Liz Ashworth

1. THE BANFFSHIRE BREAKFAST

‘The Banffshire Breakfast’
LIZ ASHWORTH

Liz Ashworth , Scottish Cookery Writer, member of the Guild of Food Writer, has been a guest cook at many festivals, including Perth Food Festival, Edinburgh Book Festival, Keith Show Celebration of Food (with Nick Nairn and Marion MacFarlane), Living Food at Cawdor, Speyside Whisky Festival, Portsoy Boat Festival and appeared on Scottish TV’s “Square Meals” programme.

She also has a wide experience of the food sector, having worked in hotels, industrial catering, food factories and bakeries. Her work has ranged from managing staff catering for Baxter’s at Fochabers to creating the award-winning Oatie Bakes with Nairn’s Oatcakes.

Liz has now joined forces with the ‘Banffshire Coast Tourism Partnership’, to launch ‘The Banffshire Breakfast’ initiative. The objectives are to provide visitors with a good quality breakfast experience, highlighting local produce and traditions, working together with local producers and businesses to promote the beauty of the region and the quality of the regions local food.

Working together with the partners to be create a new and exciting presentation of fresh quality food at the Banffshire Breakfast.

‘THE BANFFSHIRE BREAKFAST’

Tourism even in the recession is potentially a growth industry. Saving air miles, avoiding delays, hassle, and recently conflict, visitors are choosing more and more to travel in the UK. There is also an increasing interest in heritage and the home country from those living further afield. Detailed research conducted by Banffshire Coast Tourism Partnership has shown that the area is a popular one with visitors, who are keen to experience and enjoy more local food and tradition.

We are therefore offering the opportunity to all Bed & Breakfasts and Guest Houses across the Banffshire Coast Region, together any other interested establishments, to participate in the ‘Banffshire Breakfast’ campaign.

The objectives are to provide visitors with a good quality breakfast experience, highlighting local produce and traditions, plus encouraging local producers and businesses to work together to promote the region and the quality of locally produced food.

This is a golden opportunity for us to create a unique ‘Banffshire’ stay experience.

We are pleased to have the assistance of Liz Ashworth the highly acclaimed Scottish Food writer and cook to help roll out the ‘Banffshire Breakfast’ campaign. Liz will be on hand to help all businesses taking part on a group, and on a one-to-one basis, so a fantastic opportunity to get some expert assistance for your business totally free.

We are also please to have the assistance and support of Hamlyns Oats, our part sponsors for this project. Hamlyns oats are 100% Scottish and produce a quality product on our doorstep.

The first and most important meal of the day is Breakfast. It is this meal which makes the first and last impression on our guests.

Now is the opportunity to work together to provide the unique ‘Banffshire Breakfast’.

Website www.banffshirecoast.com for more information.

Liz Says:
I welcome this chance to work with and learn from all the members.   Who knows where this will lead!!   Watch this space!

2. PORTSOY BOAT FESTIVAL

THE FOOD FAYRE AT PORSTOY BOAT FESTIVAL

The Food Fayre at Portsoy Boat Festival  is a unique showcase for Grampian’s Larder, where local and regional quality food producers  provide  inspiration for  a  programme of  cookery demonstrations.
Enthusiastic young would be cooks and chefs have the opportunity to work with more experienced stalwarts to create ‘spur of the moment’ recipes cooking with ingredients from the wonderful produce available at the Festival.   Two days of cooking with the best of ingredients with a great team – interested contact Liz Ashworth on lizashworth@tiscali.co.uk

Recipes from previous years’ concoctions!!
PORTSOY BOAT FESTIVAL 2010

PIGS IN BLANKETS
A modern twist on the old favorite.

