Chillies and Chocolate in Fife - Part One

So where do you think Claire, Foodie Quine, and I are posing?  Are we on a cruise the Med or the Norwegian Fjords?   Well, no actually, we are in the Kingdom of Fife in Scotland on a Chilli-Chocolate Food Trip with Welcome to Fife. More about where this sunny photo was taken in part two.


We started our chilli-chocolate tour of Fife in Ceres and travelled a few miles to visit Chillilicious, Scotland's first chilli farm.  I met with Patricia Galfskiy at the chilli farm where she and her daughter have developed this family run food and art venture cretaing homemade chilli food and gift items. The  new visitor's centre provided an opportunity to taste some of the Chilli chutney that Patricia makes, I tried them all, well it would be rude not to, and they were all very good.  Most memorable for me was the Monkey Punch Chilli Chutney which contains banana, kiwi, lime and jalapeno chillies.  I loved this combination of flavours really unusual.

 Possibly my favourite thing in the Chillilicous shop was the Pimento Ginger Beer.  I love ginger beer and this has the most amazing chilli kick, right at the back of your throat, a must for all chilli lovers.


We then moved on to the chilli tunnel  where you can pick your own chillies or buy plants.  Chillilicious grow approximately 4,000 chilli plants per ear and their speciality is the wide and varied range of rare and super-hot chillies, growing between 50-75 different varieties every year.  Last year the talk of the chilli world was the Carolina Reaper and this year it's all about the Chocolate Bhutlah, both of these chillies are grown at Chillilicious.


These are the chillies that I picked, unfortunately I can't remember the name of them all.  What I did learn is that the more crinkly the chilli, the hotter is going to be!  I'm hoping to cook up some recipes with these chillies soon.



Sophie had made a tray of Chocolate Chilli Truffles for us to try and she cut them and coated with cocoa powder, the chilli heat was subtle although I have to say that Sophie kindly gave us some to take away and when I tried them again at home, I felt that there was more heat, it may have been that my palate had been blunted by too much chocolate and whisky!


Behind the chocolate boutique there is a quirky cafe, The Cocoa Tree Cafe.  Here you can enjoy a relaxed lunch, coffee, afternoon tea or one of those gorgeous hot chocolate drinks.  There is plenty of reading material in the cafe, some of it under the glass on the table tops, but also a range of chocolate themed books to read.  The staff were delightful and it is clear that Sophie's passion and high standards pervade the whole establishment.  I would highly recommend a visit to the cafe and chocolate boutique.

Coming in part two of Chillies and Chocolate in Fife - Seafood and Gin! 

Disclaimer: I was the guest of Welcome to Fife and I'd like to thank them and the host organisations  who made this a truly memorable trip.

Labels: chilli, Chillilicious, chocolate, chutney, Drinking Chocolate, Fife, Laphroig, liqueur, Pittenweem, review, The Cocoa Tree Cafe, truffles, Welcome to Fife, whisky

posted by Janice @ 07:00 10 Comments

Best of British - The Scottish Round Up

Loch Tay from Kenmore

When the sun shines, Scotland is one of the most stunning places you could ever visit.  Glorious hills, lochs and coastal villages.  There is also a rich heritage and culture to enjoy.

Pittenweem Harbour

We also have some incredible produce, beef, lamb, seafood, milk, cheese, butter cream and glorious raspberries, strawberries and blackcurrants.

Langoustines

Blackcurrants

We are lucky that New World Appliances as proud BRITISH manufacturers of kitchen appliances are sponsoring this event for the first six months.  Each month, one entrant will be picked AT RANDOM to receive a £50 Amazon voucher.  And, at the end of the six month period we will have a regional showdown, with a judge to pick the best entry (we are still working on who that will be and should be able to announce it shortly).  New World Appliances have kindly offered £300 of Amazon vouchers for the overall winner, so if you enter every month you have 6 chances to win the grand prize!


Thank you to all the lovely food bloggers who entered the Scottish challenge for Best of British in partnership with New World Appliances , it was fun to read about what Scottish food means to you and see the delicious meals that you made.  Fiona will also be blogging the round up at the Face of New World blog 'A Whole New World', in the next few days.

1. First past the post was Chris Halfmann from 'Cooking Around the World' with his Scottish Whisky Cake and remember, the whisky is supposed to go IN the cake!

