Red Onion Chutney & Parmesan Swirls

Deep, deep apologies to anybody that reads my blog regularly (anybody?!) - I haven't posted in about two weeks and there are few excuses for that. The bagels have taken off, but I can certainly sit down more than often and do a wee blog post - but I haven't so I hang my head in shame. Enough wallowing, however, and down to business. Recently, I've started doing the 'bread basket' for a restaurant in Edinburgh called Purslane, run by the excellent chef Paul Gunning. If you've ever been, you'll realise that the quality of food produced there is very, very high - so making bread for the restaurant is a real honour. This has led me to produce a few different types of bread, particularly small, dainty rolls with some decent ingredients through them, and this one is probably my favourite and it seems to be the restaurant's favourite as well, so I thought I'd share it with you.

Ingredients
Yield: 30 small bread swirls
Dough

• 650g strong white bread flour
• 325ml warm water
• 4 x tablespoons milk
• 2 x tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 x 7g packet dried yeast
• large pinch of sea salt

Filling and topping

• 2 x tablespoons red onion chutney
• thumb size piece of good quality Parmesan
• 1 x egg
• 2 x tablespoons milk
• freshly ground black pepper

Method

1. Typical start to a dough - mix the flour, yeast and sea salt in a large bowl and then add the milk and olive oil, making sure to mix well. Slowly start adding the warm water, making sure to stir with a wooden spoon as you do so. It'll eventually become relatively difficult to stir, so get in there with your hands. Knead the dough in the bowl until you've picked up all the loose bits of flour, and then tip out onto a lightly oiled surface. Knead for 5-10 minutes until smooth and elastic. Oil a clean bowl and place the dough in it, cover with cling film and leave for 1 hour, or until doubled. 
2. Remove the risen dough from the bowl onto, again, a lightly oiled surface and knock back. Divide into 3 (this isn't entirely necessary, I just find it easier doing the swirls in smaller batches for neatness) and roll the dough into a rectangle (roughly 20cm x 10cm). Using a sharp knife, cut the rounded edges of the rolled out dough to, again, make a neater roll. 
3. Empty your red onion chutney, preferably room temperature, onto the dough and spread it over the surface completely with the back of a spoon. Grate the Parmesan over this and grind some black pepper over it too. Carefully, start rolling the dough up into a roly-poly - making sure it's relatively tight and even as you go. Once rolled, using your sharp knife, trim the edges of the roll so you have a nice, even cross section. Divide the roll into 10 separate swirls and place them on a lined baking tray, making sure to leave plenty of room for them to prove and spread during baking (repeat with the rest of the dough). Leave these to prove for 30-45 minutes. While these prove, preheat your oven to 200C fan.
   
4. Whisk the egg and milk in a small bowl. Once the swirls have proved, lightly brush the egg mix over the swirls. Pop into the oven for 12 minutes, or until golden brown. Once baked, remove from the oven and place on a cooling rack for 20 minutes. 

And you're done! the smell will be quite spectacular, fresh bread mixing with the sweet onion chutney and the salty aromas of the cheese. Quite a dynamic little bread. Also, extremely versatile - this dough is quite sturdy and can be used with a number of other fillings. I'd highly recommend making your own olive tapenade and substituting that for the chutney. Or, if you're a cheese lover, make small Dunsyre cheese stuffed buns (as I have done in the picture below).

Mmmm.. cheesy bread. Can't beat it really. So give this recipe a go - or, if you fancy a good meal out, I'd highly recommend Purslane on St. Stephen's Street, even if it is just for the bread. 

Review: The Smoke Stack

After a long and relatively tiring week - we decided to head out for a celebratory Friday night dinner in the Broughton Street area. We weren't quite sure where we'd end up - our top choice, The Basement, was absolutely packed, so we decided to head slightly further down the road and go into one of Edinburgh's longest serving restaurants - The Smoke Stack.

It was a slightly odd welcome - almost like they could have done without us walking in at a relatively busy time. We hadn't booked but this turned out not be a problem, as they found a table for us pretty quickly. We made our drinks orders, a rather easy-to-drink bottle of Sangiovese, and were left to peruse the relatively extensive menu. Now, if you weren't hungry before reading the menu, you certainly were afterwards. The food this restaurant offers is pure comfort food - from deep fried shrimp with chilli sauce to a selection of steaks, as well as burgers, fish & chips and fajitas. They also have a good salad section but I sort of glazed over that - this was Friday night, I had red wine in my hand, it had to be steak for me.

Nevertheless, I had to think of something to start off with - and all of the starters sounded pretty damn good to me. The offerings of grilled goat's cheese, mussels and nachos (not all in one dish, that would be horrible - or would it?!) made choosing a starter a serious dilemma - however I managed to settle for the chicken liver and bacon paté, whilst my girlfriend went for their cauliflower and Dunsyre blue cheese soup. The food arrived pretty quickly despite the place being packed - a service team that clearly know what they're doing (with the occasional surly waitress, however). I must say, the starter portions are quite big (apologies for limited pictures - was too busy stuffing my face to remember to take many.. actually I only managed to take one - see above) but I was relatively hungry so I was certainly not complaining. Often you find when you order paté, you get a thimble full of the thing, and a whole loaf of bread to accompany it - however this was not the case here. A generous amount of perfectly made, smooth paté was served with chargrilled crusty bread which was absolutely delicious. It also came with a generous serving of red onion chutney which, we all know, is the perfect pairing with paté. An overall great starter. The soup, too, was flavourful and well made. The fantastic flavour of blended, well seasoned cauliflower was accompanied by the close to unbeatable Dunsyre blue cheese - the two go together perfectly, and the soup certainly demonstrated this.

