With a little help
By Head Chef & Proprietor Jason Gallagher
At any time of the year, Scotland’s larder offers foods grown, raised or produced locally to give us plenty of options to create delicious dishes. Edinburgh and the Lothians are especially well placed for growing almost anything we love to put on our menu or eat at home: heritage potatoes, asparagus, rhubarb, cauliflower and mushrooms are all coming into season. And let’s not forget about Spring lamb and wood pigeon which are both exceptional at this time of the year.
We’re even luckier still to be close to the river Tweed, a paradise for salmon, and the Forth estuary and the North Sea, which are ideal habitats for sea trout and mackerel. For the past five years, we’ve been working with Neptune’s Larder in Port Seton and they have provided us with mackerel caught right on the east coast – it couldn’t be any fresher. It’s also featured in our recipe: to buy fresh mackerel try the farmer’s market or a well-stocked fishmonger.
As an oily fish, mackerel is very healthy, providing the body with essential proteins and omega 3 acids which promote cell repair. Add to that the fact that it is low in sodium, contains a range of vitamins and is very tasty indeed and it’s easy to see why it has become so popular.
While the season won’t reach its peak in the Firth of Forth for another couple of months, we’ve got our hands on early catches from Peterhead and Eyemouth and mackerel is back on the menu. If you can’t make it to the restaurant, this newsletter’s recipe is easy to follow and makes for a delicious Spring dish.
Most of our fruit and vegetables in the restaurant are also grown just outside Edinburgh and we’re lucky to work with George Anderson and Sons, a family-run business now in its third generation that delivers them freshly to our door. Over time, we’ve found that as a family-run restaurant we work best with other family businesses because our philosophies match and we share the same values.
But back to the food: few people tend to give the humble potato a second thought but there are some real stars here – Ratte heritage potatoes for example. They are originally from either France or Denmark and are still relatively little known in Scotland. With their unique nutty flavour and the smooth, almost buttery texture they can add real character to a dish: give them a try and you may just find your potatoes are stealing the show from anything else on the plate.
I like to use them for roast potatoes or simply as a side of boiled new potatoes. For presenting restaurant-style food, their small size is another advantage, making it easier to place a smart-looking plate of tasty food on your table. They also go well with the Thai spiced mackerel.
