What better way to celebrate Scottish food than cooking dinner at home for your friends? Here is my menu full of native specialities such as brilliant Highland beef, whisky gravy, seasonal mushrooms as well as a boozy trifle.
Beef Pithivier, which can also be called an Angus beef pie, is a dish Paul Rankin and I made when we were filming the second series of Paul and Nick’s Big Food Trip and it’s very easy to do. It can be made in advance and it freezes well too. To cut down on work, use good quality ready-made puff pastry. While the recipe calls for mixed wild mushrooms, it’s unlikely you’d be picking your own mushrooms at this time of year so what I do is use nice brown cap or Portobello mushrooms and some dried ceps. One last tip, don’t use good malt whisky for this, a blend is perfectly fine.
I’m continuing the boozy theme with the trifle, a dessert that brings back a lot of happy memories. The combination of custard, jelly, fruit and cream just works, but if you make your own fruit jelly, rather than jelly from a cube, and make your own custard, it just works so much better.
- Look out for the new TV and print advert for Nick which features him wearing comedy Christmas stockings. “My wife’s mortified but if it gets more people interested in cooking then it’s worth it,” said Nick.
BEEF PITHIVIER WITH CHILLIED GREENS, WILD MUSHROOM AND WHISKY GRAVY
SERVES 6
1kg ox cheeks
1/2 bottle red wine
4-5 star anise
1 large carrot, roughly chopped
2 sticks celery, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
1.5 litres roast chicken stock
Salt and pepper
For the shallots:
300g shallots, peeled and sliced
25g butter
25ml oil
2 rolls puff pastry
For the chilli greens:
2 courgettes, cut into rounds
1 pack green beans, topped and tailed
1 pack tenderstem broccoli
1 red chilli, chopped
Dash olive oil
For the gravy:
200g mixed wild mushrooms
50ml good whisky
200ml beef or dark chicken stock
Marinade the ox cheeks in the wine, star anise, carrot, celery, onion and chicken stock overnight.
Heat the oven to 140C. Remove the cheeks from the marinade, pat dry, season then seal in hot olive oil in a frying pan over a high heat. Place the cheeks on a meat tray and cover with the marinade. Cover with foil and cook in the oven for 3-3 1/2 ½ hours or until soft.
Meanwhile cook the shallots. Slice and cook them very gently in the oil and butter to soften. Then turn up the heat and allow to turn golden brown. When the ox cheeks are tender, remove from the oven, allow to cool slightly and gently pull apart using 2 forks. Mix the meat with the cooked golden shallots then pack into a Pyrex pudding bowl and refrigerate for 3-4 hours until set.
Cut a disc of puff pastry 2.5cm larger than the top of the Pyrex bowl. Tip the dome of set beef mix on top. Egg wash the edges then cover completely with a second sheet of puff. Using a fork, crimp the edges then place in the fridge for 30 mins. Score gently with a sharp knife, then coat in egg wash. Cook the pithivier on baking paper on a baking sheet for 30-40 mins at 180C until golden brown and hot all the way through.
For the gravy, sauté the mushrooms for 3 mins or so in hot butter. Tip out, de-glaze the pan with the whisky (it may set alight – if this worries you, have a lid handy to slam on). Add the stock and reduce well. Finally add the mushrooms back in, heat through and serve.
For the veg, blanch them together then refresh in cold water and dry on a clean tea towel. Heat the olive oil and quickly stir fry the blanched veg with the chilli. Serve immediately on warm plates with slices of hot pie. Drizzle with the whisky gravy and dot the mushrooms around.
NICK’S TIPSY LAIRD BERRY TRIFLE
SERVES 6
225g vanilla sponge (or Madeira cake)
80ml good Scotch whisky
150ml white wine
100ml apple juice
50ml water
150g caster sugar
60g blackberries
25ml blackcurrant concentrate (Robinson’s is fine)
12g (3 leaves) leaf gelatine
60g blackcurrants
225g strawberries, chopped
60g raspberries, halved
For the custard:
600ml double cream
6 medium free-range egg yolks
85g caster sugar
1 vanilla pod, split, seeds scraped out
For the cream:
500ml double cream
40g icing sugar
10g toasted flaked almonds
First make the jelly by boiling together the wine, sugar, blackcurrant concentrate, apple juice and water. Add the fresh blackberries and reduce the heat to allow them to soften. Once soft, break the berries down with a fork so all their juice and colour imparts into the liquid. Pass the liquid through a fine sieve. Place the gelatine leaves into cold water to soften before adding to the sieved liquid. Gently mix until the gelatine has dissolved. Skim any bubbles from the top then allow to cool but not to set.
Slice off the outer crust from the sponge before cutting the cake into small dice then macerating with the whisky in a dish. Divide the soaked sponge between the trifle glasses, taking care not to mess the sides of the glass. Add the chopped strawberries, halved raspberries and the blackcurrants then top with the cooled jelly. Return to the fridge to completely set.
For the custard, place the cream, vanilla pod and seeds into a thick-bottomed pan over a high heat until boiling. Meanwhile, in a stainless steel bowl, beat the egg yolks and sugar until thick, fluffy and pale. Slowly pour half the hot cream onto the egg and sugar mix, stirring continually. With the pan off the heat use a heatproof spatula to scrape all the egg mixture from the bowl into the pan with the remaining cream. Place back on a medium heat and stir until it starts to thicken. Use a flexible spatula, stirring from side to side, making sure you reach all areas of the pan. It should thicken within about 2 minutes. Undercook and the custard will be thin. But if it gets too hot the egg will curdle. You’re looking for a temperature of 82C; use a digital thermometer if you have one. Otherwise, watch for puffs of steam escaping from the side of the pan. These are a warning that the custard is getting too hot, so take off the heat and continue stirring. You need a thickish custard so that the Chantilly cream will sit on top.
When the custard mix coats the back of the spatula, strain immediately through a fine sieve into a clean bowl. Cover with cling film that’s touching the surface to prevent a skin forming and chill. Once the custard has cooled completely spoon on top of the jelly then return to the fridge and allow to settle. Semi whip the double cream before adding the icing sugar. Incorporate, ensuring you don’t overwhip the cream. Place into a piping bag and pipe (or spoon) onto the trifle then garnish with the toasted flaked almonds.