With Burns Night fast approaching (January 25th) I thought I’d share this fun little recipe for Balmoral Bites (chicken and haggis wrapped in bacon) that will make a great wee party nibble if you’re having a few friends round on the big night, or any other time you fancy having just a wee nibble of Scottish fun food.For anyone out there who is not au fait with Burns Night let me just say that it is the celebration of the birth of Scotland’s most famous bard – Robert (Rabbie) Burns, writer of many a good poem and song and a bit of a lad by all accounts!
If you have ever sung Auld Lang Syne at New Year then you know this chap already as that little ditty is his most well-known work. He wrote so many others but some of my favourites are; Tam O’Shanter, My Love Is Like A Red, Red Rose and Ae Fond Kiss.
If you’d like to know more about Burns Night then head over to the BBC page for loads of great information, recipes, videos and fun facts.
This wee recipe for Balmoral Bites is from my book A Wee Taste Of Scotland which is available on Amazon worldwide both in print and digital format. You can see lots of images and information on my book page. There done it, official plug of book out of the way. Now let’s get on with the recipe…..
You’ll need 1 chicken breast fillet, 3 rashers of streaky bacon (or course Ayrshire bacon is best if you can get it – just biased as I live there!), 200g/7 oz of cooked haggis, black pepper and dried sage. Now that’s for the Balmoral Bites themselves. Now you need something a wee bit tasty to dip them in – The Whisky Dipping Sauce.
For this you’ll need some chicken stock, 2 tablespoons of Scotch whisky, some double cream, a teaspoon of mustard and a wee dab of butter.
Not too many ingredients there and all available in any supermarket. Oh well you might have a problem hunting down haggis if you don’t live in the UK but I’m told it is available in USA and Australia too at this time of year. If you can’t find it in the shops you can go out and shoot your own, but that’s a whole other story…..
This recipe will make 12 little Balmoral Bites so is ideal if you have a few folks round for Burns Night and want something just a wee bit Scottish to add to your nibble platter.
Read on for the recipe in nice easy printable format.
Karon x
- 1 chicken breast fillet
- 3 rashers of streaky bacon
- 200g/7oz cooked haggis
- freshly ground black pepper
- ½ tsp dried sage
- For the Whisky Dipping Sauce
- 200ml/7fl oz chicken stock
- 2 tbsp Scotch whisky
- 100ml/3½fl oz double (heavy) cream
- 1 tsp mustard
- 1 tsp butter
- Preheat oven to 190C/375F/Gas 5.
- Slice chicken fillet horizontally into 3 parts.
- Lay slices on cling film and cover with another layer and using a rolling pin hammer to flatten the slices as thin as possible without tearing the meat, you want strips about 3cm x 12 cm.
- Flatten and stretch the bacon slices in the same way and cut to similar length.
- Take teaspoons of the cooked haggis and roll into small sausage shapes.
- Wrap each haggis sausage in the chicken and then in the bacon.
- Pierce the bundles with a small skewer to secure and sprinkle with pepper and dried sage.
- Seal all the Balmoral Bites in a foil package and bake in the oven for approximately 20 minutes, opening the foil for the last 5 minutes to allow them to brown a little.
- Making the Whisky Dipping Sauce
- Gently heat the chicken stock in a small pan along with the whisky, bring to the boil and bubble till reduced by a third.
- Add cream and mustard and stir well.
- Add butter and continue stirring for 5 minutes, add seasoning to taste.
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