Burns Night 2017: Stovies, haggis canapes and whisky dessert recipes

What originally started as a friends' tribute to the poet Robert Burns 220 years ago has become a worldwide tradition on 25 January, full of eating haggis, drinking whisky and reciting the Scottish Bard's literary works

Stovies by Graeme Taylor

The word stovies comes from the French étuves, meaning “to stew in its own juices”, and it is the perfect recipe for leftover roast meat. Just about every home in Scotland will have a different recipe for this dish, depending on everything from where you live, to what meat you prefer for your roasts.

Mutton gives a deeper flavour, but beef or lamb work well too. Fresh stock is best but by all means use a cube if you don’t have any.

2 onions, roughly chopped
½ turnip (swede), roughly diced
2 medium potatoes, roughly diced
carrots, 1-2, sliced (optional)
​400ml of beef stock, preferably homemade, but 2 stock cubes in 400ml of water will do
leftover roast beef, lamb or mutton, 300g-500g, roughly chopped
2 tsp oil, or dripping, for frying

In a heavy-based pot heat the oil or dripping then add the onions. Sweat down a little, allowing no more than a little colour to form. Add the remaining vegetables and stock and bring gently to the boil. Turn down to a simmer. Continue to simmer until potatoes and turnip are cooked and carrot and onion have softened. Add the meat, stir, and heat gently for a couple of minutes to warm the meat through. Serve in bowls, ideally with warm bread and a dram of whisky.

This recipe originally appeared on the Great British Chefs

Veggie haggis and mustard bites by Jacqueline Meldrum

Serve these great Scottish canapés at your Burns Night party alongside the finest champagne and some toe-tapping music.

250g puff pastry
flour, for dusting
milk, or soy milk, for glazing​
454g haggis, vegetarian
8 tbsp wholegrain mustard
freshly ground black pepper

Remove the pastry from the fridge and allow it to come up to room temperature. Preheat the oven to 200°C/gas mark 6, and line two baking trays with greaseproof paper. Dust a rolling pin and work surface with flour, and roll the pastry out into a rectangle – you want it to be fairly thin.

Spread half of the mustard up the middle of the strip, covering the middle third, then top with half of the haggis. Season generously with black pepper. Wrap each side of the pastry over the filling until you have a long sausage shape. Slice into 1cm discs and place each disc on their sides on the baking tray. Glaze with milk and bake in the oven for 12-15 minutes, until golden. Serve warm.

This recipe originally appeared on the Great British Chefs

Raspberry and whisky cream pots by Karen Burns-Booth

To finish off your Burns Night supper how about a quick and easy dessert that encapsulates the essence of Scotland? This delightful recipe uses Scottish raspberries, whisky, heather honey and buttery shortbread.

Shortbread, 4 biscuits
raspberry jam, 4-6 tsp
4 tbsp cream cheese
4 tbsp crème fraîche
2 tbsp single malt whisky
2 tbsp heather honey

To serve:

frozen raspberries, around 6-8 per pot
shortbread, 2 biscuits broken into quarters

To start the dessert, crumble the first 4 shortbread biscuits into smallish crumbs and sprinkle the crumbs into the bottom of each glass bowl. Warm the jam slightly and spoon over the shortbread crumbs. Mix the cream cheese, crème fraîche, whisky and heather honey together, beating well to make a smooth cream. Divide the cream over the top of the jam and shortbread crumbs, then scatter the raspberries over the cream. Garnish with the shortbread biscuit quarters and serve with double cream and a shot of whisky on the side.

This recipe originally appeared on the Great British Chefs