“This is great as a starter and equally great as a main course. The flavour from the black pudding seeps into the potato and makes for a tasty, rich and wholesome dish with just the right amount of crispness. The egg is optional, but I love a fried egg. There are many types of black pudding to try, so pick the one you like best. Potato variety too — have fun and experiment.”

Serves 4

20 minutes prep, 45 minutes cooking

INGREDIENTS

4 slices of black pudding, I like Stornoway

4 medium sized potatoes, I suggest a Rooster or Maris Piper, peeled and washed

100g of butter, melted

A knob of butter

A few thyme leaves

100ml cold-pressed rapeseed oil

4 organic eggs

A bunch of watercress

Good salt and pepper

1 teaspoon of Arran mustard

1 teaspoon honey

1 teaspoon fruit vinegar, apple or cider is nice

To make the dressing, add the honey, vinegar and mustard to a bowl and whisk together whilst trickling in 50ml of cold-pressed rapeseed oil.

METHOD

To make the potato cake, grate the potatoes into a tea towel, then season with salt and pepper and add a few thyme leaves. Gather the corners of the tea towel and squeeze the water out of the grated spuds.

Add the remaining oil to a large frying pan (or you can use 4 small blini pans) and place on the hob. Place the grated potato in a bowl, add the melted butter and stir. Place half of this mix in the pan so it covers the entire base, then place the black pudding slices on top of the potato leaving a gap around the edges. Then cover with the remaining grated potato creating a sandwich.

Cook until the base turns golden brown then carefully flip the whole potato cake over to cook the other side.

Next, add a knob of butter to a clean frying pan and fry the eggs. Don’t let the pan get too hot. Baste the eggs with the butter and season with salt and pepper.

To serve, cut the potato cake into wedges and serve with an egg, a handful of watercress and a trickle of that lovely dressing.