Moving on, after our two tasty starters, we were looking forward to our mains. Naturally, coming the The Smoke Stack, I had to go for their rump steak - as great and comforting as the other dishes on the menu sound, steak is clearly their speciality, and over-looking it is often followed by regret. My girlfriend agreed but fancied something lighter - going for the healthy meat option in the peppered steak salad (unlike me, she did not ignore the salad section). You can be healthy, however, with the accompaniments of the steak - but I went for chips and a Dunsyre blue cheese sauce. The steak was excellent - prime Aberdeen Angus cooked exactly to my liking (medium rare) and not in the slightest bit chewy, despite the rump cut. The sauce was also delicious - however texturally odd. The salad was also top quality - leaves with a delicious soy dressing were topped with a generous amount of heavily peppered beef, that, again, had been cooked to absolute perfection. It is quite clear that The Smoke Stack know a good slice of beef when they see one. The quality of the meat they present is top of the range stuff - you'd be hard pressed to find a better steak anywhere in the country. Without having to say, we ate every single bit of our dishes. Oh and by the way, the chips are pretty good too.

Now, onto dessert. I know what you're thinking, how the hell did we manage to eat all of that food and still have dessert?! Well, I have no idea either - but we did, so there. I went for my favourite, sticky toffee pudding, while my girlfriend went for a banana split. The pudding was good, a well made, date cake was slathered in a thick toffee sauce, topped with vanilla ice cream. Pure comfort. Similarly, the banana split was tasty - despite us only eating about a sixth of it (eyes bigger than our stomachs, as usual). They don't offer anything spectacular in this respect, however the desserts were tasty and comforting, and this is clearly the aim of the restaurant.

So, overall, it was a very satisfying meal. What they have to offer is simple, yet delicious. Their food is filling and the steaks are done to clinical perfection - this Edinburgh institution is the place to go for your red meat fix. As great as the new places around the city are, you just can't go wrong with some of the more established restaurants in Edinburgh. So, if you haven't been in a while, head to The Smoke Stack for a very good steak dinner - I guarantee it.


Restaurant information
The Smoke Stack
53-55 Broughton Street, Edinburgh
EH1 3RJ
0131 556 6032

Sausage Ragu

Oh dear, my blogging seems to have fallen away slightly - been relatively busy recently but I will not let this slip! Anyway, here's a great recipe for a quick, delicious dinner. This sausage ragu is warming, intense and spicy - perfect for a winter's night (I know we're in March, but I'm looking out the window and it's currently snowing, so it's still fecking winter). It goes perfectly with freshly cooked pasta and a zesty dressed salad - making this dish seems relatively impressive however it really is dead easy.

Ingredients

• 1 x large onion, diced
• 4 x Cumberland sausages (or a variety you prefer), removed from casing
• 2 x garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 x 400g tinned tomatoes
• 1 x tablespoon of tomato purée
• 1 x teaspoon dried chilli flakes
• 1 x teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 x tablespoon of olive oil
• 1 x small glass of red wine
• 6 x cherry tomatoes, sliced
• 2 x handfuls of rocket 
• juice of half a lemon
• freshly grated Parmesan - as much as you want
• salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

1. Get a large, non-stick pan on medium heat, pour in the olive oil and allow to heat up for a couple of minutes. Once hot, add the onion, garlic and chilli flakes and cook until translucent and soft. Turn the heat up slightly and add the sausage meat and fry until completely cooked. 
2. Once ready and smelling amazing, add the oregano and fresh tomatoes. Allow the pan to heat up a bit more and then add your red wine. With a wooden spoon, scrape the pan as the wine evaporates, making sure the sauce will pick up as much flavour as possible. Once most of the liquid has evaporated, add the tinned tomatoes and tomato purée and stir well. Reduce to a simmer and allow to thicken for about 20 minutes. Season well.  
3. While the sauce thickens, get your pasta on. This one goes with quite a few types but I went with spaghetti. If your sauce starts to look a little too thick, add a tablespoon of water from the boiling pasta. 
4. Just before the sauce and pasta is ready, place the rocket in a bowl and add the lemon juice and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. Toss well and serve on top of the pasta and sauce. Grate the Parmesan all over the dish and serve immediately. 

It really is quite a complexly flavoured dish - the deep, intense flavour from the tomatoes and red wine is accompanied by the spice from the chilli and the lovely meaty flavour from the sausage. All these warming aspects go perfectly with the light, zesty salad on top of it. And of course the Parmesan adds a great salty edge to all of it. This dish is so easy to make and only takes about half an hour - perfect for a midweek, post-work dinner during these cold nights. Give it a go.