Burns night light

Burns night doesn't have to mean indigestion or having all diners ending up feeling like they are only useful as door stops, with the cultural weight of Scotland's favourite son pinning them to the spot.

Want something lighter? Try this haggis pie recipe. It has the advantage of being prepared in advance, it's easier to serve than a whole haggis, and layers the swede, haggis and mash, giving the right quantity of each. The flavour and texture of the haggis is wonderful when put together with the soft and sweet swede and the creamy mash. A little carrot adds colour to the paler swede. It looks great on the plate, slightly reminiscent of 70s browns and oranges, but better. So good, in fact, Scottish pals have pronounced it genius.

The colours on the plate are fantastic. Go poncy and prepare it in little rings.

Serving it with some sweet, lightly cooked cabbage means you don't need any gravy. If you want something saucier try making some whisky gravy, don’t fret, just add a slug of whisky to your usual gravy.

If you like having the cooked haggis roll around the plate until you pierce it and allow the contents to spill, for the drama as much as anything, don't make this pie.

I credit my sister for this, but note that Delia has a version (the same info in different layout), nothing’s original is it.

RECIPE

Ingredients

·        2 haggis (I use Macsween's)

·        8 medium potatoes

·        1 large swede

·        2 carrots

·        salt

·        pepper

·        butter or margarine

·        milk

Method

• Take the printed plastic cover off the haggis and wrap them in foil, bake for 1 hour at 360/180/gas mark4 
• Peel the potatoes, cook well in salted water, drain and mash well with a hearty pinch of salt, good grindings of pepper, a knob of butter and a few glugs of milk. Don't make it too wet. 
• Peel the swede and carrots, cut into 2cm cubes and cook in plenty of salted water until tender, about 15 minutes. Drain, saving some of the liquid, about a cup. Mash thoroughly with some butter, a little salt and pepper, and add a little of the cooking liquid at a time.
• Lightly butter a heatproof dish, about 25cm/10" in diameter - I used an oval dish. 
• Slash open the cooked haggis and scoop out the filling into the buttered dish. Spread out a layer, about 2cm/1" thick. 
• Spread a layer of swede and carrot mash over the haggis layer, about 2cm/1" thick.
• Top with a similar layer of mash, and smoothing the top, then run a fork around it, to give lots of ridges to go crispy.
• Cook for 30 minutes at 360/180/gas mark4, until the crust is golden.

Serve with lightly cooked buttered cabbage.

Frozen veg...

It's bitingly cold out, and yesterday a serious wind chill gave a real disincentive to going out. Fortunately on a previous shopping expedition I had picked up a bag of frozen spinach to replenish my stock (spinach and peas in the freezer at all times), and I was tempted into buying some diced veg 'for stewing', which included large pieces of winter stalwarts: turnip, swede, celery, carrot, and onion. Unlike most of my friends, I do like peeling and chopping, I find it therapeutic. At the end of a busy day it is best to leave me to it, I am told I have a slightly threatening air when I'm grumpy and holding a knife. Still, even enthusiasts of the menial culinary task of veg prep can imagine there is a short cut, and on that basis I gazed on the diced winter veg with pleasure, dreaming of quick veg stew, veg curry, veg soup, and popped it into my basket.

So, yesterday I decided on soup. Lots of garlic - fresh - olive oil on a low temperature, and the kitchen filled with a heady aroma, joined by some mixed herbs (dried) and I felt optimistic. In went the veg, along with some stock and the lot boiled merrily away for 12 minutes. Tasting the soup, all was good once a little salt was added. Then I tried a carrot, followed by a bit of swede and a bit of turnip. The feeling in my mouth was nothing but fibre, more suitable for rope or possibly paper making than eating. Flavour: nil. I was gutted. Everything was cooked through, the liquid was great, and I wanted some soup, so I threw in a tin of tomatoes, let the lot bubble away again for five minutes and then blended the lot. And ate it with a good piece of toast.

Verdict: fresh winter root veg is the only way to go. 

Haggis Cottage Pie

I like haggis, it is a marvellous thing, but I only eat it once a year. So as Burns Night loomed I was trying to remember how to cook it, and remembering how filling it is. My sister Clare suggested I try her haggis pie recipe. It has the advantage of being prepared in advance, it's easier to serve than a whole haggis, and layering the swede haggis and mash gives the right quantity of each. Serving it with some sweet, lightly cooked cabbage means you don't need any gravy. The colours on the plate are fantastic.


Keeping the swede and potato separate means it isn't clapshot, which is made mashing the two together.

I should say that by swede I mean neep, the Scottish turnip.

The flavour and texture of the haggis is wonderful together with the soft and sweet swede and the creamy mash. A little carrot adds colour to the paler swede. It looks great on the plate, slightly reminiscent of 70s browns and oranges, but better. So good, in fact, that my Scottish pal Doug pronounced it genius. If you like having the cooked haggis roll around the plate until you pierce it and allow the contents to spill, for the drama as much as anything, don't make this pie.

This much left me with three slices to put in the freezer - after four people with healthy appetites ate their fill. I'm going to have them for a hearty breakfast, unhealthily fried, with an egg on top, sometime, with a side dish of mushrooms.

RECIPE

Ingredients

2 haggis (I used Macsween's)

8 medium potatoes

1 large swede

2 carrots

salt

pepper

butter or margarine

milk

Method

• Take the printed plastic cover off the haggis and wrap them in foil, bake for 1 hour at 360/180/gas mark4 
• Peel the potatoes, cook well in salted water, drain and mash well with a hearty pinch of salt, good grindings of pepper, a knob of butter and a few glugs of milk. Don't make it too wet. 
• Peel the swede and carrots, cut into 2cm cubes and cook in plenty of salted water until tender, about 15 minutes. Drain, saving some of the liquid, about a cup. Mash thoroughly with some butter, a little salt and pepper, and add a little of the cooking liquid at a time.
• Lightly butter a heatproof dish, about 25cm/10" in diameter - I used an oval dish. 
• Slash open the cooked haggis and scoop out the filling into the buttered dish. Spread out a layer, about 2cm/1" thick. 
• Spread a layer of swede and carrot mash over the haggis layer, about 2cm/1" thick.
• Top with a similar layer of mash, and smoothing the top, then run a fork around it, to give lots of ridges to go crispy.

• Cook for 30 minutes at 360/180/gas mark4, until the crust is golden.

Serve with lightly cooked buttered cabbage.