Food & Drink
Roberta Hall-mccarron of The Little Chartroom shares some of the seasonal dishes she is making
Roberta Hall-mccarron with some seasonal recipes, plus Rose Murray Brown on the best Christmas whites
It’s five months since we opened our restaurant The Little Chartroom on Edinburgh’s Albert Place and the festive season is now in full swing. Where has the time gone? It has been a real whirlwind. While my husband Shaun and I have worked in plenty of restaurants, including The Kitchin and Castle Terrace, opening and operating your own place is a completely different experience. The best thing is the support we have had from both customers and our industry colleagues. Support also comes from our suppliers who go above and beyond to get us the best ingredients, from the chanterelle mushrooms that we had drying in the window to the whole Shetland lamb we received from Macduff butchers and cooked and served over one weekend.
We have also been working with an amazing company called Castle Game to source our produce. These guys do everything, from the shoot to the delivery of the meat; the total traceability is very important to me. They recently brought us some hare which we served in a bun with celeriac soup and it was very popular. I have adapted the recipe slightly here as hare isn’t always readily available. These are three of my favourite dishes of recent weeks and you will still find the ham hock on the menu. n
@Littlechartroom
Celeriac and apple soup, walnut crumpet
Celeriac is one of my favourite vegetables and this rich, velvety luxurious soup is actually really simple and a real crowd pleaser. Perfect for a warming winter lunch or as a starter. The warm walnut crumpet makes a nice change to bread. You will need four crumpet rings for this recipe.
Serves four 1½ celeriac 1½ litres vegetable stock 150ml double cream 2 celery sticks 8 walnut halves 1 Granny Smith apple 125g bread flour 7g sachet of fast acting yeast ¼ tsp bicarbonate of soda ¼ tsp caster sugar 150ml tepid water a few knobs of butter salt and pepper
1 Cut the skin off all the celeriac. Dice the half piece into 1cm cubes and set aside for later. Use the skin from this and the other whole celeriac to make the soup. Chop the whole celeriac into pieces.
2 In a heavy based pot, melt down a knob of butter and add the chopped whole celeriac. Sweat down, then cover with the vegetable stock. Simmer gently until the celeriac is cooked, then add the double cream, bring to the boil, remove from the heat and blend until smooth.
3 Cook the soup until the celeriac is soft, then take it off the heat. Peel the celery sticks and dice into 1cm cubes. Get a small pot with some salted boiling water and blanche the cubes of celery and cubes of celeriac that were set aside earlier. Remove from the water and reserve until needed.
4 To make the crumpets, place the bread flour, yeast, bicarbonate of soda, sugar and a teaspoon of salt into a bowl and mix. Add the water and whisk until smooth. Cover the bowl in cling film and place somewhere warm for 15 minutes for air bubbles to develop.
5 Grease four crumpet rings with butter and place them in a heavy based frying pan, also lightly greased. Place it on a medium heat, then half fill the rings with the batter mix. They will begin to rise and bubble as they cook and expand to fill the ring.
6 The best way to know if they are cooking is when you look at the surface and the batter is no longer wet. Remove the rings carefully and flip the crumpet over and brown the surface.
7 Warm the soup and season to taste. Pan fry the blanched celery and celeriac with a little butter. Gently warm the crumpets through again in another warm pan with some butter. Cut the apple into batons. Pour the soup into bowls, then sprinkle with the celery, celeriac and batons of apple. Break up 4 walnuts into small pieces and sprinkle over the soup. Finely grate the remaining 4 walnuts over crumpets. Serve.
Ham hock terrine, clementine
This one is currently on the menu. The clementine gives it a lovely Christmassy feel – a perfect festive starter.
Serves four 1 smoked ham hock 4 clementines 3 tbsp toasted flaked almonds 3 sprigs rosemary 1 white chicory juice of ¼ lemon 1 tbsp olive oil 2 carrots 1 onion 1 celery stick a few rocket leaves 12g gelatine salt
1 Place the ham hock in a pot and cover with cold water – bring to the boil. Skim any scum that floats up to the surface.
2 Cut the carrots, celery and onion into big chunks and add to the water. Braise gently for approximately 4 hours until the meat is tender and falling off the bone.
3 Take the meat out of the stock (keep the liquid), allow it to cool then pick into small pieces.
4 Line a terrine mould (if you don’t have one then a loaf tin will also work) with 2 layers of cling film, making sure that it’s overlapping the sides.
5 Finely chop the rosemary and, along with 2 tbsps of the toasted almonds, mix it through the ham. Cut 3 segments of clementine into small diced pieces and add this to the ham mix. Place into the lined terrine moulds.
6 Pass the ham stock through a sieve and measure 500ml (warm it if it has cooled) of the liquid.
7 Soak the gelatine in cold water. When soft, squeeze off any excess water and mix through the stock. Check the seasoning and pour over the ham mix, making sure it’s submerged. Chill until set (approximately 5-6 hours).
8 Carefully remove the set ham from the mould and portion accordingly.
9 Cut white chicory into thin long strips and dress with lemon and olive oil. Mix with the remaining clementine segments, rocket leaves and toasted almonds and present on a plate beside the terrine.
Cod, hummus, piperade, sautéed potatoes and Romanesco
I love this dish – if you have never tried chickpeas with white fish before then give this a go, they go so well together. Despite it being available in every supermarket, making your own hummus is actually very easy
and satisfying – the secret is to have a really good blender.
Serves four
4 fillets of cod 1 Romanesco 350g baby potatoes 1 tin of chickpeas 2 cloves garlic 2 tbsp tahini 3 tbsp olive oil juice of ½ a lemon 2 large white onions 3 red peppers (peeled, de-seeded and thinly sliced) 1 tbsp dried mixed herbs salt and sugar, to season a knob of butter
1 To make the piperade, slice the onions thinly and sweat down in 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Grate in 1 clove of garlic and add the peppers, then the dried herbs. Season to taste with salt and sugar.
2 Pour the chickpeas, the second clove of garlic, tahini, the remaining olive oil and the juice of half a lemon into a blender. Blitz until smooth and season to taste. You may need to add a little water to gain the correct consistency.
3 Cut the Romanesco into florets and blanch in boiling, salty water – remove before it is fully cooked.
4 Slice the baby potatoes into 2cm thick discs and place in a pan, cover with water, butter and a pinch of salt. Cover the pan with tin foil and put on a high heat. Allow the pan to go dry and colour the potatoes.
5 In a separate pan, pan-fry the cod, when it is almost ready, add in the florets of Romanesco and allow to colour, add the potatoes to warm through.
6 Heat the piperade and spread a thin layer onto the plate. Place the fish and Romanesco on top. Serve hummus in a dish on the side for guests to add as they wish.