Burns night easy

Many people have already piped in a haggis for 2017, the Saturday nearest to Burns night having past. Maybe you want to do your eating and recitations on the 25th, observing the actual day. Why not try a haggis pie? It's colourful, and you can prepare it in advance. If Burns had had a 9-5 job, he might have tried this approach himself.

Take a look at the recipe here.

Pipe in your pie with the traditional poem: Address to a Haggis

Address to a Haggis

Fair fa' your honest, sonsie face,
Great chieftain o the puddin'-race!
Aboon them a' ye tak your place,
Painch, tripe, or thairm:
Weel are ye worthy o' a grace
As lang's my arm.
The groaning trencher there ye fill,
Your hurdies like a distant hill,
Your pin wad help to mend a mill
In time o need,
While thro your pores the dews distil
Like amber bead.
His knife see rustic Labour dight,
An cut you up wi ready slight,
Trenching your gushing entrails bright,
Like onie ditch;
And then, O what a glorious sight,
Warm-reekin, rich!
Then, horn for horn, they stretch an strive:
Deil tak the hindmost, on they drive,
Till a' their weel-swall'd kytes belyve
Are bent like drums;
The auld Guidman, maist like to rive,
'Bethankit' hums.
Is there that owre his French ragout,
Or olio that wad staw a sow,
Or fricassee wad mak her spew
Wi perfect scunner,
Looks down wi sneering, scornfu view
On sic a dinner?
Poor devil! see him owre his trash,
As feckless as a wither'd rash,
His spindle shank a guid whip-lash,
His nieve a nit;
Thro bloody flood or field to dash,
O how unfit!
But mark the Rustic, haggis-fed,
The trembling earth resounds his tread,
Clap in his walie nieve a blade,
He'll make it whissle;
An legs an arms, an heads will sned,
Like taps o thrissle.
Ye Pow'rs, wha mak mankind your care,
And dish them out their bill o fare,
Auld Scotland wants nae skinking ware
That jaups in luggies:
But, if ye wish her gratefu prayer,
Gie her a Haggis

Stuffing and gravy

I am getting a head start on preparations for the Christmas meal, time to make stock, to be used in the gravy. Looking at the photo, the submerged contents look like a miniature scene more suited to CSI. Sitting on the sidelines I've got some pork shoulder and chicken livers, which I haven't photographed, together with a bottle of brandy. Additional ingredients.

Pictured in the pot is a whole chicken with herbs and the usual, garlic, celery, carrots, onions, peppercorns and cloves. The poached chicken will be mixed with pork shoulder, liver, herbs and brandy, bound together with egg and topped off with bacon. Leftovers gets eaten as pâté after Christmas.

Recipe follows.

Carrots

Carrots are one of my favourite veg, although you might not think so having seen me throw out  a peeled uncooked carrot that the dogs have been carrying around.

This donated to dog vegetable wasn't eaten, because it was past it's crunch point, and the dog has too much discrimination to bother with it when it's soggy. It looked just like a bone.

This carrot was rejected three times, once at the point of peeling, once at the point of donation to dog and then finally at the pseudo bone point. But mostly I treasure a carrot. Snacked raw, grated, julienned and cooked.

I'll come clean (although it's hardly the right expression, due to my habits) I do ignore the trail of destruction the dogs leave a lot of the time, let's call it doggy decor, well, during the day anyway. I have a scurry around most evenings.

Soon to come: a series of recipes with carrots. Later today: carrot salad.

Get excited.

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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.

GF quick mix orange almond cake

Greed made me a revisit the oh so easy orange almond cake. I have clementines hanging around, so I boiled them up, but the scent wasn't as pungent as usual, so I threw in half a lemon. It is a delicious combination. I still think the oranges are pretty good though. It all tastes good.

This is essentially an all in one mix, and quite liquid. Mix it all up and pour into the well prepared tin. I think you should cook it for an hour, until the cake is pulling away from the sides. I haven't managed to cook this cake dry. If it is undercooked it is a bit heavy and puddingy.

