…Let’s have a Burns night!

Tatties and Neeps are a must, Haggis is really nice; if you haven’t tried it, it is spiced with coriander, nutmeg and pepper and is really not what you might expect. But what do you have that’s Scottish that, to put it bluntly, is nice and tastes of something other than offal and mash?

Starters first. Everyone knows about Scottish Smoked Salmon - the best in the world - but what do you do with it? I decided to go to another classic Scottish fish dish – Cullen Skink – and make it into a terrine, with added capers and fresh parsley, wrapped in the salmon. Served with Soda Bread which I flavoured with fennel and caraway seeds; simply spread the terrine on the bread.

For the main, Haggis is nice but you can’t fail to see its resemblance to black pudding or stuffing so rather than make it the centrepiece, I decided to stuff a butterflied leg of lamb with it. Then I changed my mind; Scotch Lamb is every bit as good as English it just matures a little later because of the differences in average temperature, but when I think of Scotland I think of the Monarch of the Glen. I have no idea whether the Venison Haunch I bought from The Wild Meat Co in Suffolk was as magnificent to look at, but it was absolutely beautiful! I considered stuffing it but I wasn’t sure everyone would like it – Venison was a big enough step on its own for some – and I wasn’t sure how it would affect cooking time and I needed it to be perfect. When flavours are simple, goo dingredients and not mucking them up are everything.. I removed the Haggis from its skin and rolled it into little balls and roasted them for about 15 minutes.

I mashed potatoes with a whole packet of butter and some pepper but the “Neeps” being mashed too would be a bit much, so I cut them into cubes and tossed them in olive oil and roasted them for about 20 minutes, sprinked with cumin and fennel seeds and tossed them again then finished them off with another 10 minutes in the oven. Braised leeks and peas added some much-needed colour to the whole thing.

Pudding needed to be Scottish too so I went straight to Shortbread. I adapted my own recipes for Shortbread and Lemon Posset but adding finely chopped orange zest to the sugar before I made the shortbread and by putting a layer of the Cava Jelly from this trifle in the bowls and setting it in the fridge before putting the posset on top.

I really must increase my repertoire of desserts! It all went down rather well though!