Good food for cold nights

"You don’t have to cook fancy or complicated masterpieces — just good food from fresh ingredients”- Julia Child

What is your favourite comfort food? You know, either something your mum used to make, or something you’ve discovered and just means ‘home’. For some people, it’s spicy in the form of a favourite curry, for others, it’s laden with carbohydrates such as a well-browned and crispy-on-the-outside macaroni cheese, but for many people in Scotland, it’s mince and tatties.



This humble dish has yet to grace the menus of too many upmarket bistros after it’s , maybe because it is perfect as it is. While the dish may differ from family to family slightly depending on vegetable and gravy preferences, the basic ingredients remain the same of steak mince, onions, gravy, skirlie (a Scottish dish made of good quality oatmeal, onions, and suet), and mashed potatoes (tatties in Scotland).

We have a mince and tatties recipe for you today, but rather than dumping the skirlie on the side, we’re doing something a wee bit fancy with it that you might just find ends up being a new family favourite – let us know and send us your photos!

Have a good weekend making comfort food!

From, the Speyside Specialities team

Ingredients

500g steak mince, preferably from a butcher

One onion, chopped

Optional veg, depending on your preference - quarter of a turnip, swede or two parsnips

Optional veg, depending on your preference - two carrots, chopped

Salt and pepper

1 teaspoon gravy granules

Water, to cover

Five large potatoes, cut into large chunks

Dash of cream

50g of quality Speyside Specialities skirlie

Method

1)      Boil potatoes under tender. Usually takes 20 minutes to 30 minutes, depending on how small a chunk they were cut up into

2)      Brown mince in a pan, along with onion and optional veg

3)      Add a small grinding of salt and pepper, and the gravy granules

4)      Add water to cover and leave to simmer until the potatoes are ready

5)      Heat the skirlie gently in a pan

6)      Once potatoes are tender (a fork slides easily in and out of them while cooking in the pan), drain the water out.

7)       Mash the potatoes with the cream

8)      Mix the heated-through skirlie with the mashed potatoes and serve.

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www.speysidespecialities.co.uk