Burns Night Pie

Burns Night Pie

Traditionally on Burns Night it's always Haggis, neeps and tatties.

Well this is Haggis, neeps and tatties with a difference

 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! 
Robert Burns

Today's recipe is traditional in that it contains all the ingredients, but in a different way - serves at least four people.

 You will need:

1 Haggis

1 swede – peeled and finely chopped

1lb of potatoes peeled and chopped.

Gravy – as usual, I’ll let Delia show you how to make gravy (click here), otherwise, Bisto is very good.  Add a slug of whisky for extra Scottishness.

Firstly, cook the swede.

Open the haggis and break it up into an oven-proof dish. 

Add the cooked swede and mix well with a little gravy.

Cook the potatoes. Drain and mash them.  The best mashed potatoes are done with a potato-ricer if you have one.  Add a knob of butta and some warm milk.  Salt if you want to.

Spread the potatoes over the haggis and swede and bake in a fairly hot oven, gas 5, 180C, 375F for about 25 minutes, until the potatoes are toasted.

Serve with something green, such as cabbage and more of the gravy.

Easy peasy.

 © Karen Ette 2013

Scotch Broth for Burns Night

Scotch-ish Broth

As Burns Night approaches, Fancy Pans are putting on some good Scottish fare and this is my take on a traditional dish of Scotch Broth, which I hope Robbie would have enjoyed.

This is a substantial soup which doesn’t need any bread to accompany it.  In fact, the best accompaniment is a tot of good single malt such as Glenmorange.

You will need:

A large pan – big enough to hold all the ingredients.

2lbs Lamb bones – or neck of lamb 4 pints of water

3 oz pearl barley (or 6 tablespoons) OR, risotto rice (or lentils if you really must)

Place the lamb bones into the saucepan, pour on the water and bring to the boil. If there’s a scum on the surface after it has been boiling for a few minutes, scoop it off and discard. Add the Pearl Barley (or the washed lentils, if you must) and leave to simmer for about an hour.  If you are going to use risotto rice, add this with the vegetables later.

You can do your vegetable prep now.

These ingredients need to be peeled (if they need peeling) and chopped into fairly small pieces:

2 sticks of celery – de-stringed

2 large carrots

2 small leeks (or one large one)

A small swede or half a large one

1 large onion (or two small ones)

Plus

2 rashers of bacon – can be smoked or un-smoked, the choice is yours - also chopped into small pieces.

A sprinkling of mixed herbs

Salt and white pepper to taste.

After the bones have been simmering for an hour, add all the other ingredients and cook for a further 20-30 minutes. If you are using risotto rice, add it with the vegetables.

When the vegetables are cooked, remove the bones and discard.  If you have used neck of lamb, you can strip off the meat, chop it finely and put it back into the broth.

Check the seasoning and add more salt and pepper if you need to.

And that’s all there is to it.

Turkey Curry plus vegetarian option - all gluten free plus Paul Hollywood's Peshwari Naan Bread (not gluten free)

Turkey Curry

(or 

Butternut Squash and Sweet Potato Curry)

You will need:

Thick-based saucepan – large-ish, depending on how much turkey you have.

Vegetable oil – 2 or 3 tablespoons to cover the base of the pan

3 large onions, chopped

2 cloves

2 cardamom pods

2 bay leaves

3 green chillies – finely chopped – you can take the seeds out if you prefer (I do)

1 clove of garlic – crushed

1-2 teaspoons of ground ginger

1-2 teaspoons Garam Masala
1 teaspoon turmeric
1/4 teaspoon chilli powder
Salt

1 tin of chopped tomatoes (more if you have lots of turkey)

Cooked, left-over turkey. (You can use un-cooked meat, chicken for example, but cooking will take slightly longer.)

For the veggie version, use cubed butternut squash and sweet potato

Here’s what to do:

Heat the oil in the pan to a high temperature.

Add the chopped onions, cloves, cardamom and bay leaves and cook until golden.

Add the chopped chilies, garlic and ginger and cook until dark brown.

Make sure you keep stirring as the ginger will stick and burn if you are not careful.

Add the chopped tomatoes and Garam Masala, turmeric, salt and chilli powder and stir together for about 5 minutes.

Add the turkey (or cubed veg) and cook for another 10 minutes, keep stirring.

Check your seasoning and add more chilli if you like it hot, and maybe some salt, to suit your taste.

When you see the oil rising to the surface add a cup of hot water.

