Modern Recipes

Broccoli and cauliflower florets deep fried in light batter with tomato sauce Do you ever have problems getting your family to eat their greens? Maybe you personally are not the biggest vegetable fan in the world? Whatever your taste in and attitude to vegetables, however, hopefully you will find this incredibly simple but tasty idea worth trying. Fritters and tomato sauce in Scotland generally of course means thick slices of potato, dipped in batter and deep fried in hot fat or oil before being served with tomato sauce or ketchup from a bottle. These fritters are very different, as is the tomato sauce with which they are served. Instead of using potato, I have used summer fresh broccoli and cauliflower, allowing these delicious and nutritious vegetables to be enjoyed in a totally dissimilar way from what would perhaps be the norm. The tomato sauce is made from oven roasted, fresh plum tomatoes.    Conventional Scottish fritters and tomato sauce I started by simply blanching t...

Homemade Lorne sausages and tomato sauce on Scottish rolls In my previous post, I looked at the Scottish roll and sausage, which sees a square/sliced/Lorne sausage served on a bread roll. I focused largely upon cooking and serving bought sausages in a healthier fashion. In this post, I'm going to look at making not only the sausages but the accompanying tomato sauce from scratch in a hopefully healthier way. The sauce has to be made first. What I am doing is essentially roasting some tomatoes in the oven before mashing them up to form a sauce. You could strain the tomatoes through a sieve or even blitz them in a food processor or blender but I ultimately chose to do neither and make a chunky, rustic tomato sauce. Take three small tomatoes and cut them in half. Lay them cut sides up on a roasting tray. Season with salt, pepper and a pinch of oregano. Grate a peeled garlic clove over the top and drizzle with extra virgin olive oil. They then go in to the oven at 150C/300F/Gas Mark 2 ...