Haggis Soda Bread

Monday 29 January 2018
Irish Soda Bread with a Scottish Twist. Traditional or Vegetarian Haggis brings a Celtic connection to this quick and easy bread. No kneading, proving or yeast required in this fuss free bake.





Burns Night is all done and dusted for another year, however in this house Haggis is definitely for life, not just the 25th of January. As it happens I've hardly seen my husband - aka Foodie Loon - in the last week. As a Piper it's his busiest time of the year! Although not always at the same time, or in the same place, we did manage to enjoy plenty of haggis throughout the week in various shapes and forms and I shared My Top 10 Haggis Recipes for Burns Night in a a roundup post. No sooner had I published it than I had another idea. Haggis Bread. I'm not much of a bread maker if truth be told but Soda Bread is so quick and easy to make and it proved to be the perfect vehicle to incorporate haggis. I used traditional Haggis but vegetarian would work equally well - as would black pudding.



6

Eden Mill Gin Blending Experience at Rusacks St Andrews

Friday 19 January 2018
Post in collaboration with Macdonald Rusacks Hotel St Andrews


Blend your very own Gin with the Eden Mill Blendworks Experience at Macdonald Rusacks Hotel in St Andrews. A fun, informative and highly interactive experience that will be thoroughly enjoyed by any gin lover. Located within the historic 4 star Rusacks Hotel with views of the 18th green of the world famous Old Course and West Sands Beach.






It's always nice to have something in the diary to look forward to after Christmas as once all the hustle and bustle of the festive season has passed, the start of a new year can seem rather dreary in comparison. Last January I headed with my friend Kirsteen to Ballintaggart Farm where we enjoyed an idyllic overnight stay and participated in their Seasonal Suppers Class. It was the perfect start to the year and a fantastic opportunity to share good food, drink and friendship. So when I was asked by Macdonald Hotels if I'd be up for trying out their D,B&B with Eden Mill Gin Blending Experience in January 2018, it seemed the perfect opportunity for a repeat of a girly night away. The fact it was to be in St Andrews, one of my favourite Scottish towns, was an added bonus. 


The plan was to make a leisurely train journey from Stonehaven to Leuchars, however five weeks of Sunday engineering works had closed the line so we instead opted to drive rather than rely on the vagrancies of a replacement bus service. Rusacks Hotel is situated in the most perfect location right on the 18th hole of the iconic Old Course. Their Dinner, Bed & Breakfast package inclusive of a Gin Blending Experience at Eden Mill Blendworks is priced from £164.50 per person per night (depending on date and choice of room). 


We were shown to our room - The Bobby Jones Suite - which can only be described as stunning. It had surely the best views in the whole of St Andrews. We could actually have spent our whole time sat in the bay window watching the golfers play the 18th hole and imagining ourselves running on the West Sands in true Chariots of Fire style. Even the loo had a view although alas I didn't manage to indulge in the long luxurious bubbles that the gorgeous bath was just crying out to be filled with.


Bubbles of another kind were indulged in however as Champagne and Chocolate Coated Strawberries were delivered to our room to welcome us to Rusacks. The level of customer service received from all the staff in the hotel throughout our stay was second to none. Nothing was too much trouble for them, service was most definitely with a smile and their food, drink and general St Andrews knowledge was obvious. Despite the lure of our fantastic room with a view, we headed out for a couple of hours and enjoyed some retail therapy in town and lunch at Mitchell's Deli. The hotel is only a five minute walk from the town centre so perfectly placed for exploring all that St Andrews has to offer.


The Blendworks experience runs at 4pm for 2½ hrs from Tuesday to Saturday. It's located in a Gin Classroom below the hotel's R Bar. It is basically the most amazing looking science laboratory ever! The maximum group size catered for is 12 and you really do feel like you get your own personalised experience. Our hosts were Jasper, Sasha and Charlie who welcomed us with a G&T. This was the Scottish Rugby Gin which was blended by Scotland players who choose the gin's flavours and qualities, including a magical little botanical called milk thistle, known for its restorative medical properties. With drinks in hand (the first of three provided as part of the experience) Jasper led us through the murky history of gin from an ancient remedy to Jenever, the roller coaster of distilling in London, Gin Lane, Mother's Ruin, bootlegging and cocktails in the States, and the current booming craft gin revolution. 



