Belated Burns Night Dinnerparty

Sometimes you invite a lot of people over for a dinnerparty and then think afterwards, "Friday? What the heck was I thinking?" My Belated Burns Night dinnerparty was definitely one of those. But we all have these moments of temporary stupidity insanity. . .

Entrée: Carrot & Orange Soup
Given I'd have only about an hour or so after getting home from work before the guests arrived (disregarding the probability they'd be 'fashionably late'), pre-preparation was definitely the way to go. I decided to make a soup for the entrée, one that matured overnight, and going with the Scottish theme decided on a Carrot & Orange Soup. The recipe was based on a combination of a couple I found on the web. The carrot and orange turned out to be an excellent taste combination, and the resulting soup was slightly sweet, slightly spicy, very mildly herbed and with a pleasant purée texture.

Carrot & Orange Soup
[For 8 people]
1 kg gm carrots, cut into sticks
800 ml fresh orange juice with bits
300 ml chicken or vegetable stock
1 handful of chopped parsley
1 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 tsp freshly grated white pepper
Pinch sea salt

1. Cook the carrots in salted water until tender.
2. In a food processor, whizz the carrots with half the orange juice.
3. Put the carrot/orange juice mix back into the pan and heat gently.
4. Slowly add the orange juice and stock.
5. Add the parsley, nutmeg and seasoning, and cook for a further 15 minutes until the soup reduces slightly.
6. Leave overnight to mature.
7. Reheat, and garnish with a swirl of cream and a sprig of parsley.

Main: Haggis, Chicken Breast with a Whiskey & Marmalade Glaze, Clapshot, Green Beans with Mustard Sauce
Haggis is an absolute requirement for Burns Night, but time restrictions made the stuffing of a sheep's stomach with various bits of liver, heart, lungs, etc unfeasible, so I bought a commercially-made Scottish haggis instead (that's the excuse I'm giving at any rate!). As some people are a bit touchy about eating offal I served it on a seperate dish rather than plating it with the rest of the main (which is why it isn't in the photo). Once again however my friends surprised and pleased me by all partaking and enjoying. It isn't the first time I've fed it to a couple of them, but apparently Adriana was our only haggis-virgin.

The other meat of the night was boneless chicken breast, coated in a whiskey and marmalade glaze. This had a basic salt/sugar sauce as a base, with a bittersweet handmade Seville Orange Marmalade and Glennfiddich single malt to flavour it. Just before serving I poured a little more of glaze sauce over the chicken breast and garnished them with chopped spring onions. The chicken wasn't as tender as I would have liked, but no-one else complained. The glaze was unusual - sweet with an underlying orangey bitterness trailing into the whiskey's fiery aftertaste - I rather liked it.

Marmalade and Whiskey Glaze
[for 8 chicken breasts]
1 1/2 tsp Sea Salt
1 1/2 Tb Cornflour
2 Tb Bitter Marmalade
4 Tb Whiskey
1 1/2 cups Water

1. Put water, sugar & salt in a saucepan and bring to the boil.
2. Rolling simmer for about 5 minutes until the sugar is dissolved and liquid has reduced slightly.
3. Taste. It should be a slightly salty/little too sweet mixture.
4. Slake the cornflour with some of the heated liquid, stirring it to dissolve.
5. Add the cornflour to the sauce and simmer for about 5 minutes until the liquid thickens.
6. Add the whiskey and marmalade to the sauce.
7. Continue to simmer lightly until the sauce reduces.
8. Taste and adjust if necessary.
9. The sauce tastes better if left to mature overnight.

Chicken Breasts

1. Put the boneless chicken breasts in a pan and coat with a thick layer of the glaze.
2. Cook in a medium oven [GM 5 / 375 ºF / 190 ºC] for about 20 - 25 minutes.
3. Heat the remainder of the sauce just before serving.
4. On serving, spoon some of the sauce over the chicken.

Clapshot is a traditional Scottish recipe consisting of mashed swede (rutabega), potatoes and chives. The baby swedes I used were beautiful little buttery-yellow orbs with a lavender blush on each end - almost too pretty to eat. I added a touch of sweetness to the clapshot with some parsnips and the three root vegetables blended together very nicely. Reheating the clapshot I forgot to add a dab of butter in the bottom of the pan and didn't stir it enough, resulting in the delightful aroma of burning vegetable mash. Oops. One quick rescue transfer to another pan saved the day and the taste, so fortunately nobody got to eat little black flecks.

Clapshot
[for 8]
400 gm parsnips
600 gm swedes (rutabega)
600 gm potatoes
Handful of chopped chives
2 Tb butter
1 tsp freshly grated white pepper
Pinch sea salt

1. Chop the vegetables into roughly the same size, making the swedes slightly smaller as they usually take longer to cook.
2. Put into a pan of salted boiling water and simmer for about 20 minutes or until cooked.
3. Drain and then mash the vegetables together with the chives, butter and seasoning.

