Perfect puckle of peedie pakoras

Perfect puckle of peedie pakora's - using leftovers

So, last week when out at a work Love Food Hate Waste event we had a few leftovers - we were feeding a bunch of rather un-hungry teenagers. Now not one for liking food waste, (I mean do any of us?) I took everything left home in a wee tub. A wee mix of cooked ham, sausage, onion and pepper which had been leftover from a 'lobbing on home made pizzas' session, an hour or so before.

Now I can't say there was a HUGE amount left over, we're usually really canny with our workshops - but there was enough to half fill a wee box. Not enough for a stew, enough for a tasty snack. To me having seen that lot chopped up so beautifully (thank you Mary) and with the onions shredded so fine, the only thing that came to my mind was 'pakora'.

So as its officially 'egg season' in Orkney everyone I know with eggs is overrun with them and often we end up with a free half dozen or so. Therefore rather than a straightforward omelette with this lovely mix of leftovers, I decided a wee batter mix (1 cup of SR flour and an egg) would bind this lot nicely into pakoras - whilst there wasn't enough for a tasty meal for more than a mouse, there was enough to make a peedie puckle of tasty pakoras for a few hungry folks to snack on. Now we could have done this without the egg, merely water but an egg just gives it some 'ploofiness'. And, ploofiness was required after a long day. 

It literally took seconds to mix this lot up. I do prefer mixing with an old fashioned bone handled butter knife - I think all those lessons at school have left their mark. We often mixed with a butter knife, not an 'eating knife' which is sharper - I found some butter knives in a charity shop and snapped 6 of them up for about 50p - they're so useful. Anyway back to my mix. So the puckle of leftovers were coated nicely with a layer of the eggy/flour batter - enough to smother them but not to drown them, if you catch my drift. You could still see the 'components' of the mix rather than just a swimming pool of batter.

A dessert spoon full of mix was gently dispatched into a small wok of heated cooking oil. And they sizzled away for a couple of minutes on each side.

Now, whilst the wee half box of leftovers would have hardly fed a mouse - we shared a peedie puckle of these tasty treats with a wee bit of a dipping sauce at the side. We could easily have made an omelette or a wee stew or just a sandwich filling with a bit of mayonnaise mixed around the leftovers but I thought about pakora's for a change.

Next time you've a few wee bits leftover I wonder if you'd prefer to pluck up the courage to make a perfect puckle of peedie pakoras too?

So what's your favourite quick leftover idea? If you need some inspiration - why not check out Love Food Hate Waste and see some of their great ideas.

Until next time, happy leftovers and happy scoffing.

PS if you like hearing more of my nonsense please come on and like us on here.

Perfect Pavlova

The McFlowers wedding pavlova - beautiful photo with thanks from Robyn

We are huge fans of pavlova here. Its my favourite dessert and from a gal who doesn't really do dessert, its a huge compliment. It was a no brainer for a wedding cake too as its all I'd ever have so during the McFlowers nuptuals a large 'wedding' pavlova was constructed. Raspberry pavlova is my favourite as the fruits tartness compliments the sweet crumbly meringue beautifully. We've a tame chef in the family (who ONE day will start a cooking blog, I know she will) but until then, you'll have to put up with my renditions of most of her fine skills. So when making a pavlova, rather than open a book to recheck the quanities, I often just phone the on-call-chef and check (for the billionth time) the ratio. I have no guilt for this as I'm her 'on-call-or-text-gardener', its a fair swap. For short/non waffly instructions see very bottom of page - otherwise read on McDuff.

Pavlova's are pretty easy to make despite the look of them, they're not super tricky. The key part is the ratio of sugar to egg whites, having a 'grease' free bowl and either an arm so large you can pick up small trees (egg whites require an immense amount of whipping) or you simply open cupboard and retrieve the electric whisk and look smug. A steady and slow oven always helps too. But really this simple dessert is technique and keeping a canny eye. 

Oh, and the secret ingredients. We'll talk about those in a mo, as with all secret ingredients, remember to pass them on when you share the recipe, as no one wants a pavlova without that lovely crumble. And quite frankly its mean to pass on a recipe without the secret ingredient. [Secret ingredients will be annotated below. And, whilst we tell the universe this is Aunty Claire's recipe, I think we also have to give a bit of credit to Mary Berry after all its her pudding book it came from but Aunty C has adapted it a bit.

Aunty C's Pavlova 

6 egg whites [use yolks for custards, etc, don't waste them]

12 oz caster sugar (at a push granulated would do but its not as good.)

