CROWDIE

(tag245)

[ CROWDIE – Made with low fat milk

Traditional crowdie was a cottage cheese and originated as a staple food for the crofter. It was hand-skimmed on the croft when a little of the cream was left, making it, in modern jargon, a ‘low fat’ rather than a ‘skimmed milk’ cheese.

‘The unusual thing about Crowdie is that it is semi-cooked. The fresh milk is soured naturally beside the stove and then “scrambled” over the heat and hung up to drip in a muslin cloth. This ancient cheese is unique to the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, and as far as we know was made nowhere in Europe … it has special qualities. Firstly, because of the natural curding (12 hours) if has a lovely citric flavour. Rennet (forbidden by both Vegetarians and Orthodox Jew) was not traditionally used to speed the souring. We use no rennet on our large scale, lactic cultures, and stick rigidly to the old recipe and method. Secondly this semi-cooked cheese (believed to go back to Viking and possibly Pictish times) is very slow in certain elements that are bad for kidney patients. Among them potassium and sodium.’ Lactic or acid curd crowdie has a more refreshing sharper flavour than rennet-started crowdie.

Origin of the name
When the Scots mixed meal and water together in the 18th century they called this ‘crowdie’ and, because it was such a staple item of diet, the name for the dish became transferred to the meal itself. People talked about Crowdie-time as the time to eat and because it took on this much broader meaning, it seems that all kinds of dishes had the word Crowdie added to them.

Crowdie-Moudie was a kind of steamed porridge made with milk; Cream-Crowdie or Cranachan was a special dish of harvest plenty when cream and oatmeal were mixed with fruits; Ale Crowdie was a mixture of ale oatmeal, treacle and whisky, also a harvest dish, while Crowdie Butter was curds with butter mixed through. Today the name is applied to the drained curd.


CROWDIE can be used in all recipes which use low or semi-fat soft cheeses (i.e. Quark, Philadelphia etc.): it is usually cheaper.

Basic crowdies
HIGHLAND CROWDIE (Highland Fine, Tain) A low-fat traditional crowdie with a moist texture and refreshing flavour. It is rennet free. (5.5 oz tubs/6 lb tubs)
CLAYMORE CROWDIE (North of Scotland Milk Marketing Board Creamery, Kirkwall, Orkney) Low-fat, traditional crowdie made with unpasteurised milk. (5 oz cartons) Also sold in tubs mixed with other ingredients.

Crowdie variations
CROWDIE AND CREAM (Highland Fine, Tain) Two-thirds crowdie to one-third double cream. (5.5 oz tubs/ 6 lb tub)
GRU DHU (Highland Fine, Tain) A crowdie and cream cheese mixture rolled in crushed peppercorns, giving it a unique flavour. (5 oz tubs/2 lb ball)
HRAMSA (Highland Fine, Tain) Crowdie mixed with chopped wild garlic lighter in flavour than continental garlic. ‘Hramsa’ is the Gaelic for wild garlic – the ‘all healing herb’.
HOWGATE CROWDIE AND CREAM (5 oz tubs)
PEAT SMOKED SOFT CHEESE (Howgate Cheeses, Penicuik) A soft cheese, the curds are ladled into open ended moulds sitting on straw mats, giving characteristic marks, and turned once, gently smoked over peat. A fine delicate flavour. (5 oz packs)
GOAT CHEESE – Soft farmhouse goats’ milk cheese is being made in small quantities mostly for local sale only. Worth keeping an eye open for in specialist cheese shops who track down supplies or may be able to give you further information. ]

BACALAO IN SPICY TOMATO WITH POTATOES

SALT COD IS A POPULAR INGREDENT IN SPAIN, NOT JUST A LENTEN NECESSITY. IT IS THE SALT THAT MAKES THE FISH SO CHARACTERFUL, SO DON’T OVERSOAK IT FOR THIS TRADITIONAL BASQUE RECIPE. LOOK OUT FOR A LOIN PIECE, WHICH HAS VERY LITTLE WASTE; IF YOU CAN’T FIND ONE, BUY A LARGER PIECE TO ENSURE YOU HAVE ENOUGH ONCE ANY VERY DRY BITS HAVE BEEN REMOVED.

