I had a long chat with one of our young chefs last week - the kind of chat that comes up often. “Passion” he said. He mentioned passion a few times in our chat. I’ve heard that word so many times in the past - from chefs both young and old. “Do you know what passion means?” I asked. “Do you know what passion can do to a human being?”. It can destroy relationships, ruin your common sense, and make you lose sleep! I’m old enough to know what the word passion really means, and lucky me, I must have accumulated a fair bit of it to still be here today. The rewards are immense and intense. Not many people understand the feeling of satisfaction you get when your job is not only well done, but appreciated by others. The sensation of overcoming a complicated situation, flying over the obstacles, is one that no words can describe.

“My wife Morna, the kids and I breed and rear Hebridean sheep on the edge of the Ochil Hills in Kinross-shire: a real family-farming adventure. Our flock began in 2011, with just a handful of Hebridean sheep, and we now number in the hundreds. We keep the sheep for conservation grazing, breeding stock and meat production.” by Jack Cuthbert of Ardoch Farm

I was correct last week when I said we wouldn’t see our doors open this week. I’m not sure we will see them opening next week either. It’s all a bit up in the air and many of our neighbours in Europe are going back into serious lockdowns or restrictions. Whatever happens, we are continuing with our l’escargot at home menus for the foreseeable future. So let me tell you what you can expect this week.

“Fred and I are both big supporters of the Slow Food Movement, which champions good quality, from clean provenance, produced in a manner that is fair to welfare and the environment. One of their projects is the Ark Of Taste which documents foods from around the world produced in a traditional manner that tend to be side-lined because the production is not suitable for industrialisation. The objective of the project is to encourage consumers (Slow Food calls them “co-producers”) to buy these products to support biodiversity.” Richard Briggs

As mentioned last week, we are receiving cracking deliveries from around Scotland. We have some extra-large fresh scallops for us to shuck all the way from Orkney. These will be served with garlic butter, and whilst they will keep a couple of days in your fridge, I highly recommend you eat them same day for quality reasons.

“Now more than ever, I personally believe that our kitchen table is the most important space in the home. Here we can debate, deliberate, nourish and enjoy. And no table is complete without a glass of wine. Cheers!”

Buy the best, cook the best and serve the best without compromise, as I have expressed many times. I can never say it enough. Last week I visited the students at Queen Margaret university to give a talk and answer questions - I also cooked them a meal (see above). The subject was ‘soil to end consumer’: who can achieve this, and how? Of course looking after the soil carefully and properly will help the supply of healthy food. Look after the soil and it will look after you. 

I am great believer that the simplest food is the best and getting the full flavour of an ingredient is more enjoyable than having my palate confused by too many flavours in my mouth. Always look out for the best ingredients and keep it simple. This recipe has been a classic at l’escargot blanc for the last 7 years, using our home-made black pudding. Recently we have needed to buy in the black pudding because we lost our supplier of fresh blood. (I will happily supply my black pudding recipe to anyone who contacts me.) The further north the better for scallops, and I find the ones from Orkney are very good indeed. But in general, any scallops will do, as long as they are bought in the shell so you know they’re fresh. Anyone can grow winter purslane or borage on their balcony or back garden, but mustard leaves will do the job just as well.

On Sunday 3 November we were so pleased to welcome friends from the Federation of Scottish Chefs for dinner, with patron Albert Roux.

Last night we invited all the Scottish winners of the Slow Food in the UK Awards to our wine bar to celebrate ‘good, clean and fair food’. We were of course thrilled to win in the Best Restaurant category!