Last week the reconvened Scottish Parliament was presented with two of
the oldest law books in the country. They were presented to the
Parliament by an Inverness law firm MacLeod and MacCallum who purchased
the books at auction in the 1970s. The two law books had been in the
personal library of Chancellor Seafield, the last Chancellor of Scotland
before the Union of the Parliaments in 1707. The law books contain
statutes passed by The Three Estates banning football and golf in
medieval times.
Just as well Scots chose to ignore such laws, indeed they played a major
role in making football and golf popular world-wide. By coincidence this
week sees the 250th anniversary of the establishing of the Fife town of
St Andrews as the world centre of golf. On 14th May 1752 twenty-two
noblemen and gentlemen, having devised a competition to be played over
the Links of St Andrews, presented a Silver Club to the winner, who
became Club Captain for a year. From this competition evolved The
Society of St Andrews Golfers, who met regularly to take part in the
'healthfull exercise of golf'. In 1834 the Society received the
patronage of King William IV and was renamed The Royal and Ancient Golf
Club of St Andrews. Golf remains widely popular in the land of its birth
as the number of golf courses, the length and breadth of Scotland,
testifies.
The links and greens of St Andrews are famous world-wide and attract
visitors from all four corners of the globe. But it is another type of
green which inspires this week's recipe - cauliflower.Once again we are
indebted to our friends in the Dumfriesshire Federation SWRI, whose
Kilmahoe Institute supplied a recipe for Cauliflower Souffle Tart to the
Federation's 70th Anniversary Cook-Book in 1992.
Cauliflower Souffle Tart
Ingredients : 6 oz short crust pastry; 1/2 small cauliflower broken into
florets; 1/2 teaspoon mustard powder; 2 eggs (size 3) separated; 1 oz
butter; 1 oz plain flour; 1/4 pint milk; 3 oz cheddar cheese, grated;
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Preheat oven to 220 C/425 F/ Gas Mark 7. Use pastry to line 8 inch flan
tin. Bake blind for ten minutes. Cook the cauliflower in boiling water
for five minutes, until just tender. Drain well reserving stock. Arrange
the cauliflower in the pastry case. Melt butter in a pan, stir in flour
and mustard. Cook for one minute. Gradually stir in milk and 1/4 pint
stock. Cook until smooth, stirring. Remove from heat and stir in egg
yolks and cheese. Whisk the egg whites until stiff amd fold in. Spoon
over cauliflower and sprinkle with cayenne pepper. Bake for thirty
minutes until golden.
