Tonight (25th January) is Burns night in Scotland celebrating their famous poet Robert Burns and this is traditionally done with a Burns Supper. If you are unfamiliar with the name you will be familiar with his most famous song ‘Auld Lang Syne.’ Anyway in Scotland they will be cooking up plenty of haggis this evening and those who keep with tradition will welcome the haggis with a piper playing on the pipes and with a speaker reciting the ‘The Address to a Haggis’ in praise of the pudding.
The traditional accompaniment to the haggis would be ‘champit tatties and bashed neeps’ – mashed potatoes and turnip.
In Ireland the closest we have to a haggis is what we call pudding and they are generally made a lot smaller in Ireland than they are in Scotland and here they are made from pork meat whereas the Scottish haggis is made from sheep.
We do have champ potatoes though, or at least I grew up on my mother’s version of them which is creamy mashed potatoes mixed with butter and milk and lots of chopped up spring onions.
This simple supper is perfect for a cold January evening. Tasty pudding accompanied by comforting champ and a side of pea and parsley puree. Preempting the calls of ‘where’s the gravy’ from the heathens who will not be satisfied with melting butter (yes – you Gravy Man) I put a dollop of lemon & parsley creme fraiche on the side which got the thumbs up and gives the dish a nice little twist.
Serves 4
White Pudding & Champ Potatoes and Pea Puree
You will need:
8-10 medium potatoes
3 or 4 spring onions
Butter and milk to mash
1 tbsp sunflower oil (or olive or rapeseed)
1 x 300g Traditional White Pudding ( I used Rosscarbery Recipes)
300g frozen peas
5 tbsp creme fraiche
2 tbsp chopped parsley
zest 1 lemon
Method:
Peel and boil the potatoes until tender enough to mash.
While potatoes are boiling slice the pudding lengthways in four long slices and cook over a medium heat in the heated oil in a large frying pan until golden on both sides.
Cook the frozen peas in boiling water, drain and then blitz in a processor or mini-chopper with one tbsp creme fraiche and 1 tbsp parsley. (Don’t over process as you want it to have a little bit of chunky texture.)
Make up the zingy creme fraiche by mixing 4 tbsp creme fraiche with 1 tbsp parsley and zest of 1 lemon.
Mash the potatoes with butter and milk and then stir in chopped spring onions.
Slice the 4 lengths of pudding in two and serve two pieces each on top of a bed of champ with a side of the peas and creme fraiche.
Enjoy.
Til next time, Sheila.