Tempura Oysters in a Marsalla Wine and Fish Stock reduction

First time ever for me preparing oysters. I had them once when I was young and still remember the fishy salty yucky taste and their slimy texture. So I was a little nervous tasting this but my word, absolutely brilliant. Not slimy, not fishy or salty but smooth, soft and brilliant. Garnished with a little dill from the garden.  Gave me a good opportunity to use some of the gallons of home-made fish stock sitting in my freezer after getting more fish bones from Eddies.

Never Ending Lasagne

Decided to make a massive lasagne, no idea why as the wife is away next week. This picture was after our two portions for dinner, still loads left.  Lasagne for breakfast lunch and dinner all this week I think.The top is overly crispy due to Lindsey's preferences possibly an acquired taste after years of her 'cordon noir' cooking.  Some home-made bread to mop up the juiced too. To be fair, Lindsey has never burnt anything :-)

Eggs Benedict on Bagels

Poaching the perfect egg is a difficult thing to achieve especially if you are as fussy as me.  They say it is absolutely essential to use really fresh eggs as that's what holds the whites together.  However, getting your hands on one is very difficult if you don't own a restaurant.  Often you buy eggs that have been sitting out on a self for days so you really just don't know.  Anyway, home-made hollandaise sauce and perfect poached eggs is a very good start to the day.
If you are cooking lots of poached eggs, you can poached them for 1.5 to 2 mins then sit them in a bowl of iced water and when ready to use, reheat for about 20 seconds eggs no longer and serve.

Shetland Scallops on Eddoe Mash with Spicy Pea Purée

I have been getting a request for a scallop dish, so to appease the masses, here is a wee number I came up with. This time I went down the Gordon Ramsay route of cutting the scallops in half which makes them easier to cook rather than gambling on getting too rubber or being a little raw in the middle. Actually if you get really good fresh scallops you could eat them raw in the middle.  Last weekend I had sushi with some scallops and the quality of these Shetland Scallops via Eddies Seafood market in Marchmont, you can guarantee, these were swimming in the the sea yesterday. They were soft, sweet and succulent.

The pea purée was put through a tamis which made a huge difference to the finesse and quality and I added some chilli and paprika to spruce it up a bit. This is the first time I have cooked Eddoe, which is a nutty flavoured root vegetable rather like a potato. I gave incorrect instructions to my sous chef (Lindsey) and asked her to peel them first. Actually you should cook them first before peeling. I am not sure if I like the eddoe but I think it is more of a taste thing rather than the cooking method, however I think I'll try again and cook them properly next time, maybe not with sweet scallops but more of a spicy Caribbean dish to suit their origins.  Still, it is worth an experiment and now I know what they go with for next time.