Carmarthenshire, the garden of Wales, is a county of green, sheep-dotted, hills and fertile valleys. Tucked away in the Towy valley between the county town of Carmarthen and chic Llandeilo sits Y Polyn. A country pub turned restaurant, now owned by husband and wife team Mark and Susan Manson, Y Polyn is a welcoming informal place to enjoy the fruits of Wales’s farming bounty.
They aren’t trying to be cutting-edge or post-modern. You won’t find foams, gels and technical wizardry on the plate. What you will find is beautiful produce, cooked simply and with respect. Salt marsh lamb, Welsh beef and free range, rare breed pork are highlights of the well balanced menu.
They are very keen to avoid pretention at Y Polyn. Tables are mismatching bare wood, tablecloths are banished, our staff wear tee shirts and jeans and you can pour your own wine. Perhaps the words shabbychic best describe the décor here. The bar area offers an opportunity to sample Otley’s fine cask ales or ask Scottish owner Mark to recommend one of his fine collection of malt whiskies.
As chef and owner Susan says “We’re not interested in reinventing the wheel here. We like the simple things in life, but we like them done as well as they can be”.
2 spring onions (white only) (washed and finely sliced)
1 red chilli (deseeded and finely chopped)
1.5 cm piece ginger root (peeled and finely chopped)
juice of half an orange
juice of half a lemon
salt and pepper to taste
300g picked white crab meat
200g brown crab meat
25g panko breadcrumbs
1 egg
To Coat
panko breadcrumbs
plain flour
2 eggs
Pickled Vegetable Relish
1 red onion
1 red pepper (seeds and stalk removed)
1 yellow pepper (seeds and stalk removed)
½ red chilli (seeds removed)
1 stick celery
1 carrot (peeled and chopped)
10 salted anchovies
Dressing for Relish
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tbsp clear honey
juice of half an orange
100ml red wine vinegar
200ml extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
1 tbsp parsley (finely chopped)
METHODFor the relish
Make the relish first so the flavours have time to develop and the vegetables soften a little in the dressing.
Wash, peel and finely dice all the vegetables and add the finely chopped anchovies.
Whisk together all the ingredients for the dressing keeping the parsley until you are ready to serve the dish as it will discolour.
Add the vegetables and leave in a cool place for an hour or two.
For the crab cakes
Fold together all the ingredients for the crab cakes and divide into 18 small balls. Flour, egg and crumb the cakes using the coating ingredients. Once coated, gently flatten the balls into crab cake shapes.
To cook the cakes, heat a frying pan with a little oil and butter until the butter just starts to foam. Cook each side until golden brown and finish in a hot oven for approximately 7 minutes until hot all the way through.
To serve
Add the parsley to the relish. Spoon a portion of relish on to each of six plates and add three cakes per portion. You can add some dressed salad leaves as a garnish if you like.
Serves 6
Drink - Berton Estates, The White Viognier 2010 Eden Valley, South Australia
