Scottish Scran 2 - Finnan Haddie

For my second edition of Scottish Scran, I present you to a dish which I most commonly associate with breakfast - even though here I am serving it as a supper.

A finnan haddie is a type of smoked haddock which originated in the town of Findon (also known as Finnan) near Aberdeen. Lightly salted and cold-smoked over peat, it replaced the older style spelding - a dry, salted unsmoked haddock that had been common until the advent of the railways made this lighter curing possible.

Beware of any smoked haddock that comes in an unearthly shade of yellow... or occasionally even orange! Smoked haddock has a naturally off-white colour - the bright coloured stuff has been artificially coloured - and may even have artificial smoke flavour injected into it rather than the real thing. Nasty!

I expect a couple of smoked haddock dishes to come up in my exploration - not least of the Arbroath Smokie...

But for now, I'll show you my favourite way to eat a finnan haddie - simply poached in milk, served with a lightly poached egg. As I ate it for supper here, I put it on a bed of lightly steamed asparagus (wilted spinach works a treat too), but for breakfast just add a slice of toast (or a couple of oatcakes!) and you're done!

Finnan Haddie wi' a Poached Egg

• 150g smoked haddock per person
• 1 lightly poached egg per person. Or make it two!
• 6/7 spears asparagus per person, trimmed and lightly steamed
• Enough milk to cover the fish in a saucepan
• 6/7 black peppercorns (optional)
• 2 bay leaves (optional)
• butter (optional)
  
• salt to taste

Prepare the Haddie...
Select a saucepan big enough to take all the fish and fill it a third up with milk. Add in the peppercorns and bay leaves (if using) and bring the milk to the boil.

Remove the skin and bones from the smoked haddock and place into the milk.

Bring the milk back to the boil, turn heat to low and simmer for 3 minutes. Turn off the heat and leave for 10 minutes.

Serve!
Arrange the asparagus on the plate, and place chucks of the poached haddock on it. If you fancy, dot the haddock with some butter and add a grind of black pepper. Top with a poached egg.

If you fancy it, make a white sauce from the haddock poaching milk and pour a bit over the egg. I love this, but seldom bother making the extra dishes ;) An extra egg with a gorgeous oozy yolk is all the sauce I need!

Scottish Word of the Day!

Today, to mark the fact my mum is coming down to stay with me for a week I am going to give you three words in one... and they all mean mum!

mither - mah mither hus a lot tae answer fur!
maw - ah huv a lot o' tidyin' tae do afore ma maw gets in
mammie - ah cannae wait tae see ma mammie!

Hot Lemon Asparagus Bucatini with a Scottish Twist!

Have you ever tried bucatini? (At least I think it's bucatini - it could well be maccheroncelli or perciatelli. If anyone knows the difference - check out below and let me know what you think!) It's a long hollow pasta, kind of a cross between spaghetti and macaroni, and it's perfect for eating with smooth sauces.

I picked up a packet of bucatini a few weeks ago, and set about making up a smooth sauce. This is from my backlog - when I constantly had a fridge full of asparagus and had just made my Scottish sausage.

Because I invented this all by myself, I'm sending it over to Lore at Culinarty for her Original Recipes event...

And because it's pastalicious I'm sending it to Michelle at the Greedy Gourmet, who is hosting Presto Pasta Night this week...

And (yes, another one!) because this is cheap as chips (or as close as!) it is going to be my first submission for Frugal Fridays - the whole thing will feed a family of four for less than $10! And it's super healthy!

Hot Lemon Asparagus Bucatini with Crunchy Sausage Topping!

Serves 4 messy people...

• 4 large tomatoes
• 12 thick spears of asparagus
• 1 onion
• 2 clove garlic
• 1/2 tsp hot sauce
• 1 tbsp tomato purée
  
• The zest of one lemon
• 150g Scottish sausage meat (or substitute with another sausage meat. If you have to.)
• A couple of tbsps of fresh oregano leaves
• A little olive oil to fry
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• salt to taste
• bucatini to serve
  

Prepare the veg...
Trim the woody ends from the asparagus, and cut most of the spear into chunks - reserving the tips.
Chop up the onions and garlic - make 'em as chunky as you like - we're going to blitz it in the end anyway!
Chop up the tomatoes, skin, seeds and all.

