
Burn's night menu!
Some of you may know and other will not, I’m down here but from up there. So Burn’s Night is a thing for me. It’s something I really enjoy taking part in, the same way we do Chinese New Year just a few days later as Mr M enjoys having lots of fresh Asian food.
Plus I love haggis.
So TO THE MENU!
STARTER
Fit you’ll need:
A bay leaf
Knob of butter
1 onion, peeled and finely chopped
1 leek, washed and cut up – not sliced too thinly
2 medium tatties, peeled, cut into chunks
500ml whole milk OR 300ml milk and 200ml cream
Cullen Skink. Now the best thing about this is the fishing town I was born into is actually about 5 minutes away from Cullen. So this recipe and the smells are pretty much ‘home’. The main thing you should know is it has a STRONG smokey flavour and is very creamy. There are many variations but let us get down to business.
Fit ta dee:
The Fish:
Haddock traditionally, but if you really don’t like it swap it out for another white smoked fish. It will be just as good. Try and get around 500g of good smoked fish – avoid the coloured jobbies. Gently boil the fish with the bay leaf until it is flaky. remove for them heat & water and leave to cool.
The Stock/Liqour:
If you have the time always make your own. I don’t have the time. I’m going to be using a Knorr fish stock pot and tempering in some cream to the mixture and then adding the vegetables as below. I find they have just the right balance and a ‘fresh’ taste. I also use these stock pots in fishball soup for Mr. M.
If you want to go from scratch – poach some fish in some milk and butter (ten minutes), remove all the fish and leave the milk in the pan. Now add in your vegetables. once the milk is a little bit thicker remove the vegetables too (put to one side). Temper in some cream, stir lightly and you should have a perfect base.
The Creamy Texture:
Let us be frank here, nothing THAT good ever lacked in cream or butter. If you really think you’d like to you can use just the milk here. I wouldn’t recommend it but for sure you can.
Gettin’ it Thick:
This is a really easy bit, no need for a lot of fussing about. See the potatoes you cooked earlier? Take a few bits, put it back in the pan with the creamy mix and mash. You will find the soup thickens up and begins to look more hearty. Make sure you have some spuds left for the next bit.
Bowlin’ up:
So now you have a glorious, smokey, creamy and hearty soup. It just needs to be put together. The smoked fish will need flaking now, remove as many bones as possible. In each bow put a small mound of mashed potatoes in the middle, top that with some of the flaked smoked fish. Now ladle in the creamy soup and top with a few of the leeks you cooked.
There is no need to salt the dish really, it has a lot of flavour, however pepper is your best pal with this one. It balances with the cream perfectly.
The thing with this is, you can add fennel, chives swap fish, add cream, use less cream but if you stick to the basic process you will always end up with a big bowl of cream coloured happiness.
MAIN
Fit you’ll need:
Fit ta dee:
SWEET
Fit you’ll need:
40g oats – I like the crunchy course oats but you can use a few types. This is 10g per person – more people needs more grams so adjust accordingly.
200g raspberries
2 tablespoons Runny Hunny
2 tables spoons of Whiskey (plus more for drinking)
Fit ta dee:
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