My first ever ... kedgeree

Photo by Juta Kübarsepp for the March 2013 issue of Kodu ja Aed magazine.

Kedgeree is an Anglo-Indian dish that was a popular breakfast item during the Victorian era. It's a rice dish with smoked fish and soft boiled eggs, seasoned with curry and herbs. I had seen various kedgeree recipes during my years in Edinburgh, yet I hadn't had a chance to try, yet alone make it myself. The opportunity finally knocked at my door during Easter, as I had all those colourful Easter eggs needing to be used up.

I cannot really tell you the origin of this recipe any more. I wasn't sure I will be able to find smoked haddock here, so I decided to go with salmon - the post popular and common smoked fish in Estonia. I searched the web and my bookshelf and printed out several recipes for a smoked salmon kedgeree. Eventually, I did find smoked haddock after all, and after some further inspiration from Jamie's Dinners: The Essential Family Cookbook (aitäh, Merilin, mulluse sünnipäevakingi eest!) I came up with a following recipe. Whereas kedgeree is usually made with pre-cooked rice, a bit like egg-fried rice, then I cooked it from scratch to be served straight away.

I enjoyed it, and I hope you'll do as well. It was a light and unusual brunch dish, and the pretty yellow colour made it especially suitable for a sunny spring day.. One day I will give the smoked salmon kedgeree a try, however, too..

My kedgeree
(Suitsutursakedgeree)
Serves 6-8



250 grams basmati rice
400 ml water or vegetable stock
200 grams hot smoked haddock, flaked (cleaned weight)
25 grams butter
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1 Tbsp mild Indian curry powder
half a lemon
salt and black pepper
fresh coriander or parsley, chopped
2-3 boiled eggs, peeled and halved lengthwise

Rinse the rice in a running cold water, drain.
Melt the butter in a pan over a medium heat. Add the onion, garlic and curry powder and fry gently for about 5 minutes.
Add the rice and the boiling water/stock (all at once). Simmer gently, covered, for 10 minutes, until rice is 'al dente'.
Add the flaked fish and lemon juice, heat through.
Season, sprinkle with chopped herbs.
Garnish with thinly sliced lemon and top with halved boiled eggs.

OTHER BLOGGERS BLOGGING ABOUT KEDGEREE:
Sam and her Kedgeree (including a link to some further background information on this dish)
Mae and her beautiful Smoked Haddock Kedgeree
Freya & Paul and their Kedgeree a la Lindsay Bareham
Sher and her Salmon Kedgeree a la Nigella Lawson
Liz and her Smoked almon Kedgeree with Shrimps

Celebrating Burns Night with a wonderful whisky and red onion marmalade

Last Sunday the Tallinn chapter of the MacEstonians Society held a Burns Supper. Well, there is no official chapter or society as such, but as few of the previously Scotland-based Estonians (hence the Mac + Estonians) have returned home (incl yours truly) , then we thought that Burns Supper would be a perfect opportunity to catch up. There were ten of us around the table, some of whom had come from as far as Tartu and one even from Edinburgh. This was particularly handy, as we had fresh haggis to go with our neeps and tatties, the obligatory course at any Burns Supper which followed a cock-a-leekie soup and preceeded a delicious Cranachan. Obviously, Scottish music and recitals of Burns' poems were there, too.

But what do you serve between the courses and to go with the copious amounts of whisky? Well, whisky and onion marmalade, obviously. Last year I made potato shortcrust canapés filled with haggis and topped with a rich shallot and whisky gravy. This year I re-used the shallot and whisky gravy idea, but in a slightly more substantial form, making this incredibly simple recipe up as I went along. Ideally, I would have served this marmalade with some crumbly Scottish cheddar cheese and coarse oatcakes. Sadly. I couldn't find oatcakes here, neither did I have the time to bake some myself. But crispy rye bread worked well, too, as did English cheddar cheese.

Red onion marmalade with whisky
(Viski-sibulamarmelaad)
Yields about 200 ml



500 grams red onions, peeled, halved and sliced thinly
3 Tbsp olive oil
100 grams caster sugar
salt to taste
about 2 Tbsp whisky, or to taste

Peel the onions, halve lengthwise and slice thinly.
Heat oil in a heavy-bottomed saucepan. Add onions and fry at a very low heat for about 10 minutes.
Now add the sugar and salt, stir, and continue frying gently for another hour. Make sure not to burn the onions, but caramelise them slowly.
When the onions have turned into a required consistency, then add the whisky (we used a 10-year old Glenkinchie, known as The Edinburgh Malt), stir and remove from the heat. Cool.