Make the sauce...
Heat the olive oil over a medium heat, add the onions and garlic, then fry for a few minutes until softening. Throw in the tomatoes (along with any juice), the lemon zest, hot sauce and the tomato puree. Add the sugar and some salt - you can always add more salt later to taste, but it is better to add it as early as possible.

Cover and simmer for 15 minutes - the tomatoes should release enough liquid to make the sauce, but if not, top up with water or stock.

Make the Crunchy Sausage Topping...
Meanwhile, break up the sausage meat into lumps and place into a medium, hot pan. You shouldn't need any oil as the sausage will release plenty. Fry for 5-6 minutes, keeping the sausage moving, breaking it up as it cooks. Once cooked, turn up the heat to high and fry for a minute or two without moving it to give a crunchy edge to the meat.

Finish the sauce...
After the 15 minutes is up, put in most of the oregano and the bits of asparagus stem - reserving the tips. Cook for another couple of minutes, then remove from the heat.

Put the sauce into a liquidiser or use a hand blender to blitz it to a smooth sauce.

Return to the heat, add the asparagus tips and cook for 3-4 minutes.

Put it all together!
Cook the pasta according to the instructions on the packet, then add to the pot of sauce. Mix well, so that the sauce sooks* into the pasta. Place into a bowl, top with the crunchy sausage pieces and the remaining oregano.

Eat!
This was the hardest bit - this is seriously messy pasta to eat! It was on the floor, face, sofa and cat by the time I was done. Worth it though!!



* Although not really a Scottish Scran post - the addition of the square sausage definitely warranted disclosure of another Scottish word!

Sook (v) - to suck

The best way tae eat this is tae sook it a' up an no worry aboot the mess yer makin'

Alternate use:
Sook (n) - a suck up/ brown-nose/ teacher's pet!
See her? She's a wee sook so'n she is!

That Cookbook Thing II: Julia's Sauce au Cari stars in a Rather Unusual Brunch!

This is my first contribution to That Cookbook Thing II... this time featuring: Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child. I'm so excited to have been asked to take part!! French cooking is not an area I'm familiar with, so it's great to have the impetus to try something new.

The other members of the Thing are:

• Mike from Mel's Diner
• Sara from iliketocook
• Mary the Breadchick from The Sour Dough
• Ruth from Once Upon A Feast
• Deborah from What’s In My Kitchen
• Mary from Cooking For Five
• Shaun from Winter Skies, Kitchen Aglow
• Elle from Elle's New England Kitchen
  

The recipe selection for this month was the Sauce au Cari - that's light curry sauce to us plebs! I don't eat very much cream, and generally like my curries hot and tangy. So thinking up something to make with a light creamy curry sauce was something of a challenge. It wasn't until I considered that it was basically a spiced bechamel that an idea began to take hold... also in thinking that egg would go well with the creamy curriness of it all...

And I've often liked the idea of spicy foods for breakfast, though the closest I've really come is some barely spiced kegeree... and leftover hot n' spicy pizza after a girl's night in! Bingo - spicy brunch it was, baked eggs with asparagus and Sauce au Cari*!

But, later that week I started planning a roti recipe for Srivalli's Roti Mela, and another idea began to form...

Thick spears of asparagus in a fenugreek spiced roti, served with a soft poached egg and as much Sauce au Curi as you can shake a stick at!

I am so chuffed with the results! The curry sauce was creamy - but because I used stock rather than milk, I didn't feel it was too heavy or rich. It also had just enough spice for a brunch! (Although people less inclined towards chili than me may disagree on this point... ;) The roti were quite heavily spiced, but the creamy sauce, yolk of the egg and crisp asparagus balanced them really well.

I would definitely make this again, either as a brunch or light supper - the whole thing took me less than an hour - including the roti!

