truffle by name...

I feel no guilt whatsoever about diving straight into Chocolate and dragging you carelessly with me.

With origins dating as far back as 1900BC the significance of chocolate worldwide is beyond question.  Maya and Aztec cultures used cacao as gifts and beverages for royalty and religious events and later some parts of the world even used cacao beans as a form of money.  Today two thirds of the world’s beans are produced in Western Africa but the chocolate we know (confectionary) was first created in 1849 by the Chemist John Cadbury through development of an emulsification process to solidify cocoa into a bar.

Dark chocolate is well documented for both psychological and emotional benefits.  Chocolate contains flavonoids which are pigments found in plants that act as antioxidants and it stimulates endorphin production – and these things make you feel good!  If all that were not enough to convince you why you should eat chocolate the Latin name for the cacao tree is Theobroma Cacao meaning ‘Food of the Gods’.  Surely that can’t be bad?

Chocolate Truffles with Hazelnut Praline

100g Hazelnuts (skinned and roasted)

1 cup Sugar

1/4 cup Water

200g Milk Chocolate (high cocoa content)

1/2 cup Double Cream

Place the hazelnuts on a greased tin or piece of silicon matting.

To make the praline place the sugar and water in a saucepan and melt over a low heat until it turns golden amber.  Do not stir the caramel as this will make it crystallise, if you need to move it around just swirl the caramel around the saucepan by tipping it slightly.

Pour the caramel over the roasted hazelnuts and leave to set.  When it has hardened break up the praline.

Place into a food processor and grind.  It will turn firstly to a powder and then to a paste as the oils are released from the nuts.  Place in an airtight container until you need to use it.  It will keep for several weeks.

Place the double cream in a saucepan and heat to boiling point.  Remove from the heat and pour over the chocolate pieces.  Leave for 30 seconds and then stir to combine, the chocolate should melt into the cream and you should end up with a thick glossy chocolate sauce. 

Add half the praline paste (more or less dependent on how nutty you want the truffles) and stir to combine.  Place in the fridge and leave to set for a couple of hours or overnight.

To make the truffles, take a teaspoon of the mixture and roll into a ball (it gets messy from here).  Place on a piece of greaseproof paper or silicon matting and put back into the refrigerator.


You can either coat in cocoa or chocolate.  To coat in chocolate, melt slowly in a bain-marie and dip the truffles into the chocolate coating thoroughly allowing the excess to drip back into the melted chocolate.  Place on a greaseproof sheet and put them back in the refrigerator to set.  Dust with cocoa just before they set.  


Send any friends and family out and indulge... this is no time to share.

Celebrating the Great Chieftain o’ the Pudding Race

When you enter into a friendship with a Scot you become ingratiated into a world of traditions incorporating both the bizarre and the wonderful.  No one would assume that a group of friends arranging what can only be called a dinner party to celebrate the life of one their own in 1802 would today be such a worldwide calling.  Such is the story of Burns Night.

I can talk about this with authority.  I have been welcomed into the world of Robert Burns through many friends over the years and can attest to the sometimes strange and random occurrences these particular celebrations involve.  They also seem well able to always deliver the ‘I’m never going to recover’ hangover the next day.  I am currently reflecting on the most recent.

Each year on the 25^th January people all over the world celebrate the life of Robert Burns and Scottish heritage, (it is apparent that you do not need this to participate).   

It is on this evening that you will eat foods you would never normally consider eating, drink whisky with your meal (supposedly just a wee dram – don’t believe it!) and eat more oats in one meal than you would normally eat in a year’s worth of breakfasts.

Many of the traditions suggest you know the people you are dining with very well and are not in the least bit surprised by their behaviour during the evening. 

Welcomed into the home with the first ‘wee dram’ of Whisky from a friendship goblet this tradition assumes you already know what ailments your friends currently have and intend to share with you or you really are such a good friend that you don’t mind in the slightest. 

Before you actually eat a number of things will happen.  Firstly, a cacophony of ear burning sounds will resonate throughout the house as the bagpipes are played in honour of the Haggis being transported to its final resting place.  At this point one should be appreciative of the difficulty in playing this instrument if not of the sound itself.  Secondly, the latent inner thespian of one of your party will recite an ode to Robbie Burns by way of an ‘Address to the Haggis’.  Now suddenly faced with a close and personal friend dressed in a kilt and showing an alarming amount of knee whilst talking passionately to a less than tempting lump of meat on a plate can only make you wonder if you have wandered into the wrong house.  You can muse over this while trying to understand what exactly is being said to the aforementioned dish. 

Then we come to the food itself.  It is at this point that, if you started to consider what you were eating, you may well put on a serene smile and explain that you have recently turned vegetarian.  You should not do this.  Not only is it rude but you would be missing out of one of the great (if somewhat unexpected) dishes out there. 

Let’s be honest... the Haggis itself is no beauty.  Although it is known as the ‘Great Chieftain o’ The Puddin-Race’, it does in fact look exactly like the ingredients it is.  So, in the name of continuous development of your inner gourmet, see if for a moment you can imagine a dish made from sheep’s heart, liver and lungs not so subtlety flavoured with lashings of spices, suet, oatmeal and stock encased in a sheep’s stomach and cooked for several hours.  I know what you're thinking but it really is very good.

Accompanying this alien style of food will be Tatties and Neeps (or mashed potatoes and turnips to the uninitiated). 

For those who have a penchant for sweet things, pudding usually comes in the form of more oatmeal.  Clootie Pudding (made from suet, oatmeal, fruit and spice) or Cranachan (oatmeal, double cream and Drambuie) are the preferred options should you have any room left for more food.

More whisky ensues (assuming generous hosts) followed by laughter, merriment and after a few drams, some quite interesting dancing which everyone will later agree is best forgotten. 

Far from the traditional dinner party, Burns Night offers gourmet experimentation, theatre, full stomachs and plenty of laughter – definitely something to try. 

Like I said... from the bizarre to the wonderful all in one evening, how can you possibly resist?