We will have haggis in the shop from Thursday the 19th January in time for Burn’s night on the 25th.

We’re thrilled to be using The Blackface Meat Company again. Their haggis are 500g bungs which will serve about four people, with neeps and tatties of course which we shall also have a plenty.

Here is a picture of an haggis. Not one of the ones we will be getting but one nevertheless.

I will photograph ours when they arrive and tweet the photo.

“The Blackface Haggis is terrific. I have seen it being made by Stuart Houston, so I know that only the best stuff goes into it.”
Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall

An interesting fact:

Haggis can also be used as an excellent stuffing, particularly for pheasant.

So there we are.

Simple you would think.

But not for me…

At this time of year, every year, a dilemma presents itself.

Every Burn’s night I wonder whether I should wear my kilt.

I own a kilt and a sporran for that matter. I have appropriate shoes and socks with flashes (which for those of you who don’t know are those little ribbony things that stick out under the top (or is it turn down) of your sock or hose (or should that be hoe?)

My kilt’s good quality too, you can stand near a naked flame and even real Scotsman with accents have commented on the amount of material in it.

I used to have two kilts but one of them got the moth through lack of use and had to be made into a cushion by my mother who is not Scottish, although it is used by my father who is.

I’ve worn my kilt four times at weddings and a few times around the house because I feel guilty. So guilty in fact that I have anthropomorphised it into a sensitive elderly woman from Morningside.

My grandmother in fact.

In essence, the kilt has become a woolly reincarnation of my grandmother, which is odd because she was the one that threw away my own father’s kilts because they, ‘Had the moth.’

My kilt doesn’t care, my kilt is forgiving to some people, notably my grandmother, the mistress of kilt destruction whom it hosts.

As Burn’s night approaches, whenever I open the wardrobe, a weak and pleaty voice floats out (imagine Miss Jean Brodie or Professor McGonagall depending upon age…)

‘It’s been over a year since you wore me now. Any more of this and I’ll get the moth, I feel sure I will even though you’ve put a lavender bag in with me.’

Or on more vindictive days with a ‘made in the highlands’ leer, ’If not Burn’s night sonny, then when? Or a meringue?’

Last year I used my sporran as window dressing. This year perhaps we’ll reach a compromise; even if I don’t wear it, maybe I’ll take my kilt into the shop for an airing. Perhaps then the voices will stop.

Did you think there was nothing to break the vegetable bleakery of January?

Were you ready to eat cabbage and root vegetables ’til spring?

Did you not remember that this is the beginning of…

Blood Orange Season

We have a veritable citrus explosion at The Deli Downstairs this week with not only

Moro Blood Oranges from Italy

But also

Seville Oranges from Spain (Get your marmalade pans out!)

Leafy clementines

Leafy Lemons

and if your vitamin C levels have not soared to dangerous hights already, prepare for them to go stratospheric with the astonishing Bergamot Lemons from Morocco

The bergamot lemon is a member of the bitter orange family and the essential oil is used to flavour Earl Grey tea.

I had heard of them but never seen one in the flesh (as it were) so when they arrived I naturally cut one open and ate a piece. Straightway, I experienced a sharpness that made my ears pop and my eyeballs spin in my very head.

The peel can be used in perfume and aromatherapy concoctions and I have a personal theory that the Bergamot lemon could be used as a substitute for Yuzu (the terrifyingly difficult to find (believe me I’ve tried) knobbly Japanese fruit) as used or yuzued by Peter Gordon The New Zealand chef and great favourite of The Deli Downstairs.

Based upon this outlandish claim, try making a Bergamot lemon hollandaise

or a roasted Bergamot lemon dressing (see below for recipe)

ROASTED BERGAMOT LEMON VINAIGRETTE

1 Bergamot lemon

1 tsp + 3 Tbs olive oil (divided)

1 clove garlic, unpeeled

1 tsp Dijon mustard

1 to 2 tsp honey
 (to taste)

1/4 tsp salt

Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Cut the lemon in half and remove the seeds with the tip of a knife. Rub the lemon halves and the garlic clove with 1 tsp of olive oil, place in a small baking dish and roast in the oven at 200 degrees for 25-30 minutes, until the lemon starts to get brown at the edges. Remove from the oven, and as soon as it’s cold enough to handle, squeeze the juice and the pulp of the lemon and the pulp of the garlic into a small bowl.

Add the mustard, honey, salt, and pepper, and use a whisk to mix it all well. Remove any large bits of white pulp, if present. Add the remaining 3 Tbs. of olive oil, slowly at first, then drizzle it as you continue to whisk, forming an emulsion.

Taste and adjust the seasoning as necessary.

Serve over salads, steamed vegetables, roasted vegetables, grilled fish, chicken, or pork.

