When Jamie from Sykes Cottages approached us and asked if we would like to take part in the first Sykes Cottages Haggis Championships we couldn’t resist. They found from a recent survey that two thirds of those surveyed would not order haggis if they saw it on a menu. This prompted them to try and change peoples ideas and see if those taking part in the competition could come up with creative and tasty ways of eating haggis.
So the brief was pretty simple – design a dish to change people’s ideas on haggis and make it something they’d jump at the chance to eat. Sykes Cottages provided us with our very own personalised apron and £15 towards our ingredients.
Now we know not everyone is a fan of haggis, it’s a bit like marmite, you either love it or hate it. It did take me a little while to be convinced it was actually very tasty, the dish which did it for me was haggis balls dipped in a whisky sauce.
Our initial thoughts were to do something with the traditional haggis, neeps and tatties but with a modern twist but after a bit of discussion Mr Edinburger came up with the idea of – Haggis and Goat’s Cheese filo parcels with a chilli dip. He comes up with the ideas and I then have to turn them into something edible (guess who’s the cook in the house!).
Haggis and goat’s cheese filo parcels
Ingredients
- 50g butter (can substitute with olive oil for a healthier version)
- 100g goats cheese
- Jus Rol 6 Filo pastry sheets 270g
- Massween traditional haggis 454g (serves 2-3)
- Galloway Chilli – Chilli Lemon Citrus with Lime
Method
First thing to do is get the haggis out of it’s wrappers and sliced or cut into chucks and into the microwave to cook. Gone are the days of boiling it to death. Our brand takes 9 minutes in total. Place it in the microwave, medium heat, covered, cook for 4 minutes, break up with a fork and then continue cooking for a further 5 minutes. Once it’s cooked allow to cool.
The 50g of butter will also need to be melted. This is to be used on the filo pastry.
Pre-heat oven to 190°C (fan oven) mark 6.
Next thing is to prepare the filo pastry. As it dries out quite quickly leave this a long as you can. Take it out of it’s packaging and open out the sheets. We cut the sheets in two to form 12 squares. Then cover the pastry with a damp tea towel just to stop it from drying out until you are ready to use it.
Take 1 sheet of the filo pastry and brush with the melted butter (this can be substituted with olive oil to make it more healthier). Cover the sheet almost to the edges. The melted butter with help the layers to stick together.
As the squares are quite large, make sure you put a good serving of haggis on it otherwise your parcel will end up more pastry and less filling.
Pinch together the pastry sheets to cover the haggis and cheese (making a parcel). Open out the edges and brush with melted butter to brown the pastry.
Place on a lightly greased baking tray.
Serve up with a side of seasonal salad and cherry vine tomatoes.
For the chilli dip, we used our new favourite made by Galloway Chillies. It works brilliantly well with the spicy flavour of the haggis and the tangy taste of the goat’s cheese. Not being a huge chilli fan it’s hot enough for me without making me reach for milk.
This can also be done with large flat mushrooms.
We placed the mushroom on the filo pastry then topped with haggis and goat’s cheese before we made a little parcel shape. This bakes for the same length of time and is equally as delicious.
Hopefully we’ve given you lots of ideas and inspired you to make your own haggis creation.
Her and Him x
Thanks to Sykes Cottages for inviting us to take part, the contribution towards ingredients and our personalised ‘The Edinburgers’ apron.
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