Seared Sea Scallops on BLT Salad with Oven Roasted Potato Slices

Scallops are one of my all-time favourite foodstuffs. Their incredibly sweet, delicate flavour and texture is an eating experience in itself, which means it is vitally important that one be extremely careful not to overcook scallops, or to serve them with anything which will overpower their flavour. I have eaten scallops raw - straight from the shell - only minutes after they were hand-plucked from the seabed, I have eaten scallops poached and I have eaten scallops seared in a pan, as in this recipe. Regrettably, I have also had another eating experience with scallops which illustrates perfectly why it is so necessary to be careful when cooking or serving scallops...

It was while living in Edinburgh a few years ago that I visited a top, "European," style restaurant - I will not name the country for fear of causing offence! - to mark a special occasion. (Though believe it or not, I can't remember specifically what the special occasion was!) I knew that it was going to be an expensive night but, well - everyone needs a treat now and again.

As soon as I saw scallops on the menu, I knew what I was having - there was no further decision to be made. I duly ordered them and - given the restaurant's reputation - awaited them as a child would Santa Claus on Christmas morning. I can still remember my horror when the plate was laid before me - I even did a mental check to make sure it wasn't April 1st! The scallops had been completely covered in what was no doubt an elaborately prepared sauce - but to me, given what it was covering, appeared as no more than a destructive yellow slime, equating to an oil-slick on the ocean. I looked up at the young waiter and he looked aghast because he no doubt saw my reaction. I was so shocked, though, I couldn't speak and forced myself to eat the preparation. Needless to say, I tasted nothing of the scallops as their flavour had been completely over-whelmed.

That meal for two (OK - including the wine) cost me mere pennies less than £250.00 (almost US$400.00) and needless to say I never ventured near the establishment again, nor would I ever recommend anyone else do so. Although I had long since known the way scallops could be overwhelmed in such a fashion, that was my first - and hopefully last - experience of it!

The scallops which I cook with come from the cold Atlantic waters off the West Coast of Scotland. The fresher they can be obtained, clearly the better and although I generally leave the coral attached (looks almost like an orange tail) the ones used in this recipe had already had the coral removed prior to me obtaining them.

This recipe is for one person.

Ingredients

6 or 7 baby sea scallops
1 medium potato
2 rashers of unsmoked bacon
6 cherry tomatoes
2 lettuce leaves
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
A little sunflower oil for cooking the potatoes

Method

It is first of all necessary to get the potato slices on to cook. The oven should be put on to preheat to 400F/200C/Gas Mark 6. A baking tray with circa a tbsp of sunflower oil on it should be placed in the oven to heat simultaneously. Note that putting the potato slices on to a cold baking sheet with cold oil will simply cause them to stick to it, absorb the oil and be ruined. The potato should be washed, dried (but not peeled) and sliced in to 1/4" thick discs. When the oven is heated, they should be seasoned with salt and cooked on the baking tray for half an hour, turned after 15 minutes.

When the potato slices are in the oven, the two bacon rashers should be placed in to a dry, non-stick frying pan and heated gently at first (to release some of the fat) until fairly crisp. It is the fat of the bacon in which the scallops will later be cooked. When done, the bacon rashers should be patted dry, thinly sliced and added to a mixing bowl. The tomatoes and lettuce leaves should then be washed and dried before the tomatoes are halved and the lettuce shredded. The tomatoes and lettuce should then be added to the bowl with the bacon and seasoning added in the form of freshly ground black pepper only - the bacon should provide all the salt required. The ingredients should be stirred and covered until required.

Seconds before the potato slices are to be removed from the oven, the pan with the bacon fat should be put back on to the heat, at maximum. The potatoes should then be removed from the oven and placed on a plate covered with kitchen towel to be dried. A second sheet of kitchen towel should be placed on top.

When the frying-pan is virtually smoking hot, the scallops should be added and cooked for thirty seconds each side - no more. They should then be removed from the pan and the meal plated up as shown in the top photograph of this post.

Homemade Beefburger on Mashed Potato Pate Bun

Burgers can on occasion - especially when they are of the fast food variety - be an extremely unhealthy food option. I have for a long time been on the look-out for ways on which to improve upon this factor and make the much-loved burger a healthier meal consideration. It was the sheer coincidence of having some leftover mashed potato to use up that gave me this idea yesterday and I have to say that I was delighted by the way in which it turned out.

This was also an experiment in that when I make burgers, I usually add something to the meat and very much use different types of meat. It may be egg, breadcrumbs, fresh herbs, onion, or a mixture of two of these ingredients or more. On this occasion, however, I decided to make the burger purely from beef, other than of course some seasoning in the form of salt and freshly ground black pepper.