Serve with crispbread/oatcakes and Cheddar cheese. And whisky, obviously:)

Takeaway Scottish porridge

If you're one of those persons that starts each new year with new and promising resolutions of eating more healthily, exercising more etc, then we're in the same boat. I haven't even thought of my list for 2007 yet, but one of the items on that list should be 'eating more porridge'. Firstly, a proper porridge is one of the healthiest breakfasts you can think of. It's warming properties make it especially suitable for chilly winter mornings. It's a real fast food, usually not taking more than five minutes to make. It's also really-really cheap, even if packed into fancy portion-sized sachets. It can be really tasty (I'm particularly partial to a local four-cereal porridge containing full corn rye, oats, wheat and barley), especially if served with a dollop of home-made jam.

Despite of this, I still grab a pot of yogurt or make a sandwich more often that I'd like to...

But let me tell you, I'd eat even more porridge, if there'd be Stoats Porridge Bar near me. These canny mobile porridge bars were found in early 2005 by couple of Scottish guys. They were rather conveniently located at the Meadows in Edinburgh, which is close to university. They also have a stand (sorry, a mobile porridge bar) at the Edinburgh Farmers Market on Saturday mornings as you can see from the picture below.



Basically, these guys have sexed up the humble porridge. They use the best type of organic oatmeal, and turn it into creamy and silky porridge. As if this isn't good enough on its own, they serve the porridge with fantastic optional extras. The menu reads like a cake selection in a fancy cafe: white chocolate & roasted hazelnuts; whisky & honey; chunky orange marmalade, etc. My favourite was Cranachan porridge:



Cranachan is a Scottish pudding I've mentioned before (here). For this porridge, creamy organic oatmeal was mixed with some cream, whisky toasted oats (they even use my favourite whisky from Jon, Mark and Robbo Easy Drinking Whisky) and topped with fresh raspberries.

As good as it gets.

I'm off to make my new year's resolutions list...

Bakewell Pudding & falling in love with Mr Darcy

Update 5.7.2006: Read Andrew's write-up of Blog Save Our Tart.

The Independent published an article on the last day of May about Britain's food under threat. Apparently Cromer crabs from East Anglia, Bakewell tart from Derbyshire, Kentish apples from South of England, Gloucestershire Old Spot pigs from Gloucestershire, Crimbsy cod from Humberside, blackcurrants from Herefordshire and Worcestershire, Scottish wild salmon from Scotland, Stilton from the Midlands, eels from Somerset and Norfolk black turkeys from East Anglia are all on the verge of duying out and slowly disappearing from the British tables. To rectify the situation, Andrew of Spittoon Extra decided to save the Bakewell tart by organising a one-off blog event, and this is my humble contribution.

Although I had heard of Bakewell tart and seen small cherry-topped versions at my local supermarket, I hadn't yet tried one during my seven years in Britain. Just days after the newspaper article, an opportunity to try one arrived. Together with three Estonian girls, I was checking out various Edinburgh establishment for an important visitor from our homeland (more about it next week), and we ended up at The Scotsman Hotel bar , where I had my first ever slice - and very good one at that - of Bakewell tart. The tart (above) was topped with sliced almonds and served with ice cream, vanilla custard and some fresh blueberries.

My recipe is adapted from Jane Grigson's book English Food. There is some confusion about the name - is it Blackwell tart of Blackwell pudding?; filling - should one use raspberry jam or strawberry jam?; and about the use of almonds in and on top of the cake. Derbyshire pastry makers insist on calling it Bakewell pudding; Jane Grigson uses raspberry jam; although the original Bakewell pudding had no almonds, most popular versions include some on the topping.

Oh, and Mr Darcy? Well, Jane Grigson kindly points out that in Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice, Elizabeth Bennet (alias Emma Thompson) and her uncle and aunt had driven over from Bakewell on a way to Pemberley in Derbyshire, where Mr Darcy's (alias Colin Firth's) estate was situated. Upon reaching a top of the hill, she was very impressed with the view of Pemberley House across the valley. 'Elizabeth was delighted' and soon afterwards realised how much she loved Mr Darcy. Who knows, maybe it was Bakewell pudding and not the view that triggered that romantic realisation?

