We hae meat and we can eat
A steak pie is a great alternative to haggis, neeps and tatties for Burns Night, writes Carina Contini.
The 25th of January is full of happy memories. Cockenzie Primary School always had a poetry competition. It wasn’t necessarily Burns but it was always Scottish. The Sair Wee Finger was my party piece for years, although I never won the competition.
It’s our godson’s birthday which is always fun but importantly it’s about the Burns Suppers. My parents’ business was ice cream in the summer and outside catering in the winter. The Burns Supper season could last for two weekends and most definitely helped pay the bills over the very cold winter months.
Nothing much has changed for us except I’ve no sore finger but do appreciate the love of Burns that’s great for business and great for our Scottish heritage.
Our annual Burns ceilidhs at The Scottish Cafe can run over two or three days depending on the day of the week that the 25th falls.
This year we’ve got some live music at Cannonball Restaurant on the Royal Mile. Who doesn’t love the sound of the pipes as a warm welcome to start your evening? Pop up and see us.
Burns, tartan, whisky, poetry and music but what steals the show is that great chieftain of the pudding race; haggis.
We work with many artisan suppliers. Wonderfully this ancient traditional recipe of oats, offal, suet and spices that couldn’t be any more sustainable, if it tried, is as popular as ever. Add mash and neeps and it’s just what the doctor ordered for a cosy supper in January. We all love it. Love it even more when it’s deep fried into a little haggis Cannonball or Bon Bon.
Burns is one celebration for January. The other that comes from the other end of the world, literally, is Chinese New Year. The Year of the Snake celebrations start in Edinburgh from today as well. So if you see red lanterns dotted around the city, it’s not a lost sonnet that’s missing a tartan bonnet. We’re combining both traditions with a delicious jasmine green tea cocktail paired with a haggis Cannonball, it might just catch on. Whoever thought up that recipe for haggis definitely deserves royalties.
Winter Salad
If you don’t like haggis but can be tempted with black pudding, this is a fresh salad alternative.
Serves two
1 firm pear
1 head of chicory, leaves washed and dried
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil juice of 1 lime
1 fresh green chilli, deseeded and thinly sliced
50g fresh mint, stalks removed pinch of salt
12 walnut halves pan fried in a little extra extra virgin olive oil until golden
2 slices black pudding, cut into cubes and fried until crispy (set aside but keep warm)
1. When you’re ready to eat, remove the skin of the pear, deseed and slice into a mixing bowl along with all the other ingredients. Season, mix well and serve.
Steak pie
If you didn’t manage a steak pie on Hogmanay or on the 1 January when we usually have it, tonight is the night to enjoy.
Serves four
1kg diced stewing steak (the best you can get)
1 large onion peeled and chopped
3 sprigs fresh thyme
300ml beef stock or 2 tsp of Bovril dissolved in 300ml boiling water
100ml IPA
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 tbsp plain flour salt and lots of white pepper
500g all butter puff pastry
1. In a heavy casserole heat the oil and gently fry the onion. Coat the meat in the flour. Raise the heat and add the flour coated meat. Fry until coloured.
2. Add the beer. Reduce the beer down then add the stock, just enough to cover the meat but don’t drown it. Season with the thyme, salt and white pepper. For best results cover with a tight fitting lid and bake in the oven at 200C/Gas Mark 6 for about 2 hours.
3. Remove from the oven and check the meat is tender. Add a little more water if the stew is
looking dry. Remove from the oven and cool.
4. Choose a 1kg deep pie dish with an edge all the way around to fix the pastry onto. Roll the room-temperature pastry so it’s about 1 inch bigger all the way round the tin you’ve chosen.
5. Place the tin on top of the rolled out pastry and cut a shape the same size as the widest part of the top of the tin. Fill the pie dish with stew to the rim. Wet a pastry brush with a little milk and wet the rim of the dish. Use the end piece of pastry that is left over to place a layer all the way around the flat edge of the dish. This will give you a really good surface to fix the pie top onto.
6. Brush the pastry with a little milk. Gently place the cut pastry onto of the pastry edge. Press the pastry firmly with your thumb and fingers all the way around the edge of the dish and trim off any pastry that looks untidy. Choose a flat pastry knife and gently press this to the end of the pastry all the way around the rim.
7. Score the top and put one knife puncture in the top to allow the steam to escape.
8. Brush with milk or an egg wash and bake in a hot oven Gas 6 for 10 minutes until golden brown and the pastry has risen then lower the oven to Gas 3 for about 15 to 20 minutes until the filling is piping hot.
9. Serve with creamy mashed potatoes and boiled butter carrots.
Jasmine green tea cocktail
If you’re getting a bit fed up with Dry January or want an excuse to try something new, then the team at Cannonball have come up with this beautiful red cocktail to celebrate the Year of the Snake. This would be perfect with a little haggis Bon Bon of course. Available from today.
Serves one
50ml 42 Below Vodka
15ml grenadine or homemade cherry or raspberry syrup (for the colour)
15ml syrup (100ml sugar and
100ml water infused with one cinnamon stick, one star anise and 6 pink peppercorns)
50ml jasmine green tea brewed and chilled
1. In a stirring glass add all the ingredients except the tea. Add ice and chill for a few seconds.
2. In a chilled high ball fill with ice and strain the vodka mixture over the ice and top up with the chilled jasmine tea.
3. Stir and garnish with orange or lemon zest.
