saturday

08.03.2014

06 07

FOOD & DRINK

NickNairn

Goats cheese
HEALTHY

Weve become fans of delicious goats cheese in the UK. I love its creamy versatility.

PEppERED GOATS CHEESE & LENTIl SAlAD

A wonderful warm salad, perfect for a lunchtime treat.

Serves 4

Slice each cheese round in half to make four thinner rounds. Place the pepper on a plate and press the cheese into it to make a pepper crust. Heat a frying pan until hot. Add the peppered cheese and fry for two minutes until coloured and crusty. Remove the pan from the heat but leave the goats cheese rounds in, set aside. In a bowl, mix the lentils, red pepper, parsley, olive oil and vinegar. Season well. To serve, divide the salad

2 goats cheese rounds Plenty of freshly ground black pepper 4 tbsp puy lentils, cooked 1 red pepper, very nely chopped Fresh parsley, chopped 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil 1 tbsp raspberry vinegar Pinch of Maldon salt 150g baby salad leaves

TamCowan

Itihaas so much to savour

Award winning critic

leaves between four serving plates, place a half of goats cheese on each plate and spoon over the dressed lentils and peppers. Serve immediately with toasted farmhouse bread.

I
ItIhaas
17-19 Eskbank Road, Dalkeith EH22 1HD

HEARTY

DEEp-FRIED GOATS CHEESE BAllS WITH HONEY

These little mouthfuls of creamy heaven have a silver lining of sweet onions and honey.

Serves 4

Peel and slice the onions. Heat a frying pan. Add the olive oil. Fry the onion gently until soft. Drain off excess oil, add sugar and fry again until the sugar has caramelised the onions. Stir in the vinegar and leave to cool. Remove the cheese rind and form 16 balls roughly the size of a large marble. Season the plain our and dip each ball into the seasoned our. Next dip into beaten egg, then roll in a bowl of breadcrumbs to coat. Deep fry the balls in batches. You could use a wok for this with an
In association with Grahams The Family Dairy

3 medium red onions 50g caster sugar 3-4 drops sherry vinegar 3 tbsp olive oil 150g goats cheese log 1 egg, beaten 3 tbsp plain our, seasoned with salt and pepper Breadcrumbs Plenty veg or sunower oil 2 tbsp clear honey 2 tbsp chives, nely chopped

inch or so of hot vegetable oil. When cooked, use a slotted spoon to transfer the balls to kitchen paper to drain and drizzle them with warmed honey. To serve, warm the onions. Place a small amount including the juices in the centre of four warm plates. Place the warm goats cheese balls around the onion and garnish the dish with some nely chopped chives.

ERS RG BU ce akes 4

For more info on Nick go to www.nicknairn.com

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That is precisely what happened when we went to Itihaas in Dalkeith. My mate Billy (no stranger to a 20 mix-up from Greggs) almost took control of the wheel as I approached Hermiston Gait and forced us into the Krispy Kreme outlet, which has been doing a roaring trade since it opened in Edinburgh a couple of years ago. OK, I like my grub (I think we established that fact about three or four stones ago). But, as regular readers will testify, Im not mad about puddings. I dont do cakes. And Icertainly wouldnt go daft for adoughnut. However, lets just say thats certainly not the case with Billy. This guy loves a doughnut. So much so, in fact, that I thinkits time he seriously considered only eating the low-fat bit in the middle. Tubby? Well, not to put too fine

m not too sure this is the ofcial sign of a good Indian restaurant but, when your pal demolishes three doughnuts en route to the curry house and STILL eats every last morsel, surely it must be a pretty decent curry?

The garlic chilli chicken was incredibly tender

SO SCRUMPTIOUS ...

Just trust
a point on it, Billy once begged STV to let him play a dead body inTaggart only to be told that thebudget didnt stretch to that much chalk. Anyway, the doughnuts were terrific. Billy waxed lyrical about them for the rest of the night (at least I think thats what he was saying, as his mouth was constantly stuffed). And the box of two dozen I took home for my wee lassies birthday party the next day were very well received mainly by my missus and her pals (the poor weans never got a look-in). The curry? Even better. From the second we walked through the door at Itihaas and my nostrils were well and truly tantalised by the wonderful aromas wafting from the kitchen I just knew it was going to be good. The friendly welcome from the waiters (a bit like being reunited with long-lost family on an old episode of Surprise Surprise) was typical of so many Indian

HOW TO MAKE THE PERFECT

Gatehouse of Fleet and Kirroughtree Visitor Centre. Burgers Put onion and garlic in food processor. Whizz until very ne. Add mince, season well. Whizzuntil mixed. Divide mince into four and work into round patties. Wrap in cling lm and chill.

POTATO WEDGES

Method: