Summer Holiday - Kids Outdoor Food, Fire & Foraging Events in Aberdeen

I'm delighted to once again be teaming up with Mandy Tulloch of Mud Pies to hold a series of eight outdoor food, fun and foraging events in Aberdeen over the summer holidays. We're heading to Hazelhead Park in Week 3 for Campfire Banana Boats, then in Week 4 we're at Countesswells Wood for a Summer Blaeberry Bash. Booking is essential for all events so secure your prefered date and session by booking online at www.mudpieadventures.co.uk

Campfire Banana Boats

Get muddy and marshmallowed in the woods with Mud Pies & Foodie Quine

Go bananas this Summer with Claire Jessiman, the Foodie Quine and Mandy Tulloch of Mud Pies and have fun making camp fire banana boats! Collect sticks for a camp fire, toast marshmallows, play in the woods and eat roasted chocolatey bananas. This might just be our gooiest event yet so come in clothes you don’t mind getting muddy and marshmallowed! 

Tuesday 21 July – 10.30am to 12.30pm (2 – 5 years): 2pm to 4pm (over 5s) 

Wednesday 22 July – 10.30am to 12.30pm (2 – 5 years): 2pm to 4pm (over 5s) 

£8 per person - Booking essential - click on the session links above to book 

Hazlehead Park, Aberdeen – our secret wood. Meeting point – the small swing park on Groats Road, towards Hazlehead Academy. 

Summer Blaeberry Bash

A family foraging blaeberry bash and some hands on jammy foodie fun with Mudpies & Foodie Quine 

Join Claire Jessiman, the Foodie Quine and Mandy Tulloch of Mud Pies for a family foraging blaeberry bash and some hands on foodie fun in Countesswells Wood, Aberdeen. We’ll be foraging for blaeberries and other tasty wild treats, collecting sticks, lighting a camp fire, baking pancakes, making jam and toasting marshmallows. 

Monday 27 July – 10.30am to 12.30pm (2 to 5 years): 2pm to 4pm (over 5s) 

Wednesday 29 July – 10.30am to 12.30pm (2 to 5 years): 2pm to 4pm (over 5s) 

£8 per person - Booking essential - click on the session links above to book 

Countesswells Wood, Aberdeen. Please note, the Forestry Commission charges £1.50 to park in this wood for 3 hours. 

Foraging and Outdoor Foodie Fun on a Wild Garlic Bear Hunt

Of all the family food, fun and foraging outdoor events I've done with my friend Mandy from Mud Pies we have really been very lucky with the weather. A couple of drizzly spells have been as bad as it got. Our luck had clearly run out by the May Bank Holiday weekend when we held this year's Wild Garlic Bear Hunt. The weather forecast was pretty horrendous. Rainy, windy and cold with a severe weather warning to boot. But the show must go on. If the bears could brave the elements so would we.

They might not have felt like it at the time but our morning group of 40 intrepid adventurers got the best of the day. No spirits were dampened as everyone was equipped with wellies, waterproofs and lots of enthusiasm and we headed off on the search for cuddly bears and stinky bear garlic. We wandered via the Shell Housie down to the Glaslaw Burn and saw and smelt the swathes of wild garlic. No flowers yet but plenty of luscious leaves and buds. Bags were filled and the next mission commenced. The quest to find the perfect stick to cook damper bread and toast marshmallows on. Back to base camp and time to get shaking and making butter in jam jars. Alas our best laid plans of warming the cream to make things easier were thwarted by the weather. It got very competitive at this point with the Dads in particular engaging in vigorous efforts to be the first to separate the butter and the buttermilk.

Pesto pounding came next. Wild Garlic, salt, pepper, Scottish rapeseed oil, Parmesan cheese and pine nuts ground together in perfect proportions to make each families individual secret pesto recipe. Thanks to all my friends who rallied round and lent me an assortment of Pestle and Mortars for the day. Whilst one half of the group made pesto the other half made Damper Bread. Self Raising Flour and a pinch of salt mixed to a dough with milk (or water). Rolled into a 'snake' and wrapped around the end of a carefully chosen and peeled stick before cooking over the fire.

