We are making the fish soup this morning using gurnards. It’s a tradition at l’escargot, to make either fish soup or bisque, and we cannot make enough.

“Here at Phantassie Organic market garden we grow all the veg we can grow in Scotland that are not the trad “Scottish” field-grown veg. My particular passions are Oriental greens for ease of prep and maximum winter nutrition and winter squash for flamboyance and flavour. I doubt I am going to get Fred too interested in the first but am working on the second (see this week’s menu). It helps that some of the best varieties originate in France.” by Patricia Stephen

The picture above is impressive, what a queue we had for the collection on the 31st of December. Thank you so much, and thank you all for being so patient. We know some of you waited up to two hours to collect your New Year’s Eve meal. I am so sorry we couldn’t satisfy the demand, we ended up being so busy!

I’m at a bit of a loss for words. 2020 has been awful in many ways. We have not had a holiday, we have not visited our friends at home, we have not seen our families and our holiday house in France has been left mostly unattended since summer 2019. But we are healthy and busy. We have received huge support and thanks. We have moved from being a restaurant to some kind of social enterprise on a mission to deliver the best of Scotland as take-away meals. Long may it continue.

So I would like firstly to say that we wish you all a very merry Christmas, wherever in the world you may be.

The four of us went to get our Christmas tree last night. Matilde came over with Ted, Camile joined us at l’escargot bleu, and off we went to Canonmills as we have done for the last 12 years (at least!).

Et voila, we are nearly there, Christmas is right in front of us and before we know it we will be sitting around the table enjoying a roast. But what roast I hear you ask?

“In the current climate of global environmental issues, Scottish meat production is amongst the most environmentally friendly and sustainable in the world. Scotland’s landscape and climate are unique! Much of Scotland’s farmland is unploughable and unsuitable for crops, but ideal to grow grass and our climate means we are rarely short of water. That grass – which we can’t eat - is converted by Scotland’s cattle and sheep into some of the tastiest, nutrient rich beef, milk and lamb in the world.” Andrew Duff of Macduff Beef

As mentioned by Betty above, the Christmas menu will be up online as soon as possible, I have decided to go for a great selection of poultry including Bresse turkeys and chickens, poule noir du Mans as well as a good numbers of Linda’s chickens. There will also be some Armagnac-smoked salmon, some foie gras, and of course, a dark chocolate log. More news soon.

This week I am cooking a cassoulet. Yes, I know I might upset a few chefs or those who pretend they “know it all” with the way I make it. For me, cassoulet is one of those dishes that you can tweak a little bit, using any meat that will work well with each other if cooked properly. On this occasion, I am using organic veal belly, Hebridean mutton and pork neck fillet. I’m also going to make Toulouse sausages. This will all be cooked with organic cannellini beans from Italy.