This recipe is in the quantities required for one serving.

Ingredients

1/4lb minced/ground beef
2 tbsp cold mashed potato (incorporating salt and butter)
2 tsp plain (all-purpose) flour
4 lettuce leaves
1 tomato
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Sunflower oil for frying

Method

The mashed potato can of course be of the leftover variety or it can be prepared specifically for the purpose of making this meal. If it is to be made specifically, it should be seasoned with salt and mashed with a little butter, before being covered and left to cool. At that point, the flour should be mixed through it.

The burger pate should be prepared simply by seasoning the beef with salt and pepper and rolling it in to a round ball with lightly floured hands. It can then be flattened in to a burger shape between the palms and fried over a medium heat in a non-stick frying pan with a little sunflower oil in it for around ten minutes each side.

When the burger is cooked, it should be transferred to a hot plate and covered with foil to rest and keep warm. The heat in the pan should then be turned up to high.

The floured potatoes should be rolled in to two balls, slightly bigger than golf balls, again with floured hands. They should then carefully be flattened to circles about three to four inches in diameter and added to the hot pan. I fried them for three minutes on one side and two on the other. This had the effect of making one side golden and the other only slightly coloured, just as the two sides of a conventional burger bun would be.

One half of the burger, "Bun" should then be put on to the plate, coloured side down and the burger sat on top. The second half of the, "Bun," should then be added, coloured side uppermost. I was amused to find at this point that gravity caused the edges of the top potato pate to curl over and even better create the image of a burger in a traditional bun.

The lettuce leaves should be shredded, the tomato quartered and the salad arranged around the burger, prior to serving, as shown above.

NB I would recommend that you eat this burger with a knife and fork - attempting to pick it up in your hands may prove rather messy!

Scottish Game Pie with Roasted Potatoes and Brussels Sprouts

The beautiful, sparsely populated areas of Scotland means that Scotland has a very wide range of wild game to choose from. Everywhere from Glen Branter (pictured right) in beautiful Argyll, to the stunning heart of Scotland in Perthshire, to the rugged majesty of the Highlands and more, wild game from pheasant and grouse to the magical red deer can be found aplenty. Most Scottish Game Pie Recipes will include a mixture of the different types of game. My recipe featured and pictured below, however, includes only my own personal favourite: venison.

It is worth pointing out, perhaps, that venison is a word which can actually cause a little bit of confusion on a planetary scale. The word venison is - by literal definition - a generic term, used to apply to the meat of many related mammals such as deer, elk and caribou. (I almost included moose as an example in the previous sentence, before I realised that could really confuse matters as, to many Scots, a "Moose," is a mouse - most definitely not a form of venison!) In Scotland and indeed throughout the UK, however, venison and deer meat will almost always be considered to be synonymous.

This recipe for two people is in no way difficult to prepare but the length of time required to do so is due to the long, slow cooking time required by the venison.

Ingredients

3/4lb diced venison haunch
1/2 medium sized onion (roughly chopped)
6 button mushrooms (halved down through centre)
5oz puff pastry
1/2 tsp dried thyme
2 pints fresh beef stock
3 large potatoes
14 to 16 Brussels Sprouts
Pinch of nutmeg
Butter
Salt and pepper
A little milk for glazing the pie
Sunflower oil for deep frying

Method

The first step is to cook the venison. Wash any excess blood off it and dry the meat with kitchen towel. Put it in to a large pot along with the onion and brown it over a high heat, stirring continuously with a wooden spoon. Add the beef stock (pre-heated) and the thyme and simmer for two to two and a half hours until the venison is tender. The liquid may very well require to be topped up at some point during this period and simple boiling water may be used. The mushrooms should be added at the end of the simmering period, stirred through, the pot covered and the meat allowed to cool.

The oven should be put on to pre-heat to 200C or equivalent. The venison, vegetables and stock should then be transferred to an appropriate pie dish. The pastry should be rolled out to a thickness of between an eighth and a quarter of an inch and placed carefully on top, taking care to seal the edges. The pie should then be glazed with a little milk and a couple of slits made in the top to allow steam to escape during cooking. The pie should be placed in to the hot oven for thirty-five, to forty minutes, until beautifully golden brown.

The potatoes should be peeled, chopped and boiled in salted water for fifteen minutes. After which time, they should be thoroughly drained and added to hot oil for a further ten minutes, until crisp and golden.

The Brussels sprouts should be cleaned and simmered in boiling water for no more than eight to ten minutes, depending on the size of the sprouts. Any longer will see them over-cooked and soggy. One of the main reasons why children don't like Brussels sprouts is that they are forced to eat them in this distasteful fashion. When the Brussels sprouts are thus cooked, they should be drained before being returned to the pot and swirled in a little butter and a pinch of ground nutmeg.

