NEIL'S RECIPES: OYSTERS WITH APPLE AND HORSERADISH

“This is a delicious starter or canapé. I’m not keen on the shallot dressing in red wine vinegar with oysters as I feel it’s too strong and you can’t taste the oyster. This for me is more subtle and elegant. I find the addition of crispy parsley is a nice texture too. Give it a go and always be careful frying herbs in oil by making sure the parsley is dry beforehand or it will splash all over you.”

Serves one

Prep time: 10 minutes

INGREDIENTS

3 oysters

1 tablespoon of very finely diced apple, I have used a red-fleshed one here, but any apple will do

1/2 tablespoon finely chopped shallot

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

1/2 tablespoon red wine/ fruit / apple vinegar

1-inch fresh horseradish

A few sprigs of parsley, carefully deep-fried

A few sprigs of parsley as a basE

Salt and pepper

METHOD 

Always be careful shucking oysters as the oyster can easily slip and you might stab yourself, so take your time and use a folded cloth wrapped around the hand holding the oyster so it won’t slip.

Scrub the oysters and remove the top shell. Release the flesh from the shell and turn it over.

On a clean plate, lay the oysters on the fresh parsley sprigs.

Combine the apple, shallot and oil with the vinegar in a cup. Mix, taste and season as required. Add more oil or vinegar if necessary. Spoon this mixture on to each oyster.

Using a fine grater, grate the fresh horseradish over each oyster.

To serve, simply place a few crispy parsley pieces on top of each oyster and eat at once.

NEIL'S RECIPES: SHORTBREAD

"This is a Forbes family recipe. I remember my gran making shortbread in trays, scoring the top with a fork. It was almost soft in the middle but utterly delicious and buttery. The final dredge of sugar after baking gives it the edge. Welcoming and Scottish, and above all, very Christmassy!"

Makes around 15 biscuits

INGREDIENTS

250g unsalted butter, diced to room temperature

125g unrefined caster sugar

300g plain flour

80g corn flour

Extra caster sugar for dredging

METHOD

Whip the butter and sugar in a mixer until light and fluffy, then gently and carefully sift in the flour and corn flour. Not whilst the machine is on! Fold in, being careful not to over mix at this stage.

Roll the dough into 2 sausage shapes, about the width of a £2 coin. Wrap in cling film and leave in the fridge overnight.

Using a sharp knife, cut the dough into 1cm-thick discs and lay on a baking tray lined with parchment and bake in pre-heated oven (135°C to 150°C) for 45 minutes, or until they start turning golden at the edges. Allow to cool, then dredge with extra sugar. 

NEIL'S RECIPES: STEAK WITH PIG’S TROTTER TOPPING

“A little effort required, but this topping creates even more flavour for an already delicious steak. Use whatever cut you like, but consider organic and grass-fed.”

Cooking time: 6 to 7 hours for the trotter; prep time: 15 minutes

Serves 2

INGREDIENTS

1 pig’s trotter, hairs removed on a flame or with a blow-torch, washed in cold water

1 onion, peeled and roughly chopped

1 carrot, roughly chopped

1 stick celery, roughly chopped

1/4 leek, washed and roughly chopped

1 bay leaf

A few peppercorns

1 large steak, I like a rib eye about 250 to 300g, at room temperaturE

A small handful of breadcrumbs

A few sprigs of thyme and parsley

2 to 3 fronds of tarragon

1 shallot, diced

300g mushrooms, diced

A splash of Madeira

50ml good jus or leftover gravy

Good salt and pepper

2 tablespoons cold-pressed rapeseed oil

METHOD

Begin by cooking the trotter in advance. In a good-sized pot, heat a tablespoon of oil and add the onion, carrot, celery, leek, bay leaf, a sprig of thyme and the peppercorns. Colour the vegetables until they are browned then add the trotter and cover with water. Bring to the boil and cook for 6 to 7 hours on a low simmer with a lid on, topping up the water occasionally, don’t let the water boil dry. You can also cook it in the oven at 150°C for the same period of time.

Once cooked, pick through the pig’s trotter, removing all the bones and any hard cartilage. This is quite fiddly as it’s very sticky. Using a teaspoon and wearing rubber gloves helps. Dice the flesh roughly into 1-cm cubes. Next, add a teaspoon of oil to a small pot and bring to a moderate heat. Add two thirds of the shallot and the mushrooms and fry until golden. This will take about 2 minutes. Add the diced trotter and stir. Add the Madeira and continue cooking until it’s reduce by half. Then add the jus, or gravy, and season. Add the chopped tarragon and leave to cook for 10 minutes or so.

To make the breadcrumb topping, heat a teaspoon of oil in a small pot and add the remaining shallot, thyme and parsley. Season with salt and pepper, then add the breadcrumbs and stir. Set to one side for now.

