Elaborate side-Burns

Happy Burns Night.
For Scotsmen everywhere a chance to cut out a lot of messing about and just pour the whisky straight on to their food. 
Rabbie Burns is the unofficial nation poet of Scotland.  Hugely celebrated - possibly because the Scot's dialect makes his poems and songs almost impenetrable to the English.  I mean, Auld Lang Syne.  What is all that about? However, you can't deny that he made a remarkable legacy for himself having lived in harsh poverty for the majority of his life.
Hands up who likes haggis? I know.  It is delicious but its quite a hard one to sell to the kids. 
The veggie alternative makes a great stuffing, thus:

Sassenach Chicken

1 vegetarian haggis
1 chicken breast per person
4 rashers of streaky bacon per person


Really simple to do and really delicious and moist chicken.

Cut a deep slit in the chicken but not all the way through and fill with a generous amount of the veggie haggis - no need to pre-cook the haggis.
Now bring the chicken back together and wrap in the streaky bacon to hold it all in place.
Line up the sassenachs in a roasting dish and sprinkle with olive oil.
Cover with foil and cook in a pre-heated oven at 180 degrees for 25 minutes.
Remove the foil and roast for a further 15 minutes to crisp up the bacon.

Serve with neaps and tatties.  (I combined these by doing a sweet potato and swede mash).

Really nice with cranberry sauce.

Around the Grounds

The Common Puffball
Solid, milky white and edible when young.
At this mature stage, spores are released through the hole in the top. 
The puffball relies on heavy rain falling on it to distribute the spores but I find that children's feet are much more effective.





A walk for the weekend.

Selkirk to Melrose.  10 Miles, linear.

Begin in the market place, noting the lovely statue of Sir Walter Scott - another legendary Scotsman.
The route takes you alongside the golf course and out across the fields on the Old Drove Road.  This section offers fantastic views of the Royal and Ancient Borough. You will then pass Caulshields Loch descend to the river and follow the riverside path all the way to Melrose.
For the full map visit:  http://www.scotborders.gov.uk/downloads/file/437/borders_abbeys_way_selkirk_to_melrose

Funny of the Week

That why I don't like cricket

http://youtu.be/Hlk6TIeN0U4

Self-catering Slobbery

When you're on holiday, you don't want to spend ages cooking.  Neither do you want to pay over the odds in the restaurants every night.  Therefore, here's one I made earlier.  What is the point of going away without a pie?  This one is mince and onion with a short-crust pastry case.
To give it that holiday feel, make gravy from instant granules and add a splash of red wine and a squirt of tomato ketchup.

On the side, boiled new potatoes, roasted in butter and olive oil while the pie heats up.






Around the Grounds

Now alright, this picture isn't exactly from around my grounds but it was taken this week, by me, so it counts.  Red squirrel facts:

They do not hibernate but store seeds and fungi in tree stumps and underground for the winter months.

75%  now live in Scotland

Their biggest threat is the grey squirrel.

They can't help you across the road.
Favourite cocktail: Peanut Colada

Frozen Assets

There is a lot of rubbish talked about scones.  Personally, I don't think it really matters if they get a little over-kneaded at the rolling out stage.  The best way of getting nice tall scones is to leave them thick when you cut them out.

They can now be frozen raw and cooked straight from the freezer whenever you need them.  They will take a couple of minutes longer but they will still rise and be nice and fluffy on the inside.

Funny of the Week

A triathalete meets a road bike racer

http://youtu.be/O8tIRm9nle8

I haven't decided what sport I'll be competing in yet - no sense in narrowing ones aspect prematurely. 
There will be a solo synchronised swimming event.  I may just do my rendition of Y.M.C.A with goggles on.
Anyway, all of us athletes will need plenty of sustenance:

Veggie Lasagne

And not the watery, squishy kind. This is robust and really tasty.

4 or 5 mixed peppers, quartered
Cherry tomatoes, halved
2 celery sticks, sliced
2 carrots, shaved

3 or 4 big mushrooms, sliced

A jar of tomato sauce

About a pint of cheesy sauce

Start by roasting some mixed peppers and cherry tomatoes with a generous sprinkling of olive oil and black pepper.  This will take about 45 minutes at 200 degrees.