Bakewell Pudding
(Bakewelli kook)
The filling from Jane Grigson's English Food (quantities slightly reduced)
Serves 6-8



Sweet shortcrust pastry:
200 grams plain flour
100 grams butter
2 Tbsp caster sugar
4 Tbsp cold water

Filling:
good quality raspberry jam - I used Waitrose Organic soft set Raspberry Conserve

Topping:
100 grams butter, melted
3 large eggs
100 grams caster sugar
100 grams ground almonds

Roll out the pastry and line a 20 cm tart tin*. Pre-bake at 200˚C for about 15 minutes, until the pastry is slightly golden.
Spread raspberry jam over the base.
Beat eggs and sugar until you have a pale and fluffy thick cream. Pour in the cooled melted butter, stirring slowly. Fold in the ground almonds, pour into the tart tin.
Bake at 200-220˚C for about 30 minutes, until the filling is golden and looks set.

I served mine with some icing sugar, Greek yogurt and fresh raspberries. I liked the cake (as did my two Guinea pigs), though next time I might try with a layer of fresh raspberries and reduce the amount of butter in the frangipane topping.

* The traditional Bakewell tins are oval with sloping sides and about 7 cm deep.

I'm embracing Scottish beef: mince and tatties

Salty (sponsored by the Scottish Executive) and Pille (the writer of this blog) in front of the Scottish Parliament in June 2006.

I've been singing praises to the Scottish beef before, and am doing it again to mark the Edinburgh Cow Parade, a charity & public arts event that runs until July 23rd. Writing about Scottish beef is also timely, considering that the first ever Scotch beef ambassador was announced a fortnight ago by Scotland's 'food minister' Ross Finnie MSP. The honour goes to Cees Helder of the Rotterdam-based 3-Michelin-starred Parkheuvel restraurant.

The upmarket supermarket Waitrose has just opened its first two stores in Scotland earlier this month, and I picked up some rather nice-looking beef mince when I was checking out the store. Although the recipe itself is humble, the mince is of the highest quality, made of 'richly flavoured, succulent & tender beef, produced from cattle bred from registered pedigree Aberdeen Angus bulls'. Hence totally blog-worthy :-)

Mince and Tatties
(Mince & tatties ehk hakkliharoog šoti moodi)
Slightly adapted from Scots cooking by Sue Lawrence
Serves 4



a knob of butter
500 grams best quality beef steak mince
1 medium-sized red onion, finely chopped
1 green/fresh garlic clove, finely chopped
1 tsp Marmite*
salt
freshly ground black pepper
3-4 Tbsp boiling water
a splash of Worcestershire sauce

Heat the butter in a heavy-bottomed saucepan. Add the mince and pan-fry over a high heat for about 5 minutes until browned evenly.
Add the onion and garlic, stir in the Marmite and season with salt and pepper. Add the boiling water, stir well. Cover the saucepan with a lid and simmer over a medium heat for about 20 minutes.
Before serving, add a splash of Worcestershire sauce and season with salt and pepper again, if required.
Serve piping hot with boiled new potatoes (I used Jersey Royals again) and green peas.

* Marmite, for those of you who don't know, is a nutritious yeast extract, and a very good source of B vitamins. You can read all about the history and benefits of Marmite here. Adding it to the mince above adds a lovely savoury touch. The Brits usually spread it thinly onto their toast.

Celebrating Burns’ Night: Gie her a haggis!

This is my nod to the Scottish national poet Robert Burns, whose 237th birth anniversary was celebrated yesterday all over Scotland and elsewhere in the world. Traditionally copious amounts of haggis, neeps and tatties, as well as whisky, are consumed to celebrate the Bard's life. However, as I was planning to eat in solitude last night (failed miserably, but that's only good:), I was thinking of something a lot lighter and easier to eat. Something that you can eat while watching yet another episode of Desperate Housewives, for instance..



I made potato shortcrust canapés filled with haggis and topped with a rich shallot and whisky gravy. Although it lacks the neeps/turnip element (not my fault, read the note at the bottom), it does combine the haggis, tatties/potatoes and whisky.

I used the same potato shortcrust pastry that I had prepared for my first (and thus far last) Paper Chef entry. The haggis was a mini sized one from MacSween of Edinburgh, of course. And for the gravy I slowly fried some finely chopped shallots, made into a thick gravy, and added a very generous splash of my favourite whisky at the end.

The rest was easy – pop the hot shortcrust cases onto a plate, stuff each with a spoonful of steaming haggis (I bake mine in the oven usually) and top with a tiny dollop of onion whisky gravy.

