Whisky Festival Meal

“Whisky Live” is over “lets eat”

Well what a night was had by all. The meal was a great success, hard work, but enjoyed by all. As you know the Whisky Boys had attended the Whisky Live event (Jim, Dougie, Nicola and “Our American Ambassador” Bruce), and I am sure they will provide you with an update, were joined by Scott (Nicola’s husband), Cathie (Dougies wife) and Jacqueline (the designated driver).

Cathie & I had decided that we would two starters, one main and one sweet. The majority of the inspiration for the meal came from The Whisky Kitchen Book – 100 ways with Whisky and Food by Sheila McConachie & Graham Harvey.( a much needed read for the Whisky lover)

Our first starter was Haggis Soup, something that none of us had every experienced. I must say that I was really specptical as to how this would turn out, because as the recipe was progressing the soup was looking a decidedly sludge brown colour, but once the Whisky and cream had been added, I was truely surprised. I would recommend that you guys and gals try this. We used Glen Moray Whisky as opposed to the recommended Glenfarclas.

 

Veloute of Haggis laced with (in our case Glen Moray Single Speyside Malt Scotch Whisky)

Ingredients

750 ml good beef stock preferably home made
100 ml Glenfarclas (or in our case Glen Moray)
400 g haggis, if possible choose quite a spicy one
approx 1 tablespoon of heather honey to taste
250 ml double cream
salt and freshly ground black pepper for seasoning

Garnish:

1 handful of fresh chopped parsley

Over a high heat reduce the stock by half then add the Whisky and reduce by half again. Next add the haggis broken into small pieces and add honey to taste. Stir, breaking up the haggis, bring the soup to a simmer and add 200ml of the double cream. As the haggis melts it will thicken the soup. Now season to taste and add half of the parsley just before serving.

To serve ladle into your soup bowls adding a swirl of cream and a sprinkling of parsley.

 

Glenfiddich Chicken Liver Pate’:

Our next starter was pate. This was a rich pate’ which we served with the most simplistic of crackers. I definitely think the haggis soup overshadowed the pate, but none the less it was lovely.

Ingredients:

500 g chicken livers
50g butter
12 shallots roughly chopped
1 plump clove of garlic, crushed
1 heaped teaspoonful of fresh thyme
1 1/2 teaspoons of salt
a few turns of freshly ground pepper
15mls of port wine
1 teaspoon lemon juice
15mls Glenfiddich Single Malt Scotch Whisky 12 Year Old
(the recipe asks for green peppercorns, but we did not use these)
75mls double cream

Melt the butter in a pan and gently soften the shallots, do not brown. Increase the heat and add the livers, garlic, thyme, salt and pepper and cook gently until the liver is only just cooked. It is important not to cook it for too long or the liver will become tough.

When the liver is cooked and this only takes a few minutes, add the cream and simmer until it reduces a little, and then scrape the mixture into a food processor and puree until very smooth. If you want to make it even smoother pass it through a sieve or a mouli.

Turn the mixture into a container and cool quickly over a bowl of ice. When it is cooled cover and place in the fridge to set, this will take 2 – 3 hours. The pate will now keep for about 4 days in a sealed container.

 

Dundee Lamb Chops with Jura – we did Scottish Lamb Shanks with Bowmore Islay Single Malt Scotch Whisky Aged 12u years

The main meal was lamb shanks and we used the Dundee lamb chop recipe with a slight variation. The only way to eat lamb shanks is with a huge bowl of creamy mashed potatoes. The recipe calls for the meat to be marinaded for 15 minutes, once this process was over the shanks were slow cooked for 4 hours and the meat was just melting off the bone. The marinade was then reduced to provide an delicious sauce. Everyone adored this course and I cannot tell you how pleasant it is to work hard, and produce a meal that is truely enjoyed by your dinner guests. Again I varied from the recipe in the choice of meat and the malt used, I decided to go for Bowmore 12 Year Old (because it was opened) and not Jura – as Islay is really just a hop over the water from the suggested Jura.

We cooked 8 lamb shanks

Ingredients:

Marinade
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1 plump clove of garlic crushed
20mls heather honey
salt freshly ground black pepper
50mls white wine vinegar
75mls stock (lamb or vegetable)
60 mls Malt Whisky (the Bowmore 12 Year Old)
2 teaspoons orange marmalade
1 large knob of butter

(I doubled these ingredients due to the amount of shanks)

Mix together all of the marinade ingredients in a bowl and add the shanks turning them in the marinade. Set aside for no longer than 15 minutes. Heat a large frying pan and then brown the shanks. (my interpretation of the recipe – I then put the shanks into a slow cooker and topped up with lamb stock. I slow cooked the shanks for 4 hours until tender and melting off the bone. Prior to serving I poured the marinade into a pan, and added a ladle of the lamb stock, checked for seasoning and the Whisky content and simmer. Just before serving I added a knob of butter to make the sauce silky. Each plate was served with a single lamb shank with a little marinade poured over it. To accompany this we had a mound of mash potatoes, carrot and broccoli – delicious.

We then opted for a big rest. A dram or two was drunk.

 

Pudding was a Whisky Boys Creation – very simplistic

Cathie and I had consciously decided that it would be good to have something light and refreshing as a pudding. We made a sugar syrup and added a good slug of Bruadar Malt Whisky Liqueur, to that we added blackberries, strawberries and raspberries and left to soak overnight. Prior to the meal we whipped up double cream and again added a healthy slug of Bruadar until the cream was firm. We then decanted the fruit into individual small glasses with a small amount of the syrup and topped with the whipped double cream. The dessert remained chilled in the fridge until we were ready to be service it allowing the fruit to be refreshingly cool.

This was a really easy dessert and very refreshing.

 

Needless to say the night ended with a large pot of coffee and a few after dinner drams. Jim opened a bottle of Glen Ord Single Cask bottled in the Spring of 2008 and had been aged over 12 years. This bottling was a McGibbon’s Provenance un-chilled filtered bottling . This dram went down very well with all the Whisky Boys and their guests and it has been moved up our list for a tasting.

 

We all had a really good night, many laughs and fantastic patter. This was certainly a good Whisky Boys day.

 

Look out for the Whisky Boys reviews on the Whisky Live event.