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  October 2007
   
We were in Alnmouth (well, Hipsburn) for a week, so we had to got to Craster for a Kipper fix, though we went to the pub for lunch, not the smokery, and got beef suet fried chips with my ham and pease pudding bap. Shame about the surly service, but then, it almost makes the experience.

We did purchase some kippers which we had next day for brunch with a poached egg, brown bread and a cup of tea- a divine combination. There wasn't a great deal of fresh fish on offer but they did have some frozen whole Dover Sole. It's been a while since I've cooked this, but I went for a classic, cucumber Hollandaise and boiled potatoes. We just happened to have some champagne........

The garden had some wee apples, not crab, which I made into a blackberry and apple sponge with some blackberries we picked on the road to Almouth.

 
   
I have similar issues of favouritism with omelettes as I do pizza, I can never decide on one. I must say, a plain cheese omelette, made with the freshest eggs and some fine Cheddar is sublime. Recently, however, the fish shop in Stonie has been selling these brown shrimps, just wee things, but really very good value and a wonderful flavour. Adding them to an omelette creates another stellar eggy experience. A bottle of stout, or porter to wash this down.
   
 

The last of last years very fine ceps, which is a difficult thing since I only found one ropey old giant this year. Ah well. I thought they would be tremendous with some beef shin, cooked osso bucco style. Even after 3hours though, they were a still more resilient that I would have wanted. I cooked them as one should, a slow wet fry, adding a glass of white wine gradually over hours as the juices bubbled and evaporated. I think I should have put a tighter seal on the pan as I don't think it steamed properly. Anyway, it was rather good. To accompany I fried some garlic to golden in butter, and coated some boiled potatoes (skinned) with it, garlic and ceps is a natural partner. I also served some grated neep cooked in butter, a quick veg for Rory, which he wasn't impressed by, but a totally different experience to the usual boiled and mashed.

 
Shona's parents have a huge pear tree that yields some wildly varying fruit size, but very tasty. I really wanted a chocolate and pear pudding, so I made a chocolate sponge, 4oz each of SR flour/ butter, 3oz sugar, 2 eggs and an ounce of cocoa. The bottom of the cake tin I lined with pears and cooking on a high 180C oven produced this yummy gooey hole in the middle. For a sauce I melted 80G chocolate with double crean and a 1/2 cup of very strong espresso. I feel funny........
   
  Shona bought some stunningly good looking scallops from the Creel fish shop in Stonie. Three each was thought to be fine by the fishmonger, but Shona went for four. I don't know why some people refer to scallops as scollops, for some reason I find this intensely irritating. I wonder if there is an association with scOWners (v scoNNers), never mind ScOOners (Scone the village near Perth is pronounced as the latter). I'll have to look into it. Anyway, I had no warning of this, so on return home, sleep deprived, it seemed like a good idea to make a langoustine Hollandaise. Luckily I had some langoustine butter in the freezer, phew. I made the Hollandaise before going anywhere near the scallops, Hollandaise under pressure is likely to split with the resultant intracranial calamity. Kept warm sitting on top of the boiled potatoes, I fried the scallops in two batches over a high heat. They were barely warmed in the centre, but slightly browned. I deglazed the pan a tipped it over the scallops. Some cucumber slices and the potatoes de-skinned. A pretty decent Sancerre Sauvignon from Somerfield- we really must visit the newly opened Majestic.....