The post Scottish Shortbread Recipe first appeared on San Diego Scottish Highland Games.

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Ingredients to be used:

·         One tablespoon of unsalted butter

·         One medium onion

·         400g medium potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks

·         250g smoked haddock

·         250ml whole milk

·         ½ small bunch of parsley or chives, finely chopped

Preparation method:

·         Peel the potatoes, chop them into small chunks and cook in a large pan of boiling salted water for 15 minutes.

·         Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat, then add chopped onion and fry for 5-8 minutes until translucent, not brown. Add potatoes chunks and 300 ml of water and boil it. Reduce the heat and cook this at a simmer for 10-15 minutes.

·         Put haddock in another saucepan and add some milk to cover it on the other side. Cook slowly for 5 minutes until tender. Remove the haddock from the milk with a slotted spoon, transfer it to the plate, and let it cool down. When it is cool enough to touch, crumble into large pieces and removes the bones.

·         Put the reserved milk and crumbled haddock in the pan with potato mixture and cook for 5 minutes. Sprinkle the finely chopped parsley or chives and add seasoning.

·         Serve with fresh bread and butter.

·         To make Cullen skink extra luxurious, stir in a few spoonsful of double cream at the end. We could also add a handful of mussels or prawns.

Nutrition per serving:

·         206 kcal

·         6g fat

·         4g saturates

·         21g carbs

·         6g sugars

·         3g fibre

·         17g protein

·         0.7g salt

Cullen Skink can be reheated over the stovetop, it looks thicker then add some water and stir thoroughly. It can keep for 2 days in the refrigerator if have any leftovers. But we can also freeze it if we are cooking a big batch of it and save some for later. Fish should be covered in liquid and freeze for up to 3 months. Cullen Skink championship happened every year in Scotland, that pits the best Cullen Skink makers and judging is undertaken as a blind tasting with the highest score being declared by Cullen Skink World Champion.

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Taiblet, in Scots, is a medium-hard, sugary confection from Scotland. Tablet is wonderfully tasty, sugary, sweet or candy with a slightly grainy texture that melts in the mouth. Scottish Tablet can be found around the world. In Latin America “Dulce de Leche en Tabla”, then “Borstplaat” in Netherlands, and “Sucre a la creme” in Quebec Canada. Sometimes it is called a Swiss Milk Tablet. It is also realised similar in New Zealand called Russian Fudge, seems to originate in New Zealand but Golden Syrup added to it. Tablet is present in hotels as a treat on the tea tray and come with variations like Tablet Ice-cream and Tablet Cheesecake. No one can visit Scotland without trying a tablet.

Home-made products are better than shop-bought because it doesn’t add preservatives or any substitutes for milk products. It is amazing to make. Scottish Tablet was originally made from sugar and cream but optional can make using sweetened condensed milk. Let’s make it with easy steps-

Ingredients used for this recipe:

• 175g unsalted butter
• 750g sugar
• 75g sweetened condensed milk
•  85g Butter

Preparation Method:

First, start with baking parchment in the tray. Add butter and 150ml of water to the pan at low heat. Melt the butter and do not boil the water. Put into the sugar and wait until dissolved and is stirring.

Bring the water to a boil, turn down the gas flame, and then add condensed milk. Mix all ingredients to make the light creamy colour. Cook for 20-30 minutes and stir often, until the mixture is thick and deep caramel colour.

While simmering and stirring, you can add whisky to make it more Scottish. Some recipes call for vanilla essence to enhance the flavour but to make it traditional, don’t include anything.

To test the thickness, drop a little mixture onto a cold plate. It should not run and should be thick and sticky after a few seconds. Turn off the gas and beat the mixture for 10-15 minutes to make it thickened.

Now, Pour the mixture onto the prepared tin and leave it to cool for 30-40 minutes. When it cools down, cut it into squares. A Scottish tablet should be a gritty, melt-in-mouth texture that is incredibility sweet but irresistible.