This delicious Scottish Game Pie with roasted potatoes and Brussels sprouts may thereafter be plated up and served, as shown below.

Pan Fried Fillet of Scottish Rainbow Trout on Fresh Salad Bed with Dill Potatoes

Although I love cooking and love eating what I cook, it is rare for me to enjoy something so much that I actually contemplate having the very same thing again the following night! I am writing this blog post less than half an hour after eating this pan fried Scottish rainbow trout with salad and dill potatoes but that is exactly what I am considering.

It may seem like a strange thing for a Scot who loves fish and seafood to say but salmon and particularly trout could never be classed among my favourite types of fish. I have for some reason always preferred the sea fish that are the likes of cod, haddock, whiting, herring and mackerel. When I used to go fishing on a regular basis, it was almost always sea fishing which I did, almost never freshwater fishing in Scotland's inland lochs or rivers. I am not sure whether going sea fishing was because I preferred to eat sea fish, or preferring to eat sea fish is because I preferred sea fishing. That conundrum is a bit like the chicken and the egg for me!

Regardless, perhaps I have now changed my mind about trout. Although I have cooked salmon in precisely this fashion many times, I have for some reason never before tried it with trout. I hope that my enthusiasm is infectious, however, and that you will try this out for yourself.

Ingredients

1 Scottish rainbow trout fillet, skin on (wild brownies are equally acceptable)
2 medium potatoes
1/2 small onion (very thinly sliced)
4 lettuce leaves (shredded)
1 tomato (for garnish)
Pinch of dried dill
Tbsp of plain flour
Butter
Sunflower oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Splash of white wine vinegar

Method

The first step is to get the potatoes on to boil. They should be peeled, chopped and added to a pan of boiling, salted water, to be simmered for twenty to twenty-five minutes until moderately soft. They should then be drained, added to a bowl with a little butter and the pinch of dill, stirred carefully and left to cool slightly and the flavours to infuse while the trout fillet is cooked.

The flour should be placed on a flat dinner plate and seasoned with salt and pepper. The skin side only of the trout fillet should then be placed flat down in the flour to be lightly coated. Any excess may be gently shaken off prior to adding the trout fillet to the pan.

A little sunflower oil should be added to a non-stick frying-pan and brought up to a medium heat. A little butter should then be added before the trout is placed in the pan, skin side down. The heat should be turned up to medium to high and the fillet cooked for three to four minutes until it can be seen to have cooked almost all the way through. The heat should then be turned off completely and the fish turned over to finish cooking while the salad is quickly assembled.

The sliced onion and shredded lettuce should be added to a small bowl and seasoned with salt, pepper and a tiny splash of vinegar before being mixed well together. Preparing the salad too soon in advance will cause the lettuce to go limp and spoil the final effect. The salad should then be arranged on the plate as a bed for the fish before the remainder of the ingredients are then assembled, the trout being plated skin side up.

At the top of this post, I have included a photograph of this recipe with the skin still on the trout. It is down to personal preference whether you wish to serve it this way or to remove the skin prior to doing so. In order to remove the skin, simply catch one end of it and gently peel it free. The assistance of a knife may be required at this stage but I found tonight that it was not and the skin peeled away perfectly cleanly and easily.

The dish is featured again below with the skin this time removed.

Smoked Salmon Fishcakes with Hot Chilli and Tomato Sauce

The considerable health benefits of eating smoked salmon aside, it truly is a delicious way to eat salmon. The natural oils of the fish remain intact and thus the rich, salmon flavour can be enjoyed in full. This smoked salmon fishcake recipe is in the quantities required for two people.

Ingredients

2lb potatoes
6oz smoked salmon trimmings
4 tbsp fresh breadcrumbs
2 beaten eggs
2 tsp freshly chopped basil
1 14oz can of chopped tomatoes in tomato juice
1 small red chilli pepper (very finely chopped)
1/2 tsp caster sugar
16 Brussels sprouts
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Sunflower oil for frying

Method

The first step is to make the chilli and tomato sauce, as we wish it to accompany the fishcakes having cooled. The tomatoes, chilli, sugar and salt and pepper to taste should be added to a medium sized pot and brought up to a simmer. They should continue to be simmered for around twenty minutes until the tomatoes have really started to break down. The mixture should then be poured in to a sieve over a large bowl and pressed through the sieve with the aid of a wooden spoon. The sieved sauce should then be returned to the pot and brought back to a simmer. Around ten minutes of simmering should reduce it to a fairly thick and lush sauce. It should be covered and set aside to cool while the meal proper is prepared.