Don't be tempted to keep the water the fruit is cooked in, there is plenty of liquid in the fruit.

Beetroot salad - mustard vinaigrette

Even in the winter, salad is a lovely part of a meal. Some people like pickles with their meals, but I prefer salad. Of course there is no stopping you having both.

Yesterday we had a sit down weekday lunch, one of those lunches where everyone eats something different, even though you’re eating at home.  My plate housed a mixed green salad with avocado, asparagus and watercress using the Long Family dressing, a traditional olive oil, vinegar and garlic dressing. I also put together a quick beetroot salad. I’ve posted the recipe before as one of my hors d’oeuvres posts.

I used to go to the green grocer, and to market stalls and beetroot would be bubbling away on a camping stove

, the earthy smell wafting along the road, drawing me in. Freshly cooked beets were ready to buy, and when you came to use them the dry outer skin could be rubbed off, revealing the rich deep red flesh ready to eat, sweet and cool. The supermarkets sell small versions of the larger lovely beets and both can be wonderfully dressed with a mustard vinaigrette. The onion is essential, and the longer it sits in the dressing with the beetroot the better – but it is still pretty good straight away.

Beetroot Salad Recipe

Four small beetroot or equivalent

One small onion

Mustard vinaigrette

• Slice the beetroot to suit – I like it diced
• Finely chop the onion
• Mix with vinaigrette

Vinaigrette

Large teaspoon Dijon mustard

Large pinch salt

Generous grindings of black pepper

I tbsp wine vinegar

2 tbsp light oil (sunflower or similar)

• mix salt, pepper and mustard
• stir in the vinegar until it is well combined
• stir in oil until dressing looks like a loose mayonnaise

Variations of ingredients and methods

• Walnuts and parsley are delicious additions to the salad
• A little whisk makes combining the mustard dressing easier

Easy orange almond cake - gluten free

Delicious and highly scented, this cake is gluten free and very easy to make.

made with almond meal, the almonds are ground with the skins on

I first cooked this wonderful cake using Claudia Roden's recipe, and I was joining a large group since lots of people include it in their repertoire, for good reason. It is delicious and gluten free. I love the intense orange flavour, the fact that it keeps well, and that it is a very easy cake to make. Also the whole house smells of oranges when I make it. If you have only got clementines or lemons, go with it, all citrus fruit works.

The only fat in the cake comes from the almonds. I have used shop bought ground almonds, I've ground my own both with and without skins. It's called almond meal if you include the skins, and almond flour if you don't, apparently. The difference between home ground and shop bought is in taste, which is all that matters really. You don't get more almond flavour, the almond seems to hold the citrus flavour better. The consistency may not be as smooth, but I prefer that. I can't see the difference between including the skins or not, apart from peeling almonds is no fun at all, and of course the colour is slightly darker.  

Some people include orange flower water, but I like the flavour as it is, bold and gutsy.

This cake also looks great on a plate, the outside cooks to a beautiful tan brown and the inside remains golden orange. It is chic.

If you haven’t got oranges you can substitute them with lemons, tangerines or any other orange citrus fruit. I haven’t tried lime or grapefruit, yet.

If you want to go old school you can use a sieve instead of a blender to pulp the cooked oranges.

Ingredients

• 2 large oranges
• 6 free-range eggs
• 250g/9oz ground almonds
• 250g/9oz caster sugar
• 1 tsp baking powder

Preparation method

• Wash the oranges thoroughly.
• Put the washed oranges into a large saucepan of water and bring them to the boil.
• Reduce heat to a simmer, cover, and cook for two hours – making sure that the water doesn’t boil away.
• Preheat the oven to 175C/325F/Gas 3.
• Butter and flour a 23cm/9in cake tin – keep it gluten free and use some ground almonds.
• Leave the oranges to cool, before slicing in quarters. Remove the pips.
• Pulp the oranges in a food processor – make sure it is smooth.
• Beat the eggs in a large bowl and gradually stir in all the remaining ingredients, including the puréed oranges. Mix well. The batter will be a beautiful orange colour.
• Pour the mixture into the cake tin and cook for about an hour, until the cake is a lovely tan colour and has risen.
• Transfer to a wire cooling rack, keeping the cake in the tin. It is likely to break if you take it out too soon.
• When the cake has cooled, carefully remove from the tin.
• Serve as you like – I usually cut into slices. It is lovely with creme fraiche.