Instructions for the recipe:

• Use a large pan for the mixture to have room to expand and use low-fat ingredients.
• To make this recipe, no need to use a thermometer because every stage explains what we are looking for before proceeding to the next step of cooking.
• Make sure the sugar is fully dissolved at the first stage. Allow the mixture to really bubble up and reach boiling point.
• After turning off the heat, do not forget to beat the mixture. It takes some arm work.
• It is recommended to cook your tablet for 20-30 minutes at medium heat but sometimes depends on the size of the pan. Overall, it could take 45 minutes for it to be at the right temperature.
• If the tablet still doesn’t set, pour it back into a pan and reheat and start the process again.

The post Scottish Tablet first appeared on San Diego Scottish Highland Games.

“Originally I learned to make fruitcake because my Dad loved it. As a child the flavour was too strong for me to like, but as an adult I fell in love with it also. Here is “Shirley’s Fruitcake” as baked for her Dad. (p.s. he loved pecans, and I loved walnuts so I wrote a note on the recipe that the baker can use either or both.)”
 
Ingredients:
5  Cups total of candied fruits (any colors you wish)
3  Cups total raisins (or currants or mixed)
4  Cups total chopped nuts – recommend pecans or walnuts or both
1/2 Cup  Meyer’s Dark Rum (dark has more flavor)
 
48 hours ahead: spread raisins/currants out on a baking sheet and allow to dry indoors for 24
hours.
24 hours ahead: in a coverable bowl, put raisins/currants + 1/2 C rum. Toss to coat with rum.
Cover and soak overnight to re-hydrate the fruits.
 
BATTER:
1-1/2   Cup  Flour
1/2    tsp. baking soda
1/2    tsp ground mace
1/2    tsp ground cinnamon
5 eggs
1   Tbsp milk
1    tsp almond or walnut extract
1/2    C unsalted butter, softened
1   Cup  granulated sugar
1   Cup  packed brown sugar
 
In very large bowl, combine all candied fruits, nuts, raisins and their ‘soaking’ rum . Mix well and
set aside.
 

• Preheat oven to 275 degrees F.  Line your loaf pans with waxed paper. Recipe will make 7 each
  small loaves, or 3 each  8″  or 9″ loaves.
• Sift together flour, baking soda, mace and cinnamon. Set aside.
• In a small mixing bowl, beat eggs, milk, and almond extract. Mix till smooth. Set aside.
  * Melt butter gently in microwave. (Don’t ‘cook’ the butter.) In a large mixing bowl, put the melted
  butter and blend in both kinds of sugar. 
• Into the butter mixture, gently beat in egg mixture until smooth. Gradually add flour mixture,
  beating at low speed until blended. Pour over fruit mixture. Use a  spoon to thoroughly mix the
  batter with fruits.
• Spoon batter into pans. Pack batter down with the back of a spoon. Fill the pans up to about
  1/2″ from the top of the pan.
   
• Bake medium loaves at 275 F for 1-3/4 – 2 hours, (or small loaves for 1-1/4 – 1-1/2 hours) until
  skewer inserted in center comes out clean.
• Cool in the pans, on racks, for 30 minutes. Run knife around edges of cakes to loosen. Remove
  cakes from pans. Peel off waxed paper.
   Wash the pans. Re-line the pans with fresh waxed paper and put the cakes back into the pans.
  For six weeks, refrigerate in tightly-closed plastic. Today and once every two weeks, spoon
  Meyer’s Dark Rum over the top of each cake. I use a soup spoon, and I spread 3 spoonfuls
  over each large loaf, or 1 spoonful over each small loaf . (The rum will eventually soak down all
  the way through the cakes, week by week).  
   
  Keep cakes in the airtight plastic bag and refrigerated. Fresh waxed paper can be used to wrap
  finished cakes (avoid aluminum foil directly against the cake.)

The post Shirley’s Fruitcake first appeared on San Diego Scottish Highland Games.

Neil Forbes recipe: Sausage, pumpkin and apple bake

Neil says: “We love to serve this one-pot-wonder in the Forbes’ household. Use proper, juicy sausages from a farm shop with heritage tatties and apples, some onion for background flavour, pumpkin for that sweet, earthy taste, and some sage to marry it all together. Oh, and remember to keep the skin on the apples and potatoes.”

