Food & Drink
Celebrate Scotland’s remarkable independent producers and you will be rewarded with flavour
Recipes from Neil Forbes, plus Chile’s daring new growers and winemakers
So many people ask me, “What is it like being a chef, and what are the best parts?”. I reply that I’m one of the lucky few that genuinely enjoys what I do for a living. For me there is nothing finer than chatting to a local producer and finding out what is good that week. I would love the day to arrive when I never phone in an order again. I would write a menu solely on what surprises arrive from the organic veg people, the fish guys, the butcher, the game dealer, the berry grower and the cheesemakers like Errington in Lanarkshire who provide our independent cheese shops like Mellis and George Mewes with perfect condition fromage. I’ve always said, let the producer dictate the menu to me and I’ll pass that on to the guest.
Now more than ever we need to be looking after the smallscale producers, supporting our community and looking after our food friends. This is not news. Before the days of anonymous supermarkets and chain restaurants we all knew people we trusted to supply superb quality river trout, a bag of spuds, great dairy, and perhaps a brace of pheasant.
The important words are trust and quality. My point is that we should never forget small, local shops and independent restaurants. We have all been through some rather tough times recently, but we at Cafe St Honoré are back cooking some of the best food I can recall. We are fitter, stronger (after all those lockdown yoga sessions), more considered and still emitting all the sparkle of that Belle Epoque charm. Go out, eat and support your local independent business. And enjoy every second of it.
Crispy Errington’s Elrick Log goat’s cheese with salsa rossa
This has been on the menu since our return from those dark times. It is simply delicious. The light crispness comes from the flour, egg wash and breadcrumbs that coat creamy slices of Selina Errington’s fine cheese. The piquant addition of salsa rossa makes this dish a great starter or main. Fresh mint, parsley and basil is essential here. Do not use dried herbs please.
Serves two
1 Errington Elrick Log, cut into 6 slices, available from IJ Mellis or George Mewes or online from Errington
1 red pepper
2 tomatoes, quartered, seeds removed and diced
¼ radicchio lettuce, washed and diced into small cubes
½ small red onion, finely diced
1 tsp chopped parsley
1 tsp chopped mint
1 tsp chopped basil
1 tsp capers
1 tbsp good red wine vinegar, I like Forum Cabernet Sauvignon vinegar for its sharp but subtle sweetness
2 to 3 tbsp good olive oil good salt and pepper
2 eggs, whisked with a little milk, salt and pepper
2 tbsp plain flour
4 tbsp breadcrumbs, Panko are good to use here a handful of ground almonds a few radish slices to garnish 500ml rapeseed oil
1 Heat the oven to 180C/gas Mark 4 and roast the pepper for an hour. Allow to cool, remove the skin and seeds, then dice.
2 Make the salsa rosso by mixing the onion, radicchio, parsley, mint, basil, capers, diced tomatoes, diced peppers and vinegar together in bowl and trickling over a couple of tablespoons of olive oil. Season with salt and pepper.
3 Heat the rapeseed oil in a fryer or small pot to 180C.
4 Mix the breadcrumbs with the ground almonds. Dip the goat’s cheese in flour, then the egg wash and then the breadcrumbs to give them a good coating. Fry in the hot rapeseed oil until golden – about 1 to 2 minutes.
5 Add the salsa to the plates and place the crispy goat’s cheese on top. Add a few slices of radish for a crunchy garnish.
Cullen skink with cheddar topping
This dish goes back generations. I have cooked it for 30 years and I only hope I do it justice. Some chefs have taken this humble bowl of smoked fish, potato and leeks and deconstructed it to make it into a distant cousin of the actual dish, which incidentally has nothing wrong with it so there’s no need for any form of deconstruction. Anyway, enjoy it with this cheese and herb crumb as a main course on a blustery north-east Scotland sort-of-day.
Serves four
550g smoked haddock pieces
2 large potatoes, peeled and diced 1 large onion, peeled and diced 1 large leek, washed, sliced and chopped
500ml double cream knob of butter
2 handfuls of fresh breadcrumbs, don’t be tempted to use shop-bought breadcrumbs for this, it’s not the same
2 tbsp curly parsley, chopped zest of half a lemon
1 handful grated cheddar, I love Keen’s just now good salt and pepper extra parsley for garnish
1 Sweat the onions in the butter
in a thick-bottomed pan until translucent. Then add the potatoes and cream. Cook until the potatoes are just soft, then add the leek and cook for another 3 to 5 minutes.
2 Reduce the heat and add the smoked haddock. Stir gently until the fish is cooked, and spoon into bowls.
3 Make the topping by mixing the breadcrumbs, cheese and parlsey. Add to each bowl and place under the grill until bubbling and golden. Serve with a sprinkling of parsley.
Chutney
You may have guessed by now that the theme this month is cheese, I can only say my desert island dish would be cheese, oatcakes, and my chutney – so here is the recipe. Makes approximately two 2-litre Kilner jars 2 large onions, roughly chopped 750g unsulphured apricots, roughly chopped
500g soft dark brown sugar
1kg California raisins
4 star anise
2kg Bramley apples
1 litre cider vinegar
1 Place the onions, apricots, sugar, raisins and star anise in a large pot with the vinegar and bring to a slow simmer on a low heat.
2 Peel, core and roughly chop the apples. Add to the pot once it’s been been simmering for 20 minutes.
3 Cook for a further 2 hours, stirring every 10 minutes or so, until the chutney is firm and the texture resembles a thick jam.
4 Spoon into sterilised jars or keep in a container in the fridge.