Burns Night

It was Burns Night on Tuesday so I made a Burns Supper for a couple of my friends.  For any international lurkers out there, Burns night is a Scottish occasion celebrating the birth of the poet Robert Burns, a time of drunkenness and eating various sheep organs.  As sheep organs aren't really my thing, I cooked a vegetarian haggis for everyone, as well as my chilli chips and a sweet potato and turnip mash, so I have a few recipes for you today.  Also, I give you a photo of my friend Ruaridh piping in the haggis with a tiny saxophone.

 Vegetarian Haggis

To cook the haggis, simply remove the plastic, wrap in tinfoil and place in a dish filled with 2cm of water.  Then cook in the oven at 180 degrees for around 45 minutes.

Sweet Potato and Turnip Mash

Firstly, peel the turnip and two medium sized sweet potatoes.  Both Tetley and I tried and failed to chop the turnip, so we cut off the end and then boiled it whole for about 20 minutes before chopping it up which seemed to work.  Sweet potatoes are much less solid, so you can chop them into small pieces before boiling.  When the vegetables are soft, drain and mash with a small amount of butter and a dash of double cream.  Season with salt and pepper.

Cranachan

This is a traditional Scottish dessert that is really simple to make.  Firstly, put 85g of oats on a baking tray and sprinkle with soft brown sugar.  Put under the grill for about 5 minutes to caramelise, watching constantly instead of drunkenly wandering off and allowing your kitchen to smell like burnt sugar for 3 days like I did.  When the oats are golden, whip 570ml of double cream into soft peaks, and fold in the oats, 3 tablespoons of honey and 400g of raspberries. 

After our meal, we went to an awesome ceilidh, another Scottish tradition.  This dance has a proper name but I only know it as 'the helicopter dance' - apologies to everyone I kicked whilst being swung round!