The hardy souls who joined us for the afternoon session unfortunately really did get the worst of the weather. It was lashing it down by this point. But we still managed to forage, shake, cook and feast on dampers, butter, pesto, marshmallows and lots of hot Ribena, tea and coffee. I definitely need to bring my hip flash next time. A wee tot of something would have gone down a treat.

Where these events are concerned the morning after the day before always means lots of washing up, sorting out and tidying away. Plenty of mud on everything and lots of soggyness to dry out. But every cloud has a silver lining. Whilst I got on with the dirty work boy shook up the remains of the cream to make lots of butter, girl used the buttermilk to make pancakes and we all whipped up a batch of wild garlic hummus. Tasted amazing and really is as Kermit green as it looks in the photo.

WILD GARLIC HUMMUS

Blitz the following together with a stick blender or in a food processor

Handful of Wild Garlic leaves
Tin of Chickpeas, drained
A good splash of Scottish Rapeseed Oil
Couple of spoonfuls of Tahini or Peanut Butter (optional)
Salt and Pepper
Small amount Harissa Paste or Ras El Hanout (optional)

Although we are now nearing the end of the season there's still some wild garlic out there, certainly in this neck of the woods. I asked my fellow food bloggers if they had any wild garlic recipes to share. Here's what they came up with, plus a couple more from me. Bookmark them for next year if you've missed the boat this time round.

Feta and Wild Garlic Muffins from Recipes from a Pantry
Wild Garlic Pesto Pinwheels from Foodie Quine
Cheese and Wild Garlic Scones from Farmersgirl Kitchen
Sweet Potato, Wild Garlic and Spinach Soup from Munchies and Munchkins
Spring Roast of Scotch Beef with a Wild Garlic Pesto Crust from Foodie Quine
Wild Garlic Scones from Rough Measures
Beetroot, Walnut, Wild Garlic and Goat’s Cheese Brunch Muffins from Tin and Thyme

Spring Woodland and Coastal Foraging

What a fantastic way to spend the Easter weekend. Outdoors with Mark Williams of Galloway Wild Foods and 40 eager participants on our two Foraging and Wild Food Events. We headed to Skatie Shore on Saturday for Coastal foraging and Dunnottar Woods on Sunday for Woodland and Hedgerow. Luckily the weather was kind to us on both days, only a little drizzle on the Saturday and glorious sunshine on Easter Sunday.

Mark was armed with his trusty foragers kit bag and all the participants had duly heeded the advice of waterproofs, warm clothes, wellies or walking boots. Whilst supping Elderflower Champagne the format for the afternoon was outlined and a veritable abundance of edibles were identified and tasted within only a few yards of our meeting point. Pretty much all of which most of us would have walked straight past on any other day. Our voyage of discovery had begun. 

As always with these round ups I refer you to Mark's website for the foraging know how and I'll just attempt to share a wee bit of what we got up to and give you a flavour of what we did, saw and ate over the two days. Competitive pignut digging was definitely a highlight as was the discovery that troublesome weeds such as Ground Elder and Japanese Knotweed were tasty edibles. 

Many of the participants were particularly interested in the seaweed side of things. Risk assessment and simple common sense meant that 20 of us couldn't actually physically all go out clambering on the slippy wet rocks. Mark was however prepared with some 'here's what I forraged earlier' tasters. Such intense and unknown flavours. So difficult to describe. Like giving an artist a completely new colour.

All too soon it was time to head back and establish base camp. Teas, Coffees and Easter treats first, followed by cooking up some mouthwatering wild food. Common Hogweed fried in butter, Wild Garlic Hummus and a Barley, Smoked Fish, Smoked Egg and Wild Greens Risotto.

On Easter Sunday we had fantastic support from the local Bodging group based in Dunnottar Woods. Whilst we didn't need to make use of their tarp on this occasion were grateful for the access they gave us to their cabin, fire, general local knowledge and in particular their green woodworking skills. They also provided us with a very tasty slow cooked leg of venison. The perfect Easter Sunday roast.

