Scottish Food Fortnight: Eat Scottish

The Scottish Food Fortnight two weeks each September provides an ideal opportunity to sing and dance about our wonderful produce – ok, well cook and eat it at least.

In this post:

• A fitting conclusion to the 2011 Scottish Food Fortnight
• Recipes from Tom Kitchin and Mattia Camarani to inspire you

Scottish Food Fortnight Conclusion 2011

Ian Rankin and the Reverend's Reward

Meet the Supplier day at the Scottish Cafe gave visitors to meet the faces behind 16 of the cafe’s suppliers, to taste and marvel over the produce (and to find where to buy it locally).  Ian Rankin launched their new in-house beer created by the Caledonian Brewery, the Reverend’s Reward and the lovely Sue Lawrence was on hand to sign copies of her new book, Eating in

Highlights include:

Humprhey Errington’s cheese including a savoury new adddition a buttery flavoured hard sheep’s cheese

A prime Scottish cheeseboard

Peelham’s delicious charcuterie and discovered that you can go and learn how to make this at the farm or take a share in a pig

Apple juices from Cuddybridge. A sad fact here, that he’s unable to source Scottish apples to make his juices.

A superb pork terrine (rather like rillettes) from Whitmuir Organics.

Butteries from the Manna House bakery. These are all butter, not quite traditional which would include lard, but all the more yummy for it!

Scotherbs produce

ScotHerbs ever growing range of herbs (Winter savoury mmm!)

Graham Dairies‘ gorgeous Gold ice cream

Recipes from Tom Kitchin and Mattia Camarani

Tom Kitchin’s Halibut with salsa verde and citrus dressing

Tom Kitchin's Halibut

This citrus dressing works perfectly with the meatiness of the halibut and the sharpness of the salsa verde. Always use wild halibut as farmed halibut will have a slimy skin on it.

Ingredients:
6-8 new potatoes
vegetable oil
100g fresh samphire
12 olives, pitted and chopped
300g baby spinach
2 large shallots, chopped
2 tablespoons chopped chives
4 x 200g halibut fillets
salt and pepper
chervil and dill

Salsa verde
2 tablespoons chopped basil
3 tablespoons chopped parsley
1 tablespoon chopped mint
3 tablespoons capers
4 anchovy fillets
1 garlic clove, peeled and chopped
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
150ml olive oil
4 tablespoons sherry vinegar
1 lemon, zest and juice

Citrus dressing
4 lemons, segments and zest
8 cherry tomatoes, halved
1 teaspoon sugar
2 tablespoons olive oil

Croutons
2 slices white bread
1 teaspoon olive oil

To prepare the salsa verde, dressing and croutons

• Blitz all the salsa ingredients together in a blender or food processor until smooth and set aside in the fridge.
• Toss the ingredients for the dressing together and set aside.
• For the croutons, cut the bread into small cubes. Heat the olive oil in a frying pan and fry the croutons until golden brown.

To prepare the potatoes
Boil the potatoes in salted water until cooked. Cut the potatoes into slices 0.5cm thick. Fry these in a non-stick pan with a teaspoon of vegetable oil until crisp and golden brown. Add the samphire and chopped olives, then the baby spinach, shallots and chives.

To prepare the halibut
Pat the fillets dry and season well with salt. Heat 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil in an on-stick pan over medium to high heat. Add the halibut fillets and cook until they are golden brown on both sides, turning once. This should take about 3 minutes each side. Allow the fish to rest for 3-4 minutes.

To serve
Spread some salsa verde onto each plate. Top with the vegetable mix and halibut. Spoon some citrus dressing over the halibut, add some croutons and garnish with a few sprigs of chervil and dill.

Chef Mattia's Pan fried Scallops

Chef Mattia’s – Pan fried scallops with carrots, cucumber salad, and lemon sauce

Serves 4

Ingredients:
4 large scallops (preferably from Orkney)
80g carrots
80g cucumber
½ lemon
30ml water
60g diced butter
Flavoured breadcrumbs for dusting
Extra virgin olive oil

Note:
Ask your fishmonger to clean the scallops for you to take the roe out. You should end up with just the white meaty part.
Chill the scallops in the fridge so it is easier to slice them in half, along the centre horizontally.

Method
1. Cut the carrot about 5 cm long (about the same thickness of a matchstick) and blanch them in salted boiling water until al dente.
2. Slice the cucumber the same way as the carrots, using only the green part (no seeds). There is no need to cook the cucumber, only slice it.
3. For the sauce, place the water and the juice of half a lemon in a pan, reduce by half and, with a whisk, add the butter a little at a time and season with salt.
4. For the flavoured breadcrumbs just mix some the breadcrumbs with olive oil, salt, black pepper and chopped parsley to taste.

To serve

• Mix the carrots and cucumber, then season with salt and extra virgin olive oil, and place the in the centre of the plate.
• Cook the scallops in a hot pan with some vegetable oil for about 2 minutes on either side.
• Dust the scallops with the flavoured breadcrumbs and place the scallop on top of the vegetables.
• Reheat the sauce if required and spoon around the scallops.

Last updated by Bread Baker Danielle at October 1, 2011.