A Rather Unusual Brunch: Spicy Roti with Asparagus, Egg and Curry!

Serves 4

• 1 tbsp flour
• 2 tbsp ghee
• 2 tbsp madras curry powder (Rajah variety - my personal favourite when I'm too lazy to grind it all up myself!)
• 1/2 tsp turmeric (for colour!)
• 1 cup hot vegetable bouillion
• 1/2 large onion, grated
• 1 tsp black mustard seeds
• 4 tbsp double cream
• Squeeze of lemon juice
• Salt to taste

• 16 thick spears of asparagus
• 4 eggs
• 4 roti
• Cilantro to garnish

Prepare the Sauce...

My take on the curry sauce, adapted from the Julia Child recipe:

1. I used ghee instead of butter - mostly because I have ghee in the fridge!
2. I grated the onion instead of finely chopping it - I wanted a smooth finish
3. I added some mustard seeds, just for fun
4. Some of the other reviewers had noticed that the sauce was very thick - so I only used a tbsp of flour

Melt the ghee in a small saucepan. Add the mustard seeds and fry for a minute or so. Add the grated onion and any onion juice. Continue to fry on a very low heat for 10 minutes.

Add the curry powder, turmeric and flour to the mix and cook out for 2/3 minutes. Take the pan off the heat and slowly blend in the bouillion and a squeeze of lemon juice. I did a quick seasoning check here and added a touch of salt - the bouillion added quite a bit of seasoning though.

Cook for a further 15 minutes at the lowest possible heat, stirring regularly.

Before serving, stir in the cream, taste and add more lemon juice or salt to taste.

Put the Dish Together...

Take one roti per person and pour a little of the curry sauce inside. Place some lightly steamed asparagus onto the roti and fold in half. Place a lightly poached egg on top of the fold and pour over more curry sauce. Finish with a garnish of cilantro.








* I did briefly consider adding smoked haddock into the mix in a weird French-Indo-Scots fusion... but fear of the wrath of the Greek stayed my wandering mind and I limited myself to a simple two way fusion ;)

A Very Seasonal Affair: Pan-fried Brill with Mussels and Asparagus

The sun was shining, it was an utterly beautiful day. I had an urge to cook something as fresh and in season as possible! So in my lunch hour I wandered down to Sea Haze - the fishmonger on the beach, who sources its produce from local day boats - and picked up some gorgeous brill and a couple dozen mussels (presumably the last of the season!). As I hadn't decided what to cook at this point I left the brill whole and ended up filleted it myself when I got home - I was very proud of myself!!

On the way home I stopped at the greengrocers and got a bunch of British asparagus, vine ripened Jersey Vittoria tomatoes, Jersey Royal potatoes and British watercress.

All the flavours were amazingly vivid - the tomatoes especially were the most gorgeous ones I've tasted since last year!!! They smelled like real tomatoes should - like the ones my dad used to grow in the greenhouse when I was growing up.

Pan-fried Brill with Mussels and Asparagus

Serves 2

• 4 brill fillets (i.e. one fish)
• A couple of vines of cherry tomatoes
• Bunch of asparagus
• Boiled Jersey Royal potatoes to serve
• 12 mussels
• 2 shallots, finely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 tbsp wholegrain mustard
• 1 tbsp flour
• 1 tbsp butter
• olive oil to fry
• 300ml vegetable bouillon
• 1 glass of white wine
• 1 large handful water cress, roughly chopped

Preheat the oven to 200c.

Prepare the mussels...
Clean the mussels by pulling out the beards and scrubbing the shells under cold water. Discard any that stay closed after a sharp tap on the counter (they're dead!)

Heat the wine in a saucepan, when it is bubbling, throw in the cleaned mussels, cover the pan and steam for 3/4 minutes - shaking the pan after a minute or so.

Remove the mussels with a slotted spoon and reserve the wine. When the mussels are cool enough remove them from the shells and set aside.

Make the sauce...
Heat the olive oil and butter over a low-medium heat in a saucepan. Add the shallot and garlic and cook until soft, be careful not to let it colour.

