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I decided to make bannocks, or Scottish oat cakes and Cockaleekie Soup, because I have a cold and I wanted chicken soup, but not the traditional chicken soup.  This is a fairly time-intensive recipe, the sort of thing you should probably only make when you’re home with a cold.

Historically, this is part of a Burns supper, which is a dinner held to commemorate the life of Robert Burns, who was a Scottish poet who lived 1759-1796.  It ‘s like a big party;  online descriptions have scripts with multiple exhortations like, “Not too insulting.”  Burns suppers also usually involve Haggis, which I have no intent of attempting.

Bannocks:

Bannocks are an exercise in becoming Zen.  They taste fantastic, but because oats dry fast, and they crumble, not every oatcake will come out whole;  they also dry fast enough that it is hard to know how long to cook them.  If they start to smell even remotely burned, it’s time to flip the entire kit and caboodle, regardless of whether or not you’re sure it will stick together.  Like I said, it’s very zen.  Let it go.

Because we have folks from that part of the U.K. in both family lines, this an approximation of what I watched my mother make as a child, only she made them tiny, and one at a time.

Ingredients:

3 cups “Gluten-Free Oats ” brand gluten-free oats

1 stick of butter

1 cup of water

1/2 tsp baking soda

sprinkle of salt

Pam

Kitchen apparati:

trusty cast iron pan

mixing bowl

spoon

large heat resistant spatula  (The bigger the spatula, the less likely it is that the oatcake will fall into a billion pieces.)

Directions:

Turn the heat under your cast iron pan to about medium-high.  Let it heat for ten to fifteen minutes.  This works much better if the pan is really hot.  Mix the oats, water, baking soda, and salt while you’re melting a stick of butter in the microwave, which should take about 30 seconds on the “high” setting.  Pour the butter into the oats and stir well.  Coat the bottom and sides of the cast iron pan with Pam.  Pour the batter into the cast iron pan, and spread the batter thinly, to about 1/4 inch.  Let it cook for about five minutes, then, with a spatula, start to pull the edges away from the sides of the cast iron pan.  Ease the spatula under the bannock, breathe, and flip it.  Some of it will come apart.  Flip the other little pieces and let it all cook for about three to four minutes, until it starts to smell the tiniest bit burned.  Repeat.

Breathe.

Cockaleekie Soup:

So this is what you do with leeks!  Anway, this dish was first mentioned, according to some historical texts, in the sixteenth century.  I’ve tried to make it in a crock pot before, but that is bad for two reasons.  Leeks cooked a long, long time make everything way too “leeky”.  Also, many crock pots do not get hot enough to cook chicken properly, or at least you cannot know that the chicken was hot enough to be safe to eat. *

Ingredients:

3 chicken breasts

1 large leek

2 ounces of prunes

1/2 cup long grain rice

thyme

parsley

bay leaf

3 cups of chicken broth

Kitchen Apparati:

plate

microwave

large soup pot

knife

plates

measuring cup

tea infuser

instant-read thermometer

smaller sauce pan

microwave safe dish large enough to hold three chicken breasts  (This can be a large ceramic bowl.)

Directions:

Microwave the chicken for nine to ten minutes on 70% power on a plate.  While you’re microwaving the chicken, wash, and thinly slice all parts of the leek, including the green parts.  When  the chicken is done, open the microwave and stick an instant read thermometer into the chicken.  If the thermometer reads 165 degrees farenheit for at least six seconds, it’s safe to eat.  Take the chicken out of the microwave and put into the soup pot.  Turn the heat to medium-high and start to brown each side–this adds depth and flavor.

While the chicken is browning, pour three cups of chicken broth into a smaller sauce pan.  Add the leeks.  Put the thyme and parsley into a tea infuser, add a bay leaf, and simmer the leeks for about forty minutes with the spices in the broth.  (I cook this in a reduction so that it will not taste really “leeky”.  Some leeks are good;  lots and lots of leek, eh, not so good.)

Once the chicken is browned on both sides–this should take about twenty minutes–add three cups of water and 1/2 cup of rice.  Cook the rice and chicken for forty minutes, starting with a higher heat to boil the rice, and then reducing it to a simmer.  Meanwhile, chop the prunes.  Add the leek/chicken broth mixture to the cooked chicken and rice.  Add the prunes and simmer for another ten minutes.

Cost:  About $14.00 to serve a small army of Scottish historians.

* (Yes, I’ve given myself food poisoning from my own cooking before.)