Happy St. David’s Day: Cock-a-Leekie Soup and Pie

Last night we had a dinner at the Clopines to celebrate St. David’s Day which was really March 1 and we celebrated a week late. In addition to the fact that I am not Catholic, Welsh or even really certain what St. David’s Day means,, we did eat both Cock-a-Leekie Soup and Pie. This are both typical St. David’s Day foods which makes zero sense since Cock means you use chicken and St. David was a vegetarian. I guess it is complicated and although we pursued the internet, none of use felt much more informed after our reading.

So what is cock-a-leekie soup? It is a soup with chicken, leeks, barley and carrots. There are many versions. I a used the one from Allrecipes but added carrots found in other versions. Yum. The pie version is minus the carrots and barley but has a white sauce and prunes plus the pastry crust. Some versions use two pie crusts-top and bottom but choose to use only the version with one crust. Epicurious had a nice version minus the bottom crust. I do love leeks but one of the the key points of St. David’s Day is that you are to wear leeks around your neck. I am happy to eat these in both a soup or pie format but I do draw the line at wearing the ingredients….