NEEP BREE: This is a delicious soup and has always been a huge favourite of my customers. Bree is an old Scottish word for a broth.
Ingredients: 50g butter; 2 med/large onions, peeled and chopped small; one large yellow swede turnip, peeled and diced small – it should weigh approx 500g when prepared; piece of whole root ginger, the size of the top of your thumb, finely grated; f
inely grated rind and juice of 1 large orange; 1 litre vegetable stock; approx 125ml milk plus 125ml double cream to serve; salt and pepper, chives.
Method: Melt butter in large saucepan until foaming, add onions. Turn in butter until soft, but not brown then add turnip. Stir together well. Add grated ginger, plus a sprinkling of salt and pepper.
Put on lid and allow vegetables to cook gently for 5-10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Pour in orange juice and rind, stir well. Add stock, bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer slowly with lid on for one hour. Add milk and liquidise. Season to taste and stir cream through. Heat thoroughly before serving. If too thick, add more milk or cream. Serve with a sprinkling of finely chopped chives or green syboe (spring onion) tops.
RABBIT PIE with hazelnut pastry and rumbledethumps Wild rabbit is soft-textured and very tasty. Rumbledethumps is a delicious traditional Scottish vegetable dish. First, prepare the pastry and leave to “rest” in the fridge for at least half an hour while you prepare the filling.
Ingredients: 250g plain flour; 100g chilled pastry fat, butter, or equal quantities of both; 25g coarsely ground hazelnuts; pinch of salt; 2 tbsp chilled water; 1 egg, lightly beaten.
Method: Sieve the flour into a bowl. Work the chilled fat into the flour until it resembles fine breadcrumbs, add the salt and the hazelnuts and gently mix together. Add the water a little at a time, until the pastry begins to bind together. Knead on a floured board before resting in the fridge.
Filling ingredients: 1 large onion; 1 large leek; 2 sticks celery, plus a few leaves; half a medium bulb of fennel, plus feathery tops; meat from 2 rabbits (approx 500g) cut into even-size pieces suitable for a pie filling; 1 level tbsp of plain flour, mixed with 1 heaped tsp of mustard powder; 1 tbsp light olive oil; 100g smoked streaky bacon, chopped into small pieces; 1 medium cooking apple, peeled and cored; finely grated rind of a large lemon; 1 heaped tsp of chopped rosemary; 50g butter; 250ml of dry cider; 1 heaped tsp of heather honey; 125ml of rabbit stock from the bones, or a light vegetable or chicken stock; salt and pepper.
Method: Wash, peel and chop the vegetables into even-sized pieces about the size of your thumbnail. Place the rabbit on a large plate in an even layer and sprinkle with the sieved flour and mustard. Season with salt and pepper and toss the meat in the flour until it is evenly coated. Heat the oil in a large frying pan and fry the bacon until it begins to brown. Add the rabbit and brown the meat all over – in small quantities at a time. Add the vegetables to the frying pan with the apple, lemon rind and rosemary. Add the butter and stir together while it melts. Pour in the cider and add the honey then heat thoroughly and reduce to simmering point for approx five minutes.
The pie filling should thicken, but keep in mind that, once the pie is baking, more liquid will be produced by the vegetables, making a good gravy for serving. Adjust the consistency with stock if necessary.
Place all the pie ingredients into your dish and cover with the pastry. Brush all over with the beaten egg, place the pie on a baking tray and put in the middle of the oven to bake at gas mark 6, 200°C for 30 minutes, until the pastry is crisp and golden.
For the rumbledethumps: Prepare enough potatoes, savoy cabbage or curly kale for your guests. Boil the potatoes in salted water and while they are boiling, wash the cabbage and/or curly kale. Shake and pat dry with a clean tea towel. Pile a few leaves together and finely slice into ribbons. Continue this process until all the leaves are prepared. Place the cabbage or kale in a saucepan with a knob of butter and cover with a close-fitting lid, allow it to cook gently over a very low heat. Add no water – the greens will produce enough liquid to cook in. Cook until the shredded leaves begin to wilt but retain some of their crispy texture. This will only take a few minutes, with an occasional stir. Once the potatoes are cooked, mash with a little butter or cream. Keep the mash firm at this stage. Stir in the hot cabbage or curly kale, mix together well and check the seasoning, adding salt and pepper as desired.
Finally, add a little more butter if the finished dish needs extra creaminess, plus a generous grating of fresh nutmeg.
AUTUMN PUDDING: Instead of making it in a pudding basin in the traditional way, we make this pudding in a rectangular dish, which is much easier to serve. You can do it either way at home using any combination of fresh autumn fruits. If you have been cooking with damsons and have surplus damson juice, use it to make extra syrup to serve with the finished pudding. Alternatively, cook extra brambles with a little sugar until soft, liquidise to a pulp, press through a sieve and serve as a juicy sauce.
For six to eight people you will need a rectangular dish (5cm deep x 30cm long x 24cm wide). You will need a 3 pint pudding basin to make it the more traditional way.
Ingredients: 350g cooking apples, thin sliced (weighed when peeled and cored); 200g pears, thinly sliced (weighed when peeled and cored); the juice and zest of half a large lemon; 225g soft light brown sugar; 1 cinnamon stick, broken in half; 4 whole cloves; 2 bay leaves; 200g plums, cut in half and stoned; 100g brambles, washed; at least 1 white medium sliced loaf, of reasonable quality, crusts removed.
Method: Put the sliced apples and pears into a medium-sized saucepan with a well fitting lid. Add 2 tbsp of water and the lemon juice plus zest. Add sugar, cinnamon stick, cloves and bay leaves. Bring to boil very slowly, allowing time for the sugar to dissolve and start to create syrup. Stir all the ingredients together gently. Put the lid on the pan and leave to simmer on a low heat for approximately ten minutes. Add the plums and brambles and cook for a further five minutes.
The fruit should be softened but still retain its shape. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly.
Meanwhile, line the base and the sides of the dish with the sliced bread. Layer half the cooked fruit, together with some of the juice, over the bread. Place a second layer of bread over the fruit, add a second layer of fruit and some more juice. Finish with a layer of bread and pour the remaining juice over the surface of the bread.
Cover with a double sheet of greaseproof paper and place a weight on top. Leave overnight in a cool place to allow plenty of time for the juices to develop and soften the bread.
The whole pudding should be turned out upside down from the dish when served. Extra syrup from cooking damsons or brambles can be used to serve the finished pudding, poured over the top. Serve with crème fraîche, or whipped double cream.
• Shirley Spear is chef-patron of The Three Chimneys in Dunvegan, Skye,
www.threechimneys.co.ukThe full article contains 1321 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