The potatoes should be peeled, chopped and added to a large pot of boiling, salted water. They should be cooked until soft (around twenty-five minutes) before being drained and mashed. The smoked salmon should be roughly chopped and added to the potatoes, along with the basil and some seasoning. It is important to be careful with the amount of salt added, however, as a lot of salt will come from the smoked salmon.

A large frying pan should be filled with sunflower oil to a depth of around one and a half inches and brought up to a fairly high heat. The Brussels sprouts should be peeled and added to boiling, salted water, to simmer for no more than eight to ten minutes, depending upon their size.

The breadcrumbs should be placed in one small, flat bowl such as a soup plate and the eggs beaten in another bowl. The fishcake ingredients should be thoroughly mixed together before being divided in to eight equal portions and carefully shaped. Each fishcake should be dipped in the egg-wash before being carefully rolled in the breadcrumbs. They should be fried in the oil for about three minutes each side. Note that depending upon the size of your frying pan, it may be necessary to fry the fishcakes in two batches, keeping the first batch warm in a low oven while the second batch cooks.

The chilli sauce should be split between two small serving bowls and placed in the centre of each plate. The fishcakes should be drained on kitchen paper before being arranged around the sauce. The Brussels sprouts may then also be drained and served.

Lamb Chilli in Pitta Bread with Salad

Cooking with lamb is of course a very different proposition from cooking with beef. The meat is much more tender and when it is minced or ground, finer somehow. This is the principal reason why I have used tomato puree in this recipe for two, rather than the chopped tomatoes I would use in beef chilli. It simply seems more appropriate and less overwhelming.

Ingredients

- Lamb Chilli

1/2lb minced/ground lamb
1 8oz can red kidney beans in water (washed and drained)
1 tbsp tomato puree
1 garlic clove (crushed or grated)
1 red chilli pepper (finely chopped - seeds in or out as preferred)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

- Salad

1/4 small white cabbage (shredded)
1/2 large onion (finely sliced)
1/2 small cucumber (sliced)
1 large tomato (de-seeded and sliced)

2 pitta breads

Method

The lamb should be carefully browned in a medium to large saucepan for a couple of minutes before the rest of the chilli ingredients are added. A little boiling water may be required in order just to let it simmer gently for around fifteen to twenty minutes. Be careful, however, only to add a little as required, or the chilli will be too watery.

While the chilli is simmering, the salad ingredients should be prepared and added to a large bowl. They should then be seasoned and stirred together thoroughly.

The pitta breads should be sprinkled very lightly with cold water before being placed under a hot grill for one minute each side, once the chilli is ready. A sharp knife should then be used to carefully slit open one side edge of the pitta bread and the chilli carefully spooned inside. Be careful not to overfill, however, or the bread will burst.

I have simply used a little twist of cucumber in the example photographed above for garnish, but such as grated cheese or garlic and herb soured cream are other options which I use from time to time.

Valentine's Recipe: Chicken and Red Pepper Stir Fry in a Heart-Shaped Puff Pastry Tart

Better late (or almost late, in this instance,) than never is a very common expression. Although I had intended to start offering Valentine's Day recipe suggestions on this blog last Monday, various things unfortunately got in my way. Here, therefore, is my first such suggestion. The quantities in this recipe are stated per person.

Ingredients

1 chicken breast fillet
1/2 red bell pepper
1/2 small onion
4oz puff pastry
1/2 tomato
2oz green beans
2 tsp roughly chopped parsley
Flour for rolling the pastry
Butter for greasing
Eggwash for glazing
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

The oven should be put on to preheat to 200C or equivalent. The pastry should then be rolled out in a rectangular shape on a floured surface or board to a thickness of slightly less than a quarter of an inch. A sharp knife should then be used to cut as large a heart shape from the pastry as is possible. It does not require any great artistic skill to cut a heart in this way, merely a steady hand and a little care. If preferred, of course, a template may be employed. If desired, smaller shapes such as stars can be cut from the remaining pastry as an effective form of garnish.

The pastries should then be placed on to a baking sheet, lightly greased with butter. A fork should be used to make holes in the heart, all over, other than a border all around the edges of about 1/2". The pastries should then be glazed with the beaten egg and put in to the heated oven for twenty to twenty-five minutes, until raised and golden.

The chicken breast, red pepper and onion should all be chopped in to circa 1" pieces. A little sunflower oil should be heated in a wok or deep frying pan before the chicken is added and stir fried for about a minute. The red pepper and onion should be added for the second minute.

The green beans should be essentially only blanched, in boiling water for two minutes. The tomato can simply be cut in half or can be presented as I have done by cutting deep around the centre at alternate forty-five degree angles.