Now for the fun part. Blending our own gin! We started, as all gins must start, with a base of juniper. To that we tasted four variants of base botanicals and chose our favourite. Floral, Spice, Citrus and Sweet. I opted for Spice which was a combination of coriander seed, angelica root, liquorish root, black cardamom, black pepper and ginger root. To this we then had the opportunity to add up to five additional flavour profiles - the hero botanicals. There were so many to choose from but after a good old sniffing session I plumped for Lapsang Souchong, Lime Leaf and Elderberry. With my ingredients list chosen Jasper helped me to work out the quantities of each to use and at last I got to use the chemistry set to make up a 40ml test measure of my very own blended gin. To ensure I was happy with my product it was made into a perfect serve with Ice, Tonic, Ginger Beer, Ginger Bitters and a garnish of rosemary and lime. Delish!





At this point I also had to come up with a name for my Gin Blend. There really was only one that I could go for 'Quines'. Now for the full on production process. 640ml of gin to fill 600ml of bottles. How would that work? This time we got to use the huge measuring cillinders followed by the funnels to fill our bottles. 'O' Grade Chemistry at school was never this much fun! The leftover 40ml made our final drink, a classic Martini. I opted to have mine dirty. Further choices to be made with the bottle corks and seals before sticking on our personalised labels and attempting to ensure they weren't too squint. Our creations were then gift packaged along with two 'Blendworks' glasses before we were each presented with a certificate to commemorate the gin blending experience. We'd actually overran a wee bit on timings and the whole experience took close to 3 hours but what an amazing way to spend an afternoon! If you are a fan of Gin I can't recommend it enough. Informative, highly interactive and most of all fun. There was great banter with everyone in the group and were were all absolutely delighted with our final product.


By this point we were running a wee bit tight for our 7.30pm dinner reservation, so popped in past the restaurant to let them know we'd be closer to 8pm. The package comes with Dinner in One Under Gastro Pub or £25 allowance towards Rocca Bar & Grill. We'd opted to dine at Rocca, one of only 25 restaurants in Scotland to achieve 3 AA Rosettes. We enjoyed a glass of champagne whilst perusing the menu before ordering up starters of crab tortellini and poached chicken and mains of mushroom risotto and ribeye steak with peppercorn sauce. All were absolutely delicious as was the accompanying bottle of Pino Grigio. Again the staff were excellent. Attentive and knowledgeable but not intrusive. To finish we both opted for Cheese and Port before heading through to R Bar for coffee and some Sax from a wonderful young instrumentalist. At this point we met up with another couple on the same Blendworks package who were celebrating a birthday so the four of us wiled away the rest of the evening over Gin and Cocktails.


A wonderful sleep was had in the most comfy beds ever and the sun shone over a crisp Sunday morning view of the West Sands. No golf allowed on the sabath but plenty of folk taking the opportunity to walk the Old Course. A full Scottish Breakfast completed our package and blew away any cobwebs from the night before. We squeezed out every last minute until our 11am checkout time before bidding a fond farewell to our room with a view. The Eden Mill Gin Blending Experience at Rusacks St Andrews was most definately the perfect tonic. A truly memorable experience with the best party bag to take home ever.

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Disclosure: We blended Gin, stayed, and dined as guests of Macdonald Rusacks Hotel St Andrews. As always, all views expressed are my own. 
Thank you for supporting the brands who make it possible for me as a passionate Scottish Food Blogger to continue to share my Edible Food and Travel Adventures with you. I’m super choosy who I work with and promise to bring you only the cream of the crop.
11

Haggis, Neeps and Tatties Pancakes

Monday 15 January 2018
Post in collaboration with McIntosh of Strathmore


A delicious Scottish breakfast treat, these Haggis, Neeps and Tatties Pancakes are the ideal way to kick off your Burns Supper celebrations. But they are far too good to save just for breakfast or just for Burns Night. Haggis is for life - not just the 25th of January.


