Cheese please!

I didn't used to be the kind of person who loved cheese. My first cheese experience was as a small child and it was Smoked Cheese from Summer Isles Foods, my family's business. I was probably too wee to enjoy the strong smokey flavour and the intense texture because the rest of my childhood cheese consisted of Dairylea slices and mini-babybel. Hardly cheese at all.

Slowly and surely though I have completely come round to cheese in a big big way!
We are very fortunate in the Highlands to have a lot of good dairies around here which include Connage Diary, West Highland Dairy and Wester Lawrenceton Farm - all amazing cheese producers.
By far though, the best cheese I have tasted which is produced locally is Blue Monday - commissioned by Alex James of Blur and made in Tain by Highland Fine Cheeses. It is quite possibly the most amazing blue cheese I have or will ever taste. We tried it at Muckrach Lodge which is wonderful hotel in Speyside with a great season menu and of course, a great cheese board.

My taste for cheese made in Scotland is limited though. I went to Paris for New Year and while we were there we sampled some amazing cheeses and now I am a true convert - there are few UK cheese which can compare to what we had in France. May I bring the following to the attention of the Jury:
Camembert au Calvados - quite honestly the loveliest cheese I have ever tried
Tomme de Savoie - a subtle cheese but packs a punch!

If I only had to eat one cheese for the rest of forever I think it would be Camembert au Calvados spread on a fresh baquette...with a glass of red wine. I would be in heaven.

Now, that covers Scotland and France - the Auld Alliance. Yes we make good cheeses.
But which cheese prompted me to write this addition to the blog? Well, it's a classic, you will find it in your local supermarkets, a fine selection as well but try your local deli first to get the really good stuff...which cheese am I talking about? Colston Bassett of course - the most amazing blue cheese. Not quite the same league as Blue Monday but worth investing in some oatcakes to accompany it...but where will you get your oatcakes?  That is another blog...

Jamie and Julia have kept me busy

It's been a while since I last wrote. I wish I could say I've been cooking up a storm in the kitchen but to be honest we have been eating simple fayre recently. Also, I wasn't sure if anyone was really reading this so it didn't seem like a good use of time (when I could have been cooking!) but I was delighted this week when a friend forwarded me an email from a restaurant she is a 'member' of. The email was their regular monthly newsletter with news about their new branch opening in Edinburgh and also giving thanks to their fans who support them - including yours truly! They linked to my blog and everything. So thank you to Chop Chop for linking to me and once again, I highly recommend Chop Chop in Edinburgh. In fact I need to book a table very soon for our next trip down to Edinburgh.

So cooking hasn't been too high on the agenda recently although we did have some friends over for dinner a couple of weeks ago and went for a Moroccan theme. It was going to be quite a spread so we didn't have a starter but had a huge main course. My partner prepared some Kebabs, lamb and chicken. Marinated overnight so the meat was lovely and tender. We had hoped to cook them on the BBQ but the weather was against us. We served the kebabs with Salad Insalata, beetroot with pistachio sauce and carrot with orange & coriander. I also rustled up some flat breads and some garlic prawns and crabmeat! See what I mean? A huge selection to choose from. I really like those meals where you put everything in the middle of the table and you just help yourself. These recipes were from the Moro East Cookbook and the new Jamie Does....book - I can't praise it enough. I love the new Jamie Oliver book - think I will try something from the Italian section next.

We finished the evening with another Jamie Oliver recipe - Snakey Cakey - it's actually something else in the book but roughly translates as Snakey Cakey. It's a lovely filo pastry coiled cake - stuffed with a rich almond and zesty filling. It's just to die for and when served with vanilla ice cream it's the perfect way to end a meal - I'm going to make it again as soon as we have someone else round! Anyone hungry?

So I guess I have plugged a lot of cook books - can I plug one more? I recently bought the Julia Child "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" which has been an eye opener. You think you know how to cook? Cook the basics? My friend, you are probably wrong.
I found out today that I have been preparing asparagus wrong all my life! It is asparagus season now so I recommend getting some - it tastes great and as a wee treat it's worth the price. We got ours from a farm shop just outside of Nairn but was it local? Nope - Lincolnshire! Apparently it's the finest in the UK...well, it was nice. Shame it had to travel so far.....