One of our fist stops at Dunnottar, and the one I was personally most excited about was Birch Tapping. A wee bit of specialised kit required in the form of drill and spigots or spiles. Once the tree was tapped the flow of sap was instant and plentiful. The taste was however a bit underwhelming. I think I was expecting something akin to maple syrup. 

Like many wild foods its what you do with it once harvested that makes all the effort worthwhole. In our case we used it as the base for the drink of our walk. Into the Cauldron (nitrous oxide infuser) went all the edible plants, sap and roots found along the way. It can also be used to make syrup, wine, beer and vinegar or drunk as a mineral water.

Following our 3 hour woodland and hedgerow wander down to the River Carron and the swathes of wild garlic it was time to head back to back to base camp to enjoy a foraged wild food feast in the sunshine. Venison and Smoked Chicken & Wild Greens Risotto were washed down with the tasty Cocktail of our walk. 

As is always the case on our joint events there was plenty of edible and drinkable treats along the way. Below are links to some of them plus recipes for my Wild Garlic Pesto and Wild Garlic Pesto Pinwheels.

Elderflower Champagne

Hogweed Parkin

Elderberry Vinegar

Fermented Wild Greens

Malt-Easter Traybake

White Chocolate Easter Bark

Wild Garlic & Cheese Scones

WILD GARLIC PESTO

100g Wild Garlic

75g Pine Nuts - toasted

75g Parmesan Cheese - grated

150ml Scottish Rapeseed Oil

Salt & Pepper

Wash and pat dry the wild garlic leaves, toast the pine nuts in a dry non stick pan and grate the Parmesan. Place everything in a food processor or blender and blitz until it reaches the desired consistency. 

This recipe will make a larger quantity of pesto than you need for the Wild Garlic Pesto Pinwheels recipe. Store the remainder in a jar in the fridge or freeze in individual ice cube portions. Great stirred through pasta for a quick meal, served on top of lamb chops, steak or fish or mix some into a soup, risotto or mashed potatoes for a fresh garlicky kick.

WILD GARLIC PESTO PINWHEELS

250g plain flour

1/2 tsp Bicarbonate of Soda

1/4 tsp salt

175ml Milk

1 tsp lemon juice

3 Tbsp wild garlic pesto

60g parmesan grated

Sieve together the dry ingredients in one bowl and milk and lemon juice in another.

Bring together by pouring the wet into a well in the dry. 

Mix well and add a wee bit more flour or milk if needed to make a dough.

Knead lightly and roll out into a rectangle approx 1cm thick.

Spread over the pesto and sprinkle with 40g the parmesan.

Roll up like a swiss roll and cut into slices. Sprinkle with the remaining 20g of Parmesan.

Bake at 200 degrees for 15 minutes or until golden brown.

If you'd like to go on the mailing list to be informed about future foraging and wild food events with Mark and myself drop an email to claire@foodiequine.co.uk At the moment we're planning a Fungi Forage in October and hopefully a Botanical Booze Walk in the Summer.

Meanwhile why should the grown ups have all the foraging fun? If you've got youngsters who would fancy joining myself and Mandy from Mud Pie Adventures on a Wild Garlic Bear hunt there are a handful of places still remaining for our events in Dunnottar Woods on Sunday 3rd May.

Wild Garlic Bear Hunt - Family Food and Foraging Fun in Stonehaven

Have I got a fantastic family food and foraging event for you!  Why should the grown ups have all the foraging fun? Do you and your small humans fancy joining me on a a delicious Spring adventure at Dunnottar Woods, Stonehaven? In conjunction with Mud Pies, Foodie Quine presents...

We’re going on a…

Garlic Bear Hunt!

Join Mandy from Mud Pies and Claire the Foodie Quine for a Family Wild Garlic Wander and some hands-on Foodie Fun in Dunnottar Woods, Stonehaven.

We’ll be foraging for wild garlic, seeking out the perfect cooking stick, lighting a camp fire, making and baking dampers, shaking up wild garlic butter, pounding pesto, popping corn and feasting on nettles.

Sunday 25^th May

10.30-12.30pm or 2-4pm

£15 for 1 adult and 1 child. £5 for each additional adult/child

Suitable for age 3+

Book online at

www.mudpieadventures.co.uk

If you go down to the woods today you're in for a big surprise! Don't worry there are no real bears hiding in the trees. Only stinky Bear Garlic. 