While that's in the oven, fry some sliced celery until softened and then add some slices of lovely big mushrooms and some dried oregano.

 

Cook again until for a few minutes and then add a jar of your homemade tomato sauce (Or a jar from the supermarket).
Now add some carrot shavings - I do these with my potato peeler and they give a nice bit of texture.  Cook until just softened.
Now you can make a lovely cheesy sauce, in the usual way.  You'll need about a pint.

To assemble, start with a layer of the carroty sauce, then dry lasagne sheets, then cheese sauce and finally a layer of the scrumptious peppers and tomatoes and all their juices.
Fill in the gaps with the carroty sauce and continue with pasta, then cheese sauce, then peppers, red sauce, pasta and finally cheese sauce.  Top with some extra grated cheese.

Now, I used to spend ages snapping lasagne sheets and trying to make it all fit the dish. 
Now look at my devil-may-care attitude.  It really doesn't matter if there's a gap as the pasta expands in the oven anyway.


Frozen Assets

Cookies.

Here is the basic recipe: (makes about 25 biscuits)

8oz Sugar
8oz butter
13oz plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 egg

Cream the sugar and butter in a mixer until really soft.
Add the flour, baking powder and egg and mix gently until combined.
You now have the basic dough, to which you can add whatever you fancy.
I divided this batch in to two.
To the first I added currants and then shaped it in to a fat sausage. 
The dough is quite sticky so it benefits from being rolled in a dry ingredient.  I used oats.

To the second half of the batch I added chocolate chips and rolled it in flaked almonds.






These lovely sausages can now be wrapped in cling film and chilled in the fridge for half an hour before baking. 
Or, freeze for half a year if you like!
Slice in to cookies about 1cm thick and bake on ungreased trays at 180 degrees for about ten minutes.
If the dough has been frozen, allow to warm up for about 20 minutes before slicing.

Other things you could add:  chopped up chocolate bars of any kind, fudge bits, chopped cherries or nuts, cocoa powder, ginger...

Other things you could roll them in: chopped nuts, sesame seeds, drinking chocolate, dessicated coconut, crushed cornflakes...

Funny of the Week.

The power of a million candles.

http://youtu.be/Vt8aAy_8Ub4

In Praise of Dumplings

Hey everybody, here comes 2012!  The last one in's a sissy.
Imagine.  A whole new year stretching out in front of us. 
It is great to see this as a wonderful opportunity for change and new experience. 
Of course, any time can be seen this way but we feel a sense of new beginning with the simple act of putting a new calendar up on the wall.  This is quite a strange phenomenon since time is constant and steady and yet we like to parcel it up into sections.
Anyway, lets embrace our new parcel of time and see every day as an opportunity for change and experience. 
A wise man once told me that you can change everything about your life in a few months. 
If, like me, you only want to change a few small things, it shouldn't take too long. 
Good luck with those resolutions.



Dumplings

There are two types:
Floaters and sinkers.
The floating ones on top of this savoury mince are light
and fluffy in the middle and crunchy on the top.

The recipe calls for equal volumes of flour and suet - not equal weight.
For 10 dumplings:
6 des. spoons self-raising flour
6 des. spoons shredded suet
2 tsp mixed herbs
12 des spoons cold water

Stir up the dry ingredients, add the water and then combine with a fork.

Divide in to 10 rough balls and add to the top of a cooked and hot casserole,
stew or in this case, savoury mince.
Cook in a preheated oven at 180 degrees for about 20 minutes.




Incidentally, to make dumplings that sink for putting in clear soups, substitute the self-raising flour for plain.
This type is better in smaller, smoother rounds.




A Walk for the Weekend

Now that January is here, time to get out and burn a few calories, breathe some fresh air and stand in a few sheep droppings. 
How about here?

The Broadford Marble Line, Isle of Skye.
8 Miles. Circular.

This route that starts and ends at the Broadford Hotel. (Excellent for a cheeky pint).  From the hotel car park, take the road out of Broadford towards Torrin. After a short uphill section, take the signed path to the left that takes you down to a dis-used railway.  You can now follow the railway along the side of Strath Saurdal. (If you are feeling energetic, have a hike up the hill for a look at the brilliant view of the surrounding geology).

Across the road from Strath Saurdal is Kilchrist Kirk, and beyond that, the Broadford River.