When the pastry is ready, it should be transferred on to a plate and the central area which was forked should be very easily depressed. The parsley should then be mixed through the stir fry and seasoning to taste and the stir fry used to fill the heart. The remaining garnishes may then be added.

Shin of Beef Stew Served in a Giant Yorkshire Pudding

The only drawback with making shin of beef stew is in the time which it takes to cook. Shin of beef is one of the cheapest cuts of beef one can buy but when it is cooked properly, it is absolutely delicious and as tender as any piece of spring lamb. Tonight's recipe is for one person.

Ingredients

- Shin of Beef Stew

1/2lb diced shin of beef
1 small onion (quartered)
1 medium carrot (scraped and roughly chopped)
2 pints of fresh beef stock
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

- Yorkshire Pudding

3oz plain (all-purpose in the USA) flour
5fl oz milk
1 small egg
1/2 tsp salt
Sunflower oil for cooking

Method

The first step is to get the shin of beef on to cook. It will take a total of two and a half hours to do so.

The beef should be put in to a large stew pot and quickly browned on a fairly high heat, while the stock is heated in a separate pot. The hot stock should then be poured in to the beef and brought to a simmer. The shin of beef then has to simmer in this way for two hours. It is important to check frequently if more liquid is required. If so, boiling water should be used to top up the pot.

The Yorkshire Pudding will take about thirty-five minutes to cook in a hot oven. When the beef has been simmering therefore for around an hour and three-quarters, enough sunflower oil should be poured in to a circular, ovenproof dish about eight inches in diameter and one inch deep to comfortably cover the base. The dish should then be placed in to the oven and the oven should be put on to pre-heat to 220C or equivalent while the Yorkshire Pudding batter is prepared.

There are a lot of fanciful tips and advice given both in cookbooks and around the Web for making Yorkshire Pudding. Very often, these are extremely complicated and almost ominous sounding and it is my firm belief that they are the principal reason why a lot of people are afraid to try making Yorkshire Pudding. Alternatively, attempting to follow some of these preposterous suggestions is the very reason why the Yorkshire Puddings don't turn out as intended. Those who know me and how I cook will know that I am a great advocate of simplicity in cooking and therefore I make Yorkshire Pudding very effectively in the following, simple fashion.

The flour should be sieved in to a mixing bowl or basin and the salt added. The milk should be measured out in a measuring jug and then the egg added to the milk and the liquid whisked briskly to combine the egg with the milk. Slowly, the milk and egg mixture should be poured in to the flour and salt, whisking all the time, until a smooth batter is formed.

Very carefully, the hot dish should be removed from the oven and the batter poured in to a depth of about two-thirds of the way up the side of the dish. It will splutter a bit so be careful not to get splashed. Return the dish to the oven and cook for thirty to thirty-five minutes, until the Yorkshire Pudding is beautifully raised and golden.

When the Yorkshire Pudding is safely in the oven, the onion and carrot should be added to the shin of beef stew, along with more boiling water if required. I know that it is more usual to add the vegetables at the start that their flavour may fully permeate the meat but I like my vegetables to be eaten with a bit of substance, not turning to mush the moment they are out of the pot. That is why I compromise in this way when the meat has to cook for so long.

When the Yorkshire Pudding is ready, it should be removed from the oven and removed from the dish to a plate with a fish slice or spatula. The shin of beef stew should then be seasoned with salt and pepper and added to the centre of the Yorkshire Pudding to be served.

Scottish King Scallops with Whisky Cream Sauce

King scallops are a deliciously sweet type of shellfish. Soft and succulent, they almost seem to melt in the mouth - provided that they are cooked in the correct fashion. The recipe described below is for one person and includes details of the most common way in which I like to cook scallops.

Ingredients

5 or 6 Scottish King scallops
1/2lb potatoes
2 tbsp frozen peas
Circa 1 pint of milk
1 tbsp freshly chopped parsley (plus sprig for garnish)
1 clove of garlic (crushed or grated)
1 tbsp double (heavy, in USA) cream
1 tsp quality single malt Scotch whisky

Method

The first step is simply to peel and chop the potatoes and place them in to a pot of boiling, salted water. They will take around twenty-five minutes to cook.

It is important to note with scallops that the orange coral should be left intact. It is delicious! Far too many people are under the gross misapprehension that this is something to be discarded. Scottish King scallops in particular are expensive enough without discarding part of them uneaten.

After the potatoes have been on for around twenty minutes, the scallops should be added to a separate pot and enough cold milk added to completely cover them. They should not be seasoned in any way - no salt, no pepper, no herbs: nothing! It is the purely natural flavour of the Scottish King scallops that we want and not something imparted by an alien substance.