Meeting point is the car park in the MIDDLE of the wood - the one nearer to Dunnottar Church, NOT Glasslaw car park up by the dual carriageway!

Places MUST be booked in advance via the Mudpie Adventures Website 

Any questions email Mandy info@mudpieadventures.co.uk or myself claire@foodiequine.co.uk

Scottish Gin Tasting with Gin Infused Canapés

There really is no denying my love of Gin. A quick flick through my Facebook, Twitter and Blog posts will see the juniper infused tipple cropping up with alarming regularity. My own drinks cabinet of gins has grown from the standard Gordon's, Beefeater and Bombay Saphire to encompass more boutique offerings such as Martin Millers which I discovered at a Gin & Teatime Tasting Event. My current selection includes Hendricks, 3 flavours of Edinburgh Gin (Elderflower, Spiced Orange and Raspberry), Caorunn, Blackwoods, Martin Millers, Gordons Crisp Cucumber and Opihr plus my own homemade Rhubarb, Bramble and Raspberry Gin infusions.

It might surprise you to discover that over 70% of UK Gin is produced in Scotland. Seems like its not just whisky that we're good at. With this in mind I'm delighted to announce a Foodie Quine presents... GIN event. I know there are a number of my followers on the blog and social media who this will appeal to and I hope to meet some of you on the night. 

To be held at Dunnottar Wines and Sprits in Stonehaven there will be education and lubrication in the form of 5 Scottish Gins. There will also be sustination from Gin infused and inspired canapes. Cool Gourmet in Stonehaven recently held a Gin themed dinner which unfortunately I couldn't attend so I'm delighted that Isla will be providing canapes for this event.

Book your place via my Eventbrite page below. Any questions drop me an email claire@foodiequine.co.uk

Online event registration for Scottish Gin Tasting with Gin Infused Canapés powered by Eventbrite

These are a few of my Favourite Things... at Adelphi Kitchen

Just imagine having the opportunity to work with a restaurant you love to come up with your ideal menu incorporating all of your favourite foods. My dream came true when Executive Head Chef Chris Toner and myself got together to plan an event at Aberdeen's Adelphi Kitchen. From the outset Adelphi Kitchen was committed to following in the footsteps of The Courtyard and La Stella to run foodie events with their suppliers and close friends. The first of those was Meat Feast #1 with Marcus Bawdon of www.countrywoodsmoke.com. I am delighted to have been given the opportunity to partner on event number two.

Black pudding, scallops, crackling, bacon, prosecco, wild garlic, crab, langoustine, elderflower, avocado, dirty steak, rhubarb, gin, popcorn, blue cheese, peanut butter, tea, vintage. These are a few of my favourite things. Yours too? Might see you there!

Adelphi Kitchen and Aberdeen Food Blogger Claire Jessiman aka The Foodie Quine present a four course taster menu highlighting seasonality, locality and a passion for provenance. Forget about raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens. Claire's favourite foodie things include black pudding, scallops, cheese, bacon, wild garlic, crab, langoustine, dirty steak, rhubarb, gin, peanut butter and tea. Who better than Chris Toner and Team AK to pull together these random favourites into an innovative foodie night out. Your hosts will explain the concepts behind the dishes and showcase the local suppliers and producers who provide the highest quality of raw ingredients right here on our doorstep.

To book email hello@theadelphikitchen.co.uk

www.theadelphikitchen.co.uk

Love Food Hate Waste - Leftover Vegetables and Black Bananas

I was delighted to be asked by Aberdeen Forward to do a second Cookery Demonstration for them as part of their Love Food Hate Waste project. You can read about the first one we did here where I made Tuna Fishcakes, Cola Chicken and Layered Fruit Crunch. Different menu and different location this time round. We were in Stonehaven as volunteers are being sought in the area to take part in a Zero Waste Scotland Fund Project where they weigh their food waste and record their recycling habits.

