Bold favourites - recipes

Three traditional dishes are given a tasty new twist – just add some colour and a little imagination

TAKING familiar staples and giving them interesting new twists is one of the great pleasures of cooking. You don't necessarily need lots of special equipment or a long shopping list of exotic ingredients to do it.

This week's starter and main course – both simplified versions of dishes my colleague Sean Kelly has recently been featuring on his menu at Abstract in Edinburgh – are great examples of this.

Humble hen's eggs are the star of the very unusual but delicious starter. Dipping the poached eggs in breadcrumbs and deep-frying them gives you a satisfyingly crispy shell, with runny yolks inside.

Chestnut purée, which is available in jars in most large supermarkets or good delis, and thinly sliced mushrooms are all you need to accompany this dish, which could equally well serve as a stand-alone supper.

The main course sees that spring favourite, shoulder of lamb, transformed into lovely individual 'steaks' flavoured with garlic and thyme.

For a really satisfying and flavoursome plateful, they are accompanied by a creamy parsley mash and a rich vegetable gravy.

Your shoulder of lamb will probably give you between six and eight steaks – if that's too many, freeze some and use them later.

Adding coconut milk transforms panna cotta, a popular pudding, into something just a little special for dessert. Ice-cream – particularly banana flavour – is the perfect partner for this sweet treat.

Geoff Malmedy is the head chef at Abstract restaurant and Contrast brasserie, Glenmoriston Town House Hotel, Ness Bank, Inverness (01463 223777, www.abstractrestaurant.com)

DEEP-FRIED EGG WITH CHESTNUT AND MUSHROOMS
Serves four

100g plain flour; 2 eggs, beaten; 100g breadcrumbs; 4 eggs, poached and left to cool; oil for deep frying; 100g chestnut purée; 100g mushrooms, thinly sliced; a few chives, finely chopped

Place the flour, beaten egg and breadcrumbs in three shallow bowls. Carefully roll the cold poached eggs in the flour, then in the beaten egg, then in the crumbs to coat thoroughly.

Heat the oil to 190¼C and fry the eggs for three minutes. Remove and drain on kitchen paper.

To serve, spoon some chestnut purée on to each plate, top with an egg, and scatter over the mushrooms and chives.

ROAST LAMB SHOULDER WITH PARSLEY MASH AND GRAVY
Serves six to eight

1 shoulder of lamb, boned; 1 garlic bulb, finely chopped; 1 tbsp chopped thyme; 1 tbsp chopped rosemary; 1 bunch flat-leaf parsley; 75ml single cream; 300g mashed potato; 1 celeriac, cut into 10mm cubes; 3 carrots, cut into 10mm cubes; 500ml good quality lamb gravy; butter for pan-frying

Preheat the oven to 160¼C/gas 2. Open the lamb out, sprinkle it with the garlic, thyme and rosemary and season it with salt and pepper. Roll the meat up again into a large sausage shape, tie it with string and wrap it in tin foil. Roast in the oven for two to three hours, until cooked.

Once the meat is cooked, roll it tightly in fresh tin foil and chill it overnight in the fridge.

Boil the parsley in salted water until soft, drain and place in a blender with the cream. Purée, then mix through the mashed potato. Set aside and keep warm.

Cook the carrots and celeriac in boiling salted water until soft, then drain and add them to the lamb gravy.

Remove the foil and string from the lamb and cut into thick steaks. Heat the butter in a pan and fry the steaks until crisp.

To serve, divide the lamb among the plates, along with the mash and pour the gravy over.

COCONUT PANNA COTTA
Serves four

5 gelatine leaves; 190ml whipping cream; 60ml coconut milk; 30g sugar; 1 vanilla pod

Dissolve the gelatine in two tablespoons of cold water. Combine the cream, coconut milk and sugar in a saucepan. Split the vanilla pod in half lengthways and scrape half the seeds into the cream mixture.

Heat through on a medium heat, whisking slowly to combine – but do not allow to boil. Once the mixture is simmering, remove from the heat and stir in the gelatine. Pour into a bowl and set aside to infuse for an hour, stirring every 15 minutes to stop a skin forming.

Once it has cooled, strain the mixture into four individual moulds or ramekins. Cover each with clingfilm and chill overnight.

To serve, carefully loosen the set panna cotta from each mould and turn out on to four plates. Good-quality ice-cream makes an ideal accompaniment – banana flavour is perfect.