BACKLIST

Meat- free Turkey?

Christmas can be a difficult time for vegetarians: back in the bosom of the family. and the tedious business of raised eyebrows and repeated explanations has to be confronted once more. The innocent muncher of herbage suddenly becomes a Big Time subversive. But that is not all. Even if fellow feasters are accommodating. or vegetarian themselves. the problem of what to eat instead of turkey remains a thorny one. The fact is. most vegetarians grew up with the annual

BLACK BC’S MUSHROOM PIE

You can enjoy a perfectly delicious Christmas meal by simply preparing a chestnut stuffing without sausage meat and with, for example, plums and alcohol, but how much more spectacular this pie will look on the table!

llb mushrooms

10oz mixed nuts, ground

A large eggs

30ml (miniature) sweet madeira or flarveys Bristol Cream

Zoz grated carrot and turnip

1 clove garlic, finely chopped (optional)

201 butter

salt 8: pepper %lb shortcrust pastry

Slice the mushrooms, leaving some whole. Fry them gently, with the grated carrot and turnip, in butter with the garlic until they are well coated in butter. Add the madeira, and simmer briefly until the mushrooms are just cooked. Remove the mushrooms from the pan with a slotted spoon and place in a large bowl. Reduce down the

ii'l'll

l ___._ _-__-._ _

mega-bird and its traditional trimmings, 2

. vegetable quenelles in a crunchy

and wishing for snow. That nostalgic craving will not be fobbed off: ratatouille. however delicious. just won't do.

One place where the needs of vegetarians have recently begun to be taken much more seriously at Christmas. and during the rest of the year - is Glasgow’s much~feted One Devonshire Gardens restaurant. Head chef Andrew Fleming now produces a separate menu for vegetarian diners with at least three staners and three main courses to choose from. ‘To produce a satisfying meal without meat. you‘ve got to go about it in a completely different way and to think i as light and crisp as you possibly can.‘ he says. For Christmas he has produced. among other things. a dish of

almond coating. He serves these with

noodles made with chestnut puree. and . _ a salad incorporating chestnut pieces. - but they would make a line centrepiece

for a plateful of the usual seasonal accompaniments. Perhaps the most dedicated vegetarian

remaining cooking liquid to half its

volume, then add it to the mushrooms. Combine the ground nuts with the

eggs and season with salt and pepper

9 to taste. Mix well. Add this out mixture

; to the mushrooms and, again, mix j well.

i in a preheated oven (Cas mark 5 or

Crease an medium-sized loaf tin thoroughly and line with grease proof paper. Roll out 3. of the pastry until it is about ‘A inch thick and line the loaf tin with it. Pour the mushroom filling into the tin. Roll out the remaining pastry to form a lid. Place on top of the tin, and seal the edges to those of ; the pastry below. Make a couple of parallel slashes in the pastry lid with a knife. Brush it with beaten egg. Bake

190's, 375°F) for 90 minutes.

Serve with all the Christmas trimmings sprouts, chestnuts, roast and creamed potatoes, bread sauce - and this special sauce made from

: cranberries and apricot brandy:

fr ,3/ +135 5U: E iii} z! DD El 7 Ubiquitous Chit

MACALLAN RESTAURANT OF THE YEAR

SCOTTISH WINE MERCHANT

102 The List I7 December I993— I3 January l‘)‘)4

F560

just as they did with stockings. trees

3 chef in the central belt is Albert Smith. 5 who beavers away in the kitchens of Black Bo‘s restaurant in Edinburgh. using all sorts of ingredients in novel ways. He is unwilling to abandon all

3 that the meat-depemlent cooks of

; Europe have learnt through the years.

so often adapts favourite recipes and

3 borrows time-honoured flavour ' combinations. His exclusively

vegetarian Christmas menu this year

includes a chestnut. mushroom and : sage mousse in lilo pastry. a cashew nut

and carrot tcrrine with black olives and a mushroom and ground nut pic - served with all the traditional trimmings. of course. in true seasonal spirit Albert Smith has shared a couple

of his recipes with us:

sauce-like consistency. Add : cranberries (fresh, frozen or tinned), . apricot brandy and a pinch of pepper. ' Simmer until the berries soften.

