Great Scott
To mark the 250th anniversary of Sir Walter Scott’s birth, restaurateur Paul Wedgwood came up with recipes inspired by his novels
Iam absolutely delighted to be back in the restaurant. We reopened on 19 May and have been fully booked every weekend. After a tough year for our industry, it is fantastic to see people out supporting us; it has been incredible. The Walter Scott recipes I have shared today were used for a bespoke at home experience in partnership with the Edinburgh Sir Walter Scott Club. They approached me to create a menu to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the birth of Sir Walter Scott on 6 May. The dishes I created were inspired by Walter’s novels, for example Andrew Fairservice’s nettle soup was created in honour of the novel Rob Roy and almond and strawberry trifle is a replica of Scott’s descriptions of desserts in The Bride of Lammermoor. Even though they are very traditional dishes, I put my own spin on them. I have chosen three recipes that you can easily replicate at home if you fancy something a bit different for your tea or wish to impress while hosting a dinner party.
Nettle soup
There is no better time to pick nettles. They’re found along rivers and streams as they thrive in damp. Make sure to pick them with gloves, to avoid getting stung.
Serves four
6 handfuls of nettles (about half a carrier bag full)
1 tbsp butter or olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
1 potato, diced
2 wild garlic leaves if available 300ml vegetable stock
200ml milk
100ml double cream salt and ground white pepper to taste
1 Prepare the nettles with gloves on by removing the leaves from the stems, discard the stems and place the nettle leaves into a bowl of cold water and stir well to wash. Leave for a few minutes.
2 Heat the butter or oil in a large pan and gently fry the onion and celery until it softens. Add the potato and cook for another couple of minutes. Then add the milk and stock and bring to a simmer.
3 Scoop the nettle leaves out of their water with a slotted spoon and place into the soup base and cook for 60 seconds. Add the wild garlic and season with salt and white pepper.
4 Purée the soup in a liquidiser or with a hand blender.
5 Pass the soup through a fine sieve. Add the cream and heat gently. Taste and adjust the seasoning with salt and white pepper.
Stoved howtowdie with drappit eggs
This is a Scottish version of the French dish ‘stoved chicken’. The haggis gives the dish so much flavour. Serves four
4 skin on chicken breasts 150g haggis
75g sausage meat
5 eggs
4 king oyster mushrooms 200g kale
300ml chicken jus or gravy flour for dusting panko breadcrumbs for coating cling film
Ziploc bags
1 Mix together the haggis and sausage meat, season with salt and pepper.
2 Take the chicken breasts and lay them skin side down. Using a knife, make a slit, to form a pocket just off centre in the thicker side, slicing through until about 1cm from the edges. Divide the haggis and sausage meat mix into 4 and stuff into this pocket and wrap back over the chicken meat. Roll the individual chicken breasts in cling film to form a tight circle and tie off the ends to seal. 3 To “vacuum seal” the chicken place each wrapped breast into a small Ziploc bag and slowly submerge in a bowl of cold water to force out all the air. Seal the bag and repeat.
4 Bring a medium pan of water to the boil. Boil 4 of the eggs for 4 minutes, plunge eggs immediately into ice water and very carefully peel the shells whilst they are cooling.
5 Place the chicken breasts into the boiling water and turn down to a gentle simmer for 45 minutes.
6 Meanwhile in a small pan of rapidly boiling, salted water blanch the kale for 30 seconds. Refresh in ice water the allow to drain well.
7 Beat the remaining egg. Then very carefully coat the soft-boiled eggs in breadcrumbs by first dusting in flour, dipping in beaten egg, coat the chicken and set aside. To serve deep fry for around 90 seconds until golden brown, remove and season with salt.
8 Cut the king oyster mushroom down the middle and drizzle with a little oil and salt and char grill or brown in a frying pan flat side down soft and cook it until it is nearly done. 9 Heat the jus/gravy in a small saucepan and let it simmer.
10 When the chicken is ready, carefully remove it from water and allow to rest for 5 minutes. Then remove from the bag and unwrap the cling film and brown in a large sized medium hot frying pan. Once browned add the mushrooms and kale to this pan also to reheat.
11 To serve carve the chicken, add a portion of kale and 2 mushroom halves, add a spoonful of jus/gravy and finally cut the soft boiled and fried egg through the middle add to plate and allow to drain into sauce.
Glasgow punch drizzle cake
This is an easy recipe to follow, to create a dessert that is full of punch (literally).
Serves four
For the cake
225g unsalted butter 225g soft light brown sugar 225g self raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
4 eggs
For the curd 60ml lime juice 1egg
1 yolk
70g caster sugar
35g butter
For the cream
100ml cream
4 raspberries
1 tablespoon of the lime curd
For the drizzle
25ml lime juice
50ml dark rum
200g soft dark brown sugar
1 Cream together the butter and sugar, add beaten eggs and sifted flour and baking powder to make a smooth batter and pour into a lined 6in x 8in deep baking tray. Cook at 175C for 35 minutes.
2 Check it is cooked by piercing the middle of the cake with a skewer. It should be clean once removed. If not return the cake to the oven for another 5 minutes and then check again. Once cooked allow to cool on a wire rack. When cool, cut out the cakes into rounds using a cookie cutter.
3 For the curd. Whisk the lime juice, sugar and butter together in a glass bowl over simmering water.
4 Whisk the egg and egg yolk together and add to the glass bowl. Continue whisking until the mixture thickens like custard. Put aside to cool.
5 For the drizzle, put all together and bring to a gentle simmer until all the sugar has dissolved. Pour half the mix over the cake as it comes out the oven and the other half once the cake has cooled and been cut.
6 Whip the cream then fold in the lime curd and raspberries. To serve, top the cake with lime curd and a spoonful of the cream to the side.