Their is a riverside path that will lead you all the way back to Broadford. 

An afternoon very well spent.

Funny of the Week

Some of these look very painful but others are really good.

Perfectly timed photos.

http://youtu.be/bMP9TdrLywo

Feeding the first-footers

You've had the turkey, the turkey curry. the turkey pie, the soup, the cold turkey with chips and pickle and the re-fried sprouts.  Now you are qualified to use a new ingredient and I will be doing salmon.
My kids don't really like fish unless it comes in an orange jacket but they really do like this recipe:

Salmon with prawns and bacon.

This is basically fish with parsley sauce, pretending to be something more glamorous.

For each person;
1 Salmon fillet
1 Slice of smoked salmon
1 rasher streaky bacon
Several large prawns
A few slices of onion
Half a carrot
Bread crumbs



You can do this in individual gratin dishes or side by side in a lasagne dish - leave some room around each fillet of salmon for quicker cooking and easier serving.

Begin by oiling the dish and putting a few thin slices of onion and carrot in the bottom.
Now put the salmon fillet in, sprinkle with olive oil and add black pepper.
Place in a pre-heated oven at 180 degrees centigrade for about 10 minutes.

While this cooks, make the sauce:

Fry small pieces of bacon until crispy.
Add a small piece of butter and 2 tspn of plain flour.
Now add milk, a little at a time in the usual way for a white sauce.  It will thicken as you go.
When you are happy with the thickness, add a handful of chopped parsley.
Now add the prawns and heat thoroughly.

Remove the salmon fillet from the oven, top with a slice of smoked salmon and pour the sauce over.

Now sprinkle with bread crumbs and return to the oven for 5 to 10 minutes or until the top is browned and crispy.

Serve with fresh greens.










Around the Grounds

The high winds and driving rain have ceased thankfully and here and there are little hopeful signs of

great things to come in the new year.

Frozen Assets

Lets be honest.  We all buy herbs in pots from the supermarket, use half and then throw the rest away.  Not any more! 

The best thing to do with fresh herbs - even if they are home grown, is chop them up and store them in the freezer. 

Chop the stalks finely and leave the leaves larger.

I keep a constant supply of parsley, coriander and basil.

Now, it does clump up a bit but its easy to persuade out of the tub with a fork.  The coriander is lovely in curries and the parsley goes in to soups and sauces.  Obviously, it is too soggy for salads but you can whizz it up with olive oil for a herb dressing. 
You know it makes sense.

Funny of the Week

The return of The Unbelievable Truth.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/i/b018g3nz/



Love Your Sprouts

The sprout.  Its not just for Christmas.  Not only delicious but the purveyor of  sulforaphane - a potent anticancer chemical. 
Its cool to like sprouts again so lets all eat lots over the holidays.

The best ways to cook 'em to retain their flavour and beneficial properties are stirfrying and steaming. The days of cutting a cross into the base and boiling for twenty minutes are over.








Fabulous Sprouts with Bacon.

Slice your little beauties and set aside.
In a deep frying pan, cook litte strips of streaky bacon in olive oil until crisp.
Now throw in a handful of pre-cooked chestnuts.  The vacuum packed ones are nice.
Lastly the sprouts go in.  Stir fry for a few minutes and then add a little water to the pan and put a lid on to create steam.
Cook like this for about five minutes or until the sprouts are just tender. 
The time taken will depend on how finely you have sliced them.

This is a delicious side dish at Christmas but add a tub of creme fraiche and a heap of parmesan and it makes a lovely pasta sauce at any time of year. 




Delicious Braised Red Cabbage

This is only a recent edition to our Christmas dinner but it quickly became an absolute favourite. Its also another dish that can be made a day or two before and re-heated, or frozen well ahead of time.

You will need:
1 Red Cabbage - finely shredded
1 Onion - finely sliced
2 Cooking Apples - sliced
Lots of freshly grated nutmeg
Red wine vinegar
Balsamic vinegar
Soft brown sugar

In a large pan, gently fry the onion in olive oil and a little butter until softened.
Next add the apple and stir again for a few minutes.
Then the cabbage goes in with about half a nutmeg, grated.
Slosh in the vinegar - about 100ml of each. And a heaped tbspn of brown sugar.