Serves 4 people
Takes 40 minutes to prepare and cook
Oven Bake at 200C, 400F, Gas 6

You will need:
450g (1lb) Gamrie Chicken Sausages
110g (4ozs) Ritchies Aultbea white pudding
225g (8ozs) Gamrie lean dry cure back bacon
To make:-
1. Line a roasting tin with foil and turn on the oven to heat.
2. Make a slit in one side of each sausage and stuff with a little white pudding.
3. Trim the bacon and wrap round each stuffed sausage.
4. Lay onto the foil lined tray and put into the oven to bake for 25 to 30 minutes till cooked through.
5. While the sausages are cooking boil a pan of tatties to make into a creamy mash.
6. Serve the cooked sausages with a mound of creamy mash.

CLAVA WHITEHILLS MUSHROOMS

Serves 4 people
Takes 30 minutes to prepare and cook
Oven Bake at 220C, 425F, Gas 7

You will need:
4 large Portobello flat mushrooms
175g (6ozs) Clava Connage Brie Cheese – thinly sliced
1 large fillet Downies Hot Smoked Salmon – flaked
Light Scottish rapeseed oil
½ fresh lemon
To make:
1. Wipe the mushrooms, remove the stalks and lay the flat open mushrooms onto a foil lined oiled baking tray.
2. Chop the stalks finely and mix with the flaked salmon and the juice of the lemon.   Season to taste with ground black pepper.
3. Divide between the mushroom cups and then cover each with sliced Clava Brie.
4. Bake in the middle of the heated oven for 10 minutes till bubbling .
5. Serve with a rocket salad drizzled with balsamic vinegar as a starter or lunch time snack with Donald’s Bakery Oatcakes.

PORTSOY AULD ALLIANCE PUDDING
Take a large tub of Portsoy Ice Creams new Strawberry and Champagne Sorbet and layer in a chilled tall glass for each person with :
- Fresh raspberries
- Thick whipped fresh double cream
- Crumbled sweet biscuits

The secret is to drizzle random layers  with raspberry or strawberry liqueur.
Serve decorated with a grating of dark chocolate.

Liz says:
2012 will be the third year that I have had the pleasure of co-ordinating the Food Demonstrations held over the two days of the Portsoy Boat Festival.   Definitely one of the Highlights of my year – wonderful local produce, great folk and the chance to cook for two days with truly enthusiastic cooks and chefs

3. CHOCTOBER
On 15th October this year the first Chocolate Festival Day was held in Elgin Town Hall.  The Demonstration team thoroughly enjoyed ‘cooking with chocolate.  Lloyd  Kenny chef owner of the Cluny Bank Hotel in Forres did an amazing dish with Wood Pigeon then Liz ably assisted by Sharan and Manju (www.aughtenticindiancuisine.co.uk) concocted to her hearts content.

JUST THE PUDDING FOR YOU

POKEROUNCE SPICE

I discovered this interesting spice mix when researching medieval food for a banquet which took place
In the Bishop’s Palace in Kirkwall during the International Science Festival.
It is a very useful spice mix good in both sweet and savoury dishes.
Recipe:
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Mix these together and store in an airtight container till required.

FLAMBED AUTUMN FRUITS IN A RASPBERRY AND BLACKCURRANT  CHOCOLATE SAUCE

Serves 4 to 6 people
Takes 10 minutes to prepare and cook
Cook on the hob in a wok or large frying pan

You will need:
8 ripe plums – cored, stoned and quartered
3 large eating apples – cox or braeburn give a good flavour, cored and chopped
Any seasonal soft fruits such as brambles, blueberries
Benromach 10 year old malt whisky
Letty’s Raspberry and Blackcurrant Coulis
Olive Tree single origin Tanzanian Dark chocolate to taste
Light olive oil or rapeseed oil

To make:
1. Pour a little oil into the pan and heat over a medium heat, toss in the fruit stir frying over a medium heat to soften.
2. Pour in a generous glugg of raspberry and blackcurrant coulis and heat through stirring all the time.
3. Turn to a high heat, slosh in the Benromach and flambé to burn off the alcohol and caramelise the flavours.
4. Toss in Tanzanian chocolate to taste to give a smooth sauce and season with a little Pokerounce spice if liked.
5. Serve piping hot with cold vanilla ice cream, thick pouring cream or Greek yoghurt.