To cook the steak, season on both sides with salt and pepper and cook on a very hot griddle pan for 2 to 3 minutes each side, depending on your preference. Remove from the pan and place it on a clean metal tray. Spread over the pig’s trotter mixture then sprinkle over the breadcrumb topping with a little extra salt. Brown the steak with the topping under the hot grill for 30 seconds and serve at once with broccoli or whatever you fancy. Perhaps some chips or Dauphinoise potatoes.

NEIL'S RECIPES: EAST COAST SQUID, CHORIZO AND POTATO

“This dish sells out every time we put it on the menu at Cafe. Buy local, fresh squid from a good fishmonger; frozen is not the same.”

Cooking time: 5 minutes; prep time: 20 minutes

Serves 2

INGREDIENTS

1 medium-sized squid, cleaned and prepped by a fishmonger

1/3 of a good chorizo, peeled and thinly sliced. I use Peelham Farm Organic, but East Coast Cured or Hammond Charcuterie are excellent too

2 medium-sized potatoes like Pink Fir apple or similar, par-boiled and diced

A handful of salad leaves of your liking

1 tablespoon cold-pressed rapeseed oil

/2 tomato, de-seeded and diced

Juice of half a lemon

Good salt and pepper

A small handful of curly parsley, finely chopped

METHOD

This is quite a quick-cook dish so ensure you have all your ingredients prepped and to hand.

Take the squid and cut along its length, then lay it flat and score the inside in a criss-cross pattern. Pat dry and season with salt and pepper.

Next, heat half the oil in a pan, swirl it around and when it’s hot, carefully add the squid cut-side down. Add the tentacles too. Cook for about 1 minute on this side pressing down with a spoon. Add the diced potatoes to the gaps in the pan and keep moving them around as they cook and colour or they may burn on such a high heat. Then turn the squid over and it will start to curl up into a spiral. Continue to cook for another minute or so. Season again and add squirt of lemon juice. Add the diced tomato dice and chopped parsley.

Turn off the heat and remove the squid. Cut the squid into small spirals then add it back to the pan and add a handful of salad leaves. Give it a good mix.

To serve, spoon the salad into at the centre of a plate and give another squirt of lemon and drizzle over the remaining oil. Eat at once.

NEIL'S RECIPES: ROASTED PLUMS WITH PRALINE AND ICE-CREAM

“It wasn’t a bad year for plums and we had quite a few on our espaliered tree in the garden, after having none for two years. They were all eaten by us at home and many happy guests at Cafe St Honoré so these are from Phantassie Organic in East Lothian. I made a caramel ice cream but a good shop-bought honeycomb or vanilla would be fine.”

Serves 2
Prep time: 30 minutes; cooking time: 30 minutes

INGREDIENTS

5 good plums if they are still around, I got mine from Phantassie Organic in East Lothian
1/2 tablespoon rapeseed oil
1 tablespoon light brown sugar
A splash of water
1 teaspoon mixed spice
100g flaked almonds and hazelnuts, lightly toasted
100g caster sugar
Ice cream of your choice, I have used caramel

METHOD

Pre-heat the oven to 200°C / Gas Mark 6

Firstly, to make the praline add the caster sugar to a clean pan and bring gently to a medium heat. Do not leave this alone as it will burn very quickly. Whilst carefully controlling the heat, melt the sugar until it becomes caramel in colour. Do not taste this as it will burn you. This should take about 4 to 5 minutes. As soon as it turns golden brown, add the toasted nuts and combine carefully whilst still on the heat. Once combined, scrape the mixture onto a non-stick mat or an oiled surface so it won’t stick. Allow it to cool for an hour or two then blitz in a food processor to smash it up a bit, don’t overdo it. Set to one side.

Next, give the plums a good wash, cut them in half and remove the stones. Heat the oil in a clean non-stick frying pan for a minute or two until quite hot. Add the plums carefully, cut-side down to get a bit of colour on them, then turn them over after a minute. Sprinkle the mixed spice and light brown sugar over each plum, and a splash of water.

Roast in the oven for 5 to 7 minutes and remove to cool slightly, these should be served just warm.

To serve, arrange the plums on plates and top with a scoop of ice cream and a scattering of praline for texture. Drizzle over any sauce left in the pan from the plums. Eat at once.

NEIL'S RECIPES: SAUSAGE, PUMPKIN AND APPLE BAKE

“We love to serve this one-pot-wonder in the Forbes’ household. Use proper, juicy sausages from a farm shop, heritage tatties and apples, some onion for background flavour, pumpkin for that sweet, earthy taste, and some rosemary to marry it all together. Oh, and remember to keep the skin on the apples and potatoes!”