Our three course meal kicked off with what I originally called "Bottom of the Fridge Soup". So named as it can be made from whatever veggies you have languishing there unloved and unused. I tend to do either a red or a green version and as such it has been re-branded to make it sound as appetising as it actually is. There are no specific quantities given in the recipes below for the soup or the frittata. The idea being that you use what you have available to you and modify as necessary.

RED SOUP WITH HONEY & GINGER

Oil

Onion

Garlic

Tin of Tomatoes

Tomato Puree

Stock Cubes

Bottom of the fridge veggies – Carrots, Red Pepper, Tomatoes, Celery, Leek, Parsnip

Leftover Mash

Red Lentils

S&P 

Ginger (fresh or lazy)

Honey

In a large pan sauté chopped onion and garlic in a splash of oil until soft.

Chop the ‘bottom of the fridge’ veggies into chunks, add to the pan and sweat off for a few minutes.

Add the tin of tomatoes, a litre or so of hot stock and a handful of red lentils and the seasonings.

Bring to the boil then simmer for 20-30 minutes until all the veggies are soft.

Blitz with a stick blender.

Variations

Use whatever combination of veggies you have available to you. But be careful with strong flavours like green pepper.

The addition of milk and/or cheese can be used to create a creamy soup.

Be adventurous with your seasonings. Chilli, Corriander, Paprika, Cumin, Worcerstershire Sauce, Tobasco and many others all work well.

Add a wee pinch of sugar (or honey) if the soup seems bitter.

TATTIE SCONES

200g mashed potato

25g butter

50g plain flour

1/4 tsp baking powder

Mash the butter into the potato (you may need to warm it if its leftovers) 

Sift in the flour and baking powder and mix until thoroughly combined. 

Divide into two balls.

Liberally flour your surface and roll out gently to form two circles about 1/4" thick. 

Cut the circles into quarters.

Heat a girdle or heavy frying pan. 

Smear on some butter with kitchen roll. 

Once hot cook scones for about 3-4 mins on each side until golden brown.

Variations

Try adding cheese, herbs or spices through the mix

I've even made a haggis version

FLING IT TOGETHER FRITATTA

8 Eggs
Oil

Leftover cooked potatoes sliced

Grated Cheese

S&P

Herbs & Spices - garlic, smoked paprika and crushed chili 

Veggies – Peas, red onion, red pepper, mushrooms

Sauté the frittata ingredients in oil in a large frying pan. (If any meat used is raw, cook that first and then remove it from the pan to add back in later) 

Raw veggies will require longer cooking than any leftover cooked ingredients which will just need warmed through. 

Season well and add herbs and spices as desired.

Whisk the eggs together along with grated or crumbled cheese. Pour over the vegetable mix. 

The frittata can then be cooked purely on the hob, or popped in the oven (if frying pan is ovenproof) or finished off with extra cheese crisped under the grill.

Slice into wedges and serve. Any leftovers are great served cold.

Variations

Use rice and/or pasta instead of or as well as potatoes

Any kind of cheese works grated or crumbled - try blue, feta or smoked

Make it meaty with ham, bacon, chicken, sausages, pork, beef

BLACK BANANA AND CHOC CHIP BANNOCKS

125g Plain Flour

1 Black Banana

1 eggs

1 Tbsp Sugar

1 Tsp Cream of Tartar

½ tsp Bicarb of Soda

Pinch salt

Chocolate Chips

Milk

Butter to grease

The blacker the bananas the better for this recipe. Did you know you can freeze over ripe bananas to use in baking at a later date?

Sift together dry ingredients

Mash banana and whisk egg

Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour in banana and egg.

Add milk until a dropping consistency is reached. 

Mix through a handful of choc chips.

Spoon onto a buttered girdle or frying pan.

Once the pancake starts to bubble turn over with a palette knife to cook the other side. 

Put in between a folded tea towel on a cooling rack to keep warm.

A great turnout for the event with lots of good interaction and feedback from the group. As a follow up Aberdeen Forward asked the participants what they had learned and what they would now do differently. Always good to get positive feedback and particularly heartening to see such positive actions being taken onboard. 