1tsp vinegar [Secret ingredient]

1tsp cornflour [Secret ingredient]

Find a decent sized bowl - one that fits on your head is best - that's around the right size. I usually give it a quick clean and dry and rub with lemon juice/vinegar and rinse/dry again. Egg whites don't like any form of fat/grease residue its stops them fluffing up. So whilst you're probably not a clart, if unsure about any residues (even if only visible via an electron microscope) give it a wee clean with one of those to be safe.

Separate eggs carefully -- any yolk in the mix will also make your pav a dud. So I separate them one by one into a cup each time then if they're yolk free I add them to the clean and grease free big bowl. Eggs in this house are never kept in the fridge. Eggs for meringues need to be at room temperature, so if you keep eggs in the fridge take them out a good few hours before to increase their friendliness for whipping.

Weigh out sugar, castor is best but if you're struggling with a demented amount of granulated sugar in the house you can use it, but it won't be quite as fine.

Using an electric whisk (or your best arm if you have the muscles of hercules) whip egg whites until they form soft peaks where the whisk when dragged up leaves, erm, well 'soft peaks'. Once you've got this texture - you can start adding sugar and there's an excellent video from Mary Berry here to show you the stages before and after you add the sugar - one tablespoon at a time and whip a bit in between - the texture changes to a more marshmallowy nature and a 'stiffer' peak. This tastes very good but unless you're sure you've definitely got salmonella free eggs best not eat them raw. Just saying, no deaths on my grub blog thank you. Be SURE you have stiff peaks - before you amaze you and your friends with the 'upside down bowl of egg white trick'. Don't attempt to turn the bowl upside down if the peaks are formed or if its still moving around in the bowl at the sides. This will only end in disaster

So you've got soft marshmallowy peaks, time to mix and add the secret ingredients. Vinegar and cornflour (cornstarch if you're American) added to the mix at this point make it crumbly when baked letting the soft meringue in the centre be hidden by a crunchy, soft, crumbly outer. Believe me it works any vinegar will do although malt (the kind you use for chips) does give it an appealing 'golden texture' (as does golden caster sugar if you want to go that far).

Some folks at this point add vanilla - I don't I think it sullies the mix and quite frankly it tastes so good why bother. But, that's your call.

The mix is spread on a baking sheet, generally covered with a layer of parchment otherwise (in some cases) the pavlova can stick to the tray and whilst its not the end of the world - its a fragile beast once baked so ripping it forceably from a tray whilst it won't harm the taste, it will potentially turn your pavlova into something resembling an earthquaked snowy pudding or at the worst - Eton mess, which is yummy but lets face facts we want to wow folk with our pavlova's beauty not mix it up like baby food. You've been warned. 

Baked for roughly one hour at 150oC (Mary says 1 hour 15 mins, Claire says an hour - as I don't have to deal with Mary on a daily basis, I stick to Aunty C's timings. One chef in the family is quite enough :) Leave to cool, I open the door of the oven and leave it to cool down by itself before attempting to wrestle it from a tray.

Once cool, whip up cream (around 12 oz) and find the fruit of your choice to top it, whatever ini season works, and if your home grown raspberries are groaning with fruit, all the better to get out a whisk and make one. We (personally) don't add sugar or vanilla to the whipped cream, as the meringue is sweet enough but some do, its down to choice. We do grow our own raspberries just to make this pudding, its that good.

Serve and amaze your friends and family. 

Its common practice in these parts to rehearse particular grub before amazing said friends and family. The manchild made his first pavlova earlier this year (age 19 so you know you can do one too), having practiced one before he made the real one for a gathering of his chums. Whilst a bit of a rehearsal may seem a bit unnecessary, cooking is largely a technique exercise so trying something new out beforehand is quite worth while. He found he'd got the technique and being 400 miles away he managed this with only phone/skype and text support. It turned out well. So well in so that he doubled the mix and made a two layer one for his 'event' with his chums, transported it up to Glasgow in a box (deconstructed without the fruit and cream) and put it together up there. Clever boy had learnt his cream to pavlova ratio wasn't quite as he wanted so he put more cream and fruit on his gigantic pavlova the second time.

And to be honest - two pavlova's in succession, is far better than one don't you think?

Until next time - happy scoffing of the best pudding on earth.

And don't forget to share the secret ingredients, after all someone's been kind enough to share the WHOLE recipe with you, its only good cooking karma to pass those on, they deserve a crunchy pavlova too.

Non waffle recipe.

Aunty C's Pavlova 

6 egg whites [use yolks for custards, etc, don't waste them]

12 oz caster sugar (at a push granulated would do but its not as good.)

1tsp vinegar [Secret ingredient]

1tsp cornflour [Secret ingredient]

150oC oven
Baking tray lined with greaseproof paper.

