Ali Stoner. Photo: Chris Tran
Ali Stoner is a home cook shining a light on traditional Scottish food – a cuisine that, as she says, “goes far beyond deep-fried Mars bars or urban myths about haggis”.
Ali, aka @rovinghaggis on social media, grew up in Helensburgh, north-west of Glasgow and now lives on the other side of the world in Melbourne. She credits her appearance on Masterchef Australia in 2022 as being the spur that took her cooking to a new level.
Her debut cookbook, Scran, is a knockout and mixes memoir and recipes with stunning photographs of the Scottish landscape. In the book she draws on memories of childhood, in particular, the meals her mother made. “I’m lucky enough that my mum taught me how a potato, a handful of oatmeal and a bit of salt and butter could hold a story,” she writes, adding that Scran began as a keepsake for her kids “to rescue those recipes, to record a feeling of home”.
Almost always, Ali brings a modern twist to an old favourite – chicken balmoral sausage rolls (“perfect Burns Night canapes”) or mince and champit tatties, which her dad always asked for after a holiday, “just to remind him he was back in Scotland”.
Here she shares a recipe built around a traditional Scottish soup.
Words by Jane Ferguson
Food photography: Sally Hulse
Ali’s Cullen skink bake
The starting point for these smoked fish pies is basically a Cullen skink soup. I thicken it to make the pie filling. Traditional Cullen skink relies on Scottish smoked haddock for the flavour. There is just nothing else like it. The best I can get in Australia is a Shetland smoked cod, which works really well. Finish this wee pie with a grating of sharp cheddar. Delicious.
Makes 4 pies (with leftover filling)
Ingredients
15g unsalted butter, plus a knob for frying
Olive oil, for frying
100g onions, finely chopped
250g potatoes, peeled and chopped into 1cm cubes
200ml whole milk
250g smoked haddock or smoked cod, cut into bite-sized pieces
15g plain flour
1 tbsp chopped chives
1 tbsp chopped flat-leaf parsley
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1 sheet of ready-rolled, all-butter puff or shortcrust pastry (27 × 35cm)
A little grated cheddar cheese
1 egg yolk mixed with a little milk
Salt and ground black pepper, to taste
Dressed green salad, to serve (optional)
Method
Heat a knob of butter and a drizzle of oil in a large saucepan over a medium heat. Add the onions with a pinch of salt and start softening them. Add the cubed potatoes, keep the heat low and sweat them together, covered with a lid, until the potato is starting to soften but is still a little hard. Pour in the milk and gently mix. Lay the fish over the top, put the lid on again and simmer until you can press the point of a knife into the potato easily. You don’t want them to be mushy but to retain their shape. Carefully lift the solid pieces of fish, potato and onions out of the milk with a slotted spoon and set aside. Pour the remaining liquid into a jug.
Add the 15g butter to the same pan and let it melt, then add the flour. Stir over a low heat to cook the flour a little, then pour in the cooking liquid and stir until thickened. Turn off the heat and carefully fold in the fish, potato and onions. Add the fresh herbs, mustard and plenty of black pepper to taste. Let it cool.
Heat the oven to 200C fan, Gas Mark 7. Lay out the pastry and slice into 4 strips. Pile the Cullen skink mix on to one end of each strip and top with a little grated cheddar, leaving enough room to seal round the edges and to fold over the top half of the pastry. Brush some of the egg yolk mixture around the edges and fold the top half of each pastry strip over the mixture, pressing the edges to seal. Take a fork and crimp the edges. With a sharp knife, gently make a small steam hole in the top of the pastry. Transfer to a baking sheet and brush the tops with the remaining egg yolk mixture.
Bake the pastries for 30 mins until puffed and golden. I like to serve these simply with a sharply dressed green salad for a crunchy, vinegary contrast. You will probably have a little filling left over – perfect for an omelette or toasted sandwich the next day.
Scran by Ali Stoner is published by Mitchell Beazley (RRP £27; buy it at a discount at the Nerve Bookshop)