The pot containing the King scallops and milk should then be put on to a moderate heat and cooked only until the milk just begins to simmer around the edges. It must not be allowed to come to a boil. At this stage, the Scottish King scallops are cooked and should be removed from the pot with a slotted spoon to a warmed plate.

The peas will take around three minutes to cook in a separate pot in boiling water and should be put on immediately after the scallops, to be drained after this time has elapsed. The potatoes should then be drained and mashed with a little of the scallop poaching liquor, the garlic and the parsley.

The whisky cream sauce takes mere seconds. The cream and the whisky should be added to a very small saucepan and the pan heated while you stir with a wooden spoon on a very gentle heat until the sauce barely starts to simmer.

The potatoes should be added to the plate first and arranged in the form of a circular bed for the Scottish King scallops. The peas should then be placed around the edges, the scallops on top of the potatoes and the sauce drizzled very lightly over the scallops. The small sprig of parsley should be used as the final garnish.

Pork, Apple and Chilli Burgers with Garlic Roast Potatoes

There is nothing difficult about making burgers at home and, in this way, they are far more nutritious and enjoyable than any from a fast food restaurant or a supermarket. The added beauty of making burgers at home is that we can be so creative, not only in the type of meat which we use to make the burgers, but in the additional ingredients which we add to them.

I have made these pork, apple and chilli burgers many times over the years and although I would not go so far as to say that they are one of my favourite foods, they are probably my favourite type of burger that I have thus far created.

This recipe is for two (hungry) people and is prepared from start to finish in around thirty-five to forty minutes.

Ingredients

- Burgers

1lb minced/ground free range, organic pork
1 Granny Smith apple
1/2 small onion (finely chopped)
1 clove of garlic (crushed or grated)
1 small red chilli pepper (very finely chopped - deseeding is optional)
1 small egg
2 tbsp fresh breadcrumbs
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

- Garlic and Herb Mayonnaise

2 tbsp low fat mayonnaise
1 tbsp finely chopped parsley
1 garlic clove (crushed or grated)

- Potatoes

14 to 16 baby potatoes
1 clove of garlic (crushed)
Salt
1 tbsp sunflower oil

- Garnish

1 tomato
Sprig of fresh parsley

Method

The first step in this recipe is to prepare your garlic and herb mayo. This is in order to allow the flavours to permeate through the mayo and ensure it is enjoyed at its very best. This step can even be taken the night before, or earlier in the day. Simply mix the three ingredients well together in a small bowl, cover with clingfilm and refrigerate until required.

The potatoes should then be added to a pot with a little salt and enough boiling water to cover them - note that they should not be peeled. They should be simmered for fifteen minutes while the oven heats. The sunflower oil should then be added to a baking tray which should be placed in the oven and the oven put on to preheat to 400F/200C/Gas Mark 6.

Once the potatoes are on to boil, the burgers should be prepared. Note that if the seeds of the chilli are incorporated, the burgers will be a lot spicier.

All of the burger ingredients should be added to a large mixing bowl or basin, with the exception of the apple. The apple should be cored and four slices about 1/4" thick cut from the centre for later frying. It is imperative that these slices be immediately immersed in a small bowl of cold water, to prevent them from turning brown. The remainder of the apple should then be peeled, finely chopped and added to the other burger ingredients.

The burger ingredients should then be mixed very thoroughly by hand, before being divided in to four portions, rolled in to balls and flattened in to patties.

When the oven is heated, the potatoes should be drained thoroughly and added to the tray of hot oil. They should then be gently and carefully shaken around in the oil to ensure even coating before being placed in the oven for a total of twenty minutes' cooking time.

A little sunflower oil should be added to a non-stick frying pan and the burgers added to be fried for ten minutes each side. After the burgers are turned, the potatoes should be removed from the oven and the tray once again gently shaken.

When the burgers are ready, they should be removed from the frying pan to a plate and the two apple slices added to the vacated pan. The heat should be turned up to high and the slices fried for about one minute each side. While the apple slices are frying, the potatoes should be removed from the oven and added to a colander lined with kitchen paper to drain. They should then be placed in to a bowl with a crushed garlic clove and gently swirled around to obtain a garlic coating.

It is then time to plate up the meal by placing the apple slices on to the plates, the burgers on top, a slice of tomato on top of each burger and a teaspoonful of the mayo on top, garnished with a little bit of parsley. The potatoes should be added alongside.

King Prawn Fried Rice

I decided that I was going to eat Chinese tonight. As I love both seafood and rice, I decided to have a King Prawn fried rice. I toyed with the idea of preparing a sauce to go with it but decided that I wanted it just the way it is in the picture. I have no regrets...