2. Next up is this fantastic Pork and Haggis Meatloaf with Honey Mustard and Whisky Apples from Claire at Under the Blue Gum Tree. Claire is based in South Africa and really impressed me sourcing haggis from local butcher with Scottish roots!

Skirlie

Selkirk Bannock

3.  Jill from Lapin d'Or and More wrote a lovely post telling about her time cooking at a shooting lodge in Tomintoul and a bit about Catherine Brown, author of  Scottish Regional Recipes, the book the recipes for Skirlie and the Selkirk Bannock came from.

4. Ros at The More Occassional Baker  consulted her Scottish friends who suggested she make one of the most difficult, but total delicious, Scottish sweets - TABLET!  Tablet is notoriously difficult to get right and although Ros felt hers was a bit on the soft side, it tasted just right, mmmmm I love tablet.


5.  Scottish Mum brings us Traditional Scottish Oatcakes a quick and simple biscuit (cracker) and a great accompaniment to stovies, corned beef hash, or any slow cooked meal, stew or stroganoff.  In fact that reminded me that as children, we used to crumble them into any gravy left on the plate, usually from mince, totally delicious!

6. Jacqueline of How to be a Gourmand made me laugh with her quote from Billy Connolly “There are two seasons in Scotland – Winter and July” although I have to say that this year, it would be hard to tell them apart!  Jacqueline chose Scottish Raspberries and made this lovely looking Scottish Raspberry and Pinenut Bake.


7. Caroline of Caroline Makes decided to recreate a Scottish tea time favourite, 'Tunnocks Teacakes' using some Marshmallow Fluff she had found at a bargain price and was happy enough with the results that she plans to make them again and may even make her own marshmallow next time.

 My own entry is an Iced Cranachan with Raspberries.  Cranachan contains cream, honey, oatmeal and whisky.  I used these ingredients to make an icecream and froze it into little moulds just to make it look more cheffy! 

8. Karen at Lavender and Lovage brings us some traditional Scottish baking, not in the oven but on the girdle, as we call it in Scotland, with her Scotch Griddle Cakes with Heather Honey .  These were probably the first thing I ever baked, standing on a stool at my granny's cooker, dropping spoonfuls onto the girdle and the eating them warm and dripping with butter.

9. It's breakfast time and time for Tattie Scones at the home of Tinned Tomatoes blogger, Jac!  Jac says "These are traditional potato scones, made in Scotland. A simple scone made from mashed potato, flour and butter. Once cooked they can be kept in the fridge and re-heated in a toaster or under a grill."

10. Back to the sweet stuff with traditional shortbread with a twist: this is Chocolate Scottish Shortbread from Janine at Cake of the Week and it come highly recommended!

11. Choclette at Chocolate Log Blog used the challenge as an opportunity to make Cranachan, she says  "It's been on my list of things to make for years AND I wasn't going to miss this opportunity to give it a whirl. For the uninitiated cranachan is a traditional Scottish celebration dish consisting of oatmeal, whipped cream, honey & whisky and sometimes raspberries."  It looks great and, of course, as it was from Choclette, it includes some sprinkles of white chocolate!


12. Caroline from Cake, Crumbs and Cooking is a big fan of Scottish Cook, Sue Lawrence, and chose to make Treacle Scones and Parlies.  Here's a photo of the Treacle Scones but you will have to visit Caroline's blog to exactly what the Parlies might be!


13. And so back to breakfast again, you would think that we Scots ate nothing but breakfast and tea, although those are some of our best meals.  Fiona of London Unattached is the instigator of the Best of British Challenge with help from Karen at Lavender and Lovage and a few co-conspirators hosting the regions.  Inspired by childhood memories of her Scottish aunts, Fiona chose to make a breakfast dish of Kippers and Oatcakes.

14. And so we come round full circle with a Whisky and Honey Cake from Gloria's Canela Kitchen.  A lovely confection of whisky, honey and almonds.

And the WINNER, chosen by Random Number Generator, is......drum roll please..........................

Labels: Best of British, cake, Cranachan, Griddle, haggis, honey, kippers, oatcakes, pancakes, raspberry, Scotland, Scottish, Selkirk Bannock, shortbread, skirlie, Tablet, Tattie Scones, whisky

posted by Janice @ 20:47 15 Comments

Iced Cranachan for Best of British

Best of British - The Scottish Challenge!