The basis for the green bean recipe was found online, and was delicious. Definitely the element of the meal I enjoyed the most:

Green Beans with Mustard Sauce
[for 8 people]
600 gm Green Beans
2 Tb Butter, melted
2 Tb L&P Worcestershire Sauce
2 Tb Dry Vermouth
1 Tb Wholegrain Mustard
1/2 tsp Garlic Powder

1. Put the butter, worchester sauce, vermouth and mustard into a pan and bring to a simmer.
2. Mix some of the liquid into the garlic powder until dissolved and return to the pan.
3. Simmer the sauce for another five minutes.
4. Put the beans in a pan of boiling water and simmer for about 10 minute or so until they are cooked.
5. Drain the beans and toss with the sauce.
6. Serve.

Cheese Board
The only Scottish cheese I managed to find was a strong Cheddar, which was nice if unremarkable. We also had a New Zealand cheddar (the 'house cheese'), the English Stilton from Twelfth Night dinner, and a melt-in-the-mouth Lubborn's Somerset brie I'd bought from Abel & Cole Organics with my vegetable box this week. I'd never tried an English Brie before and was a little apprehensive about my choice, so I was gratified to find this one definitely held its own. Accompanying this were hot bread rolls and some of my favorite cheeseboard crackers - Nairn's mini oatcakes.

Dessert: Cherry, Raspberry and Almond Clafoutis with Vanilla Icecream
Scotland and France have always had close ties so I figured the incursion of a little French touch wasn't too out of place. A major attraction was also the fact it was recommended the clafoutis batter sit for 24 hours. It turned out to be the wierdest part of the cooking experience. The Cherry and Almond Clafoutis recipe came from Gordon Ramsay's book Just Desserts and from first glance appears to be a normal clafoutis recipe.

I followed the measurements and instructions, but when I got to the part that says ". . . add eggs, egg yolks and cream and blend to a smooth batter." I didn't get a smooth batter so much as a thin smoothie. I'd thought the measurement of "15 gm of strong plain flour" was somewhat small, but I'm not much of a baker so went with it. When faced with the choice of assuming it was a misprint and was supposed to be 150 gm of strong plain flour and rectifying it, I must admit I chickened out. Instead I added the 150 gm left of the ground almonds and that brought it up to a smooth batter. The only effect was they took twice as long to cook and the clafoutis were quite moist. Tastewise it was a success. The tangy bits of fruit proved especially nice little hidden surprises amongst the almond meal.

I haven't given the recipe here as it needs a little work. Checking with other clafoutis recipes it seems 150 gm of flour might be correct. I will have to try the recipe again in a revised form later.

We also had Hagendaaz Vanilla Icecream to go with the clafoutis and I garnished it with fruit; the orange that didn't quite make it to becoming a soup garnish, and cut-out stars of kiwifruit. The latter are always so visually appealing, even without their wonderful taste. Although perhaps as a New Zealander I'm biased!

As liquid accompaniment, various bottles of perry were downed. Alan had also brought along a lovely New Zealand Montana Reserve Marlborough Pinot Noir 2002. It's my favorite red varietal, and this offering was particularly delicious - smooth, with rich strawberry flavor and not terribly much oakiness - just how I like it. I also bought a Terra Organica Malbec Familia Zuccardi 2003, an Argentinian organic wine. It was quite full flavored, but after the Pinot Noir just tasted a little bit rough and thin. Drinkable, but in the long run I'd rather spend that extra all-important £1 and get an excellent bottle of non-organic red for £6, than settle for an outstandingly average bottle of £5 organic red.

In summary I'd say the meal turned out quite well, but was a bit of a juggling act for me. From the noise and laughter I'd say everyone (including myself) enjoyed the company as well as the food, but I think I've learnt my lesson. Moral of the story: don't hold dinner parties for eight on a Friday night.

Comments

[Jeanne]

Oh wow - once again you've outdone yourself!! My lunch party on Sunday looks so, well, pedestrian by comparison... I absolutely love your square glass plates too! Very interested in the whisky & marmalade glaze - could work for pork too?? And I desperately want to try the green bean recipe. I haven't made clafoutis for ages but I do a mean apricot & almond one, which I'm well overdue for making! Thanks for (another) great post!

[Christina]

Thank you! Yes, they're great plates - I'm kicking myself I only bought 4 (and a serving plate). I think it would work nicely for pork, but I wouldn't use a bitter marmalade, I'd use a sweet marmalade only. I think the bitterness wouldn't work with the delicacy and texture of pork (OK, that sounded wierd but hopefully you know what I mean). Ooh, do make clafoutis! I'd love to see your recipe.