Haggis and Acorn Squash Risotto

I shouldn't call it "risotto".  It's made with spanish paella rice instead of arborio or carnaroli. Nor did I use white wine, but english cider. I've also recently developed an aversion towards parmesan so I used manchego cheese, not to mention that I put haggis on top, but the cooking method is like a risotto so I suppose I can still use the name.

Don't give me that look. It really works, is amazing how versatile haggis can be! In fact, while we were eating this, we arrived at the conclusion that haggis is like bacon or ham, it goes well with everything.

Yes, it doesn't look that great on the plate, but it was rich, full of flavour and the squash worked really well with the salty spiciness of the haggis.

Here is how I made it (for 2)

120g short-grained rice
1/2 an acorn squash diced small
1/2 a leek finely chopped
1/2 an onion finely chopped
1 garlic clove finely chopped
1 1/2 litres of chicken stock
1 splash of cider
Grated Manchego cheese
Olive oil
A small knob of butter
Salt and black pepper
1 packet of sliced haggis

Bring the stock to a simmer in a saucepan. Put the olive oil in a separate large pan, add the onion, garlic and leek and cook very gently until soft. Now we can put the squash in. Cook altogether for about 15 minutes. Add the rice and turn up the heat, keep it moving.

In the meantime heat up your haggis in a pan.

Pour in the cider and keep stirring until it has evaporated. Add the stock to the rice a ladle at a time, stirring and waiting until it has been fully absorbed before adding the next. Continue to add ladlefuls of stock until it has all been absorbed. With this type of rice it takes about 25 minutes.

Turn off the heat, season well and add the butter and a handful of grated cheese stirring until it's all well mixed. Serve with the haggis on top.

Enjoy!

Messing with the national dish

I've made an awesome dinner and I took very crappy photos.

Dear fellow bloggers, what's your secret to take such pretty photos if it's already dark, dinner is ready, you want to eat it while it still warm and you are hungry?

I'm going to show you the photos anyway. Can you guess what we've had?

Haggis burritos!!!!

 I love haggis neeps and tatties, we have them at least a couple of times a month. They are cheap, local and easy to put together. Pure comfort food, but sometimes it's fun to play with the classics.

I don't know if I have any purist Scotish readers, and I don't wish to offend anyone. After all the only elements missing are the tatties, with the difference that the swede is in chunky oven baked chips format and the haggis is wrapped in a homemade flour tortilla.

This is what I did:

I chopped the swede like this.

Then I coated the chips in olive oil and placed them on a baking tray in a single layer and well seasoned. I cooked them for 1 hour in a 200C oven. I turned them once during that time.


In the meantime I made a quick simple guacamole:

2 ripe avocados
6 cherry tomatoes
1 spring onion
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1 pinch of chili powder
1 pinch of salt
1 tbsp lime juice

Well, you know, mash the avocado, chop the tomatoes, slice the spring onion and mix with the spices, juice and salt. Easy peasy.


Then I made the flour tortillas. These quantities are for 4 people. I only used half of the dough, the other half is in the freezer.

Recipe adapted from orangette. I've tried a lot of tortilla recipes, but this is the ONE :

 4 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
 1 ¼ tsp salt
6 Tbs sunflower oil
1 ¼ cup boiling water

In a large bowl, stir the flour and salt together with a whisk. Mix in the sunflower oil until the mixture resembles a coarse meal. Stir in enough boiling water (about 1 ¼ to 1 ½ cups) that the dough holds together; you will want to begin by stirring with a spoon, since the water is scorching hot, but you should finish by working the dough with your hands.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface, and knead until smooth for 2-5 minutes. Form the dough into a ball, cover it with plastic wrap, and allow it to rest for 30 minutes.

Set a skillet over a  medium heat. Place the ball of dough on a lightly floured surface, and cut it into 6 wedges. Cut each wedge into 2 smaller wedges. Use a rolling pin to roll out a wedge into a very thin circle—as thin as you can make it.

Maybe you are like me. I can't roll out my dough into a nice circular shape. It doesn't matter, it's going to taste delicious anyway.

When the skillet is hot, but not smoking, cook the tortilla until slightly puffed, about 20-30 seconds. Flip, then cook for 20-30 seconds more, or until flecked with golden or brown spots. Place on a cooling rack. Repeat the process with the other wedges.

When everything was ready I grated some cheese (Edam was what I had in the fridge) and prepared the haggis. It comes already cooked so the only thing I had to do was to put it in a hot pan for a couple of minutes.

And Ta-da!

Haggis burritos! Serve with the swede chips on the side. Trust me, it is really good!