Entertaining Easter

This has been the first weekend in a long time that I have felt honestly excited! Like Christmas, but better. There is no doubt that Easter is a significant date in the calendar - whether it is for religious reasons or simply because the long weekend means time off work - Easter is exciting. For me I think Easter feels like the mark of Spring, new buds and blooms sneak out from the snowy winter months and the sun shines with much anticipation.
This Easter we headed north to Achiltibuie to spend the weekend with my family. Weeks in advance we had planned the menus for the long weekend and the car was packed with shopping to keep us all going.
Now the road from Inverness to Achiltibuie leads you through Ullapool, a wonderful wee fishing port which boosts some of the best fish and chips I have ever tried (and I have tried many many many). Last time we passed through Ullapool The Seaforth was being refurbished in time for the start of the tourist season so we headed there for a late lunch on Friday and it did not disappoint. The Seaforth is the only place (plaice?) I have ever been able to have Queen Scallops with chips. The man in my life tried the Scampi and chips which is my usual meal from a chippie but not the Seaforth. Their Scallops are the small sweet kind, lightly battered and fried to perfection - the chips are the best, home-made chips you will find on the west coast. As far as I'm concerned, a visit to Ullapool isn't complete without a visit to The Seaforth chippie.

Anyway, once lunch was done we drove up to Achiltibuie with enough food to feed an army. The meals for the weekend are listed below with links to recipes where possible. I made slight alterations as I went along but feel free to stick to the recipe or try the Gourmet Lass twists:
Good Friday
Fine Oatmeal coated Scallops with Roe in Garlic butter, served with Garlic Mayo
Pancetta Wrapped Salmon with Saffron Rice
Lemon Ice Cream with Biscotti

Saturday
Pancetta, Blue Cheese and Pear salad with walnut pieces
Lemon & Garlic Roast Chicken with roast vegetables
Passion Fruit Meringue

Sunday
Mezze platter with pea, mint, feta and pancetta salad
Roast Rack of Lamb with aubergine & goats cheese bake
Baked Yoghurt Cheesecake

Delicious meals from the deep

We have been away from the weekend. Down to Edinburgh. The plan was to do a lot of family things and then enjoy a nice meal in one of the best restaurants in Edinburgh - Chop Chop. It is so good that it made it onto the Gordon Ramsay F Word show as one of the best Chinese in the UK. It made it to the final two but lost out to a restaurant in Manchester. A real shame because Chop Chop is best known for it's dumplings - they are great, both boiled and fried. I tried the Crispy Northern Beef for the first time (I've been there 3 times in all) and it was delicious. I would highly recommend a visit to Chop Chop when you are in Edinburgh. Already planning our next trip as we have bought tickets for the Taste of Edinburgh Festival in May so are looking forward to more culinary delights when we return.

The A9 is the road which joins Inverness to Edinburgh and on the way there are many food stops (no I don't include McDonalds in Perth, the Little Chef or Motor Grill in these). One real mecca for Foodies on the A9 is House of Bruar which has become the favourite stop for everyone traveling during 9 - 5pm (if it stayed open later it would still rake it in!). The Food Hall is amazing. I've worked there many a Saturday when promoting the wonderful Smokehouse which is Summer Isles Foods but to finally be able to shop to my hearts content is fun. We had a good look round and I was impressed to see they have expanded since I was last there. They have a butcher section complete with a hanging area. It's good to see a business showing where meat comes from. I can imagine it's too much for the non-meat eaters among us but I believe butchery is a great skill, to do it humanely is good and we need to understand what it means to eat meat.

However, what really attracts me to House of Bruar is the seafood section - Arbroath Smokies, smoked mussels and what we finally purchased - white crab meat. Crab meat is lovely and light, delicately flavoured meat and deserves a simple meal so we tried this tonight and I'm adding it to my list of favourite dishes - simple and perfect:

Crab linguine with chilli, lemon, garlic and parsley recipe

I feel this chicken tonight...like chicken tonight...

