Haggis Tower

Ingredients for 4 servings:

• 3 onions
• 2 tbsp butter
• 6 mushrooms
• 4 cl whiskey
• 1 small can of tomatoes, chopped
• 200 ml cream
• salt and pepper
• 1,000 g carrot(s)
• 2 tbsp butter
• 1 tbsp maple syrup
• 1,200 g potatoes
• 3 tbsp butter
• 1 cup milk
• nutmeg
• 800 g minced beef
• 1 egg(s)
• 1 stale roll
• 1 cup milk
• 400g haggis
• 3 tbsp oil
• Parsley or chives

Instructions

Working time approx. 40 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 1 hour; Total time approx. 1 hour 40 minutes

with whisky – if you don’t like it, you can leave it out

We first encountered this dish at the “Arcade – Haggis and Whisky House” in Edinburgh. I added ground beef because I think it enhances both its appearance and flavor. For the sauce, finely dice the onions and sauté them in butter with a little salt over medium heat. Finely dice the mushrooms. First, set aside half of the sautéed onions in a large mixing bowl. Then add the mushrooms to the remaining onions in the pan and sauté for another 10 minutes. Deglaze with whiskey, if desired, and flambé. Add the chopped tomatoes and bring to a boil. If you prefer a fine sauce—like me—pure it now and pass it through a sieve. Add the cream and heat again. Season with salt and pepper. To preheat the plates and to keep the pan and pots warm later, preheat the oven to 50 degrees Celsius. For the purée, peel and roughly dice the carrots. Heat butter in a saucepan and caramelize the carrots with a little maple syrup (or sugar). Add a little water, just enough to prevent it from burning on the bottom. Cook the carrots with the lid closed until they are not too soft. Mash them into a coarse purée and season with salt. Peel and roughly dice the potatoes, and boil them in salted water until tender. Drain, mash them with butter and milk until coarsely pureed, and season with salt and nutmeg. Add the minced beef to the mixing bowl with the onions you set aside at the beginning. Soak the bread roll in milk (or breadcrumbs). Knead all these ingredients and an egg into a classic meatball dough. Add the haggis. Knead everything together. Fry with a little oil over a moderate heat, stirring frequently. Season with salt and pepper. To serve, place dessert or appetizer rings on the plates, fill them one-third full with meat, and smooth the mixture down with a spoon. Layer the carrot and mashed potatoes in the same way. Peel off the rings upwards. Spoon some sauce onto the plates and garnish the haggis tower with chives or parsley, if desired. Place all pots and pans in the oven to keep warm for a second serving later. A strong Scottish whisky goes well with this. I had a Lagavulin at the Arcade, and an Ardbeg An Oa at home. Notes: Where can you get haggis? I find Grant’s Premium Haggis very practical and delicious. One can contains about 400 grams. The recipe is for eight haggis towers – two per person – and I use rings with a relatively large diameter of 9 centimeters. Apparently, you can also use empty tins instead, after removing the bottoms with a can opener.