We are lucky that New World Appliances as proud BRITISH manufacturers of kitchen appliances are sponsoring this event for the first six months.  Each month, one entrant will be picked AT RANDOM to receive a £50 Amazon voucher.  And, at the end of the six month period we will have a regional showdown, with a judge to pick the best entry (we are still working on who that will be and should be able to announce it shortly).  New World Appliances have kindly offered £300 of Amazon vouchers for the overall winner, so if you enter every month you have 6 chances to win the grand prize!
We’ll be showcasing the entries both on the Face of New World blog and on host blogs and promoting the recipes through Facebook and Twitter, with all your entries fully credited back to your blogs.
So, why not show what you think is the Best of British and join our challenge.
Rules:
 The full rules are posted on The Face of New World Appliances. However, here is a summary of what you have to do to enter:

• Post your recipe on your blog with a link back to The Face of New World Appliances AND to this post.
• Add the Best of British badge to your post.
• Add "Best of British" to your post or as a tag.
• E-mail bestofbritishchallenge@gmail.com with your recipe title, a link to your post and a photograph by Midnight of 15th July.
• If you post on Twitter, you can use #BestofBritish and if you mention @fionamaclean or @serialcrafter or @newworldapps, we will try and retweet.
• The round-up of entries will be posted on or before the 20th July on The Face of New World Appliances and here on my blog too.

The Best of British Challenge has been organised by Karen Burns Booth of Lavender and Lovage and Fiona McLean of London Unattached.  Many thanks to them both for all their hard work and to Choclette at Chocolate Log Blog for hosting the first month featuring recipes from Cornwall. Remember to check the round up on the 20th June.

Scotland's Food

There are so many fantastic food producers in Scotland.  We have high quality beef and lamb and game, incredible seafood and delicious dairy produce.  The varied landscape of Scotland has the right conditions to for all of these products and, despite some of the 'deep fried Mars Bar' anti-food propaganda, Scotland has an excellent reputation for good food. 

I thought long and hard about what I should showcase for Best of British and toyed with a smoked venison salad or maybe some traditional baking.  In the end I decided to put a bit of a twist on a dish that is full of Scottish products and is popular in restaurants and at home for entertaining:  Cranachan.

I'm not sure what that bottle says about us, there doesn't seem to be much Auchentoshan malt whisky left!  In my defence, we have had that bottle for quite a while... oh yes and some lovely Scottish Heather Honey, thick and fragrant.

It's also the start of the Scottish soft fruit season.  I visited a fruit farm in Fife last weekend, no raspberries there, but plenty of strawberries.  These raspberries come from Perthshire, the cooler summers in Scotland are ideal for raspberry growing.

Iced Cranachan with Raspberries (serves 4)

For the ice-cream
300ml milk
1tsp vanilla extract
 3 egg yolks
25g caster sugar
1 tbsp Scottish Heather Honey
1tbsp Scottish Malt Whisky
300ml 1/2 Fat Creme Fraiche

For the Oat Crumble
100g Scottish medium oatmeal (I used Hamlyns Oatmeal suitable for baking)
30g Scottish butter
50g demerara sugar

200g Scottish Raspberries

To make the ice cream
1. Pour milk into a heavy based saucepan, add the honey and heat until almost boiling.
2. Take off the heat and let it cool slightly.
3. Whisk the egg yolks and sugar together in a bowl until thick and creamy.  Gradually whisk in the hot milk, then strain back into the pan.
4. Cook over a low heat, stirring constantly, until thickened enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon.
5. Do not allow to boil!
6. Pour into a chilled bowl and leave to cool in the fridge
7. Whisk the Creme Fraiche into the cold custard until evenly blended.
8. Pour into an ice cream maker and churn until frozen, alternatively freeze in a shallow container, whisking 2 or 3 times during freezing to break down the ice crystals and ensure an even-textured ice-cream.
9.  When the ice-cream is still soft, add half the oat crumble and mix well.

To make the oat crumble
1. Rub together the medium oatmeal and the butter until combined and resembling rough breadcrumbs.
2. Add the demerara sugar and stir through.
3. Heat the oven to 180C and spread the mixture on a baking tray.
4. Bake for 15 - 20 minutes until golden brown and crispy.
5. Let the crumble cool.