As it turned out, I didn't eat these on my own after all. I mentioned mini haggis tarts to a friend on the phone, and within minutes she was over at my place with another friend. And we finished them well in advance of Desperate Housewives... The potato cases were perfectly crunchy and worked well with the crumbly-soft haggis and slightly sticky boozy whisky glaze. We all liked these, despite of having had dinner just before...

I wish I could tell you that some of the canapés are with potato shortcrust cases and some with turnip shortcrust cases. Unfortunately, my local Tesco had forgotten that there may be some Scots who fancy eating turnips that night together with their potatoes and haggis. So they had forgotten to order extra. To top this, they had also run out of haggis by 7pm!!! Whoever is ordering the stock for that particular branch, should be fired! Thank god for Peckham's, who had ordered extra haggis, so I could go ahead with my plan after all...

A Scottish supper

As I mentioned in my previous post, I had another Estonian friend visiting and I treated Margit, her colleague and another MacEstonian to a Scottish meal. The Estonian visitors had heard rumours of haggis, the Scottish national dish of lamb bits and other things, so I decided to make some exactly a week ago. My choice of haggis is MacSween of Edinburgh, and I bought both a vegetarian and traditional version. These were served with neeps (alias mashed turnip, seasoned with butter, salt, pepper, and nutmeg) and tatties (potato mash, seasoned with salt, pepper, milk and butter).



We drank my current favourite whisky and Whisky Mac cocktails. For the latter you mix 1.5 oz Scotch whisky and 1 oz green ginger wine. I suspect my ginger wine (not easy to find!) wasn't the green one, as the cocktail was way too sweet compared to the one I usually get served in pubs (which I love).

And for the dessert, I made cranachan again, this time adding mascarpone cheese for the mixture.



Apart from mishaps with the whisky cocktail, the meal was lovely. My visiting friend was surprised that mashed turnip tastes so sweet and nice, and both of them bought some haggis to take home with. And they know where to find a recipe for cranachan..

Cooking Scottish: Cranachan

Following Friday night's salmon with a creamy orange sauce, I served a very Scottish dessert - Cranachan.

I almost gave up the idea. While shopping for fish (and the elusive rosemary) on Friday morning, I was also looking for raspberries. Unfortunately my local vegetable shops only stocked imported French raspberries, which seemed a bit exhausted of the trip across the Channel and looked a wee bit unappealing. Half an hour later, sipping my usual late-morning latte at Peckham's deli in Newington, I saw those most beautiful, plump Scottish organic raspberries on the shelf. And even more beautiful was the price - they were almost half price compared to the regular price. How often does it happen that you go to look for some special product and the shop has kindly discounted the price for your pleasure!? Not often, I guess. I was happy though.

Cranachan
(Cranachan ehk 'Purjus kaer')



Cranachan is a very simple - and as it turned out - very tasty dessert. And it's very Scottish. It's sometimes also known as Tipsy Oats or Cream Crowdie. To make cranachan, you toast medium ground oatmeal (and what can be more Scottish than oatmeal?) slightly under the grill or on a dry frying pan, taking care not to burn it. You then pour over couple of dashes of Scottish whisky over the roasted aromatic oatmeal and stir - you should end up with slightly crunchy whisky-infused oatmeal. Leave to infuse for another 10 minutes or so.
Meanwhile, whisk some whipping or double cream softly with sugar to taste.
Now mix the cooled whisky-oat mixture and sweetened whipped cream. Layer into glasses with some (preferably fresh Scottish) raspberries. Put into the fridge until ready to serve.
Serve and enjoy.

Well - how easy is that?

(In case you are wondering about the amounts, then ca 100 grams of oatmeal, 3 tbsp of whisky, a pint of cream, 100 grams of sugar and 450 grams of raspberries should be enough for 6).

The whisky I used was The Smokey Peaty One from Jon, Mark and Robbo's Easy Drinking Whisky company. I thought the peatiness of this whisky went really well with the whiff of roasted oatmeal. You can replace the whisky with Drambuie (the Scottish whisky liqueur) if you wish. Although traditionally pinhead or coarse oatmeal is used, you can also use oats. Some recipes suggest adding some honey to the cream mixture (and it should be heather honey then).

After the first mouthful, my friend Maarika announced that it tastes like kama - the ubiquous Estonian roasted grain mixture that I wrote about the other day. I totally agreed with Maarika - while roasting the oatmeal, I thought exactly the same thing. There's something to try next time. But cranachan in its traditional form will remain in my dessert recipe repertoire as well.