It was good to clarifying some of the items that I was unsure about freezing.
Would happily attend another event.
I hadn't realised the extent we would be fed
I am definitely going to make meals from what I have in my fridge and freezer rather than buying in more food that I don't need
I am now more aware of the cost of wastage, both to the environment and monetary
I thoroughly enjoyed the cooking demo and it definitely got me thinking about food waste

Didn't think of freezing bananas and often bin them - not any more.

Community Cookery Classes in Aberdeen

Those of you who follow me on Facebook may have noticed that I've been posting Fishy Dishes every Tuesday since the end of October. The reason for this is that I'm a tutor at the Silver (Haired) Darlings Fish Cookery class for over 65's at the S.T.A.R. Community flat in Seaton. This project has been funded by the Aberdeen Change Fund with the aim of providing engagement opportunities, boosting confidence and independence and developing budgeting and cookery skills. 

The STAR Community Flat is run by the charitable organisation Seaton Taking Action for Regeneration and provides a one-stop shop for local residents, agencies, community groups and organisations working in the area. 

Why Silver (Haired) Darlings? Silver Darlings are the Scottish nickname for herring. Participants in the class are age 65+

We work to a £10 a week budget in a very basic kitchen with a rather temperamental cooker. But there is a lot of enthusiasm and a great deal of fun. Here's a wee taster of some of our fishy going on's so far. 

CULLEN SKINK

1 Pint Full Fat Milk

750ml Vegetable Stock

2 large fillets Smoked Haddock

4 Potatoes diced

25g Butter

1 Onion

1 Leek

1 Tablespoon Chopped ParsleyDouble Cream (optional) 

Salt & Pepper 

Heat the Milk and half the Vegetable Stock in a shallow pan. Add the smoked Haddock and poach for 10 minutes until lightly cooked.

Slice and wash the leek thoroughly.

Peel and finely chop the onion.

Peel and Dice the Potatoes.

Wash and chop the parsley.

In a large Soup Pan melt the butter and add the onion and leeks and cook gently for 5 minutes.

Add the Potato and the remaining Vegetable Stock, bring to the boil, cover and simmer for 15 minutes until the potato is soft.

Add the liquid form the poached Haddock to the soup but not the fish.

Flake the smoked haddock with a fork.

Gently mash/blend the soup to desired consistency.

Add flaked fish, chopped parsley, double cream and seasoning.

Heat through and serve. 

Cream Cracker Haddock Goujons

4 Haddock Fillets

125g Cream Crackers

Zest of a Lemon

Clove of Garlic

Small Bunch of Parsley

Seasoned Flour (Plain Flour with Salt & Pepper)

Beaten Egg

Oil to fry

Cut haddock into strips and set aside

Blitz together cream crackers, lemon zest, garlic and parsley in a food processor (or bash with a rolling pin)

Prepare three bowls of seasoned flour, beaten egg and cracker mix.

Dip each piece of fish in the flour, then the egg, then the crackers.

Fry in oil until lightly browned.

Smoked Haddock Bake created to celebrate St Andrews Day by Adam Newth, Young Scottish Chef of the Year for About Scotland. 

Cauliflower Cheese Soup, Melba Toast and Smoked Mackerel pâté 

Retro Smoked Haddock & Parsley Flan. Recipe from a Woman & Home magazine leaflet from late 70's early 80's.

Stuffed Haddock in a Cheese Sauce

Stuffing made from breadcrumbs, onion, bacon, parsley, Parmesan cheese and tomatoes. 

Smoked Fish & Sweetcorn Chowder and Oatcakes

I've had a great time over the past three months at the STAR Flat and I'm sure that will continue over the 2 year duration of the project. The ladies (no men so far) who attend the classes have been very open to trying new ingredients, learning new skills and sharing their knowledge and life experience with me. It's been fantastic to see their confidence in cookery growing and I was especially touched to be told that I'd inspired someone to start cooking for themselves more often rather than relying on "ping" meals. She proudly showed me photos on her phone of a dish she'd made. This was from someone who told me the first week that she came that she couldn't cook.

I'm actively seeking more cookery tutoring and demonstrating jobs in Aberdeen and surrounds so please do mention my name or drop me an email claire@foodiequine.co.uk if your school, community group or organisation might be interested in using my services. Further information on what I can offer is available on my Educating & Demonstrating page.