Whip egg whites until soft peaks form
Add sugar once tablespoon at time whipping whilst doing so
Mixture should resemble marshmallow fluff
Mix 1tsp cornflour with same of vinegar, add to mix
Spoon/tip mix onto a tray covered in greaseproof paper
Create circular form to suit
Bake for 1 hour in cool oven
Switch off oven and allow to cool in oven with door open or put on a rack
Whip cream to taste, fill meringue case cover with fruit just before serving.

Simples.

Smoked salt

This to me seems like a darn fine idea. I've had smoked salt butter and its yummy, so adding a bit of smokey goodness to other things sounds like a plan.

 

(other salt brand are, of course, available)

 

A bit of smokiness added to my grub - don't mind if I do.

 

Giving something a bit more unusual a go? If so what would you recommend to join the stores?

 

Until next time - Happy Scoffing.

Trenabies Fair Trade Cafe, Kirkwall

A bonnie wee cafe which sits in the middle of Kirwall's main street.  It does everything from breakfast to buns, wraps and french bread pizza's (himself's favourite) to local steak on ciabatta (daughters favourite). They also don't mind if you want your beans on your breakfast in a wee bowl, so it doesn't touch (contaminate) your eggs with bean juice, which is very important in my life (and they serve veggie and normal carnivore brekkies).

Used coffee grains, (not starbucks) just an illustration of the bags you can get full of useful grains for the garden

The coffee is ace and they also let you have bags of used coffee grains for the garden. And whilst this ISN'T a chain - the coffee is utterly fab and yes they do 'to go' although why you can't sit for a while is beyond me. And, they DON'T do internet, nor do you get much of a phone signal - bliss for ten minutes or an hour 'off grid'. 

So if you want a cuppa with superhelpful staff who give you peace but are there is you need them. Pop in. Ironically there are three cafe's in a stride in that area of Kirkwall - all good, take your pick. But this ones a real treat for a cosy, quiet natter either in a booth or on a squashy sofa up the back.

Until next time - take some time out and enjoy the coffee, knowing you're supporting fair trade, local good food and ingredients and by drinking coffee you're also helping someone's garden grow too.

Happy scoffing and mind those beans don't get near your eggs. Bleurgh!

Trenabies Fair Trade Cafe

16  Albert StreetKirkwallOrkneyKW15 1HP  View on map

• T: 01856 874 336

'Nanas on toast

There are few things in life which surpass 'nana's on toast. Hot buttery salt toast combined with the sweet smooth 'nana - reminds me of my grannie as it was one of her favourites. She preferred to mush them 'nanas - whilst I like to slice and equally festoon my toast with precision. We'd sit and have this brekie, lunch or supper nattering or playing cards after (she was a serious card shark!). Its nice to think of those times. So when I delve into a 'nana - I do think of my own Grannie.

And, yes of course I own a piggy plate. You were're really in doubt were you? Quite a wholesome comforting meal in which butter is really best - but then again what's butter not better in? Frugal too a banana might even stretch to two folks......

 

Here's to comfort eating, reminding you of days on the sofa with your Grannie? What's your favourite nostalgic nosh?

 

Unitil next time - Happy Scoffing.

Meal planning

I have to say when I hear the words meal planning, my heart sinks and my appetite kinda wants to run off screaming 'where's the fun, improvisation and excitement in that' (my appetite has quite a lot to say generally). But, I say to myself (and my appetite) it WORKS. Its certainly helped cut down the food spends and whilst I think I'm quite good at stopping food actually hitting the bin, it does stop food waste too. So I think about it each week, although I loathe and despise it, I generally participate whilst dragging my heels like a sullen child enroute to the dentist.

I've discovered of late that I can make a compromise by having a 'rough' meal plan, i.e. having a list of 'tea' type options on no fixed days and allowing myself a bit of flexibility. As we've a generous stocked store cupboard it allows the evolvement of most type of variations of a main ingredient without too much bother. It also allows for the flexibility that 'reduced' shopping bargains often require, as finding goodies often means there's a bit of shoogling of a weekly plan required to compensate for a bargain. And, finally it seems to allow my appetite to sulk less when I tell it there's the prospect of 'several types of tea' each week rather than 'stew on Tuesday, baked tatties on Wednesday' which quite frankly would see it marching off in protest at such structure.

So it's all about compromise and flexibility if you ask me. And, with that in mind I took myself off to the stores/freezer/fridge to peruse this weeks 'options' and to gauge how much grub we'd need to buy to make some tasty treats this week. In the mean time it's coffee and a homemade flatbread stuffed with scrambled eggs to soothe me. Local of course. And if I'd not been planning ahead, I wouldn't have made extra breads for brekkie would I?

