Mark Greenaway recipe: An Alternative Burns supper

One of Scotland's top chefs Mark Greenaway offers us an alternative to the traditional Burns Supper. Find out how to master Ballotine of Chicken, Wild Mushrooms and Baby Leeks, Pomme Puree, Roasted Carrots, Fondant Turnips here.

The 25th of January is a very special occasion in Scotland. On this date Scotland’s favourite son, Robert Burns and all of his remarkable works are celebrated. Traditionally haggis is chosen as the main dish on the evening after all Burns wrote an entire poem dedicated to it. He did however, celebrate food throughout his works and many of these mentions are often over looked. In his song, The Shepherd’s Wife, the wife tempts her husband home from the hills with mentions of what she will cook him upon his return. One of the temptations is a smoking fat hen, well fried in the pan and that is the inspiration for this alternative Burns’ night supper.

This dish is the ideal main course for any Burns’ night celebration. The chicken can be prepared up to a day in advance and simply roasted off 30 minutes before serving. The potatoes and sauce could be prepared a little in advance and just heated through when it comes to serving. The addition of a wee dram in the sauce not only adds a comforting warmth to the dish but also means that it is the perfect partner for Tennent’s Beer aged with Whisky Oak.

Ingredients

For the ballotine:
1 whole chicken deboned, ask the butcher to do this keeping the chicken in one piece
150g wild mushrooms, roughly chopped
5 baby leeks
1 tbsp chopped parsley
1 shallot diced
50g butter
1 clove garlic, crushed
Salt 100g Crepinette, available from your butcher
For the pomme purée:
4 large potatoes
400g butter
100ml milk
Salt
For the roasted carrots and fondant turnips:
1 large turnip, peeled and sliced into 2cm thick slices
8 baby carrots, peeled
150ml good quality chicken stock
150g butter
Sprig of thyme 1 clove garlic, skin on and crushed
For the sauce:
1 litre good quality chicken stock
200ml red wine
1 measure of your favourite whisky
To assemble the dish:
Rapeseed oil 1 baby gem lettuce, cut into 4

Serves: 2 Difficulty: Medium Time to cook: 130 mins

Method

For the Ballotine:

1 Melt the butter and gently sweat the shallot. Add the garlic. Add the mushrooms and cook out for a couple of minutes. Add the parsley. Season with a little salt.

2 Remove from heat and allow this stuffing to cool completely.

3 On a large piece of clingfilm, spread out the crepinette.

4 Place the chicken skin side down on the crepinette.

5 Lay the mushroom stuffing down the centre of the chicken. Lay the leeks either side of the stuffing.

6 Roll up tightly into a large sausage shape in the clingfilm.

7 Tie off clingfilm at either end.

8 Poach for 1 hour in gently simmering water. Leave to cool and store in the fridge

For the Pomme puree

1 Bake the potatoes at 185C for 2 hours.

2 Cut the potatoes in half.

3 Scoop out the flesh and weigh out 400g. Mash the potato or pass it through drum sieve. Transfer to a pan.

4 Melt the butter into the milk and pour slowly into the potatoes while stirring.

5 Season with salt.

For the Roasted carrots and fondant turnips

1 Preheat the oven to 180C.

2 Using a 3cm cookie cutter, cut out rounds of turnip.

3 Add all of the ingredients to an oven proof dish.

4 Place in the oven for 35 minutes or until the vegetables are tender.

Sauce

1 Reduce the red wine till it has almost evaporated.

2 Add the chicken stock and reduce by ¾.

3 Add the whisky and pass the sauce through fine sieve.

To assemble the dish:

1 Preheat the oven to 180C.

2 Heat the rapeseed oil in a non-stick ovenproof pan.

3 Remove the clingfilm from the chicken.

4 Brown the chicken in the pan on all sides.

5 Place the pan in the oven for 30 minutes.

6 Meanwhile heat another pan with a drizzle of rapeseed oil.

7 Add the baby gem and cook till slightly blackened.

8 Remove the chicken from the oven and cut into slices.

9 Heat the sauce and pomme puree.

Plate the dish as per the image.