As you may know, in June 2023, we moved to Barra. Daisie was employed in a local hotel as a kitchen porter and housekeeping assistant. This meant mostly helping the full time house keeper with room change over, resident cleans and laundry. Additionally, there would also be two evening shifts a week, where Daisie would help the head chef with the food that went in the frier and with plating up. Needless to say, this was quite the change from her previous career as a dairy farmer and tractor driver. Below is her experience:

After about six weeks, the health inspector paid their annual visit and immediately closed the kitchen down. The head chef never returned to the premises. The small team of kitchen crew and wait-staff (James included) got to work deep cleaning every centimetre of the kitchen over the next 3 days. Meanwhile I began to teach myself about Food and Hygiene, put myself through Level 3 Food and Hygiene certificate, and made an attempt at learning all the paper work. In the absence of a head chef, I filled the role and the boss was happy for me to run the kitchen and take creative control over the menu. Fast forward two months and the hotel has passed its health inspection with flying colours and a variety of both old and new meals are flying out of the kitchen door.

The Isle of Barra is famous for its amazing fresh seafood, and I picked up a lot of great recipes from the existing menu, and from locals who shared their long-standing family favourites. In particular, the islanders on Barra know the best ways to prepare the best scallops in the world. Below I have shared some of the recipes l’ve learnt, or made up, along the way that you might like to try at home!

Smoked Cod fritters with Pico de Gallo. Serves 4 as a starter or 2 as a main with accompaniments.

Ingredients: 

For the fritters: 

4 Smoked Cod Fillets

3 Medium White Potatoes

1 egg (whisked)

1 tbsp of plain flour

For the Pico De Gallo: https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/pico-de-gallo

Rapeseed (or similar) oil for cooking

Method:

1: Peel and slice the potatoes in to 6ths. Cover with water and bring to the boil. Boil until fork tender. Drain and mash. Set aside to cool.

2: Meanwhile, place the cod fillets into a medium pan and cover with milk. Bring to the boil and then simmer for 5 minutes. Take the pan off the heat and set aside to cool.

3: Make the Pico De Gallo, Daisie used this recipe.

4: Once the cod and potatoes are cool to touch, remove the cod meat from the skin, dispose of the skin and flake the cod into bite size pieces.

5: Using your hands or a wooden spoon, mix the cod throughout the mash, add the egg and flour until the mixture sticks together and fish is mixed evenly throughout. 

6: Make 8 even-sized balls, squash into patties and place on a baking sheet covered in grease proof paper for 30 minutes. 

7: Add enough rapeseed oil to your frying pan to cover the cooking surface. Waiting until the oil is piping hot. Place the patty’s in (you made need to do this in batches), they should begin to sizzle immediately. Squish them down a little more with your spatula and cook for 3 minutes, flip and cook for another 3 minutes. Repeat until all are cooked. 

Serve and Enjoy 

Pan fried Scallops with black pudding and pancetta lardons. Serves 2.

Ingredients:

6 Scallops with roe if possible

2 rings of Black pudding, cut into quarters

A handful of Pancetta lardons

Mixed leaf salad

Cherry tomatoes 

Your favourite salad dressing (balsamic vinaigrette is good)

Rapeseed oil (or similar) for cooking 

Method:

1. Heat the oil 
2. Place the black pudding scallops and pancetta all into the pan, over a medium heat
3. Dress your salad and plate 
4. After 3 minutes, turn scallops and black pudding, the scallops should’ve started to caramelise on the cooked side. After another

Serrano Ham wrapped Monk Fish Loins with Whisky Sauce. Serves 2.

Ingredients: 

6 slices of Serrano Ham

4 Monkfish Loins

A handful of tender stem broccoli

2 medium carrots 

6 new potatoes

For the Sauce: 

1 brown onion

200ml Whisky 

300ml Chicken stock

100 ml double cream 

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celcius. 
2. Lay out 3 slices of the ham, so that they overlap slightly on the longest edge. Lay 2 monkfish loins across the ham and gently roll the fish up in the ham. Wrap tightly in cling film so that it keeps its shape. Repeat. Place both in the fridge for now. 
3. Remove the skin from the onion and thinly slice. Place in a hot frying pan and dry fry until beginning to brown. Carefully add the majority of the whisky (save around 20ml) and simmer until almost no liquid remains and has been absorbed by the onions. 
4. Add the stock to the pan. Allow this to simmer gently on a low heat so that it thickens and forms a very sticky golden sauce.
5. Put the fish in to oven whilst sauce simmers, 15 minutes should be adequate, if you have particularly big fish consider adapting your time and always make sure food is cooked throughout to safe temperature. Place the new potatoes into a pan, bring to the boil and simmer for 15 minutes. Do the same with the carrots, adding the broccoli for the last 5 minutes
6. Once you have a thick sticky sauce, slowly stir in the cream and remaining whisky. Bring off the heat and set aside.
7. Drain the potatoes, add some butter and seasoning to taste (rosemary is good). Drain the vegetable. 
8. Remove fish from the oven and serve with veg, potatoes and a drizzle of your tasty sauce!

Although it was an unexpected turn of events, becoming head chef gave me a lot of responsibility and creative freedom. I think I enjoyed the summer a lot more because of this, and the job has set me up perfectly for our next chapter (stay tuned to find out where we are going next). Hopefully you will love cooking and eating these dishes as much as I have!