Strange Fruits...well, vegetables...

No, I haven't chopped someone's fingers off. These are Pink Fur Apple Potatoes which a friend was kind enough to give me at the weekend.

Perfect for Halloween time though.

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!

The Big Freeze

I've not updated the blog in a long time. It's not that I haven't been cooking but I wasn't preparing anything special, nothing exciting to share with you.

Well this weekend I managed to do something I haven't done in ages - I spent it cooking! I cooked and cooked and have filled the freezer up with the essentials to keep us going. Work has been hectic and some times you get home and can't be bothered to cook a nice evening meal but you still want something comforting and homemade...if this is the case for you too then try these freezer friendly recipes and get stocked up:
Chicken Fajitas
Mushroom, Parma Ham and Mascarpone Lasagne
Chicken in white sauce - a sauce which is the basis for several meals!
Basic Curry Sauce - again, the basis for several curries
Chilli - a classic meal, perfect for the freezer in case of a cold wet night
The Godfather Pasta Sauce - I googled this just for fun and found it, a fantastic pasta sauce recipe

So have fun cooking and if you have any great tips for freezer recipes please let me know!

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