I thought I would share with you a couple of great meals for a weekend night. Nice and simple but quite impressive looking. The key of course is to use good ingredients. We try to regularly get our meat and veg from MacCullochs Food because he sources everything as locally as possible. Which means not only are you helping support local food producers but you get seasonal veg. I get quite excited when the box arrives and you see what you are getting this week. They also have an impressive range of box deals - meat & veg for £25 etc. This week I ordered a mixture of stuff but I always like to get some chicken so I can make meals like this:

Chicken stuffed with Boursin with cannellini bean stew
Ingredients for 2
150g Boursin
1 tablespoon of Crème fraiche
Grated zest of 1 lemon skin
2 chicken supremes, skin on
Splash of olive oil
For the bean stew
1 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, finely sliced
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
200g pack smoked bacon lardons
400g cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
100ml white wine, martini or vermouth
100ml chicken stock, hot
2 tablespoons of Crème fraiche

Heat the oven to 200C/ fan180C/gas 6.
Mix together the Boursin with a table spoon of Crème fraiche, salt and pepper.
Lift the skin from the chicken breast and stuff the Boursin mixture in. Try not to over stuff it. Spread evenly and repeat with the remaining chicken.

Place the chicken in a non-stick roasting tray, drizzle with olive oil, season and roast for 25-30 minutes until cooked through.

Then heat the olive oil in a pan, add the onion and fry over a medium heat until softened. Add the garlic and fry for 1 minute, then add the bacon and fry until golden. Stir in the beans and white wine and bubble over a high heat for 3-4 minutes. Add the stock, simmer for 2-3 minutes, then stir the Crème fraiche.
When you are ready to serve, place a portion of the bean stew in the middle of the plate and pop the chicken on top. Yum

Chicken and Mushroom Pie
25g butter
1 red onion, diced or sliced into rings
1 chicken breast, diced
6 rashers of streaky bacon, diced
150g mushrooms, sliced
75g Broccoli, in small pieces
2 cloves of Garlic
1 teaspoon of nutmeg
1 teaspoon of Tarragon (or use fresh)
1 glass of white wine.
25g butter
75g flour
Milk as required
150g Boursin
1 bay leaf
Puff pastry
1 egg, beaten

This is a nice simple recipe. First cook the onion in butter until soft. Then add you chicken, diced and allow to cooked for 5 - 10 minutes. Then add your diced bacon. Allow the bacon to cook then add your mushrooms, broccoli and garlic. Cook for 5 mins, until the mushrooms are completely covers in the flavours then season to your liking with the nutmeg and tarragon. At this stage, add a small glass of white wine and leave on a low temperature for all the juices to evaporate. Mushrooms contain a lot of water so the mixture will be quite wet. You don't want this at the next stage so let it cook off.

While this is happening you can make your sauce for the pie. Start to make a bechamel sauce with the butter, flour and milk. When if gets to a nice thick sauce stage add your Boursin and allow it to melt into the sauce. Add a bay leave and season to taste. Add as much milk depending on the thickness you want for the sauce. I like it quite thick...

When your sauce is ready the chicken and mushroom mixture should be a nice sticky combination of ingredients (at this stage you could also use this mixture as a sauce for pasta!) Now, the easy part, mix the chicken and mushroom mixture in with the sauce and stir until nicely combined. Pour this into your pie dish. I use a Le Creuset pie dish (what else!). The mixture should just about come to the top of the dish but not quite. Then, roll out some puff pastry, big enough to cover the surface of your pie and a bit more. Pastry shrinks when cooking so you don't want to cut it neatly around the top of the pie dish. Then, if you have spare pastry you can decorate your pie lid! Always makes pies look more tasty. Then finish your pie by brushing some beaten egg over the pastry and pop it in the oven for about 30 mins or until your pastry has risen and is golden brown.

What I like about this recipe is the veg is in the pie too so you can just clear up and then serve your pie when ready. It's very tasty too!