Ingredients

• Allow three sausages per person (I like a good old pork and herb banger)• 2 medium-sized onions, roughly chopped

• a splash of cold-pressed rapeseed oil

• salt and pepper

• ¼ pumpkin (or butternut squash), roughly chopped

• a few par-boiled potatoes (like a heritage Pink Fir Apple or Sharpe’s Express), cut into large chunks

• a knob of butter

• 1 clove garlic, sliced

• 1 very large cooking apple (James Grieve or Bramley are excellent), cored and roughly chopped

• a small handful of fennel fronds, roughly chopped

• a sprig of rosemary

Serves four

Method

1 Heat the oil in a large casserole dish or oven-proof pan, and fry the onions and whole sausages. Season with salt and pepper.

2 Add the pumpkin to the pan. Keep stirring and moving the dish around to get colour on all the ingredients. Then add the potatoes, butter, garlic and apples.

3 Make sure everything is starting to colour nicely before placing in the oven for 20 to 30 minutes at 200C/Gas Mark 6 to cook further and brown.

4 Remove from the oven, add the fennel fronds and stir. Serve at the table in the dish you cooked it in – no time for pretty presentation here.

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Tom Kitchin recipe: Pumpkin risotto

Tom says: “Risotto is one of my favourite foods. It’s quick and easy to prepare and can be flavoured with so many different seasonal vegetables. I like making pumpkin risotto and my preferred way of serving it is in a big bowl placed right in the middle of the table for everyone to help themselves – then come back for seconds. If you’re eating round the bonfire it’s also a great dish for everyone to eat outside, as you only need some serving bowls and forks.”

Ingredients

• 1 vegetable stock

• 2 shallots, peeled and finely chopped

• 2 tbsp olive oil

• 200g pumpkin, chopped into 1cm cubes

• 200g arborio risotto rice

• 100ml white wine

• 1 knob of butter

• 100g parmesan cheese, freshly grated

• 1 sage leaf

• salt and pepper

Garnish

• 4 Jerusalem artichokes

• 1 tsp vegetable oil

• 3 or 4 pumpkin wedges

• parmesan cheese

• salsify crisps to garnish

Serves four

Method

1 To prepare the garnish, peel the Jerusalem artichokes. Cut them into wedges and cook in boiling salted water for eight to ten minutes or until soft. Warm the oil in a heavy pan, add the pumpkin and roast in a hot oven for eight to ten minutes. Add the artichokes and roast for another two or three minutes, then set aside.

2 To make the risotto – Heat the vegetable stock and leave it to simmer while you begin the risotto. In a separate heavy-bottomed pot, cook the shallots in the olive oil over a medium heat until soft. Season. Now add the pumpkin and season again to taste. Slowly cook the pumpkin until it starts to soften, but do not allow it to colour.

3 Add the rice and cook until it turns slightly translucent – three to four minutes. Stir in the wine. Once the wine has almost completely evaporated, start adding the simmering stock, a ladleful at a time. Stir after each addition, allowing each ladleful to be almost fully absorbed before adding the next. Continue to add stock until the rice is cooked but still has a slight bite (al dente). This should take about 16 minutes. Check the seasoning again.

4 Remove from the heat and add the butter and freshly grated parmesan. Leave the risotto to rest for two minutes and add the chopped sage before serving.

To serve

Serve in a bowl and add garnish and shavings of parmesan.

The post Pumpkin Risotto first appeared on San Diego Scottish Highland Games.

Ingredients:

1lb unsalted butter

5 cups sifted all-purpose flour

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup light brown sugar (packed)

Directions:

1. Preheat oben to 350 degrees F
2. Cream butter and sugar with mixer.
3. Add flour and mix with a wooden spoon and use hands to thoroughly mix.
4. Press into a jelly roll pan. Prick to the bottom of the pan with a fork, making sure that the fork hits the bottom and the marks are close together.
5. Bake for 10 minutes. Then reduce the heat to 300 F and continue to bake for 40 minutes more.
6. Let pan cool on a rack after baking for 2 minutes and then cut into finger-sized bars. Let the cut bars cool thoroughly in the pan.

Makes approximately 36 bars.

Did you try this recipe? Let us know how it went!

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