A local woman puts the spotlight on Welsh recipes and culture in a new cookbook.

A phrase not often heard in Monterey County – or anywhere in the U.S., for that matter – is “Let’s go out for some Welsh food.”

Of course, whether restaurants with specifically Welsh menus exist on this side of the Atlantic is a matter of conjecture. Some sources claim there are six, although one of those is clearly a Memphis-style barbecue joint. But that could change once people flip through Green Dragon Pie: The Cuisine and Culture of Wales, a new cookbook by Carmel resident Olivia Romano Morgan.

It’s a delightfully unusual collection. Not only does one find recipes for dishes both familiar (leek and potato soup) and obscure, but readers are also sent on a tour through towns like Pwllheli, Llandeilo and Harlech, as well as provided glimpses into the lore of the region.

“I didn’t want to write just a cookbook,” Morgan says. “There’s a lot of culture in that little book. It makes me homesick.”

The author grew up in Swansea in the 1940s and ’50s, coming to the U.S. in 1961. She bristles when people hear her accent and mistake her for British.

“I’m Welsh,” she says. “There’s a big distinction.” What sets the cuisine apart, she explains, are the pockets of regional dishes that have not found a broader audience. Bara lawr, or laver bread, is one such recipe. “It looks awful, it sounds awful, but it’s absolutely delicious,” Morgan observes.

Laver bread is not included in Green Dragon Pie. Nor are some of the dishes with names that would raise modern eyebrows, such as spotted dick. Morgan also opted to skip perhaps the most well-known, rarebit (“It’s so basic,” she explains).

The thread connecting recipes throughout the book is personal. “Some are from family,” Morgan says. “All of them have a link to my childhood.”

One labeled “Hole-in-the-Wall Sausage Bliss” was the only dish served at a cramped cafe of 12 chairs run by a woman of unknown age in Gwernogle. When she died, the unwritten recipe went with her. Morgan tells how the family struggled to recreate the dish. Green dragon pie – the book’s namesake – is a hearty vegetarian staple associated with select pubs.

Morgan struggles to settle on a favorite. “I can’t imagine anyone in my family making pasties,” she admits with a sigh. “It’s labor intensive. Good cooking always is.”

Passion is evident in both the recipes and the memories. Green Dragon Pie is a cookbook one can read and savor. “I’m very proud of it, I must admit,” she says.

Green Dragon Pie: The Cuisine and Culture of Wales is available at River House Books, 208 Crossroads Blvd., Carmel. 626-2665. Also available online.