Beginning Basic Baking

I was in Paris at New Year. It was a long weekend of indulgence consisting of much vin rouge, fromage et croissant. This is the perfect way to spend a long weekend in any city I think. While we were in Paris I took my friend to Ladurèe for afternoon tea. The place was hooching with Parisians buying boxes of the world-famous Macaroons for New Year party presents. There is something child-like and innocent about a Macaroon. The playful colours, the cute perfectly rounded shape and the lightness of them is delightful! I can understand why they were a favourite of Marie Antoinette. We had a lovely selection of Macaroons (Raspberry, Chocolate, Pistachio and Vanille) as well as an amazing little Raspberry cake, not to mention the famous Marie Antoinette tea and Ladurèe hot chocolate.
It was an experience, one I would repeat any day of the week. Driven by this desire to enjoy macaroons regularly and given there is not one macaroon to be had in the Highlands I have tried to replicate the delicious treats. So far, with no joy. Macaroons are notoriously difficult to make. Even years of training with top patisserie chefs does not guarantee to perfect macaroon. It can be so difficult to perfect that entire batches of macaroons are thrown away if they are even remotely flawed. So far, my two attempts have been awful. So I took a step back and thought 'maybe, I need to perfect meringue first' so this is my plan. Practice Meringue until perfect then try the next step - Macaroons!
If you want to try the recipe I have so far failed to perfect then be my guest and if you manage to crack the technique please let me know!

Something smells good...

I'm getting a bit of a reputation at work for stinking out the office at lunch time. Guilty! And I'm not ashamed of it. I am making it my mission at work to make sure everyone smells my delicious lunch and drools! Well, not quite but for the last week I'm afraid work colleagues have religiously started popping their faces round the office door to find out what I have made that day. So I thought I would share a few of my favourite, drool-tastic lunch meals:
Cous Cous with Roasted Vegetables and Chorizo
Roast a selection of vegetables for 30 -40 mins with olive oil, garlic and seasoning of your choice. I like to roast mushrooms, aubergine, courgette, yellow pepper, red pepper, red onion and even a little butter squash! Chop them up into small bit size pieces, roast them up and then make your couscous. Mix altogether (and if you have made a large batch you can freeze some) then pop into your lunch tupperware with some chorizo (make sure it is the cooked kind, any size will do). The key to making your work colleagues jealous though is to pop it in the microwave for 2 mins so the juicy flavours of the chorizo melt into the couscous. Tastes amazing and guaranteed 'head popping' will follow....
Lentil Soup with Smoked Bacon
I take a flask of soup in with me most weeks but my all time favourite soup is Lentil with Smoked Bacon. I've tried many recipes but here is one I found earlier (although I blend it up) - read it here
Give your soup a quick blast in the microwave or on the stove if you have one at work. Cue 'head popping'...
Leftovers with green salad
This is an excellent meal for lunch, it works well with any leftovers from the night before; chicken, salmon etc. Grab some salad leaves - I like spinach, rocket and watercress but any will do! Mix in some avocado, cherry tomatoes, celery, cucumber etc whatever you want from a salad really. Add a little garlic olive oil (what? you don't make your own?) then wrap your fish or meat up in tin foil. Add the salad and fish/meat to a tupperware tub. When you are ready, unwrap and place the fish/meat on a plate to heat up - 2 to 3 minutes in microwave then serve with your salad. The head popping will start when you are half way through your lunch...
Creamy Chicken Mousaka
Ok this is a funny one but it's basically Mousaka but with Chicken instead of beef and Boursin instead of tomatoes...this is a great one when you have time to make it but basically...slice your aubergine length ways and sprinkle with salt. Leave for a couple of hours so water soaks out and the bitterness of the Aubergine is removed. When ready, start to fry using a griddle pan and olive oil. Set to one side, you are basically preparing 'lasagna' sheets. Then soften up some onions in butter, takes 10 - 15 mins. When ready add the chicken, cook it up. Once the chicken is cooked I like to add Asparagus at this stage if I'm feeling flush, mushrooms and spinach too are good at this stage. Then once, you have cooked all your vegetables mix in some Boursin and Crème fraiche. Once melted start to layer up like you are making Lasagna then finish with parmesan grated on top. Cook in the oven until golden brown. Take a portion to work, heat it up and yet again your lunch will be the envy of your colleagues...

Oh did I mention I don't work in an office on Fridays so I usually forget about lunch but cook an amazing dinner...

So, make yourself the smelliest person at work. Make and take some amazing lunches with you, it's economical and you will be the culinary goddess of your work place too!