Haggis for dinner tonight!
Today is the 25th of January - and every Scotsman and visitor to Scottland knows that date. Burns Night.
To memorate Robert Burns, the Scottish poet who wrote a poem about Haggis (you can read more including a translation into modern day English
here).
We did have haggis for dinner - unfortunately only a tin (you cannot get fresh Haggis in Germany, and from what I have heard it is even completely illegal in the US), but prepared with a creamy whisky sauce (using a dram of Talisker for the sauce). With it we had mash and (we did not have neeps) broccoli. And of course a wee dram.
Coffee Gallery London (near British Museum) has closed
Now - what is Coffee Gallery in London and why is it worth a blog entry?
The Coffee Gallery was me and my wifes favourite cafe in London. It was the place where you showed up once a year and were immediately recognized (I am not that often in London).
We made it a habit whenever you were in London to go there at least once. They had good coffee, great cakes and excellent organic food.
Last September however, the cafe was empty, closed, gone. No sign about what and why. So, dear readers, if you know what happened to the Coffee Gallery London (if there is more then one: it was near the British Museum) or where the employees work now just leave a comment.
Trout!
Today we had some trout for lunch. We bought it fresh from a trout farm in the neighbouring village - from being fished out of the water to our oven its about 20 minutes, so you can't get it much more fresh.
After cleaning it, we filled it with herbs and fried it in butter for about 5 minutes on each side. Thats all....
What todo with leftover mashed potatoes?
We had some mashed potatoes left, so we thought about what todo... of course you can simply put it into the fridge and eat it later, but I think this is a better alternative.
You need:
- Mashed potatoes (mixed with butter and milk), about 3 cups
- Wheat flour, 1 cup
- Full fat yoghurt, 1 cup
- Two eggs
Mix everything together, then heat up your waffle baker, oil on both sides and put two spoonfulls inside. Bake until slightly brown. Tastes delicious warm or cold.
Lamb and vegetable pie
Another of those dishes for a sunday dinner when you have enough time to prepare...
Looking in our cupboard we discovered a spice mixture we brought back from our vacation to Ireland this year and decided to use it for tonights dinner.
We used some lamb meat, cut it into cubes. Mixed the spices (traditioinal lamb spices, whatever you like) with oil, add some garlic and pour it over the meat. Put spiced meat into a covered pot and into the oven. Bake it at 160 degrees Celsius for 30 minutes.
Add the vegetables (we used onions, a carrot and some brussels sprouts). Also add half a cup of red wine and some salt and pepper to taste.
Put again covered into the oven for about 45 minutes (160 degrees again). Remove from the oven, uncover and put mashed potatoes on top. Put under the heater until slightly brown on top. Remove from heat and wait (!) until it is a bit cooled down. Enjoy!
Chicken!
We went to a local farm this morning for some shopping (unlike normal shops in Germany, farms are allowed to open on Sundays to sell their own produce. They interpret "own" usually in a broader sense).
In addition to apples, potatoes and some vegetables we also bought a half chicken (they don't sell this very often). And this was a real chicken, the half one we bought weighting 1.6kg (56 ounces).
I boiled it together with vegetables for about 3 hours, then removed the meat from the bones and used the meat for a fricassee. Part of fricassee we had for dinner and the soup we will eat tomorrow.
Two new single malts...
Its this time of the year again... when the weather gets more miserable day by day, rain outside, or even snow, its time to enjoy the evening with a nice single malt.
A week ago I ordered two bottles from the
Scotch Malt Whisky Society and they arrived today:
Both are single cask cask-strength bottlings, which mean that they are bottled as the whisky comes out of the cask. A regular single malt is always a blend of different casks of one distillery.
The Highland Park is already open and a nice dram is standing before me as I write these lines.
The photograph is actually the stillhouse of
Glengoyne - I have not (yet) visited Highland Park or Dalmore.