SERVES FOUR

INGREDIENTS
- 400g/14oz salt cod loin, soaked in cold water for 24 hours
- 30ml/2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 1.5 green (bell) peppers, seeded and chopped
- 500g/1.25lb ripe tomatoes, peeled and chopped, or a 400g/14oz can tomatoes
- 15ml/1 tbsp tomato puree (paste)
- 15ml/1 tbsp clear honey
- 1.5ml/0.25 tsp dried thyme
- 2.5ml/0.5 tsp cayenne pepper
- juice of 0.5 lemon (optional)
- 2 potatoes
- 45ml/3 tbsp stale breadcrumbs
- 30ml/2 tbsp finely chopped fresh parsley
- salt and ground black pepper

1. Drain the salt cod and place in a pan. Pour over water to cover generously and bring to the boil. Remove the pan from the heat as soon as the water boils, then set aside until cold.
2. Heat the oil in a medium pan. Fry the onion, and add the garlic after 5 minutes. Add the chopped peppers and tomatoes, and cook gently to form a sauce. Stir in the tomato puree, honey, dried thyme, cayenne, black pepper and a little salt. Taste for seasoning: a little lemon juice will make it tangier.
3. Halve the potatoes lengthways and cut them into slices just thicker than a coin. Drain the fish, reserving the cooking water.
4. Preheat the grill (broiler) to medium with a shelf 15cm/6in below it. Bring the reserved fish cooking water to the boil and cook the potatoes for about 8 minutes. Do not add extra salt.
5. Remove the skin and bones from the cod, and pull it into small natural flakes. Spoon one-third of the tomato sauce into a flameproof casserole, top with the potatoes, fish and remaining sauce. Combine the breadcrumbs and parsley and sprinkle over. Heat the dish through under a grill for 10 minutes.

FLAN

THESE LITTLE BAKED CARAMEL CUSTARDS, MADE IN BUCKET-SHAPED MOULDS, ARE THE BEST-KNOWN AND MOST POPULAR OF ALL SPANISH DESSERTS. IF YOU DON’T OWN SMALL MOULDS, YOU CAN MAKE ONE LARGE FLAN INSTEAD BUT IT WILL NEED TO BE COOKED FOR A LITTLE LONGER.

SERVES EIGHT
(Please check the details with the club food at http://www.yuwie.com/signup.asp?r=132333, INFO002)

BITTER CHOCOLATE MOUSSES

THE SPANISH INTRODUCED CHOCOLATE TO EUROPE, AND CHOCOLATE MOUSSE REMAINS A FAVOURITE DESSERT IN A COUNTRY THAT USUALLY FAVOURS CUSTARDS AND FRESH FRUIT. THESE DELICIOUS CREMAS DE CHOCOLATE ARE RICH WITH CHOCOLATE, WITH A HINT OF ORANGE LENT BY THE LIQUER.

SERVES EIGHT
(Please check the details with the club food at http://www.yuwie.com/signup.asp?r=132333, INFO001)

CHARD

Acelga is an old vegetable round the Mediterranean. The glossy dark leaves and bright-white stalks can be eaten together, but are most often separated. Spinach can be substituted for the leaves of chard.

BUTIFARRA

A common white sausage in Catalonia and Mallorca, it is made of pork, tripe and pine-nuts and spiced with cinnamon and cumin. It is good grilled. There are also black butifarrones – a nickname for the middle classes in their black coats.

BREAD

Spanish bread is white and of excellent quality, freshly baked every day, and sold first thing in the morning as rolls, under names like bollo or chica, ‘little girl’, and later in the day as the larger pan. Whole meal bread, and some rye or cornmeal, can be found in the north-west corner of the country.

Bread is the standard accompaniment to food, in a country where few dishes are paired. Bread is also eaten as a bocadillo, a crusty roll sandwich, with olive oil replacing butter. The cocas of Mallorca are the nearest thing to an Italian pizza.

Stale bread is used as a thickener for sauces, for it will hold a little fat in suspension; the result is light and not greasy. Torrijas are a children’s sweet: stale bread dipped in milk, then egg-coated, fried and sugared.