Stir then put the lid on and leave to simmer for 20-30 minutes (30-40 if you are using un-cooked meat, or even longer if you use lamb).

Stir occasionally during cooking.
Before serving, remove the cloves, bay leaves and cardamon pods.

Serve with rice – you can use fresh coriander for a garnish if you have any.

Also nice with a spoonful of yoghurt in the centre when you serve.

If you like Naan bread with your curry, why not try Paul Hollywood's recipe for Peshwari Naan? - click here - not gluten free I'm afraid.

Rabbit Stew and Dumplings (or not)

This recipe has stirred up a childhood memory of mine:

My brother wanted a rabbit.  He had made the usual promises to ‘look after it’ – feed it, clean it out, - as you do, so Gran took him to a local farmer and rabbit breeder to choose one. 

 He brought home a lovely doe, white with brown markings, and kept his promise to look after her. What he hadn’t known though, was that she was pregnant and shortly after her arrival, there was soon a writhing nest of fluffiness at the back of her hutch.  She produced eight beautiful kittens (yes, baby bunnies are called kittens) and most of them found homes.

 One lunch-time, when Dad said all the rabbits had now gone and just mother rabbit (Mabel) was left, Mum had made stew for dinner. It smelt delicious and Mum began to serve it with new potatoes and green beans - fresh from the garden. I looked at my plate, and then at Mum and asked what kind of stew it was, to be told, as I had feared, ‘Rabbit Stew’. I said I wasn’t hungry and would just have the vegetables, but  my brother declared:

            “It was my rabbit, so I want the most!” – which he has never been allowed to forget.

 As Mabel was thereafter a solitary soul, she never did meet the buck of her dreams (again) and remained a celebate rabbit for the rest of her life - for which I actually think she was grateful. My brother discovered football so Mabel became mine and lived out her days feasting on dandelions and lettuce.

Rabbit Stew (or not) and dumplings at FancyPans

Colder days at FancyPans call for warm, comforting dishes and chef decided Rabbit Stew would be served. If you can't get  here to try it, you can have a go at making it yourself.

To make (Rabbit) Stew, you will need a casserole dish large enough to contain the ingredients, leaving three to four inches between the stew and the lid.

Take the pieces of rabbit (or not – chicken is a good substitute, or you can use any meat, beef, lamb – but then it becomes more of a hot-pot – or a selection of root-vegetables like swede, parsnip, sweet-potato, if you prefer a meat-less treat) and coat them in seasoned flour.

Melt a good scoop of dripping in a large casserole dish (or use vegetable oil if preferred) and fry the meat to seal it.  Remove from the dish for a moment whilst you chop an onion and fry that until it is soft (but not brown). Put the meat back into the pan (or vegetables if you are no carnivore) and add two sliced carrots and a couple of sticks of chopped celery.

You then need to add enough stock to cover the meat and veg – you can either buy stock or use stock-cubes and make the correct quantity up with boiling water. Chicken stock is best, (or vegetable if you are veggie - obviously). Add a few sprigs of thyme, put the lid on and pop it into the oven at around 160C for about an hour-and-a-half.

Whilst the casserole is simmering, make your dumplings:

Take 4oz self-raising flour (remember this is an old recipe when pounds and ounces were used), add 4oz suet  (you can get vegetarian suet too)  and season well (a good pinch of salt does the trick). At this point, you can add some chopped thyme if you would like ‘herby dumplings’.  Add about five tablespoons-full of cold water and bring the mixture together with your (clean) fingers. It needs to be a firm, but pliable, dough. Split the mix into eight and make each piece into a ball.  After the casserole has been in the oven for about an hour add the dumplings and replace the lid so that they cook in the steam as they sit on top of the stew – about twenty – thirty minutes from when you would like to eat it.

Serve with potatoes of choice (new, mashed, roasted) and some green vegetables (cabbage, green beans).

Enjoy.      

Ingredient recap:

For the stew:

Prepared rabbit (or chicken, beef, lamb or root vegetables)

Dripping (or vegetable oil)

2 large carrots – sliced

1 large-ish onion – sliced

2 sticks of celery – de-stringed and chopped

Stock (chicken or vegetable)

Chopped thyme (or a few sprigs of thyme tied together for easy removal)

For the Dumplings:

4 oz self-raising flour

4 oz suet

Salt – good pinch

5 tablespoons of cold water

(chopped herbs if desired)


© Karen Ette 2014