For the Raspberry Coulis
100g Scottish Raspberries
25g icing sugar, sieved
1. Push 100g of raspberries through a sieve, collecting the juice in a bowl.
2. Stir in the icing sugar until dissolved.
3. Chill until ready to use.



I used some old fashioned Tala Castle Cake tins, lined with clingfilm, to make my little ices, but you could use a small glass or just add a scoop of ice cream to your plate.  You need to take the ice-cream out of the freezer about half an hour before eating.  Place the ice cream on the plate, using a dessert spoon add a pool of raspberry coulis on one side and place three raspberries in the coulis.  Add a little 'stream' of oat crumble on the opposite side of the plate.

This is not an over sweet dessert, there is only a very subtle taste of whisky, but you could leave it out if you don't have it or don't like it.  They honey taste is to the fore and the different textures of the crunchy oat crumble and smooth raspberry coulis are delicious with the ice-cream.

I hope you will join us in the Best of British Challenge and make something from Scotland, it can be a traditional Scottish dish or a dish using Scottish produce.  I look forward to seeing what you make and good luck with the prize draw.



Scottish Cooking
Scottish Recipes
STV Scotland Food and Drink
Scottish Recipes Food and Culture

Labels: Best of British, Cranachan, Heather Honey, honey, ice cream, oat crumble, oats, raspberries, Scotland, Scottish, whisky

posted by Janice @ 07:30 17 Comments

Address to a haggis

The annual celebratory tribute to the life, works and spirit of the great Scottish poet, Robert Burns (1759-1796). Celebrated on, or about, the Bard's birthday, January 25th, Burns Suppers range from stentoriously formal gatherings of esthetes and scholars to uproariously informal rave-ups of drunkards and louts. Most Burns Suppers fall in the middle of this range, and adhere, more or less, to some sort of time honoured form which includes the eating of a traditional Scottish meal, the drinking of Scotch whisky, and the recitation of works by, about, and in the spirit of the Bard.
Address to a Haggis
1786

Fair fa' your honest, sonsie face,
Great chieftain o' the pudding-race!
Aboon them a' yet tak your place,
Painch, tripe, or thairm:
Weel are ye wordy o'a grace
As lang's my arm.

The groaning trencher there ye fill,
Your hurdies like a distant hill,
Your pin was help to mend a mill
In time o'need,
While thro' your pores the dews distil
Like amber bead.

His knife see rustic Labour dight,
An' cut you up wi' ready sleight,
Trenching your gushing entrails bright,
Like ony ditch;
And then, O what a glorious sight,
Warm-reekin', rich!

Then, horn for horn, they stretch an' strive:
Deil tak the hindmost! on they drive,
Till a' their weel-swall'd kytes belyve
Are bent like drums;
Then auld Guidman, maist like to rive,
Bethankit! hums.

Is there that owre his French ragout
Or olio that wad staw a sow,
Or fricassee wad make her spew
Wi' perfect sconner,
Looks down wi' sneering, scornfu' view
On sic a dinner?

Poor devil! see him owre his trash,
As feckles as wither'd rash,
His spindle shank, a guid whip-lash;
His nieve a nit;
Thro' blody flood or field to dash,
O how unfit!

But mark the Rustic, haggis-fed,
The trembling earth resounds his tread.
Clap in his walie nieve a blade,
He'll mak it whissle;
An' legs an' arms, an' hands will sned,
Like taps o' trissle.

Ye Pow'rs, wha mak mankind your care,
And dish them out their bill o' fare,
Auld Scotland wants nae skinking ware
That jaups in luggies;
But, if ye wish her gratefu' prayer
Gie her a haggis!

source Robert Burns Country

I didn't go to a formal Burns Supper, but we had haggis, neeps (swede known as turnip in Scotland) and champit tatties (mashed potatoes) for our supper tonight.

One or two questions have been asked so I am adding a little to this post.
1. Yes that is a bottle of malt whisky behind the haggis, we didn't have it with the meal but had some after with our coffee.
2. You can find out about what goes into a haggis HERE although personally, I think it is better not to know because it tastes nothing like any of the ingredients, it is peppery and delicious.

Labels: haggis, potato, Robert Burns, swede, whisky

posted by Janice @ 20:34 8 Comments