Haggis, Sweeties, Jam and magnets

As soon as I knew I was going to Nova Scotia, I wanted to take some Scottish gifts to my hosts.  I was delighted when Wee Sweetie agreed to create a very special Scottish 'sweetie' for me.  You can read all about Wee Sweetie in my post: Wee Sweetie, homemade sweeties and candies. The result of this request was a delicious Scotch Mist Fudge featuring Auchentoshan Whisky, meringue made by local producer 'Dessert Me' and Scottish Strawberries, totally delicious.

I also contacted some producers of iconic Scottish products, Mackays for their fabulous marmalades and jams.  I felt that Mackays Dundee Orange Marmalade was the most representative from the fantastic range of products that Mackays make in traditional ways in their factory just outside Dundee.

I also felt that Haggis just had to be represented and was delighted when Macsween agreed to provide me with some Haggis Bibles to take with me. These little books contain both traditional and modern recipes using haggis.

Finally, I contacted the delightful PRs for OXO Good Grips, not a company with a Scottish heritage but one producing the very best of kitchen gadgets, sure to be appreciated by dedicated foodies.  They supplied me with some really useful kitchen magnets that double up as clips, ideal for securing shopping lists and scraps of paper on which you have written recipes.

I'd like to thank Wee Sweetie, Mackays, Macsween's and OXO Good Grips for their support.  All the feedback I had from my hosts was positive and I was delighted to be able to give them something in return for the fantastic experience I had in Nova Scotia.  

Labels: Auchentoshan, Dessert Me, Mackays, Macsween Haggis, Nova Scotia, OXO Good Grips, Wee Sweetie

posted by Janice @ 21:02 5 Comments

Your favourites and mine 2013

Last year I did a round up of blog posts for the year, choosing the recipe with the most page views for each month your favourite, and the one that I like best, my favourite.  I enjoyed writing the post and you, dear readers, seemed to enjoy it too.  I've excluded those posts which had major giveaways as those do rather skew the page views!  Many thanks to all who viewed and/or commented  and to the hosts of all the challenges that I have entered.

January 

A soup of bacon and celeriac from The Kitchen Diaries II

Your favourite post in January 2013 was the launch of Dish of the Month, a blog challenge to cook the recipes of Nigel Slater.

My favourite was the Croque Monsieur Whoopie Pies from Let's Make Whoopies by Sophie Gray all part of Breakfast Club and Shake up your Wake Up Farmhouse Breakfast week.

February


Your favourite was this Rye and Spelt Bread and my review of Paul Hollywood's book 'Bread' 

My favourite was Mon Cherry Amour Cupcakes from Le Cookie by Michael Benichou.

March


Your favourite was The Marmalade Awards where I met up with Sue, from A Little Bit of Heaven on a Plate and Vivien Lloyd - The Jam Mistress!


My favourite was the birthday cake I made for my Mum's 80th, decorated with crystallised edible flowers.

April

Your favourite was my Random Recipe for April - Treacle Bites

My favourite was this Rhubarb and Orange Frangipane Tart, a recipe I got from Dom at Belleau Kitchen.

May

You favourite was my Rhubarb, Mango and White Chocolate Almond Cake which was an entry for We Should Cocoa.

My favourite in May was the Kugelhopf which I made for Alphabakes.  I have to say this is probably my overall favourite of the whole year, it was quite a labour of love and tasted so good.

June
Your favourite was this White and Green Cabbage with Coconut Chillies and Ginger from the Farm Shop Cookbook.

My favourite is the Vanilla and Coconut Cake I made from the Clandestine Cake Book for Tea Time Treats.

July

Your favourite was Cherry Frangipane Ramekins based on a Nigel Slater recipe for Dish of the Month.

My favourite was the Chocolate Lime Ice Cream I made using Mackays Lime Curd.You can see that my OXO Good Grips Ice Cream Scoop is well used!

August
Your favourite in August was the Cicchetti I made from Valentina Harris and Lindy Wildsmith.

My favourite was the Beef, Red Pepper and Lime Burgers from Miranda Ballard's Burgers and Sliders. I'm not much of a burger person but these were so good.