Combine and put a lid on.
Cook on a gentle heat until the cabbage is tender.  This will take about an hour.
From time to time, stir and check that its not drying out - add a little water if you need to.

What you don't use will freeze really well and reheat in the oven to go with sausage casseroles of the future.




Christmas Pie

The best thing about the Chistmas feast is the left-overs. What could be nicer than a re-fried sprout?  Well, this pie actually.

Its made in a 7" cake tin with hot water pastry and inside are layers of sliced turkey and stuffing and a seam of braised red cabbage.

Its lovely warm with gravy and vegetables or cold with a fresh salad.

Hot water pastry is really easy to make but its only workable while its warm - roll out and cut your lid before you start filling your pie.




Have a brillaint Christmas and don't stress out about the dinners.

Funny of the Week
Father Dougal is almost as excited as my household.

http://youtu.be/1hx6s_hpI8w

Taking the Irk out of the Turkey

Non-irksome Turkey

I have a rather radical way of cooking a Christmas turkey to share with you.
All of the preparation is done on Christmas Eve and the carving will be entirely stress-free.
No doubt you have already ordered your bird so what you need to do is go to your friendly butcher and ask him to prepare it for you.  Ask him to remove all the bones so that you will get the boned crown and also, boneless leg meat.  Don't forget to mention that you want the bones for your gravy.

When you get it home, brown the bones in a large pan and then add lots of boiling water, onion, carrots, celery, bay leaves, a small piece of star anise, half a cinnamon stick and black pepper.  Simmer for ages to make delicious turkey stock.  This will be transformed in to the best gravy ever by passing through a sieve and thickening with butter and cornflour. 

To prepare the leg meat:

Take a large piece of strong foil and smear with butter.
Lay out the leg meat in a nice even layer.
Add a filling of sausage meat stuffing and roll up.
Now wrap the foil around nice and tightly and place in the fridge.

This will be roasted in the foil at 200 degrees centigrade for about an hour - perfect to slot beside the roast potatoes.

To prepare the breast meat:
Lay strips of streaky bacon across a roasting dish so that they drape over the side.
Now put one side of the crown in the middle of the bacon.
On top of this put your stuffing - this year I've made cranberry, apple and sage.
Now the other half of the crown goes on.
Smear with butter and then bring the bacon strips over the top.
You can now cover it with foil and put it in the fridge for the big day.
This joint will require about 1 and a half hours at 180 centigrade.
Take the foil off with about twenty minutes to go.  Make sure that your turkey is cooked by skewering and testing that the centre is piping hot and the juices are running clear.
Rest under foil for at least 15 minutes before slicing.

If you need to cook both joints in one oven, turn the heat up when you take the foil off the crown. You can then put the leg meat in when the crown comes out and this will be fine resting under foil for an hour.



Around the Grounds

This little robin is paying more frequent visits. 
The robin is one of only a few birds that defend a territory. This is why you will seldom see more than one at a time.  The red breast is for territory defence, not courtship which is why male and female birds are identical.  They have been known to attack stuffed robins.

Remember to keep your feeders topped up and provide fresh water when the bird bath freezes.





Frozen Assets

Mince Pies

You don't need to make your own mince meat from scratch. 
Start with a jar of the gloopy, bought stuff and add:
Sultanas, raisins, pecans and hazelnuts toasted and chopped, shredded suet, marzipan chopped in to little cubes and a nice slosh of cherry brandy or port.
Now put your superior mince meat in a large jar and give it a festive hat.  Every time you see it on your worktop you will be reminded that you are a Christmas cracker.

To make the pies you will need sweet, shortcrust pastry:

8oz plain flour
4oz butter
1oz caster sugar

Rub the fat in to the flour and then stir the sugar through.  Add enough cold water to make a nice soft ball of dough.  Wrap in cling film and allow to rest in the fridge for about half an hour.
Cut the bases and fill with your lovely mince meat.
I made mini ones this time and I prefer to cut holly leaves for the top for less pastry in each bite.
Wash the top with a little milk and sprinkle on some sugar.
They freeze really well. Cook them until they are just pale golden so that you can re-heat before you need to serve them.

Funny of the Week.

A timely reminder of why we are celebrating next weekend.

http://youtu.be/fTzXJMU1sLc