NEIL'S RECIPES: FISH SOUP

“This is a firm favourite at the restaurant. Ask your stallholder or fishmonger for prawn heads or crab shells as well as fish pie mix - it will be a good price. The old Scots name for this crab soup is Partan Bree, or the French would call it a bisque.”

Serves 4

INGREDIENTS

1 kg prawn and/or crab shells

1 large onion, roughly chopped

1 large carrot, roughly cut

1 stick celery, roughly chopped

1 bulb of fennel, roughly chopped

250g of mixed fish, like hake and pollock, cut into inch cubes

A large handful of mussels

100mls double cream

4 tablespoons of good mayonnaise

30mls of Pernod or Ricard

1 tbspn tomato purée

A pinch of saffron

1 clove garlic, crushed

1 bay leaf

1 tspn peppercorns

1 tbspn rapeseed oil, plus extra for the mayonnaise mix

Salt and pepper

4 slices of good bread for toasting

METHOD

In a hot oven, roast the shells for about half an hour on a roasting tray, until you can smell them.

Meanwhile, on the hob, heat the rapeseed oil a large pot and fry the carrot, onion, celery, half the fennel, peppercorns and bay leaf until golden. Then add the tomato purée and keep frying to cook out the purée. Add the roasted shells and cover with water. Simmer on the hob, stirring occasionally, and making sure there’s always enough water. After a couple of hours, push the stock through a fine sieve ensuring no shell remains.

Next, place a clean pot on the hob, add the Pernod or Ricard and reduce by half. Now add the stock, and reduce by half again until strong and rich. Incorporate the cream and a pinch of saffron to the stock and bring to the boil. Reduce further for a few minutes until it looks creamy. Then add in the fish and the mussels in their shells and cook on a gentle heat (do not boil now as the fish will break up and go to mush).

Whilst your bread is toasting, make a rouille by mixing together the garlic, mayonnaise, saffron and a squirt of rapeseed oil. If you have it a spoonful of leftover mash or bread crumbs, you can also add this to the mix.

Taste the soup and season to your taste. Serve in warmed bowls with dollops of rouillle and fennel on top (if you like that aniseedy flavour), and toasted bread on the side. 

NEIL'S RECIPES: WILD LEEK, WILD GARLIC AND POTATO SOUP

Those of you who walk near riverbanks will be all-too-familiar with the heady aroma of wild garlic, or ransoms, in the air. But before you pick and eat, double-check you’ve correctly identified it and give the leaves a thorough wash.

Makes 4 portions

INGREDIENTS

2 large potatoes, Maris Piper or Rooster

250g wild leeks, thoroughly washed

250g wild garlic, thoroughly washed

1 medium-sized onion, finely chopped

75g butter

Sea salt and black pepper

A few sprigs of curly parsley

METHOD

Melt the butter in a thick-bottomed pan and fry the onion for 10 to15 minutes until soft (but not coloured).

Dice the potatoes, about 1 inch thick, and add to the pan, now cover with hot water and about and inch or two more and bring to the boil.

Meanwhile, roughly chop the wild garlic and leeks, and when the spuds are starting to soften add the greens and season with salt and pepper. Cook for a further 10 minutes.

Finally, add the roughly-chopped parsley and serve piping hot in a warm bowl. Top with grated cheese or croutons if you like.

NEIL'S RECIPES: MILLIONBERE SHORTBREAD

I’ve tweaked the classic recipe a little to make use of beremeal, instead of just flour.  Beremeal, a form of barley, was used to make bannocks before ‘posh’ flour was introduced to Scotland.  It has a nutty flavour and a great taste and you can buy it in health food stores or online.  It’s milled today on Orkney, and still available in Caithness and Shetland too - but only if we keep up demand for it.  It comes highly recommended by this chef!

Enough for a 12” square brownie tray.

INGREDIENTS

125g unsalted butter

65g caster sugar

75g plain flour

75g beremeal

40g cornflour

1 tin condensed milk

100g milk chocolate

A splash of double cream

METHOD

Heat oven to 130 °C.

Place the tin of condensed milk into a pan and cover with water. Boil steadily for 3 hours, ensuring the water never boils away.

To make the base, cream the butter and sugar together for 3 to 4 minutes before adding the beremeal, plain and cornflour. Mix well.

Press this mix into a greaseproof-paper-lined tray - the pastry should be roughly 1cm thick -and bake for around 30 minutes until golden.

Open the tin of condensed milk (once it's cooled down), which will now be caramel, and spread evenly over the cooled shortbread.

Meanwhile, melt the chocolate in a bowl over hot water and when melted add a splash of cream.

Pour the chocolate mix over the caramel, using a palette knife to spread evenly. Place in the fridge for a couple of hours before cutting into pieces with a hot knife. Enjoy with a cup of tea!