Serves 4

INGREDIENTS

Allow 3 sausages per person (I like a good old pork and herb banger)

1 very large cooking apple (James Grieve or Bramley are excellent), cored and roughly copped

2 medium-sized onions, roughly chopped

1/4 pumpkin (or butternut squash), roughly chopped

1 clove of garlic, sliced

A few par-boiled potatoes (like a heritage Pink Fir Apple or Sharpe’s Express). cut into large chunks

Salt and pepper

A sprig of rosemary

A small handful of fennel fronds, roughly chopped

A splash of cold-pressed rapeseed oil

A knob of butter

METHOD

Heat the oil in a large casserole dish or oven-proof pan, and fry the onions and whole sausages. Season with salt and pepper.

Add the pumpkin to the pan. Keep stirring and moving the dish around to get colour on all the ingredients. Then add the potatoes butter, garlic and apples.

Make sure everything is starting to colour nicely before placing in the oven with a sprig of rosemary for 20 to 30 minutes at 200°C to further cook and brown.

Remove from the oven, add the fennel fronds and stir. Serve at the table in the dish you cooked it in - no time for pretty dishes here!

NEIL'S RECIPES: HAKE WITH SHELLFISH SAUCE, MUSSELS AND COCKLES

“I love cooking hake, it has an ability to be quite forgiving. I like to cook it with the skin on, so get your fishmonger to scale and pin bone the fish and cut it into portions for you. The sauce, or bisque, can be made way in advance and frozen in tubs The shellfish is optional, but I really like cockles and mussels. Keep the fish just a little undercooked so it retains its wonderful, flaky texture.”

Serves 2

Prep time 45 minutes; cooking time: 1 hour 

INGREDIENTS

2x150g pieces of hake, skin on, pin-boned and scaled. Get your fishmonger to do this. Use cod as an alternative, but avoid salmon.

250g shells like lobster, langoustine or crab

1 carrot

1 stick celery

1/2 onion

A wedge of fennel

2 tablespoons sunflower oil

1/2 glass white wine

Tiny pinch of saffron, optional

1 shot brandy

A bunch of herbs like thyme

2 bay leaves

1 tablespoon tomato purée

1 litre fish stock, or water

1 medium-sized potato

50ml double cream

Juice of 1/2 lemoN

A knob of butter

Good salt and pepper

A handful of washed cockles and mussels

Heat the oven to 200-230°C / Gas Mark 6-7

Roast the shells for 20 minutes then crush as best you can with the end of a rolling pin.

Reduce the heat of the oven to 180°C / Gas Mark 4.

Peel and roughly chop the vegetables.

METHOD

Heat a tablespoon of oil in a large pot and add the vegetables (except the potato) and fry until nice and golden, about 5 to 10 minutes. Add the crushed shells and mix in the tomato purée. Add the saffron and wine and reduce for a minute or two. Add the brandy and hopefully it will ignite - be careful as it can burn your eyebrows off! It’s not crucial for it to ignite though. Next, add the herbs, potato and the fish stock (or water) and bring to the boil. Simmer for 45 minutes to an hour, then pass the sauce through a fine sieve into a clean pan. Reduce by half, then add the cream. Be careful, as once the cream is in, it will boil over if it gets too hot. Add the cockles and mussels to the sauce as it gently simmers. Add lemon juice to taste. Season.

Once the cockles and mussels have opened, begin to cook the hake. Heat a tablespoon of oil in a non-stick frying pan and get it hot. Pat the fish is dry and season with salt and pepper. Place it in the pan, skin-side down, and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, then for a few seconds on every other side, then back to skin-side down. Add the bay leaves to the pan and place in the oven for 3 minutes or so, until the fish is just cooked. Remove from the oven and add a knob of butter and baste the fish in the pan. Turn it skin-side up and baste again whilst seasoning with salt and pepper and lemon juice.

Let it rest for a moment then serve in warm bowls with the shellfish sauce, topped with a bay leaf. Give a final season, and serve with some wilted spinach perhaps…

NEIL'S RECIPES: BREAD AND BUTTER PUDDING

In the colder months, this is one of the consistent favourites at Cafe St Honoré. Full of sweet, vanilla flavours and rich custard, it’s the perfect way to use up stale bread. With the addition of plumped-up, juicy Californian raisins and a touch of mixed peel, it’s a warm and welcoming friend when it’s chilly outside. It is a rich one this, so don't eat too much, and serve with a little pouring cream at most.

Serves 4

INGREDIENTS 

Half a loaf of leftover bread, crusts removed. Panettone or brioche are also good.

250g unsalted butter, melted

500ml double cream

1 vanilla pod, split and seeds scraped out

3 egg yolks

150g sugar

1 whole egg

1 small handful of Californian raisins and mixed peel

2 tbsp jam or marmalade, warmed. I like home-made plum jam.

METHOD

Rub an ovenproof dish with a little of the melted butter.

Slice the bread 1cm thick and submerge in the melted butter. 

