Lightly flour a clean work surface and roll the dough out to 1.5cm thickness or use your hands to make golf-ball-sized rounds and press down. Use a 5cm round cutter to cut out 12 little circles, gathering the dough off-cuts back together until all the dough has been used up.
Heat the frying pan over a low-medium heat and cook the Welsh cakes in the dry pan in batches of four. This should give you plenty of room to flip the cakes over and will ensure they cook evenly. Cook for 6-8 minutes each side, until deep golden but not burnt.

Serve warm, with tomato chutney and some lemon-dressed leaves and a little more cheese if you like.

IMAGE: Issy Croker

RECIPE: Anna Jones from One

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