CASHEW NUT, CARROT All!) BLACK

. ouve TERRIllE

12oz finely ground cashew nuts

' Aoz whole cashew nuts

4 large eggs

' '/. pint double cream

. 4 med-large carrots, grated : 1 cup black olives, stoned

fresh coriander

salt and pepper

' Blend eggs, double cream and ground

nuts together in a food processor. Add

. coriander, salt and pepper to taste.

Turn into a large bowl, add carrot, black olives and whole cashews (301). Mix well. Grease thoroughly and line a loaf tin (8 by 4 by 3), pour the mixture

. in and scatter the remaining cashews

on top. Cover and seal with tin foil.

1 Place in a bain marie - a deep baking

CRANBERRY Allll APRICOT BRANDY SAUCE

Reduce the contents of a carton of apple juice until you have a thicker,

)

GLASGOW, SCOTLAND

OF THE YEAR

TEL: 041-334 5007

tray one third-filled with water. Bake

1 in the oven, pre-heated to gas mark 5

for approximately iii-2 hours, or until

. firm to touch.

Le Sept

7 Old Fishmarlret Close Edtnburgh ilillt'll and dinner Monday to 'l‘hursday

all day Friday and Saturday Sundays dinner only

telephone 03] 225 5428

Glasgow

I Chimmy Chungas 499 Great Western Road. 334 0884. Scottish & Newcastle has recently bought this popular West End Mexican-style bar restaurant. which is now. according to bar manager David Smith. 'a whole lot cleaner' (3) It will continue to have particularly alluring drinks promos on weekday nights on Tuesdays spirits can be had for as little as 50p a shot and to offer bargain feasts - £5 for two main course enchiladas at off-peak times. Look out for changes in the New Year . . .

Edinburgh

I Bar Kohl 54 George W Bridge. 225 6936. Amazing transformations! The sometime cosy. old-fashioned Quill has lost its plush and mahogany. and seemingly expanded into a minimal. wtmden-floored haunt for youth and hipness. Kerr Gray. who managed The Quill for ten years. has bought the place and handed it over to two ex-photography students his son and daughter. They are responsible not only for the pictures on the walls. but for the whole design. With a good US deli-type sandwich and salad menu. over twenty-six flavoured vodkas and a seductive line in jazzy sounds. Bar Kohl. the rejuvenated Quill. looks set to be a winner. I The Carwash Mound (ex Gallery Bar. ()blomov) Alloa's lan Grier has been at it again: the man behind Maison Hector and Scruffy Murphy's has just designed another extraordinary Edinburgh publand interior. The Carwash as the name suggests -- is a no holds barred piece of 70s retro. Fight your way through the beaded curtain at the entrance and you're in a sea of orange and purple. of fake wood and textured metallic wallpaper. of lava lamps and plastic chairs and basically all those things that nobody buys at jumble sales. The thinking behind all this is that 70s clubs are really popular but there is nowhere for the devotees to hang out beforehand. Here they can nibble soul g food. hear soul sounds and generally slide into the right groove before they take their afros and flares onto the dance floor. I Drum 8: Monkey 80 Queen Street. 538 8i 1 l. Possibly Edinburgh‘s poshest pub. Just off Charlotte Square. this four week old baby is growing tip fast to the sound 2 of champagne eorks popping as the ? bankers and stockbrokers get festive. it is not surprising the place is popular. with its elegant polished wood furniture and capacious. velvet seating booths. The Drum 8; Monkey is independently owned by a group of four who have found their formula successful already with their premises of the same name in Glasgow's St Vincent Street. "The odd libation for the overworked’ is the house motto. but more substantial sustenance is also to be i had. in the basement of 80 Queen Street i the nursery food fantasies of the financiers g are humoured with a menu including sausage and mash. smoked haddock with i poached egg and black pudding. pea and l ham stew and sherry trifle. Since it is being prepared by eat-Hilton chef Rab . McKie though. there aren‘t likely to be too many lumps in Drum & Monkey I gravy.