Once Hogmanay is past and the New Year begins, here in Scotland and in many places around the world, the countdown begins to possibly the most Scottish of Celebrations. Burns Night. The 25th of January makes Dry January impossible! How could you possibly toast The Bard without a dram?! To accompany that dram you also of course need the holy trinity of Haggis, Neeps and Tatties. Whilst Rabbie had plenty to say about the dish in one of his most famous poems "Address to a Haggis" it's been been give a rewrite by Scottish ready meal manufacturers McIntosh of Strathmore with their own version... 


Nae need tae cut up wi' ready slight 
When we've done a'things fir ye just right 
Aye, a dish tae tak yer fancy an' appeal, 
This, oor Burns Supper ready meal 


You can find McIntosh of Strathmore Haggis Neeps and Tatties ready meals all year round in the chiller cabinets of Scottish supermarkets, however in the lead up to Burns Night 2018 they'll be resplendent in limited edition promotional 'Poetry In A Pack' branding. In addition to the single serving "Wee Burns Supper" packs in both traditional and vegetarian variants, there's also a large pack which is perfect for sharing. All the meals can be cooked in either a conventional oven or microwaved and will let you enjoy Burns without the hassle of peeling, chopping, mashing and boiling! There's really no excuse not to celebrate with your very own Burns Supper whether as as individual or family and everyone can be kept happy with the equally delicious vegetarian option. 


Celebrate Burns with McIntosh and you'll have pretty much everything you need for a traditional Burns Supper in minutes! Just add whisky and you're all set. If you fancy doing something a wee bit different with your ready meal how about my Haggis, Neeps and Tatties Pancakes? I reckon they would make the perfect breakfast come 25th January but perhaps hold off on the whisky at such an early hour (although I did serve mine with a whisky cream sauce...!) You could even make blini sized ones and top them with Scottish Smoked Salmon for Burns Supper Canapes. No matter how you celebrate be sure to share your snaps on social media using the #BurnsWithMcIntosh hashtag and checkout the selection of Quick Burns Facts to impress or quiz your guests. 


Haggis Neeps and Tatties 'Pancakes' 
Makes 8 

1 x 340g Haggis Neeps & Tatties Ready Meal (traditional or vegetarian) 
50g Plain Flour 
1 Free Range Egg, beaten 
Splash of Scottish Rapeseed Oil 

Tip the contents of your ready meal into a bowl and combine it all together with a fork or potato masher. 
Add the flour and beaten egg and mix thoroughly. 
Divide the mixture into eight 'pancakes' 
Shallow fry four at a time in a splash of Scottish Rapessed Oil. 
They'll need approximately 5-8 minutes on each side to ensure they are warmed through with a crispy golden exterior.

Some hae meat and canna eat,
And some wad eat that want it,
But we hae meat and we can eat,
Sae let the Lord be Thanket!


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www.foodiequine.co.uk A delicious Scottish breakfast treat these Haggis, Neeps and Tatties Pancakes are the ideal way to kick off your Burns Supper celebrations. But they are far too good to save just for breakfast or just for Burns Night. Haggis is for life - not just the 25th of January.

Linking up to CookBlogShare and Recipe of the Week

9

Wee Sleekit Cheese and Haggis Birls

Thursday 11 January 2018
Scottish Cheese Straws with the ultimate twist - Haggis! Only three ingredients in this tasty treat which is perfect for Burns Night, St Andrew's Day or Hogmanay. Haggis and Cheese go burlin in ready rolled Puff Pastry for an oh so moreish savoury Scottish snack which is so quick and easy to make.


Wee Sleekit Cheese and Haggis Birls



So we all know that I'm savoury over sweet, cheese not choc, crisps not sweets. You'll always find me in the kitchen at parties, ideally positioned next to the Cheese Straws! They really are the perennial party food favourite but could they actually be improved upon? Over the years I've eaten and made them with various cheese, herbs, spices and even incorporated a slice of parma ham. However with January being the month of all things Burns, I got to thinking about Haggis. Cheese and Haggis are a match made in heaven (take my Auld Alliance Comté Cheese and Haggis Toastie as an example par excellence) so could I combine them in an epic Haggis Cheese Straw? Only one way to find out!







