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!

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 ;)

Something for the Weekend: Corned Beef Hash with Hot Caramelised Onions

Phew - what a hectic week!

I found out this week that I am to start a new position in a new office on Monday - so things have been a little hectic here. I'm looking forward to the change, but I think life is going to be a bit different from now on!

So I'm really looking forward to a relaxing weekend, and was planning out tomorrow's brunch (watch this space!) when I remembered this - the last brunch I made!

Question. What do you do when you are starving hungry on a Sunday morning, there's no bread or milk in the house and you're too lazy to get dressed to go to the shops?

Answer:

Corned Beef Hash with Hot Caramelised Onions

No quantities here - just make up as much as you like!

• Left over boiled new jersey royal potatoes (They don't have to be left overs - you could always cook them when the onions are caramelising!)
  
• corned beef, cut into bite-sized pieces
  
• 1 small/medium onion per person
• 1/2 tsp sugar
  
• oil to fry
• salt and pepper to taste
• hot sauce to taste
• 1 soft poached egg per portion

Caramelise the Onions...
Half the onions, and slice pretty finely.
Heat a glug of olive oil in a heavy based frying pan, keeping the temperature low. Add the onions, sugar and a pinch of salt (the salt stops them burning). Cook for 30-40 minutes, stirring often. If they get too dry add a splash of water. They're ready when sticky, sweet and brown. Add as much hot sauce as you like - I added about 1/6 tsp per onion - it's hot stuff!!! Continue to cook for another minute or so and set aside.

Prepare the Potatoes...
Cut up the cooked potatoes, and fry in a hot pan with a little oil/butter until they are browned and crispy at the edges.

Put it Together...
Once the potatoes are crispy, add the onions into the potato pan and stir to mix. Add the corned beef and combine well - the corned beef will start to break up a little in the heat.

Serve with a soft-poached egg on the top and tuck in!

WTSIM... Breakfast... And I think it's a Zebra!

I don't usually blog breakfast - mostly because it's usually fruit and yoghurt... but also because it's my least adventurous meal of the day - even when I do cook! A cooked breakfast is bacon and egg muffins, smoked salmon bagels or mushroom & tomato toast. Now, when I saw these zebra tomatoes for sale yesterday I had to have them and as I have dinner plans for the next few days, I decided to do some mid-week brekkie cooking!

Zebra Tomatoes - how pretty!

Excuse the rubbishness of my photos in this post - it was pouring with rain outside, which was giving off that horrible light which is too dark for taking naturally lit shots, but makes the flash seem... well... a bit odd really! (Can you tell I'm not a photographer?? ;)

Anyway, while catching up on my blog reading I saw that Waiter... There's Something In My... event is breakfasts this month. It must be fate - the only time I've had breakfast food waiting to be blogged about!

Now, this isn't the most exciting recipe in the world - but it is super tasty - and good for you too. I use quite a bit of garlic - so maybe not one to try if you have a lunchtime date ;)

Tomatoes and Mushrooms on Toast

Quantities are approximate and per person!

• 6 cherry tomatoes
• 6-9 decent sized chestnut mushrooms, sliced
• 1 clove of garlic, crushed (!)
• 1/2 tsp of mixed italian herbs or oregano
• 1 thick slice of bread - granary or chewy brown are always my favourite - I'd skip white bread for this one!
• Olive oil
• Loads of freshly ground black pepper
• sea salt

Prepare the garlic...
Smoosh up the garlic with a good pinch of sea salt per person, a glug of olive oil and a bit of black pepper.

Prepare the tomatoes...
Cut out the eye of each tomato and place onto grill rack (I used a top heat grill - alternatively, you could roast them!)
Push a little bit of the garlic mixture into each tomato - you should probably have about half the garlic mixture left.

Place under a medium grill for at least 15 minutes.

Prepare the mushrooms...
Heat a glug of olive oil to a low heat in a frying pan. Add the sliced mushrooms and cook slowly until they start to release their juices (probably 10-15 minutes). Add the rest of the garlic mixture, the Italian herbs, a decent pinch of salt, and a load of freshly ground black pepper. Turn up the heat and sauté until the liquid has gone.

Put it together!
Toast and butter your slice of bread, then gently scoop up the tomatoes and place along side. Top with the mushroom, a drizzle of olive oil and some parsley if you have it (I didn't this time).

Enjoy with a strong mug of coffee - didn't you know coffee helps garlic breath??