Gerry Long's mashed potatoes - purée to some

Very yummy Long family mash - grace à mon père

The family mash is ever popular, and I am making a first go writing up the recipe here. Mostly it's done by feel, while you beat the potatoes hard with a fork, trying to fluff and crush at the same time, you start to feel when it's ready. I somehow managed to get the outline instructions from my father - mash was one of the few dishes he made from beginning to end.

The ingredients that combine to make the magic are:

potatoes
butter or margarine
pepper and salt
nutmeg

Some people favour particular varieties of potato, but I won't pretend that I do, because mostly I just use what is hanging around. In our house you need about three potatoes about the size of a computer mouse per person, unless Kitty and Olivia are in, in which case you need four per person.

Once you get a taste for this mash you may find you want a larger quantity. Have a pint of milk ready and make sure you've got at least a serving spoonful of butter or marg.

Instructions

• Peel the potatoes.
• Cook them in salted water until very well done - a fork stuck into one will make it fall apart easily.
• Drain the potatoes and add the butter and some of the milk, a hearty pinch of salt and some ground black pepper. 
• Mash with a large fork. Beat those potatoes and keep beating.
• Add a pinch of nutmeg - I use freshly grated. Don't overdo it.
• Beat a bit more, taste and adjust the seasoning if you need to.
• Add more milk if the potatoes are stiff - it should be smooth but not at all runny. 

I've been given a potato masher that's a bit like a miniature pogo stick, with springs and everything. I do use it, but I always end up using a fork afterwards. Just to make sure - and also because I feel a bit like I'm being unfaithful to the source implement. The fork is the magic wand of mash.

I don't really get those rice masher things either.

I like to pile the mash into a bowl and use the fork to give it lots of texture, my favourite is a volcano shape. Assuming you've used an oven proof dish you can put it in the oven to get a crust,

That's it.

The proof of the pudding, as the saying goes, is in the eating. And the proof of the recipe is in the cooking. Two proofs at once in this case, as Kitty followed the recipe and shared it with friends. She is the barometer for authentic Gerry Long mash, her friends are the barometer for v yummy, apparently.

Mary Norwak's Basic Cake Recipe

Aunt Clare lived in a number of picturesque villages through her lifetime, ending up in Cley next the Sea, on the North Norfolk coast. It is a lovely village, and is known by some as Cambridge by Sea, due to the fact that it is so popular eith people retiring from Cambridge. Mary Norwak was a long-term resident and friend of aunt clare, and besides writing many cookery books was happy to share her recipes and her baked goods at many village events.

This recipe is the traditional pound cake, or quatre quarts as they call it in France. Equal amounts of fat, flour, sugar and eggs, and with a strong arm or its electric equivalent, you can make this cake all in one.

I notice that my mum made a note in her lovely writing on the recipe written out by her sister, on the back of an envelope, in the traditional manner. Clare also added a note saying add vanilla and a little water. Mums note says add orange juice and zest for an orange version, and that is my favourite



butter and line 2x7"/18cm tin

set the oven to 170C or equivalent

4oz/110g sr flour
4oz/110g caster sugar
2 eggs
4oz/110g soft margarine
drop of vanilla

Put all together and beat well with electric beater. Put in two tins and bake in the centre of the oven for 20-30m
cool on rack in the tin - remove when cool

variations:
chocolate 1/3oz cocoa/flour (20/90g)/
orange add grated rind/juice of large orange