CHOCTOBER DIPPING CREAMS

VIOLET AND WHITE CHOCOLATE
ROSEPETAL AND MILK CHOCOLATE
DARK MINTY CHOCOLATE

Simple dessert dips to make in advance. To serve with fresh fruit and marshmallows to dip.
You will need:
Greek Yoghurt
Olive Tree Speciality Chocolate Bar:-
Violet and white chocolate
Rose petal and milk chocolate
Dark mint chocolate

To make:
1. Grate each chocolate bar separately and fold into the yoghurt to taste.
2. Chill and serve with plenty dipping fruits and mallows.

CHOCTOBER CARAMEL CRUNCHES

An easy instant ‘cheesecake’.
Serves 4 to 6 people
Takes 10 minutes to make.

You will need:
1 large packet of plain cream cheese (phily type)
1 level teaspoon pokerounce spices
1 Olive Tree Caramel Chocolate bar – grated
1 pkt Nairns Dark Chocolate Chip Oat Biscuits – crumbs
Melted butter to bind.

To make:
1.Mix the crumbs with enough melted butter to make a stiff past and press into the base of a fancy flan dish.
2. Beat the cream cheese with the grated chocolate and spices and spread on top.
3. Chill if you can, decorate with Olive Tree Dark Chocolate drops and serve with flambéed autumn Fruits.

EASY CHOCY PUDDY

Serves 1 – takes little time and no cooking!

You will need:
1 biscuit cutter ring about 15cm (6ins) – well oiled
Nairns Sweet Oat biscuits with dark chocolate – 4 crushed
Letty’s new Raspberry and Black currant coulis
Cream cheese – phily or similar
Grated Belgian Milk chocolate to taste
A little Pokerounce spice mix

To make:
1. Mix the biscuit crumbs along with the couli to make a paste.
2. Place the ring onto a plate and press the paste into the base using the back of a teaspoon.
3. Mix the cheese with the chocolate and spices and smooth over the biscuit base.
4. Carefully lift the ring off and grate a little dark chocolate over the top.   Drizzle some coulis at the side and serve.
5. You can make a larger flan dish and decorate with  dark chocolate, crystallised violet and cream.

SUNDAE ON A SATURDAY

Per person Depending on how chocolaty you are – we used a Belgian Milk chocolate
Grate the chocolate of your choice into a bowl of 2 tablespoons of quark and 1 of thick natural yoghurt.
Crush 4 each of Nairn’s sweet oat biscuits – dark chocolate and ginger
Layer in a tall glass with Letty’s raspberry and blackcurrant coulis and decorate with dark chocolate and fresh raspberries.

Liz Says:
I had a really good time coming up with recipes using chocolate.   Dark single origin chocolate is particularly versatile in sweet or savoury dishes.
Add a few squares to stews – try chilli chocolate for some extra zip but be sparing!

CHOCTOBER

Adding chocolate to any dish not only enhances the flavor it also adds to its goodness. The chocolate we are using to day is pure origin.

This is no rigid recipe, rather an idea you can adapt to make your very own.

Today I have chosen local beef the flavor of which is greatly enhanced by adding a small amount of pure dark chocolate.

A meal in a pot, which will be very happy in a slow cooker or in a low oven for hours, it will not spoil but welcome you home with mouth-watering aromas!

Save washing up too, the entire main course in a pot.

Tastes even better if you cook it the day before thickening the sauce and adding the chocolate just before serving.

VERSATILE BEEF

Serves 4 to 6 people

Takes 40 minutes to prepare

To cook very slowly in a low oven at 150C, 300F, Gas 3

Slow cooker, oven at minimum or aga slow oven.

You will need: -

1kg (2.2lbs) lean diced beef – suggest you look for the cheaper cuts like shoulder, flank, brisket or haugh.