Until next time, do have a think about meal planning, on the one hand dull as dishwater but on the other more time to obsess about food and make the most of those pennies! Or maybe you do it already, if so lob some tips my way! And, as always a nicely stocked larder makes for a so much more simple life and plenty of choices!

Happy Scoffing!

The Captains Galley - Scrabster, Thurso

So whilst we currently live in Orkney surrounded with great grub and fantastic seafood, we've often sat at the ferry terminal looking longingly at the sign by the terminal which shouts 'fresh seafood', 'The Captain's Galley', which opens for dinner just shortly after we normally set sail home to Orkney. A seafood restaurant set in a restored ice house, with a fantastic reputation, we've long wanted to go. So as this winters wee 'break' we decided to pop over for an evening, to sample their fabulous menu and it did not disappoint.

A warm and friendly welcome greeted us as we were shown to a comfy cosy room with squashy sofa's and plenty of ambient music. Drinks and nibbles provided swiftly and a warm friendly smile with the menus. 'Take your time, there's no rush' we were told and indeed there wasn't. What a perfect way to wind down on a Friday night but take in the ambience of a bonnie wee restaurant on the edge of a cheerful busy port. These guys have a reputation for being warm and friendly and they certainly were, we even managed to get a bit of chat about the garden, which as all of you know, is my other great passion. Mary and her staff are attentive, whilst giving you peace to enjoy your evening, that's a real skill, hats off to you all, it was the perfect balance.

And so to the grub, the menus (on a Friday night there are two, the full menu or a 'fish and chip' menu') - both looked stunning but opting for the full menu didn't disappoint. Have a peek at the sample menu here always full of incredibly fresh local produce.

To start, I chose the Langoustine bisque with a skewered prawn kimchi, himself Oysters cooked with pork belly and seaweed. For mains, I devoured pan seared Hake with mussels in vermouth, himself, blackened Saithe with corn succotash, colcannan and guacamole.

I do love it when you see fish you've never tried, like Saithe, or fish you love like Hake on a menu, its always good to try something new in a place where you know it will be cooked to perfection. And perfect it all was, which given my own pickiness when it comes to eating out, was never in doubt - but when you try a new place you certainly want it to live up to is reputation, and they certainly did!

A wee 'Amuse bouche' of Jerusalem artichoke soup sprinkled with artichoke wafer thin crisps, was perfection and a grand start to what was to be a fantastic meal. Take a tour through some of their special dishes here, although to be honest, its all pretty special. The portions are so generous we didn't indulge in a sweet or the local cheese board all of which looked stunning as they were given to other diners. Whilst we didn't expect it, our bill was reduced to reflect our choice to skip dessert, a nice thoughtful touch as we'd certainly signed up for the whole experience.

So if you find yourself in the far north east of Scotland, possibly enroute to Orkney, take some time either end to sample the hospitality and great grub cooked at this wee gem. You certainly won't regret it. And so lovely to see folks practise what they preach - they're a strong green ethos and certainly stick firmly to their own principles.......didnae see much of Jim, I guess he was too busy cooking, great chap! We certainly appreciated his efforts. And don't just believe me - gets a great write up on Fish2Fork too!

And, once you get to Orkney, whilst there's a plethera of fabulous places if somewhere like 'The Captains Galley' inspires, you'll surely love 'The Creel' in St Margarets Hope, Orkney. These restaurants may just be long lost siblings, sharing many great traits, fabulous service and stunning local produce cooked to perfection.

As we sat at the ferry port the next night to return to Orkney, we also saw that Jim has a wee 'takeaway' on the far right of their restaurant. We peeked up to see that as well as a lot of great looking fish and chips he had a board crammed with specials. Maybe next time we can try that out too! Opening hours listed below.

So, that place you've always wanted to visit - why not give it a go? That's what we did and we were certainly well impressed. As we were finishing our meal a couple of fisherman sat at the table next to us and ordered their tea - cannae be bad if the boat chaps use it too eh? Sorry no photos of the grub - himself and I were oot for a wee romantik evening, so phones were banned. Much nicer to just enjoy things too rather than keep snapping at them!

Back to the frugal eating for us for a while, another adventure around the corner soon, no doubt!

Until next time - happy scoffing!

The Captain's Galley, located here

Phone - 01847 894 999

Email contact page here

Jim and Mary Cowie

The Captain's Galley

The Harbour

Scrabster

Thurso

KW14 7UJ

01847 894999

Winter timetable serving Thursday Friday Saturday 7pm till late. Monday Tuesday Wednesday available for private parties minimum of 6 people. New Quality Takeaway Open Tuesday thru Saturday 4pm till 6.30pm