Food

A taste of the northwest Highlands

We live in Ullapool, a small fishing village on the northwest coast of Scotland, where around seven local creel boats, four local trawling boats and more than a dozen visiting boats land each week.

Our daily plans at The Seafood Shack are normally based on whatever Kirsty’s partner Josh’s fishing boat, Bon Ami, has dropped off that morning. There’s always some discussion, such as “Please can we have four boxes of langoustines today?” or “Yes, we’ll take 24 lobsters tomorrow”, but it’s always changing and we’re never quite sure what will be waiting for us in the morning.

Our scallop diver will randomly pop his head in on any given day and say, “I’ve got some scallops for you,” and within an hour they’ll be on the menu. Our fishmonger is the one who’s organised, though; twice a week, we make a big white fish order with him.

Each week in the summer months, our local oyster farmer drops off a hundred fresh oysters, and within a few days they’ll all be gone. We also jump in the car once or twice a week to visit a nearby smokehouse to collect some trout, which is smoked in aged whisky barrels and cured in honey; it’s the most delicious smoked fish you’ll get.

We have disagreements — or ‘different memories’ — on how and when we decided to open The Seafood Shack, but we both agree on why. Many tonnes of seafood are caught in Scottish seas and then transported straight out of Ullapool. We wanted to play a part — albeit small — in keeping some of our seafood local.

This is an edited extract from The Seafood Shack: Food & Tales from Ullapool, published by Kitchen Press (RRP: £20).

FROM LEFT: Boats on the shore, Ullapool; freshly cooked langoustines