Christmas Clootie Dumpling

Fresh off her appearance on the Great British Bake Off, Earthy regular Lea Harris was recently invited to be a guest on the Edinburgh leg of Market Kitchen's Big Adventure (which aired last week on the Good Food channel). She was asked is she knew of any other keen bakers in town I was very touched that she recommended me.

Since they were looking for something distinctly Scottish, but with a Christmassy feel, I thought back to my great-grandmother's fantastic Clootie Dumpling - a Scots classic if ever there was one. While it was a year round treat during my childhood, my Nana always came up with variations for special occasions, so I hope she would approve of my festive version of her signature dish.

Ingredients (Makes a large pudding for around 10 people)

175g Plain Flour

115 oz Self-Raising Flour

30g Cake Crumbs (or bread crumbs if you don't have some old cake lying around)

90g Vegetarian Suet

60g Fine Raw Cane Sugar

115g each of Currants & Sultanas

60g each of Raisins, Dried Cranberries & Mixed Peel

1 DSp each of Treacle, Golden Syrup & Medium Cut Marmalade

1 oz Sunflower Spread, melted

1 Lge Egg, lightly beaten

1 1/2 TeSp each of Ground Ginger, Mixed Spice, Cinnamon & Nutmeg

1 TeSp each of Ground Cloves & Mace

275ml Buttermilk

1 TeSp Bicarbonate of Soda

25ml Whisky (or brandy if you prefer)

Pinch of Salt

Plain Flour for sprinkling on cloth

Coin wrapped in greaseproof paper

Method

First put a large pan of water on to boil with a plate, or ideally, a steamer rose in the bottom so the pudding can't sit on the floor of the pan. Then submerge your 'cloot' or pudding cloth - a square of muslin around 2 feet square - in a bowl of boiling water to sterilise it.

Pop your bicarbonate of soda into a cup, mix with a splash of buttermilk and set to one side.

Sift your flour into a large bowl then add crumbs, sugar, spices, suet, salt & dried fruit. Mix together so the fruit has no clumps and the spices & flour are well mixed. Now add your margarine, egg, treacle, syrup, marmalade, whisky and the bicarbonate of soda/buttermilk mix. Begin to stir, adding the remainder of the buttermilk (and your coin for luck) until you have as smooth a batter as you can manage with a mixture containing more than a pound of fruit!

Remove you cloot from the boiling water, wring it out & lay it on a flat surface. Sprinkle all over with flour, rub gently in to the cloth then shake off any excess. Now put your cloth over a large bowl and spoon the mixture into the centre of cloot. Bring up the edges of the cloth - keeping the pleats as neat and shallow as possible - then, leaving enough space for the dumpling to swell, tie the top tightly with string.

Place the dumpling into the water, bring it back to the boil, cover & allow to simmer for 3 1/2 hours, topping up with boiling water if necessary.

At the end of the cooking time, remove the dumpling from the hot water & plunge into cold water for around 5 seconds. Then place it in a colander, untie the cloot and open it up just enough so a serving plate can be placed on top. Turn the whole thing over and remove the rest of the cloot. Your dumpling is now complete, but is naked as a newborn & needs to be covered with a damp teatowel and left overnight to allow the skin to firm up.

To Serve

Once the skin has firmed up, the whole dumpling can be warmed gently in the oven & served with brandy butter or custard a la Christmas pudding. Alternatively only warm half then slice the other half very thinly so it can be fried and served with bacon & eggs for the ultimate Boxing Day breakfast.

Aromatic North African Fish with Couscous

This is my variation of a North African Stew - with the fish cooked seperately from the sauce. The ingredients list is long, I know, but most of the spices are for the Ras-El-Hanout which you can buy pre-prepared (Steenberg's do the best that I know of). This spice mix varies from recipe to recipe - try making your own and you can omit some things you're not keen on, or add others you think might work. As for the fish - use any fillets of firm fish that are available and sustainable. From line caught sea bass, mackeral, sea bream, to monkfish. Also add a few shellfish for a different texture - e.g. prawns (buy them whole) or scallops or even mussels (which you could add to the sauce at the end). I know this looks like a long recipe to do - but it's really not. It takes less than hour in total in the kitchen - and the aromas are so special, that you'll probably want to take your time over it and spend as much time there as you can.

First of all make your Ras-El-Hanout.
Ingredients (makes enough for 8 people - store any left in an airtight jar if this is too much): 2 tsp each of cumin seeds, ginger powder, fennel seeds, turmeric, coriander seeds & Salt; 1 tsp each of cayenne pepper, dried chillis, ground cloves, freshly ground nutmeg & black pepper; one small cinnamon stick.
Method: place all the spices together in a warm, dry, heavy pan and gently heat to release the oils and flavours, then crush in a pestle and mortar. Sieve into a bowl to capture any larger pieces of cinnamon stick.

For the Fish: Place 3 tbs of olive oil in a dish and add 1 heaped tbs of the Ras-El-Hanout and mix together. Coat the fish fillets well in the spicy oil. Shell the prawns (removing the black membrane) or shell your scallops and coat well with the spicy oil. Cover the dish with cling film and place in the fridge. You can do all of this well in advance.

For the Sauce: 2-3 tbs olive oil; 2 medium red onions, finely sliced; 1/2 head of 1 small fennel - very finely chopped; 1 small preserved lemon (scoop out the flesh and only use the skin) - very finely chopped; 2 cloves of garlic, minced; 1 small red chilli finely chopped; 1 tin of chopped tomatoes; a good pinch of saffron threads; around 300ml of good quality fish stock; 1 heaped tsp of runny honey (Ulmo Blossom or Orange Blossom honey works well)- to be added at the end of cooking.
Method: In a heavy bottomed pan (with a lid) add the oil and 2 tbs of your Ras-El-Hanout mix and gently fry for 1 minute before adding the onions and fennel. Fry for another 2-3 minutes before adding the preserved lemon, garlic & chilli. Gently fry for another couple of minutes before adding the chopped tomatoes, one spoon at a time, mixing well. Make sure the tomatoes are well broken down into the sauce, then add the fish stock and finally the saffron threads. Mix well, turn the heat down to low and place the lid on the pan. The sauce will take around 30-40 minutes to cook through and it should be almost jam-like in consistency. Check it and give it a good stir now and again making sure it doesn't stick to the pan at all.

For the Couscous: Put a good glug of olive oil in a pan and warm it through. Tip in around 50g of couscous per person, stirring well with the oil to coat the grains. Remove from the heat and pour in enough boiling water to just cover the couscous and no more. Sstir well, then pop the lid on the pan and leave for 5-10 mins. Fluff up with a fork, and add salt to taste, a good bunch of chopped fresh coriander (or flat leaf parsley or both) and the grated zest of a lemon.

To finish the dish: Heat a large non-stick frying pan on the hob. Add a little olive oil and when hot add your fish fillets, skin-side down to sear. The fish fillets should take no more than 4-5 mins to cook; the prawns or scallops 2-3 minutes. If you're using mussels, add them now into your sauce and replace the pan lid, giving the pan a bit of a shake - the mussels are ready when the shells open (discard any that do not open). Check your sauce for seasoning and add the honey, stirring in well. Spoon a heap of couscous onto each warmed serving plate; add the sauce to the side and place the fish on top of the sauce. Serve immediately and listen to the groans of joy!