The thing which I like best about fried rice is that it is so versatile in the way in which it can either be used as a meal accompaniment or have any number of ingredients added to it in order to make the body of a meal itself. This recipe is for two people.

Ingredients

10 to 12 King prawns (shelled and de-veined)
4oz basmati rice
1 small onion (halved, then finely sliced)
1 clove of garlic (very finely chopped)
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 tbsp roughly chopped coriander (cilantro in USA)
2 tbsp corn oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Method

The first step here is to wash the rice thoroughly in cold water and then boil it for twelve minutes in salted water. When it is done, it should be rinsed in cold water again in a sieve to cool it and shaken extremely thoroughly to remove as much of the water as possible. The rice may then be left in the sieve - over a bowl or pot - to drain as much as possible while the remaining ingredients are prepared.

When cooking King prawns - or indeed any form of shellfish - it is absolutely imperative that they not be over-cooked. The texture which they will assume should that be the case will be akin to rubber and they are likely to be quite inedible.

The wok should be brought up to a very high heat and the corn oil added. When the oil is heated, the King prawns should be added and stir fried for around thirty seconds before the onion and garlic are added. The soy sauce and the rice should then be added and the ingredients stirred for another couple of minutes. The heat should then be turned off before the seasoning and chopped coriander/cilantro are stirred through. The dish should now be served, garnished with a little more coriander.

Whisky - with Haggis, Tatties and Neeps

January 25th is of course the big night itself, the birthday of Scotland's Bard, Rabbie Burns. Tonight, Burns Suppers will be held around Planet Earth and The Bard's work will be recited and sung - while his national drink is drunk! Pictured to the right is the meal I have only moments ago finished (click on the image to enlarge it) and the recipe follows below. First of all, however, there is a certain formality which very much requires to be observed...

The Address to a Haggis is recited at every genuine Burns' Supper and constitutes the words of the poem of that name written by Burns.

Method

In the first instance, you may note that there are no specified ingredients in tonight's post. That is quite deliberate and down to the fact that a Burns' Supper is not big on quantities. It is about whisky, haggis, tatties, neeps and whisky - yes, I know! :)

The first step is to determine the cooking instructions for the haggis which you have purchased. They will vary hugely but will either be provided on the packaging or by your butcher. If you have a haggis of about half a pound, it may well feed four people - I am not joking! When the haggis' intestine is burst, the meat "flows" forth, so allow for around two pounds of potatoes and a whole suede turnip.

Haggis is usually boiled in the skin but may be required to be cooked in the oven. Your tatties will require to be peeled and cooked for around twenty-five minutes in simmering, salted water. Your turnip (neeps) will take slightly less time, so get the tatties on before preparing the turnip.

The parsnip and pea mash that accompanies our meal tonight takes the least cooking time of all. The parsnip should be peeled and simmered in salted water for ten minutes. At that time, two handfuls of frozen garden peas should be added, and cooked for a further three minutes.

When everything is ready, the tatties should be mashed, as should the neeps, separately. The haggis should be put in to a dish, to be mixed with a fair dram of the single malt. The parsnip and peas should also be drained and mashed.

A bowl should then be lined with clingfilm and firstly the haggis, then the tatties, then the neeps added, in equal portions. The mix should be pressed down firmly before being up-ended on to a plate. The edges of the clingfilm should then be held while the bowl is removed and the clingfilm subsequently pulled away.

The parsnip and pea mix should be shaped with a couple of teaspoons and added as garnish, along with a sprig of parsley.

Kedgeree - The Totally Scottish Curry!

There are those who will claim that Kedgeree was brought back from India by His Majesty's Forces serving there and made in to a British breakfast dish. In a sense, these people are not wrong, but they are missing out the previous history and creation of Kedgeree and creating an entirely false impression. Kedgeree was devised in Scotland in the late Eighteenth Century by a number of soldiers who had served with British forces in India. They in turn took the dish to India, where it became popular, and was re-introduced to Great Britain as that famous breakfast dish. The recipe for Kedgeree was first published in a Scottish Recipe Book as far back as 1790 - so it is by no means impossible that The Bard himself enjoyed a plate of it at some point!

Kedgeree is a dish like so many in that the way in which it is made and the ingredients which are included in it have both been "improved" over the years by a variety of cooks and chefs. The recipe which I have prepared is as simple as I could reasonably make it to be and is for two people.

Ingredients

4oz basmati rice
1/2lb smoked haddock fillet (undyed)
3/4 pint of semi-skimmed milk
2 eggs
1/2 small onion (very finely sliced)
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp ground coriander seed
1 tbsp freshly chopped parsley
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

It is important in the first instance - as always when cooking eggs - that the eggs be removed from the refrigerator and allowed to reach room temperature a couple of hours in advance. Eggs which are cooked straight from the refrigerator, in whatever way, will not produce quality results.

