Chicken and Haggis Wellington, Whisky Neep Dauphinoise and Truffle Gravy

Chicken and Haggis Wellington, Whisky Neep Dauphinoise and Truffle Gravy. With it being Burns night this week on the 25th January, I have decided to make some Scottish inspired Burns Night recipes.  Being Scottish is something I am very proud of and I love eating Scottish food such as haggis. This Scottish inspired recipe is a great twist on the original beef wellington. If you don’t know, Robert Burns (Rabbie Burns) was an 18th century poet and regarded as one of the most famous people in Scottish history. You might not realise that you even know any of Robert Burns’ poems, but one that you may likely know is actually sung all around the world on New Year’s Eve: Auld Lang Sang (And also at every wedding in Scotland). Apparently, the first Burns Supper was held in 1802 on the 5th anniversary of the poet’s death and it has been a fixture on the Scottish calendar every year since. 

So every year, on the 25th January, Scots celebrate his legacy all over the country with the most Scottish of all meals: Haggis. Not a daft four-legged wild creature as some people may lead you to believe, but a mixture of sheep heart, liver and lung minced together with onions, oatmeal, suet, salt and spices. Haggis is normally always bought ready made and already cooked; traditionally boiled within the sheep stomach lining. Okay, I understand this may not sound very appealing whatsoever but the result is a deliciously spiced meaty mix. However, if you still can’t bring yourself to try it then vegetarian haggis is actually just as delicious.  

Normally, haggis is simply served with mashed potato and mashed neeps (swede). Another popular favourite is to serve it alongside another Scottish favourite: mince and tatties. As a Scottish food blogger, I have decided to turn it up a notch and serve it the haggis stuffed in a chicken breast and then wrapped in crispy puff pastry. I have served the Haggis Wellington with dauphinoise made with neeps and whisky. If you have been following my blog for a while, you will be aware that I am very partial to dauphinoise having made them with potato, butternut squash and even a version with haggis. Cream and potatoes would be my ‘food heaven’ if I were to appear on Saturday Kitchen so I can’t promise this will be the last time dauphinoise appear on these pages- and I am not apologising for it either! Let me know if you give this a go, or what you are making for your Burns Supper. See below for the ‘Address to a Haggis’ poem, traditionally recited as the haggis is laid on the table, and cut into. 

If you liked my recipe for Chicken and Haggis Wellington then try out my other Scottish recipe for Haggis Neeps and Tatties Spring Rolls

RECIPE

Serves 4

Difficulty Level: Top Chef

Ingredients:

For the Chicken and Haggis Wellington :

• 4 Chicken Breasts
• 250g Haggis
• Puff Pastry Sheet
• Egg, beaten
• Salt and Pepper
• Olive oil

For the truffle gravy:

• 25g butter and plain
• 200ml beef stock
• Tablespoon of truffle oil – I love Truffle Hunter
• Tablespoon of white wine vinegar and marmite
• Salt and Pepper

For the whisky neep dauphinoise

• 1 turnip, very finely sliced with a mandolin
• 200ml double cream
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 100ml scotch whiskey
• 50g grated mature cheddar
• White pepper and salt

Method:

For the Chicken and Haggis Wellington :

1. Bash the chicken with a rolling pin until escalope-like then season with plenty of salt and pepper.
2. Divide the haggis into four portions and shape into a sausage.
3. Place on top of the bashed chicken breasts and wrap the chicken around the haggis, making a large sausage shape.
4. Cover tightly with clingfilm and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes to keep its shape.
5. Preheat the oven to 200C. Remove the pastry from the fridge 5 minutes before you use it.
6. Unwrap the cling film from each portion of chicken.
7. Cut the pastry into four squares big enough to wrap around each chicken.
8. Cover the individual chicken with the pastry, be sure to seal around completeley and smooth down the edges to maintain a sausage shape.
9. Chill in the fridge until ready to cook (not vital, but means you can do it in advance if needed)
10. Brush the wellingtons with the beaten egg and score a pattern into the pastry.
11. Cook for around 30 minutes until golden brown all over.
12. Allow to rest for 5 minutes before slicing

For the dauphinoise:

1. Butter the dish for the dauphinoise.
2. In a pan, heat the cream with the garlic, whisky, salt and pepper until it begins to simmer. Take off the heat. Do not allow to bubble or it will thicken too much.
3. Layer the dish with sliced neeps, then cheese and cream until you get to the top of the dish.
4. Bake for around 20-25 minutes until cooked through.
5. Allow to rest for about 10 minutes. This makes it a lot easier to slice.

• I definitely recommend a mandolin for easier, precise slicing. They are super cheap and easy to use- just watch your fingers! This is the one I have:

For the truffle gravy: 

1. Melt the butter in a pan and add the flour. Stir to cook for a couple of minutes.
2. Gradually add the stock, stirring at all times to avoid lumps.
3. When all of the stock is added, allow the gravy to bubble for a couple of minutes. Stir through the vinegar, marmite and truffle oil. Season with salt and pepper.

TIPS

• Instead of individual wellingtons, make one big one. Bash out the chicken breasts as before and layer them side by side. Add a longer sausage of haggis in the middle and wrap around the chicken. Then simply cover in pastry as before. Would make an excellent centrepiece for a Burn’s supper! 
• Great served with greens: I simply take a handful of kale and place in a bowl with some boiling water and microwave for 3 minutes.
• Would be just as good served with mash potato
• Serve the neep dauphinoise with haggis and mash potato for something a little easier!

After enjoying your Chicken and Haggis Wellington go traditional with a poem: 

Address to a Haggis

Fair fa’ your honest, sonsie face,
Great chieftain o the puddin’-race!
Aboon them a’ ye tak your place,
Painch, tripe, or thairm:
Weel are ye worthy o’ a grace
As lang’s my arm.

The groaning trencher there ye fill,
Your hurdies like a distant hill,
Your pin wad help to mend a mill
In time o need,
While thro your pores the dews distil
Like amber bead.

His knife see rustic Labour dight,
An cut you up wi ready slight,
Trenching your gushing entrails bright,
Like onie ditch;
And then, O what a glorious sight,
Warm-reekin, rich!

Then, horn for horn, they stretch an strive:
Deil tak the hindmost, on they drive,
Till a’ their weel-swall’d kytes belyve
Are bent like drums;
The auld Guidman, maist like to rive,
‘Bethankit’ hums.

Is there that owre his French ragout,
Or olio that wad staw a sow,
Or fricassee wad mak her spew
Wi perfect scunner,
Looks down wi sneering, scornfu view
On sic a dinner?

Poor devil! see him owre his trash,
As feckless as a wither’d rash,
His spindle shank a guid whip-lash,
His nieve a nit;
Thro bloody flood or field to dash,
O how unfit!

But mark the Rustic, haggis-fed,
The trembling earth resounds his tread,
Clap in his walie nieve a blade,
He’ll make it whissle;
An legs an arms, an heads will sned,
Like taps o thrissle.

Ye Pow’rs, wha mak mankind your care,
And dish them out their bill o fare,
Auld Scotland wants nae skinking ware
That jaups in luggies:
But, if ye wish her gratefu prayer,
Gie her a Haggis