HAGGIS ROLLS

It is Burns season again. By that I mean the birth of Robert Burns is celebrated at this time of year in Scotland usually in the form of Burns Suppers. After years of Burns Suppers sometimes it is fun to make a change in the meal, the poetry readings and songs. At bigger events it might take the form of a concert or a ceilidh.

Thinking of alternative forms of celebrating Burns often results from listening to dire speakers giving, not so much the Toast to the Bard (you can't go wrong there!) but the Toast to the Lassies; blue jokes, politically incorrect topics make me squirm and, certainly, the speaker is never asked back!

However, I digress ... the gang are coming for their tea tomorrow night (dinner to the rest of you...) so I had a go at a test recipe using haggis. Iain and I thought we'd dig out our Burns poetry book and have a mini-Burns Supper with Mairi, John and the wee ones. Ishie, now 4 years old, is very, very good at language; I wonder if we could teach her to recite To a Mouse? "Wee sleekit, cow'rin' tim'rous beastie. Oh what a panic's in thy breastie!"

I thought I'd make some Sausage Rolls only use haggis instead. If I tell you that the grandchildren help make (and gobble) sausage rolls you can see how easy the task is! Just cut the rectangle of pastry into 3 and place the haggis in the middle. Roll the pastry to join up the sides and you are then left with a long tube. Snip it in sections and place on a baking tray.

Now we are very lucky to get a very tasty alternative to butcher's haggis, namely, vegetarian haggis. It's been around a long time and is basically lentils and oatmeal. Because it, like real haggis, is already cooked, it simply needs to be re-heated in the microwave, or, in this case, placed in the pastry which needs to be cooked fully.

We had a 'guinea pig' visitor to test the results today - late Saturday morning - as Bill dropped in to tell about his (and his wife's) skiing holiday in France. His 84th birthday was yesterday! He came back quite pleased that he made the most of his free ski pass in the Alps!