The smoked haddock should be placed in a large pot and the cold milk and spices added. The milk should be brought to a simmer and the smoked haddock cooked for around seven or eight minutes. After this time, the fillet should be removed from the pot with a spatula and sat on a plate to cool enough for handling.

The rice should be washed thoroughly and added to the spiced milk along with the onion. The milk should be brought back to a simmer for a further ten to twelve minutes. The eggs should now be added to a pot and enough cold water added to comfortably cover them. The water should be brought to a rolling boil and the heat then reduced until the water is gently simmering for about eight minutes.

The skin should now be removed from the smoked haddock fillet and discarded. The fillet should be very gently broken in to flakes, feeling for any stray bones which should be removed and discarded with the skin. The flakes of fish should then be re-added to the pot with the rice for the last couple of minutes of cooking time. The milk should by this stage be almost totally absorbed and care is required to ensure that the Kedgeree does not dry out completely and burn.

The eggs should be run under cold water and carefully shelled before being quartered as shown in the picture. The parsley and required seasoning should be stirred through the Kedgeree only at the very last minute prior to serving.

Hale and Hearty, Scottish Venison and Vegetable Stew

This is the sort of hale and hearty, traditional Scottish stew that would regularly have been consumed in Rabbie Burns' time, made not necessarily with venison but - perhaps more commonly - with maybe beef or lamb. As Burns' birthday of course fell at one of the coldest times of the year in Scotland, it is not difficult to imagine him and his family seated around the open fire, upon which a stew such as this simmered in a cast iron pot.

This is therefore a recipe which is prepared as it would have been centuries ago. There are no modern chemicals in it (as there rarely are in my recipes) and there are no complicated appliances required in order to make it. This recipe quantity should provide a great meal for two people at any time of year but particularly on a cold, Winter's night.

Ingredients

1lb diced Scottish venison loin
1/2lb small potatoes
1/2 turnip
1 large carrot
2 pints fresh beef stock
2 tbsp plain (all-purpose, in USA) flour
1oz butter
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Method

The first step is to put the beef stock on to heat while the venison is prepared. The venison chunks should be washed in cold water to remove the excess blood, then dried with paper kitchen towel or a clean tea towel. The flour should then be added to a bowl, seasoned well with salt and pepper and the venison pieces dipped in to coat them lightly. The butter should be melted in the stew pot and the venison added to quickly brown and seal over a medium heat. The hot stock should be poured in, brought back to a simmer and the simmer maintained for two hours, with only an occasional stir required as well as a check on the liquid level. Hot water should be added, as and if required.

The skin should be left on the potatoes but the turnip should be peeled and the carrot scraped. The vegetables should then be chopped to an approximately uniform size of about one inch chunks. After the venison has been simmering for two hours, the vegetables should be added to the pot along with more water if required and the stew simmered for a further half hour before being served immediately in bowls, while still piping hot.

Not Quite Bangers and Mash...

Bangers and mash is a very popular dish in the UK. It is basically sausages served in or on top of mashed potatoes. This dish is sausages served on crushed - as opposed to mashed - potatoes but probably looks a great deal different to most people familiar with bangers and mash.

The principal reason why this dish is so different from bangers and mash is that the sausages used in it are Lorne sausages, a type of sausage peculiar to Scotland and certain parts of the North of England. These are sausages where, rather than being stuffed in to skins, the sausage meat is compressed in to large blocks which are subsequently sliced to form the sausages. Although Lorne sausages were not around in the time of Rabbie Burns, they are a hugely popular item in Scottish cuisine today.

The following recipe is in the quantities required per person.

Ingredients

2 Lorne sausages
6 to 8 small new potatoes
Handful of frozen peas
1 clove of garlic
A knob of butter
Half a tomato for garnish (if desired)

Method

The new potatoes should be left whole and unpeeled, placed in to a pot of boiling, salted water and simmered for twenty-five to thirty minutes until soft. The Lorne sausages should be grilled and will take around three minutes each side under a medium to hot grill in order to cook. This should be timed so far as possible to coincide with the potatoes being ready.

The peas will only take about three minutes in boiling water to cook and should therefore be put on immediately prior to draining and starting to finalise the preparation of the crushed potatoes. When drained, the potatoes should be placed in a bowl and crushed with a fork. The butter and crushed or grated garlic clove should then be added and the mixture stirred. The potatoes should then be arranged on a plate, the Lorne sausages sliced in half diagonally and arranged on top as shown in the photograph and the peas drained and arranged round the edges of the plate. The tomato may then be placed on top as a final garnish.