The Edinburgh Reporter September 2019

The Edinburgh Reporter
24 FOOD
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FOOD 25
Recipe of the month
Ballotine of Corn Fed Chicken
with Truffle Mash, Sweet Carrot
puree, Braised Gem Lettuce,
Shaved Truffle, Baby Onions,
Pickled Grapes
This tasty recipe is written for
The Edinburgh Reproter by Glenn
Roach, Regional Executive Chef
of the Surf & Turf restaurants
situated in Macdonald Rusacks
Hotel, St Andrews & Macdonald
Holyrood Hotel, Edinburgh.
For the mashed potato recipe
you will have to read the online
version of this article. This looks
complex - but it is pretty easy.
Here's what you have to do :
Carrot Puree - Peel 1 kg of
carrot and grate. In a pan of
boiling water, add the carrot and
cook for 5 minutes. In a food
processor blend until smooth and
pass through a fine chinois.
Braised Gem Lettuce Take 1
Head gem lettuce, an orange,
250ml chicken stock, 1
clove and1 bay leaf In a pan
add chicken stock, orange, clove
and bay leaf and bring to the
boil. Add the gem lettuce to the
boiling stock for 2 minutes remove
and cool.
Ballotine Chicken Take 1 chicken
breast and wrap it in cling film to
make the shape of a long cylinder.
Steam for 20 mins. Remove
chicken from the cling film and
slowly crisp the skin until golden
brown in a frying pan with 10ml of
vegetable oil.
Braised Baby Carrots Take 2-3
baby carrots, trim and peel them
and boil in salted water until
soft. Melt butter in a pan a brush
the carrots and add Malden salt
to taste.
Pickled Red Grapes 50g red
seedless grapes, 10ml white wine
vinegar, 10ml water and10g sugar.
Put vinegar, sugar and water to
a pan and bring to the boil until
sugar dissolves. Halve the grapes
and add the pickling liquor. Leave
for 20 mins
Baby Onions Peel baby
onions and roast in the oven at
120 degrees until golden.
Shaved Truffle Shave truffles on
a mandolin slicer and use a 25ml
pastry cutter to cut in to circles
Assembling the dish! On the
bottom of the plate place carrot
puree and drag across the plate.
Slice the chicken and place at
the side of the puree. Add
gem lettuce to the plate and
scatter onions and grapes
around the plate. In a piping bag
add mashed potato and place
black truffle circles on top and
baby carrots in the middle of the
plate.
A guide to Edinburgh’s
oyster howffs
by Juliet Lawrence Wilson
Now deemed the height of luxury
oysters weren’t always the treat of
the rich. Once an abundant food,
oysters were usually served in
drinking dens, otherwise known as
Howffs, sometimes in a steak and
oyster pie but more often eaten
raw with their shells scattered on
the floor. Up until the 19th century
they were cheap and plentiful.
Sadly you’d struggle to get an
oyster in a working man’s boozer
these days and whilst I hate to
be a gentrifier, I prefer my oysters
with champagne rather than stout.
Luckily for me there are plenty of
great places to indulge.
The Cafe Royal Circle Bar on
West Register Street has to be
one of Edinburgh's most beautiful
pubs. I recently had three oysters
with a glass of Veuve for £15. This
bar has a terrific atmosphere and
is a true unspoilt gem.
At Le Di-Vin Oysterman Events
is back, shucking his oysters for
the customers. Expect to see
the Oysterman there on 20th
September, 25th October and 29th
November. Le Di-Vin has plenty of
fantastic wines by the glass and
the fresh Loch Fyne oysters are on
the house.
Ondine continue to offer their
oyster happy hour and at only £1
for any raw oyster it’s a great way
to try not only various species
but one of Edinburgh’s top
seafood restaurants. Great for an
after work treat, from 5.30pm to
6.30pm.
Of course if you’d rather shuck
your own my current favourite
oyster purveyor is Something
Fishy on Broughton St. Owned by
the charming Daniel, I’ve always
been really pleased with the
quality of all his produce but his
oysters are some of the best I've
tasted. Just remember to buy a
good shucking knife and a chain
mail glove unless you fancy your
evening ending in A&E rather than
shellfish Viagra.
Juliet's Food Diary
Well thank goodness that’s over.
Whilst I enjoyed a few Fringe
shows I found the plethora of
catering trucks utterly depressing.
Having enjoyed a pleasant
and pretty low budget lunch at
Civerinos on Hunter Square: a
stunning sandwich, fries and a
soft drink for £10, it surprised
me to see a pop-up stall selling
the same thing. The former was
delivered to me while I sat in an
albeit hipster, but comfortable,
environment, the latter to be eaten
on the pavement.