To make the custard, heat the cream and the vanilla pod on the stove until it comes to the boil, turn off the heat and leave to infuse for a few minutes. Whisk together the egg yolks and sugar until thick and creamy, and whisk into the cream. Whisk in the whole egg as well.

Layer the butter-soaked bread with the custard and raisins and mixed peel, repeating until you reach the top of the dish. Don't put fruit on the top layer as it will burn in the oven.

Bake in an oven at 180°C for 45 minutes until hot. Top with a few more raisins and mixed peel, then spoon warm jam over the top. Leave to rest for 10 minutes before serving.

NEIL'S RECIPES: CEP PARCELS WITH MUSHROOM AND MADEIRA SAUCE

“This is the simplest of fillings. It’s basically a duxelle, easy to make and will keep in the fridge for a while. Tarragon isn’t for everyone but it brings out the flavour of the ceps wonderfully here. Likewise, the Madeira in the sauce is a good friend of the mushroom. If you can’t find ceps in local delis or markets, then button mushrooms will be fine. You can make pasta dough, but I have used little wonton wrappers that you can buy from good supermarkets or Asian food stores and make any shapes you wish.”

Serves 2

Prep time: 1 hour; cooking time: 20 minutes

INGREDIENTS

150 to 200g cep mushrooms, brushed clean and given a wipe with a damp cloth, diced into smallish dice
2 banana shallots, peeled and diced small
1 large garlic clove, peeled and diced very small or crushed
1 tablespoon olive oil
A small knob of butter
1 teaspoon chopped tarragon
1 tablespoon dried ceps, reconstituted in 50ml boiling water, then finely chopped
A few tarragon leaves for garnish
1 packet wonton wrappers, or make a simple pasta dough with 100g ’00’ flour and 1 egg in a food processor and roll thinly in a pasta machine
75ml double cream
1 tablespoon Madeira
Good salt and pepper
1 egg, beaten and used to seal the edges of the parcels

METHOD

First, make a mushroom duxelle by sweating half the shallots and garlic in a pot with half the olive oil. Season with salt and pepper and add the diced mushrooms and butter and cook until it starts to go brown. Then add the cream and chopped tarragon and bring to the boil on a moderate heat then simmer until all the cream is absorbed and the duxelle is thick. Chill in the fridge on a plate for later.

Now to make the sauce. In a clean pot, fry the shallots and garlic gently in the remaining oil until translucent, then add the Madeira. Boil away the alcohol and reduce until a syrup. Next, add the stock, the chopped reconstituted mushrooms and the cream and bring to the boil. Reduce for a couple of minutes, but don’t over-reduce or it’ll become too thick and gloopy. Taste to check the seasoning and set aside.

To assemble the parcels, lay a wonton wrapper flat and place a tiny teaspoon of duxelle in the centre. Brush the edges lightly with egg wash and fold, corner to corner, to make a triangle. Seal the edges carefully. Continue until you’ve used up all the duxelle mixture.

To cook, use a bamboo steamer, or place the parcels on an oiled wire rack being careful not to let them touch each other or they will stick together. Place the rack over a pan of boiling water and cover with another pan to create a steamer. Steam for 5 to 6 minutes until piping hot then arrange on a plate and spoon over the sauce. Sprinkle a few tarragon leaves on top as a garnish. Serve immediately.

NEIL'S RECIPES: STOVIES

"To celebrate #scotfoodfort21 here’s a classic Scottish recipe for you. I think we all love a warming bowl of traditional stovies, they are an integral part of our culture. Some may laugh at them but they have a place on a menu. Remember people, visit Scottish restaurants to explore the rich food and dishes we have. So maybe we should all be devouring more traditional dishes like the mighty stovies!"

Serves 4, Prep 10 minutes, Cooking Time 45 minutes to 1.5 hours 

INGREDIENTS

3 large floury potatoes, peeled and washed

1 onion, peeled and sliced very thinly

A shank of lamb, a tin of corned beef, or leftover roast meat from a previous dinner

2 tablespoons good lard or beef fat, or a neutral oil like a sunflower will do

Good salt and pepper

A huge pile of oatcakes

METHOD

If using a lamb shank, slow braise the meat for about 3 hours.

Place the potatoes in a pot of cold water and bring to the boil, season with salt and allow to simmer for 40 minutes or so until quite soft and almost falling apart. Drain and keep them warm in the pot.

Either cut the leftover meat or corned beef into small pieces, or flake the meat from the shank, and place into the pot with the potatoes.

Add the fat to a separate pan, I love beef fat, then add the sliced onions, season with salt and pepper, and fry for 10 to 15 minutes until soft and the onions have taken on all the flavours of the fat. Add the fried onions to the pot of potatoes and meat and mix vigorously. Taste and season with salt and pepper.

This recipe is a great way to use up leftover meat in a traditional Scottish recipe passed down through generations. Serve with the mighty oatcake and a dram.