Going North of the Border

A month to the day is a little bit of an odd time to celebrate Burn's Night, but the Lent Adventure is done and Easter holidays are threatening to make it another month before we went off on our culinary travels. So, haggis (meat and veg varieties) was resurrected from the freezer from our soireé in February and the kilts were dug out (all desperately moth eaten which made me quite sad).

THE DISH  

Haggis - um, buy one. Only Neil's mum would ever be crazy enough to actually make haggis from the dead animal bits. The story is well known in MacInnes folklore because when she brought it to the table she realised that she'd used the sheeps stomach inside out. Great hilarity all round. Until the family realised they were expected to eat the thing. A more un-photogenic food stuff I think has yet to grace our table. And steam it so you can bring it whole to the table, thus enabling you to spill its entrails with a knife in a great crescendo during the Poem (which you must read as you serve in a spurious Scottish accent). 

Neeps and Tatties - um, buy some and peel 'em. I always do swede too because it's such a lovely colour and turnips are so identical to potatoes that without swede the plate just looks so sad. I believe that anyway north of the border they call swedes turnips hence the neeps should, in fact, be swedes. You learn something every day. I even did some carrots today too because I was cooking for small boys who don't like any other root vegetables.

Cock-a-Leekie soup

I did this as an extra for the table because I didn't want the boys to go to bed hungry. Cop out? You bet.

We do a terribly elaborate recipe when we make it for friends, but I found a super duper easy peasy one on the Telegraph website.

This easily fed two adults and 2 meat eating kids (who didn't eat a lot, mind you):

• 3 legs of chicken
• 2 litres of water
• 1 and a half leeks - finely chopped
• 1 small tin of prunes

Cover the chicken with the water, bring to the boil and take off the white scum (what is that stuff anyway??) while it cooks for 30 mins. Add half the leaks, prunes and seasoning and simmer for an hour. Cool and take the skin off the legs and throw away, add the rest of the leeks and prunes, taste, season and simmer for a further 30 mins. Yum.

THE REACTION
They all dressed up today - ye-hay! In their tiny little kilts made for a big MacInnes Clan Gathering back in 2006. K wasn't even born! M wore the one E had then and it just about covered his bottom! They put on their shiny waistcoats from Mark and JoyAnne's wedding (2010) too and they barely fit them either. Sigh. Next big MacInnes do and I'm making some more.... promise. E wore the one N's mum starting making about 40 years ago. It's got more moth holes in it in the 2 years I've been looking after it than in all that time put together! N wasn't even eating with us tonight so we were spared the full monty denied the full regalia.

We got some bagpipe tunes up and danced over some kitchen utensils (I figured if the pretend swords were retrieved from the dressing up it all might deteriorate rapidly). And the Lovely Lodger looked on slightly bemused.

There was the obligatory 'I don't like haggis' from the Youngest. But no tantrums. Progress? I like to think so.



THE VERDICT
Just as Mr Middle was declaring he'd tried the swede and the haggis and didn't like either of them a friend arrived suitably impressed he was trying it at all. A picture was swiftly taken to send back to his own recalcitrant 8 year old to prove what an adventurous spirit M was and suddenly he was wolfing it down! Even the Youngest, who didn't exactly tuck in, did eat most of what was on his plate with a bit of help. This seems to be working for us recently. He won't really eat it himself, but if you pile it up and pile it in his mouth for him he does get through it. I'd say that was progress too. The Eldest needed quite a bit of persuading that the vegetarian haggis in front of her did indeed contain no meat, but generally already likes haggis so that was all good. The Lovely Lodger and I tucked in but soon declared what we all know but always forget: haggis is very very filling.


PUDDING
Cranachan
A mash up of recipes. Bit of Nigel Slater, bit of Good Food.

• Double cream
• creme fraiche
• a wee dram of malt whisky
• honey
• Raspberries (i used frozen)
• toasted oats.

Whip the cream with the whisky and honey. Toast the oats. Mash half the raspberries and boil with caster sugar - straining them into a coulis. Place whole raspberries at the base of a glass and at the last moment (so that the oats retain their bite) mix oats, more honey, coulis lightly together for a swirly effect. Put in the glass, top with more oats and more raspberries.

Now, I don't like to crow. But this was sooooooooooo good. I don't think I've ever bothered to toast the oats before and they were so moreish and nutty. Yum yum. Unfortunately the Middle one spat his out immediately. I think he had been expecting it to be icecream. Disappointing. And the Youngest only ate half. But N was happy as it provided him and his friend with a ready made dessert when they arrived home from the pub. And I got half of the Eldest's too as she was full up. Double yum. We topped it off with posh lemon shortbread from Sainsbury's and I had made scones and raspberry jam for an afterschool snack too. What with all that and ribena doubling up for 'heather water' I think we might call Scotland a triumph.