The Festival used to take us
to parts of the city we rarely
frequented and resulted in
restaurants, cafés and bars
earning extra income having had
the decency to open all year round.
I know, it’s uncool to be an ‘it was
better in my day’ bore, but it’s true.
The Festival, and its catering in
particular is beyond redemption.
Hopefully the establishments of
Leith fared well in August. While
there are a few great venues in
the north of the city they’re yet to
be ruined with an artisan venison
burger stall or pop up Prosecco
camper van.
I’d be pushed to name my
favourite establishment in Leith,
as there are so many but La Riva
Pizzeria on Assembly Street
is now my ‘go to’ when I want
something great value for money,
cooked brilliantly.
On a recent family outing I had a
Hellboy: tomato sauce, fiordilatte,
pepperoni, nduja, chorizo and fresh
chilli. It was a triumph, as was
my daughter’s kids' margherita
in the shape of a bunny rabbit.
All their pizzas are made with
traditional stone ground flour and
the other ingredients are also
top quality. However, an Italian
restaurant without atmosphere
is like David Hasselhoff minus
speedos. Fortunately La Riva has
the wonderful Andrew Byatt as
manager and front of house who
really made the evening special
for us. If you recognise Andrew
it might be because he’s also an
actor who has appeared in not
one, but three episodes of Taggart,
as well as numerous forays onto
stage and screen. He certainly
plays a starring role here so if
you’re booking, make sure he’s in.
I was delighted to attend the
packed launch of Noto, Stuart
Ralston's second Edinburgh
restaurant on Thistle Street. The
canapés served were utterly
stunning and the front of house
staff beyond welcoming. The
décor was, save for some plants,
minimalist in the extreme and very
bright. If your eyesight isn’t what
it once was this is the restaurant
for you. However judging by the
canapés the food here will be
beautiful so why not show it off?
However if sumptuous décor
and flattering lighting are more
your thing, and my goodness
it’s mine these days, dinner at
The Bonham in the West End
is a must. I took the Silver Fox
boyfriend to their Bluesy Snoozy
evening, where they have a couple
of supremely talented acoustic
musicians and an incredible
offer of three courses from their
Market Menu with half a bottle
of wine for £25 a head. There’s
not a better bargain to be had in
Edinburgh. Bluesy Snoozy is on
the first Thursday of every month.
The SF was so relaxed he even
managed to shrug off his recent
poor golfing performance whilst
stroking my knee under the table:
it’s restaurant valium! See my full
review at www.edinburghreporter.
co.uk
Make it Edinburgh!
Hotel investment from
global brands is reinforcing
Edinburgh’s appeal as a worldleading
conference, incentive
meeting and events destination.
The city currently ranked
27thin the International Congress
Association (ICCA) World
Rankings and second in the UK,
only to London, is also the number
one ‘hot spot’ for hotel investment
and development in the UK*.
YOTEL Edinburgh’s arrival as the
brand’s first city centre hotel in
Europe,follows InterContinental
Hotel Group’s takeover of the
Principal Edinburgh George
Street, making the newlynamed
InterContinental Edinburgh - The
George, the first hotel in the group
outside of London in the UK.
This comes after last year’s
announcement that Sir Richard
Branson will open the first
Virgin Hotel outside the USA,
in Edinburgh’s historic India
Buildings on Victoria Street.
Coupled with its reputation
as a unique centre of
excellence, innovation and
heritage, as celebrated
in the city’s current Make
it Edinburgh campaign,
these developments further
boost confidence in the Scottish
capital as the perfect place to host
conferences and events.
Amanda Ferguson, Head
of Convention Edinburgh
commented: “Continued
hotel investment from global
brands gives conference and
event organisers just one more
reason to choose Edinburgh
as a host city. Accessible,
compact and beautiful, Edinburgh
is renowned for its thriving
knowledge economy and worldclass
academic credentials in
sectors such as Technology, Life
Sciences, Creative Industries, Food
and Drink, Renewable Energy and
Financial Services. These are
huge drivers of business tourism.
“For the past 18 months, the
Make it Edinburgh campaign, a
collaboration of private and public
organisations operating in the
conference and meetings industry,
has been striving to showcase
these strengths to the business
events market.
"So, it’s great to see Edinburgh
gaining recognition globally as a
place to invest.
"The more conferences we
bring in to the city, the greater
the opportunity for collaboration,
innovation and lasting impact
within these sectors, whether
that’s through knowledge
share, developing new technology
or raising Edinburgh’s profile
within these fields.”
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