Welsh Onion Cake

      Well, this one lines up nicely! This week for Improv Cooking Challenge we are focusing on Cheese and Onions and with Eat the World we are celebrating Wales. And as luck would have it, the Welsh have a delicious and easy recipe that involves both. It's lots of cooked onions with potatoes and cheese. And I love cheese. But this cheese is a little different, it's layered on top and baked until the cheese is caramelized and golden. Then the dish is inverted onto a plate and that delicious, salty, cheese forms a crust under the whole thing. It's heavenly. 

     Cheese, what kind to use? The proper cheese is Caerphilly. Caerphilly is a crumbly white cheese that originated in, you guessed it, Caerphilly, Wales. It's typically aged around 10 weeks and is made in the south of Wales. If you can't find it, and I wasn't able to at all either, then a good white cheddar is still amazing. 

Check out all the wonderful Welsh dishes prepared by fellow Eat the World members and share with #eattheworld. Click here to find out how to join and have fun exploring a country a month in the kitchen with us! 

• Amy’s Cooking Adventures: Cawl Cennin (Welsh-Style Leek & Potato Soup) 
• Pandemonium Noshery: Welsh Onion Cake 
• Sneha’s Recipe: Snowdon Pudding 
• Culinary Adventures with Camilla: Ŵyau Ynys Môn, Welsh Anglesey Eggs 
• Sugarlovespices: Welsh Anglesey egg and mashed potato casserole 
• A Day in the Life on the Farm: Teison Nionod 
• Kitchen Frau: Welsh Cakes (Skillet-Baked Currant Cookies)

 Improv Cooking Challenge

Cheese & Onions

• Cheese Toast by A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Chicken & Cheese Open Sandwiches by Sneha's Recipes
• Paneer Burji Potstickers by Magical Ingredients
• Welsh Onion Cake by Pandemonium Noshery

Welsh Onion Cake Recipe

6 large potatoes, sliced paper thin

2 leeks

2 onions, sliced

4 tbsp. butter

5 oz. aged white cheddar

salt and pepper to taste

Line a 9-in cake pan with tin foil. Butter well and set aside. 

Trim the root and the green part of the leeks. Rinse really well to make sure no dirt is hiding between the layers. 

Add the remaining butter to a pan. Once it's hot add the onions and cook for about 10-15 minutes or until starting to brown. Add the leeks and cook for 4-5 minutes more, or until soft. 

Layer a third of the potato slices in the bottom of the cake pan, overlapping the slices. Sprinkle with salt, half the onion mixture, and a third of the cheese. Top with another third of the potatoes. These will be in the middle so they don't have to be arranged neatly, just make sure they are even and reach the edges. 

Sprinkle with a little salt and pepper, the last of the onions, and a third of the cheese. Top with the remaining potatoes, a sprinkle of salt, and the last of the cheese. Use another pan and press down hard on the layered potatoes to compress it. 

Place in the oven and bake for 45 minutes to an hour or until the potatoes are tender and the cheese on the top is a deep brown. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes. Remove from the pan with the tin foil and gently loosen any bits of cheese that are stuck to the tin foil. Place a plate over the potatoes and invert onto a plate. 

Top with green onions or parsley or serve in wedges.