Address to a monkfish
Looking for an alternative Burns Supper? Calum Montgomery, chef-patron of Edinbane Lodge on the Isle of Skye has some ideas
The obvious food to serve at a Burns Night celebration is haggis, neeps and tatties, which still very much have their place. I’m keen however to celebrate Scotland’s natural larder, which produces some of the world’s greatest ingredients.
The emphasis on utilising fresh, seasonal, and locally sourced ingredients has become the hallmark of Scottish cuisine and here on the Isle of Skye, fish and shellfish feature heavily on our menu, it’s just so good.
Edinbane Lodge, Old Dunvegan Road, Edinbane, Isle of Skye, edinbanelodge. com
Monkfish beignets with ginger, shallots and lemon dressing
These delicious monkfish beignets are perfect as a canapé or a side dish to the main event. Monkfish is a meaty fish that holds very well when fried and the combination of the bold, sharp flavours of ginger, shallots and lemon punctuate in all the right places and make it the most moreish snack.
Serves four
1 tail of monkfish, skin and bone removed and cut into one inch chunks
For the seaweed batter
1 can of Cuillin Brewery Seaweed IPA
1 tsp dried dulse flakes
215g plain flour
25g fresh yeast
1 Mix with a whisk and leave for 1 hour to prove
For the sweet lemon dressing 75ml lemon juice
75ml rapeseed oil 150ml pomace oil 50ml white wine vinegar 50g brown sugar lemongrass bay leaf
2 lime leaves
2 tsp salt
1 sprig thyme
1 In advance – boil vinegar with chopped lemongrass, bay leaf and thyme, add brown sugar then emulsify both oils and leave to infuse. 2 Finely chop a banana shallot and a small dessert spoon size chunk of fresh ginger.
3 Mix the chopped ginger and shallot together with enough lemon dressing just to bind.
4 Dust the monkfish chunks lightly with some plain flour then coat in the batter and place in a deep fat fryer or pan of hot oil until golden and crisp.
5 Drain on some kitchen cloth and serve with a teaspoon of the dressing over each monkfish bite.
6 Garnish with some fresh fennel leaf for some added freshness. There’s no need for salt as the dulse flakes running through will season the batter perfectly.
Baked oysters, with brown crab and pepper dulse butter
Here’s a great way to try oysters for the first time for those who don’t like the idea of eating them raw. I like them topped with crab and rich pepper dulse butter and a crunch from the breadcrumbs. A top tip is to always use a slightly damp cloth around the oyster shell pressing down into the surface to avoid them slipping under the pressure from the oyster knife.
Serves four
200g picked crab claw meat 8 Pacific oysters
200g Orkney Butter
50g toasted panko breadcrumbs 2 tbsp finely sliced parsley 5g dried pepper dulse
1 Place the Orkney Butter on a high heat until a “beurre noisette” is achieved.
2 Remove from the heat and infuse with pepper dulse seaweed for one hour then pulse with a hand blender. 3 Open the oysters – discard the liquid and dry the oysters on a kitchen cloth.
4 Place back in the shell and top each with 25g each of crab meat
5 Spoon over the infused butter.
6 Place in a 250C oven for 3 minutes. 7 Remove from the oven and top with the breadcrumbs followed by chopped parsley and serve.
Spiced white chocolate mousse
Some light spicing to this mousse makes a real difference and really cuts through the sweetness of the rich white chocolate.
Serves four
60g egg yolks
24g caster sugar
150g double cream
4g gelatin
225g white chocolate
240g lightly whipped double cream 6 crushed pink peppercorms pinch of cinnamon pinch of nutmeg
1 star anise
1 cardamom pod optional: a cookie or nut crumb
1 Toast and crush pink peppercorns, cinnamon, nutmeg, star anise, cardamom in the oven for 3 minutes.
2 Boil cream with spices and leave to infuse for at least 30 minutes. Add extra cream to top up to 150g if necessary.
3 Cook a crème anglaise by pouring the sieved cream over the egg yolks and sugar and cook to 82 degrees.
4 Add the gelatin, then pour the anglaise over the white chocolate to create a ganache.
5 When cooled, combine with 240g of slightly whipped cream. Roll into a sausage-like shape with cling film and set in the freezer for 4 hours.
6 We roll ours into a cookie crumb for extra texture. Cut into portions 30 minutes before serving and serve with something refreshing like a sorbet. We serve ours with a raspberry sorbet.