September




Your favourite in September was Dish of the Month, Lamb Pot Roast and Peach, Bramble and Almond Crumble

My choice is an old favourite with a twist, my Summer Falls into Autumn Pudding.

October
Your favourite in October was the Chelsea Buns I made from The World's Best Cakes book.

I've chosen Braised Scotch Lamb Shanks in Red Wine as my favourite, I cannot begin to tell you how good they were!

November

Sloe Cordial was a popular post in November and I can now report that it went down very well with the recipients!

I loved these Hot n Smoky Cheese and Tomato Wraps, quick and easy to make and very tasty.

December


My Virtual Christmas Party was a favourite post in December, I even won a prize from Pidy for these canapes!

It may not be the most photogenic of dishes, and I didn't think you could really improve on baked red cabbage,  but  Spiced Ginger Red Cabbage made with Mackays Spiced Ginger Preserve was even better than I expected.

Thank you so much for visiting Farmersgirl  Kitchen in 2013, I  hope you will return to see what I am cooking and baking in 2014.  I'll be back to wish you a Happy New Year and tell you about my future plans tomorrow.

Labels: 2013, Burgers, Dish of the Month, Farmersgril Kitchen, ice cream, Kugelhopf, Mackays, Nigel Slater, Paul Hollywood, review, rhubarb, Scotch Lamb, summer pudding, Vanilla and Coconut Cake

posted by Janice @ 08:30 6 Comments

Festive, Light and Fruity Whisky Marmalade Cake

I am a huge fan of Christmas cake, but I know that not everyone likes the rich dark fruit cake that is traditionally baked for Christmas.  I am also aware that not everyone manages to make their cake in late October or early November to allow it to mature in time for Christmas, so it's really nice to have a lighter cake that can be made and eaten straight away.  This recipe is great to make any time of the year, but I've dressed it up a bit for the festive season.

I'm delighted to say that this post is part of #ChristmaswithMackays a 12 days of Christmas feature being run by Mackays, a family run Scottish company who make their preserves in small batches in the traditional way. 




Festive, Light and Fruity Whisky Marmalade Cake

For Cake
6oz/175g soft margarine or butter
6oz/175g caster sugar
6oz/175g sultanas
4oz/125g raisins
50g mixed peel
50g glace cherries, halved
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp mixed spice
2 tbsp Mackays Orange Marmalade with Whisky
1 tbsp Whisky



For Topping 1 clementine, sliced thinly
1 tbsp caster sugar
2 tbsp water
glace cherries
Mixed nuts
  
To make the cake:
1. Pre-heat the oven to 325F, 160C and grease and line an 8in/20cm round cake tin.
2. Put all the ingredients in a bowl and mix well.
3. Fill the tin with the mixture, smoothing the top.
4. Bake for 2 hours or until a skewer comes out clean.
5. If the cake appears to be browning too quickly place a piece of foil over the top of the tin.
6. Allow the cake to cool in the tin for about 10 minutes, then turn onto a rack and leave until completely cold.

To make the topping
1. Place the sugar and water in a saucepan and heat slowly until all the sugar has melted.
2. Bring to the boil and simmer for about 5 minutes until it starts to thicken and become like syrup.
3. Add the clementine slices and simmer gently for 10 minutes.  Watch it carefully to make sure the sugar syrup does not dry up.
4. Lift the clementine slices out of the syrup and place on a sheet of baking parchment to cool.
5. Set aside the syrup to cool.
6. Brush the top of the cake with the cooled syrup and place the clementine slices, cherries and nuts in an attractive pattern over the top of the cake. Brush the nuts and fruits with the syrup.



Thanks to Claire at Mackays for the samples of Mackays Marmalades, I was not paid for this post and all opinions are my own.

Labels: Christmas Cake, Fruity, Last minute, Mackays, spices, Whisky Marmalade

posted by Janice @ 05:00 5 Comments

Chocolate Lime Ice Cream

I used this excellent Trigger Ice Cream Scoop from Oxo Good Grips to serve up my ice cream.  I have three ice cream scoops, none of which have ever been terribly satisfactory, but this one scoops like a dream and the trigger action deposits the ice cream into your dish in a neat ball, it also goes in the dish washer which is a real bonus.
 The Chocolate Lime Curd ice cream was very creamy but the sharp lime flavour cut through the richness and the little nuggets of dark chocolate really did make it taste like those Chocolate Lime sweets from my childhood.


