Raymond Smith - Shetland Food Fair 2015

For 18 years Raymond Smith owned and worked as a chef at Monty's Bistro in Lerwick, well known for its high-quality meals made with local ingredients. He demonstrated at the cookery theatre at the Shetland Food Fair 2015 with a delicious and warming Shetland lamb dish with Moroccan spices.

Raymond's Cooking Tips:

• red onions, cooked slowly, become sweet
• look for round onions and give them a firm squeeze. If it's a bit soft it's going off.
• if you can get cooking with onions right everything else will follow.
• work with garlic that still has juice in it. If it's soft and brown throw it out.
• did you know the garlic green stem is triangular, unlike the circular stem of it's cousin the chive?
• we're a bit limited with ingredients we can grow in Shetland, but you can work with what we've got. Take your favourite dish and put a local twist on it like smoked haddock carbonara or Crofter's bolognese with Shetland lamb.
• Use reestit mutton as a seasoning like you would feta cheese!
• the best way to use cumin is to temper the seed first - toast it in a dry pan.
• as soon as you grind pepper it begins to lose its power - always use freshly ground pepper.
• use your local butchers!

Q. How long have you been cooking?

A. 30 years.

Q. What are your inspirations when it comes to cooking?

A. The time of year, the location & my feeling.

Q. What's your favourite Shetland-produced ingredient and why?

A. King Scallops, fresh from the shell. Pan fried, they taste of natural caramel sweetness with almost a hint of seaweed salt freshness . The texture of the white meat against the smooth roe silkier in the mouth. Bursting with flavour. Brown Crab comes a close second.

Rhubarb from Mums croft in Braewick, Aith. The astringently bitter, tart, taste which has been so versatile & was ever present on the old Monty's menu, whether as a sweet with crumble, Rhubarb cheesecake with Shetland honeycomb or rhubarb tarte tatin to the savoury chutney made for winter game terrines.

Q. What recipe will you be demonstrating at the Shetland Food Fair?

A. Shetland lamb mince with Moroccan spices in pitta bread, roast beetroot, yoghurt with fresh coriander & mint. Not so simple but great dish for Autumn made up in Monty's on a very dreich windy damp morning in late October.

We enjoyed the warming spices as the Autumn chill comes in and the air outside changes leaving us with the thoughts of a warm glowing fire or some warming foods.