We will be dressing some of our salads at The Deli Downstairs with this marvel in due course.

As the citrus season continues… Look out for Moro blood oranges in our salads and the arrival of the delicately flavoured Tarocco orange in a few weeks time.

Christmas is upon us at The Deli Downstairs

Our decorations have started to go up and our Christmas trees were flanking the front door lending a feeling of Narnia to the shop entrance until they blew down in the high winds and had to be taken in. Rest assured they will return.

Hampers are now available to order. We can make them for you if you tell us your budget and give us a few pointers or you can simply take a basket, fill it up and we’ll wrap it up for you to collect later.

For anyone who has yet to see them, may I introduce quite simply the most stylish and desirable tote ever to be produced in the history of bag making. Available now for the extraordinarily low price of £5.00 or free when when you spend a mere £50.00 on shopping here at The Deli Downstairs.

I have a good mind to launch a competition for the most interesting photograph featuring a Deli Downstairs bag. The Pyramids at Giza spring to mind or The Horseshoe Falls at Niagara…

Perhaps it could be hanging on the back of your chair at Dean and Deluca or The French Laundry in New York, flung nonchalantly onto the ground as a tablecloth for an impromptu picnic in Red Square or casually draped over your knees to protect them from the biting sun at Uluru.

A team mascot for University Challenge?

There will definitely be a prize.

Finally…

See the lovely Fish and Mice

We have our Chocolate Advent Calendars in now

One is organic, from Montezuma’s and the weightiest calendar we’ve seen this year.

The other is fairtrade and from Divine.

They are flying off the shelves like reindeer.

In addition we have the German advent biscuits Lebkuchen:

and Pfeffernusse:

The Yuletide spirit is beginning to enshroud us, there is no turning back now.

Whenever anyone writes anything about the Jerusalem artichoke they always start with – It’s not an artichoke and it’s not from Jerusalem. So I’m going to start with:

Cooking them with sage and or winter savoury may reduce the famous accompanying flatulence.

Related to the sunflower, the Jerusalem artichoke is in season and in The Deli Downstairs now.

They come in various varieties, our current one is organic Red Fuseau a slightly more cultivated and less knobbly version from France (where they call them Topinambour)

A Jerusalem artichoke’s best friends in terms of complimentary flavours are sage, thyme, butter, bacon, bay leaves, cream, breadcrumbs, cheese and anything smoked.

Eat them raw, sliced through salad.

Layered with potato and onion as a gratin

Stir fry, where their texture is reminiscent of water chestnut.

Roast in a salad with beetroot and goat’s cheese to cut the earthiness.

Make Jerusalem artichoke crisps or crumb them for schnitzel.

And of course the famous Jerusalem artichoke soup

Many people peel them but you don’t have to. They do however need to be scrubbed.

Intriguing fact:

For the vegetable gardeners and allotment people among us the Fuseau variety of Jerusalem artichoke is a companion plant to sweet corn and reportedly suppresses ground elder.

The new season’s Vacherin Mont d’Or has arrived at The Deli Downstairs

Vacherin Mont d’Or or Mont d’Or depending on whether you are Swiss or French is a seasonal cheese from the mountainous Jura region.

The cheese is bound by a band of spruce the scent of which permeates the cheese and gives it a distinct and pleasant aroma, rather like maturing wine and spirits in oak barrels. The spruce girdle also helps the cheese keep its shape and should not be removed even when serving.

The spruce cutters come to the Jura for the Mont d’Or season to fell the trees and cut the bark for this process. Spruce planks are used for the cheese maturing rooms, Vacherin boxes are also made of the spruce wood. Many people in the area feel that the Jura and its spruce trees are inextricably linked. The spruce is the Jura.

There should however be a good balance between the spruce and the cheese, one should not overpower the other.

The cheeses can be eaten at 4-5 weeks but our French cheese suppliers Mons suggest maturing a little longer, so our cheeses come in at 6-8 weeks old which makes the flavour more developed and less acidic.

Vacherin is not just for Christmas

Many people associate Vacherin Mont d’Or with Christmas but the sales season starts on September 10^th and runs until May 10^th

Some people bake Vacherin and serve it with boiled potatoes and bread often with cornichons and charcuterie on the side.

Others think this is a crime and claim Vacherin as an eating cheese only.

We think live and let live.

If you would like to bake your Vacherin

Rub the top surface of the cheese with white wine, replace the wooden lid and then cover the box in foil. Bake at about 200 degrees C for 25-30 minutes removing the foil and the lid for the last 5-10 minutes to allow the cheese to really bubble up.

Whatever your preference, we strongly recommend that you try some Vacherin Mont d’Or this season.