I shared the making of my Haggis, Cheese and Puff Pastry straws on Instagram stories and Twitter and was delighted to see that so many people were as excited by them as a work in progress as I was. I was kind of surprised quite how many straws the quantities I used actually made. Perhaps enough to feed the 5000 or go into competition with Greggs (I'm currently considering Quines as a brand name...) I did think that perhaps I should scale down the recipe before sharing here however I've left it as is as you really can't have too many of these tasty twists.


The name was another issue. I set out to create Haggis Cheese Straws however folks seemed to be referring to them as Haggis and Cheese Twists. But was there perhaps an even better name for them? Chaggis Straws was rejected but then bingo with a combination of effort on twitter came up with Wee Sleekit Cheese and Haggis Birls. 

birl (burl) Dialect, chiefly Scot. ~v. 1. to spin around, to revolve rapidly.
~adv. birlin’ (“Ah tell ye, efter a’ that dancin’ ma heid’s fair birlin’“).

Robert Burns - Wee,sleekit, cow'rin, tim'rous beastie (To A Mouse)
English - Small, crafty, cowering, timorous little beast.

Call them what you will - I'm calling them a huge success! Far too good to keep just for Burns night I suggest you birl them out for all occasions but they are clearly essential fodder for 25th Jan, 30th Nov and 31st Dec when we are all feeling at our most Scottish. I'll leave it up to you as to whether you accompany with Whisky or Irn Bru.




Wee Sleekit Cheese and Haggis Birls



Wee Sleekit Cheese and Haggis Birls


450g Haggis (traditional or vegetarian)
200g Scottish Cheddar Cheese, grated 
2 x 375g sheets of Ready Rolled Puff Pastry 

Preheat your oven to 200c
Remove the haggis from its skin and roughly chop into small pieces.
Unroll one sheet of the puff pastry, keeping it on its greaseproof backing for ease of handling
Sprinkle the chopped Haggis and grated Cheese over the top of the puff pastry sheet making sure you go right to the edges.
Unroll the second sheet of pastry and carefully place on top.
Push down on the layers gently with your hands before using a rolling pin to press all the layers together. 
Don't be too vigorous with the rolling pin, you can roll out to increase the size by 2-3 cm on each side but what you are really wanting to do it secure the layers.
Use a pizza wheel (or knife) to cut the Cheese/Haggis/Pastry in half horizontally and then cut vertical strips 2-3 cm wide.
Carefully remove each straw and give it a couple of twist before placing on a prepared baking tray. They will puff up a wee bit so give them room to do so.
Bake for approx 20 mins until golden brown and bubbling.
Ideally serve when they are still warm.


Some more of my Quirky Scottish Recipes that may well have Rabbie turning in his grave can be found in this post 25+ Quirky Scottish Recipes. Expect cotch Beef, Irn Bru, Tunnock's Teacakes, Haggis, Scottish Salmon, Tattie Scones, Whisky, Shortbread, Arbroath Smokies, Scottish Gin and more.

For more Haggis of all persuasions you'll be needing My Top 10 Haggis recipes for Burns night.



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www.foodiequine.co.uk Only three ingredients in this tasty treat which is perfect for Burns Night, St Andrew's Day or Hogmanay. Haggis (traditional or vegetarian) and Cheese go burlin in Puff Pastry for an oh so moreish savoury Scottish snack.
8

Edible Scottish Adventures - December 2017

Tuesday 9 January 2018
This is a bit of a new style of post for me, I'll give it a go for a few months to begin with and see what you all think. The basic premise is that it's a roundup of what I've been up to in the previous month. Lots of my Edible Scottish Adventures don't make it as far as my blog, featuring only on my social media accounts (find me on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter). However I know that Facebook in particular likes to play hide and seek so sometimes only a small percentage of my followers actually see my posts. So lets give a roundup post a try - here's what happened in December....




First up was the annual outing of my Christmas logo, as with all the versions of my branding this is by the fantastic Camilla Hammil. Find her at mimihammill.com where she's also rather good at silk scarves.


