On November 30, Scotland will celebrate the Feast of St Andrew’s Day, an annual celebration of their homeland and patron saint, Andrew, a disciple of Jesus.
“The day is usually marked with a celebration of Scottish culture, including dancing, food, and music, and both the British Prime Minister and Scotland’s First Minister have St. Andrew’s Day messages,” explains the Telegraph.
Hame is Where the Heart Is
It’s Hame, it’s Hame for ever,
Let shore or sea divide!
The croon o’ some dear river,
The blink o’ ae braeside.
God bless our land. We dream o’t —
The days aye brakin’ fine
On the lang, lane glints o’ heather
In the glens we kent langsyne.
Ay, we are Reubens, rovers,
‘Neath mony an alien star,
But flaunt the blue flag o’er us,
Pipe up the ” Braes o’ Mar,”
And steppe and nullah vanish,
And pomp and pelf and fame —
It’s gloamin’ — on a lown hillside,
An’ lads, . . . We’re . . . Hame.
~ Mary Symon, poet
(Read the entire poem)
“Andrew died a martyr, and was crucified in Greece on an X-shaped cross in 60 AD, rather than the ‘T’ shape cross that Jesus was crucified on. This type of cross is also known as a saltire – the symbol that makes up the Scottish flag,” writes the Telegraph.
While there are many traditional foods served for St. Andrews Day, we chose Chef Adam Newth’s Smoked Haddock Bake, an easy dish the entire family will love. “Coming from Arbroath,” he says, “I’ve always loved seafood, and to create the St Andrew’s Day fish dish, I chose smoked North sea haddock, to take a twist on the traditional fish pie – warm, comforting and homely- perfect fare for the winter evenings.”
Based on Chef Newth’s recipe with grams converted to U.S. measurements.
Scottish Smoked Haddock Bake
Ingredients
2 fillets of Scottish smoked haddock (cut into chunks)
2 potatoes (peeled and chopped into a small dice)
4 spring onions (finely sliced)
1/4 cup fresh or frozen peas
1/4 cup broad beans (popped out of their skins – Fava or Butter Beans work as well)
2 tbsp chopped parsley
1 cup low-fat Crème Fraiche
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
Directions
Preheat oven to 350F. Parboil the diced potato in salted water, until it has softened slightly but not completely cooked. Then drain off and leave to cool.
Add the haddock fillets, onions, peas, broad beans, crème Fraiche and nutmeg and mix everything together in a big bowl with a good pinch of salt and pepper.
Spoon the mix into a ramekin leaving a small gap at the top. Mix the Parmesan and breadcrumbs together and sprinkle across the top to cover.
Cook in the preheated oven for 20 mins and serve.