I'm adding this post to the Fab First Fridays linky at London Unattached, a blog event to share your favourite post of the month. 


Many thanks to Claire for the Mackays Lime Curd and to Cherelle and Oxo Good Grips for providing the Trigger Ice Cream Scoop for review.  I was not paid for this review and my opinions are my own.

Labels: chocolate, cream, ice cream, lime, Mackays, OXO Good Grips, Trigger Ice Cream Scoop, We should Cocoa

posted by Janice @ 20:37 17 Comments

The Royal Highland Show - Farming and Food

You may remember that I posted about the Royal Highland Show a few weeks ago?  Well, the time has come for the 2013 show.  It's on from Thursday 20th June to Sunday 22nd June.  I took a day off work to visit the show with particular emphasis on the Food Hall!

Food Hall

I caught up with the lovely Claire, from Mackay's Jams who I met at the Marmalade Awards last year, I'll be posting some recipes using Mackay's Jams in the very near future.  If you are going along be sure to say hello to Claire.

Fab Team at MacSween Haggis

 And this is the 'Blaggis' Roll (haggis and black pudding) I bought from MacSween for my brunch, kept me going all day. After a scout around the Food Hall, I decided to head out to see some of the livestock before coming back for the Cookery Theatre.


These beautiful white Charolais Bulls were waiting to be judged, they have been brushed and talcumned within an inch of their lives to make them look their best.



I wasn't quite sure what they were doing here, they seemed to be getting this poor sheep to keep turning round so they could look at both sides, it seemed bemused rather than distressed by it though.


Wendy made some delicious trout skewers, the trout was marinated in lemon juice, honey mustard and honey.  They cooked in the oven in no time and were accompanied by a salad.  Wendy had some help to make the salad dressing from Michael Moore MP the Secretary of State for Scotland.

Michael Moore MP making salad dressing

Wendy also made a Chocolate Roulade and a Tea Loaf which was cooked flat as a traybake type thing, which was served with ice cream. Best Tip: Add some cocoa powder to your melted chocolate to intensify the flavour.

The main event, for me, was Craig Wilson, The Kilted Chef who is Chef Proprietor at Eat on the Green, Udny Green.  The theme of the demonstration was 'Science on a Plate' as Craig was accompanied by Nutritionist Alex Johnstone of the Rowett Institute of Nutrtition and Health at Aberdeen University and David Thomson, Head of Food and Drink for the Scottish Government.


Craig cooked three dishes a Cullen Skink Risotto using finely diced potato rather than rice.  Aberdeen Angus Beef with Vegetable and Chick Pea Bhuna and a Raspberry, Oat, Ginger and Chocolate Dessert.  While he was cooking Alex told us about the nutritional benefits of cooking our own fresh ingredients.  David was able to provide information about the Food Industry in Scotland, I learned that the Scottish Food Industry is worth £12.4 billion per year. 

Aberdeen Angus Beef with Vegetable and Chick Pea Bhuna

While making the dessert, Craig came down into the audience to let us smell the raspberries he had lightly sauted with some whisky, the aroma was incredible!  And you get to see that he really is a 'kilted' Chef.  Best Tip:  If your onions are cooking too quickly and starting to burn, add a little water to the pan to slow down the cooking

Raspberry, Oat, Ginger and Chocolate Dessert

I had a great time at the Royal Highland Show, there are still three days to go, so if you are able to get to Edinburgh, then I can thoroughly recommend it.  If not, then start planning for 2014!  I'll leave you with some more livestock, without them there wouldn't be a show.


Many thanks to Chris for inviting me to visit the Show.  I received a complimentary ticket and parking pass for one day of the Royal Highland Show, I was not paid for this post and all views are my own.

Labels: Charolais, Craig Wilson, Eat on the Green, jam, Kilted Chef, Mackays, Macsween Haggis, Rowett Institute, Royal Highland Show, Wendy Barrie

posted by Janice @ 21:15 4 Comments