For the first 25 days of the month I was finally able to countdown with #CheeseNotChoc thanks to the the wonderful Cheese Advent Calendar from So Wrong it's Nom. There was a real panic as they were all sold out at the first Asda I went to. I phoned another store - only 4 left but they couldn’t keep one for me! Abandoned all other plans and drove at great speed to the second Asda. Christmas was saved!


There's a new Ice Cream Shop in town. December saw the opening of the Mackies 19.2 Ice Cream Parlour in Aberdeen's latest development - Marischal Square. Indoor and outdoor seating (with cosy blankets) selling ice cream (obvs!) waffles, crepes, chocolates, hot/cold drinks and more. The shop is located 19.2 miles from their farm where the ice cream is produced.


My first recipe of the month was Gingerbread Men Hot Chocolate Stirrers continuing my ongoing festive Gingerbread Man obsession!


I'm rather sad to have just taken down my special kitchen Christmas tree. As you may have guessed there is a food and drink theme to the decorations. Above are only a small selection. If you'd like to see more you can watch a Facebook Live tour of my Foodie Themed Christmas Tree. Please do tell me if you spot any decorations that I need for my collection, I'm on the lookout all year round (although I may need to get a bigger tree...)


The next recipe up was for a festive Cavolo Nero and Cranberry Nut Roast. However outwith December you can substitute dried cranberries for fresh. Nut loaf is for life - not just for Christmas.


Plenty of controversy caused when I asked my followers to rate their Christmas dinner. It seems that both Brussels Sprouts and Bread Sauce are most definitely Love/Hate items!


From the popularity of my post with 10 Christmas Gin Recipes I suspect that there were a number of my followers who had a very Merry Ginmas! I most certainly did. Also lovely to see the folks at Rock Rose making my Christmas Gincemeat with their very own gin.


Whilst at the same time Scottish Gin caused controversy when I shared a piece from The Herald. Revealed: Premium Scottish craft gins made in English factories.


Positively the last Gingerbread Men appearance of 2017 was my 'recipe' for Sledging Gingerbread Men


My After Eight and Candy Cane Fudge proved so popular that I had to make multiple batches and there was still none left come Christmas itself!



Final recipe before Christmas was Mincemeat Muffins. These are so good that I actually make them all year round.


I enjoyed a lovely afternoon tea (complete with Pink Fizz!) at Almondine on Christmas Eve Eve with the group of girls that I watch GBBO with. Everything they make is sublime and I can't recommend it enough, but you do need to book well in advance particularly if you want a Saturday. Their fame has clearly spread following their appearance on Bake Off Creme de la Creme.


Christmas Day itself was a feast full of delights from some fantastic local producers. Turkey from Barra Bronze, Epic Bacon from Piggery Smokery and Smoked Salmon from The Alexander Smokery. All three will again have my custom for Christmas 2018.


I must have been a very good quine as I received some amazing gifts from Santa, family and friends with more than a hint of Gin and a large dollop of Tunnock’s! (it's a suitcase not a fridge as someone thought!) I'm loving the Prue Leith book - its rather racy in comparison to Mary.


Bloody Mary with a side of maraschino cherry, pig in blanket, Brussels sprout, cornichon and gin olive is surely the Boxing Day breakfast of Champions! This may well become an annual tradition.


Irn Bru Ham was on the menu for Boxing Day and it seems that I was not alone. Again it was lovely to see and hear of others success with this ever popular recipe over Christmas.


My sister, aided and abetted by my two teenagers really excelled herself with this year's Gingerbread House. Stand alone blog post to follow but for now this is Camp Santa in all its glory. We finally demolished and ate it on New Year's Day.


Over 'Twixtmas' we headed down to Edinburgh for a couple of days to check out the Christmas Market. Plenty of mulled wine, hot chocolate and continental foodie treats on offer.


We also visited the Giant Lanterns of China at Edinburgh Zoo. These are absolutely amazing. Do visit if you can - you won't be dissapointed. They are there until 25th February - Chinese New Year


I ended the year with another rating game. Lets just say that the placement of Galaxy and Bounty caused almost as much consternation as that of Bread Sauce and Sprouts!




Lastly my best nine on Instagram from 2017. As per above - thanks for all those likes!

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