Sprinkle over the flour and cook out for a couple of minutes - keep it moving so the flour doesn't burn. Gradually add the stock, stirring constantly - it should thicken up nicely. Add the mustard, wine, and the water cress, mix and cook for another couple of minutes. Add the mussels and set aside.

Prepare the veg...
Snap and peel the asparagus as appropriate to its age and thickness. Arrange on an oven tray. Put the vine tomatoes alongside.

Drizzle with olive oil, sea salt and black pepper and put into the oven for 10-12 minutes.

Cook the brill...
Mix some white pepper and salt with some flour, and dredge the fillets in it. Make sure you pat off as much flour as possible.

Heat some olive oil on a medium heat, and place the fillet in skin side down. Cook for 3/4 minutes. Turn the fish over, cook for a further minute on the other side, then turn off the heat. Allow to sit in the pan for 2/3 minutes more to finish cooking.

Serve...
Place the fillets on top of the asparagus and spoon over plenty of the sauce. Put the tomatoes on the side and serve the potatoes along side.

Tried, Tested and True: Tomato and Rice Soup with Asparagus

Oh no!

I'm late!

:(

Basically I put the wrong date for Tried, Tested and True into my calendar - I thought I had until Thursday... Ooops... Well, here is my submission anyway - Giz and Psychgrad - I'm sorry it's late!

Tried, Tested and True is a new blog event which is being hosted by Giz and Psychgrad from Equal Opportunities Kitchen. If you haven't checked out their blog, do so. NOW! They are a mother/daughter duo, with cracking writing styles and lovely food. The aim of this event is to showcase the guaranteed crowd pleasers - the dishes that are always appreciated by friends or family.

This month I was at a bit of a loss on what to enter. As I am living off my store cupboard, my choices were limited. Then at the weekend it hit me... SOUP! I love soup - I eat a lot of it - and am used to massive bowls of steaming broth up on Scotland. I have a couple of favourites - one being my thick and hearty garlic and spinach soup. I'm also a huge fan of spicy lentil soup... and of course Scotch broth! But for this round up I decided to post Tomato and Rice Soup with Asparagus. It is a healthy, warming soup, which can be thinned down for summer months, or made almost as thick as a risotto for the winter! As it is coming into Spring, I opted for somewhere in the middle.

The asparagus isn't a constant - but I do usually try to add some extra veg for the vitamins. This was my first purchase of British asparagus this year - how amazing does this look?!

Gorgeous!

No matter what vegetable I use though, my soup is always a hit. Healthy, warming and cheap - I remember the first time I made it at university halls - feeding about 12 of us about 20p each! Ever since then it's always been my standby, my fallback. What I make when I'm feeling ill, or when I'm stressed and really busy. Unexpected visitors? All the ingredients are in the cupboard - and this soup can be ready inside half an hour! Fussy eaters? Everyone like tomato and rice! (Well, just about. And if they don't, there's a chippie on the corner!)

Perfect!

Tomato and Rice Soup with Asparagus

• 1 cup brown rice, soaked for 1 hour in hot water then drained and rinsed.
  
• 10 thick stalks of asparagus
• 500ml stock - I used turkey stock that had been frozen from Christmas... it even had lovely chunks of turkey meat in it... yum!
• 500g passata
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Put the stock and the passata into a large saucepan and bring to the boil. Add the drained rice, the paprika, cayenne and coriander, cover and turn to a low simmer.

Meanwhile, snap off the woody part of the asparagus stem and gently peel from below the tip. Chop the stem into rounds - each about 3/4 mm thick - and set aside the tips.

In a frying pan heat a glug of olive oil and fry the asparagus rounds - adding the garlic and some black pepper after a couple of minutes. Fry for another couple of minutes. Roughly chop the turkey meat from the stock and add it to the pan, along with the asparagus tips. Turn the heat off and set aside.

Once the rice is cooked, taste the broth and adjust the seasoning. Add the asparagus/turkey mixture and heat until the tips are al dente.

Serve with hunks of granary bread!

Store Cupboard Cooking Day 9