Marinade (if you have time)

Slosh into bowl 3 tablespoons sunflower oil, a good amount of cheap red wine and a tablespoon or two of red wine vinegar. Toss in a chopped onion, carrot, and garlic if liked, bay leaf and a handful of garden herbs if you have them.

Mix and pour over the diced trimmed meat and leave covered in the fridge overnight.

For the One Pot: -

2 red onions – peeled and cut into chunks

1 clove of garlic crushed – you can use granules (omit if not liked)

A small butternut squash or turnip – cored, peeled and cut into chunks

1 large carrot – peeled and cut into chunks

A handful of plums – stoned and cut into chunks

3 large potatoes – peeled and quartered

Grating of fresh nutmeg

Generous pinch of ground cloves and the same of ginger

Letty’s Blackcurrant Vinegar – 1 tablespoon

1 dessertspoon of Letty’s black currant jelly

Sea Salt

Ground Black pepper

1 bay leaf

1 bottle Harviestoun Old Engine Oil Porter

to complete:-

Stir in at the last minute to melt to taste:-

Olive Tree Tanzania Black chocolate to taste – suggest up to 30g

Thicken with slaked cornflour

To serve:-

Loads of freshly chopped parsley.

To make:-

1. If you think the meat might be a bit tough marinate overnight.

2. The following day turn on the oven at low or the slow cooker to heat. Drain the meat from the marinade and put into a deep casserole dish. Add all the other ingredients and stir well together.

3. Put the casserole dish onto a baking tray to catch drips and then cook very slowly for up to 2 or 3 hours – if in a slow cooker you can leave almost all day while at work or play!

4. Remove from the over and take out the bay leaf.

5. Carefully drain off as much of the gravy as you can into a saucepan. Put onto a medium heat and simmer to reduce. This gives a better flavor and good gloss to the sauce.

6. Season to taste with sea salt and ground black pepper, thicken with a little slaked cornflour if needed.

7. Stir in the chocolate to taste and return to the casserole, heat thought and stir well. Taste and adjust seasoning if needed.

8. Serve in warmed bowls scattered with loads of freshly chopped parsley. Sprinkle with Hamlyns medium oat meal to add extra goodness.

9. Great with chunks of crusty bread to dip.

THE CHOCOLATE VEGETARIAN

Serves 4 to 6 people

Takes 10 minutes to prepare and 30 minutes to cook on the hob

You will need:-

1 tin (225g) chopped tomatoes

1 tin (225) green lentils, chickpeas or mixed beans

1 large red onion – peeled and chopped

225g (8ozs) mushrooms – peeled and cut into chunks

1 sweet potato – peeled and cut into chunks

1 carrot – peeled and chopped

a good slosh of rape-seed or light olive oil

1 clove garlic crushed

Olive Tree Belgian chocolate chili bar – not too much!!

Olive tree chocolate single origin Mexique Bar

Sea Salt

Ground black pepper

1 bottle Harviestoun Old Engine Oil Porter

Pinch each of ground cloves and ginger

To make:-

1. Heat the oil in a strong deep saucepan, add the onion, sweet potato, mushrooms and garlic and stir fry gently to soften but not colour.

2. Slosh in the tomatoes, lentils or other beans, and beer, stir well together, cover and simmer for 20 minutes stirring occasionally.

3. Be very careful with the chilli chocolate it is powerful!! Add a chunk at a time to taste!

4. Stir in a large chunk of Mexique bar and season to taste with sea salt and ground black pepper.

5. Sprinkle with Hamlyns Medium oatmeal to add extra goodness

6. Serve in heated bowls with plenty crusty bread

From the book Orkney Spirit – Food Journeys with Liz Ashworth.

From the book Orkney Spirit – Food Journeys with Liz Ashworth.

From the book Orkney Spirit – Food Journeys with Liz Ashworth.

From the book Orkney Spirit – Food Journeys with Liz Ashworth.

From the book Orkney Spirit – Food Journeys with Liz Ashworth.

by Liz Ashworth