There is a first time for everything...mussels, pesto and cupcakes, oh my

It's been a busy weekend and a weekend of firsts - the first time I've cooked mussels, the first time I've made pesto and the first time I found a cupcake recipe I liked!

I've always enjoyed shellfish, must be a West coast thing - scallops, langoustines and mussels are favourites of mine. I've cooked scallops hundreds of times, barbecued langoustines in the Western Isles but I've never tried to cook a mussel. I think I have been put off by the idea of eating a bad mussel or eating them in the wrong month! We went to the Living Food festival at Cawdor Castle and I got some live mussels from Dry Island Seafood. Watching them give a demonstration of how to cook mussels I thought "how hard can it be?"..and do you know what? It is easy!

The only difficult part of cooking mussels is the cleaning - remove all the hairy threads or 'the beard' and try to clean off any barnacles (good luck with that by the way). Once they are clean and bald (!) follow this recipe:

Moules Marinière

Pile of mussels

1 garlic clove, finely chopped

1 onion, finely chopped

15g butter

Sprigs of fresh thyme

1 bay leaves

200ml  dry white wine 

Handful of chopped parlsey

Serve with Crusty bread 

Add your wine, garlic, onion and herbs to a pan. Bring to the boil. Add the mussels. Steam with the lid on for 4 -5 mins until all the mussels are open...then serve! Easy!

The other culinary challenge this weekend was set by our out-of-control Basil plant which was threatening to take over the kitchen. I've always been a little afraid of trying to make Pesto but faced with the triffid in our kitchen I thought it was worth a shot.

I am a huge Jamie Oliver fan, I've decided I want to have a collection of his cook books and have been buying the older books from Ebay or Green Metropolis. I dipped into one of his older books and found this wonderful Pesto recipe which I can highly recommend. It is really simple and I can't explain how wonderful fresh pesto is. I don't think I will be able to go back to shop-bought pesto. It doesn't have a very long shelf-life but that won't be a problem because it's too good to not eat! Incredible with just plain pasta...yum.

Ok, so that brings me to the cupcakes. Regulars of this blog and anyone who knows me will know that I have a real problem with cupcakes in this country. We don't make cupcakes, we make fairycakes. Cupcakes taste utterly different - the only way to explain is the sponge isn't sweet and the icing is light, fluffy and pure sugar. Anyone who wants a true cupcake should head to Magnolia Bakery, Bleeker St, New York. Then you will never look back. So, in my quest to find a real cupcake recipe I was delighted to find this genuine recipe from the Magnolia Bakery. It works! It's the best cupcake recipe I have tried. The sponge is light and not too sweet - I think the difference is unsalted butter. Try it and tell me what you think...
I'm going to stock up on cupcake cases and decorations and keep practicing until I get it right!

So, what did you get up to this weekend?

Highland Food Fayre

Things have been quiet on Gourmet Lass pages I'm afraid but don't think I've gone off food. Quite the opposite. I've been involved in producing a Highland Food Fayre for an event in Inverness which happened this weekend.

The Camanachd Cup final is a significant date in the Highland calendar. Two shinty teams, in this case Fort William and Kingussie, come and play together, clashing for the Camanachd Cup. This year the organisers secured funding to move away from the traditional Burger Van and wanted to lay on a spread of Highland food producers, showcasing the best in the local area.
Attending on the day were MacDougall & Hastie butchers, Ullapool Bakery, West Highland Dairy, Macleods Organics, Baking Birds and Highland Hog Roast. It was a great display of local food from Highland producers.
A real highlight for me was the Camanachd Cupcakes made by Baking Birds. They were decorated in the team colours complete with stars, shinty sticks or scarfs! They sold out.
Another gem of local produce is the ice cream made by West Highland Dairy. Highland ice-cream producers are few and far between so these guys are well worth a visit if you are heading up to Stromeferry. Their ice-cream is deliciously creamy and with a great range of flavours such as Raspberry and White Chocolate, Skye Fudge, Chocolate Brownie and Blackcurrant there is plenty to stock your freezer with.

I''m also a real fan of Hog Roast. It's the crackling. I know it's not good for you but you can't beat a bit of pork and apple sauce topped off with a piece of crisp crackling. Highland Hog Roast did a great job, finishing off an entire beast of a pig with hungry spectators enjoying roasted Hog for lunch.

Although I was working, managing the Food Fayre, I did make sure I played my part in supporting the local produce - I didn't leave empty handed. I bought some delicious bread from the Ullapool Bakery.
I try not to eat too much bread but I can't resist bread with soup so I got some of their Cheese & Onion as well as their intriguing Stilton & Cranberry. I think that will go well with some Spinach soup or even Brussel Sprout soup when they are in season.

Speaking of Seasons - it's approaching Autumn which is really my favourite time of the year. I love the colours as the leaves turn and the golden sunlight you get while there is a slight chill in the air...I start thinking of soups and comfort food and I was delighted to get a massive pumpkin from Macleods Organics. Two things I love making with pumpkins, apart from lanterns, is soup and pumpkin gratin so that is my Sunday afternoon sorted....although I'm now thinking about a nice bit of roast pork too!

Roast Pumpkin Gratin
works well with Butternut Squash too
1 Pumpkin, deseeded and cut into pieces for roasting
Smoked Paprika
Olive oil
1 red onion, sliced
25g butter
1 clove of garlic
250ml Double Cream
Emmental cheese

Method
Turn the oven up to 180c and put your prepared pumpkin pieces onto a roasting tray. Lightly cover the pumpkin with a glug of Olive oil then sprinkle smoked paprika over the pumpkin. Add as much as you like, it's up to you how strong you want your smokey flavours to be. Pop the pumpkin in the oven and leave to roast for approx 45 mins or until soft enough to peal away from pumpkin skin and then leave to cool.
Meanwhile, melt the butter in a pan and add red onion. Cook until soft then add garlic. Season with salt and pepper. Set aside once cooked.
When your pumpkin to cook enough, slice it into pieces about 1/2 cm thick. Grease a oven-proof dish with butter then start to layer your pumpkin on the bottom, then a layer or red onion, then pumpkin, continue until finished. Pour double cream over the top and finish with a layer of Emmental cheese.
Pop back into the oven for 25-30 mins at 200c or until golden brown on top.
Enjoy with a glass of red wine, some crusty bread and salad!