Tigh an Eilean (‘House of the Island’) Hotel’s widely acclaimed Restaurant and its newly-opened Bar and Coastal Kitchen are set in the impossibly picturesque Wester Ross fishing village of Shieldaig; there the magnificent Torridon mountains meet the Western Seas on the edge of probably Europe’s last great wilderness.

Chris Field, ex-London finance lawyer, now chef/patron for ten years, stresses that not only the sea but also hill, woodland, river and garden help shape daily changing menus (illustrated by these recipes). ‘Wherever possible everything we use is sourced locally or made by us – driven by the usual considerations of supply logistics and ensuring freshness, quality and seasonality but also our striving to maintain across the board the famous, superb standards of product and supply set by the fishermen from this village and its surrounds.

Shellfish including langoustines, crab, lobster, spiny lobsters, mussels,oysters, razor clams and scallops arrive daily, all creel-caught or hand-dived. Straight from the jetty to the kitchen door about sums it up,’ says Chris. Wildlife and wi-fi Adjacent to the Hotel, Shieldaig’s friendly bar now has a stylish first floor eating area, the Coastal Kitchen, with table service, an open kitchen with a wood-burning oven and a balcony and outside decks with magnificent views over the loch and old village sea front. It’s managed by Margaret Kirk (a New Zealander who previously had her own restaurant in Shetland).

‘We offer an à la carte menu with daily-changing specials, including our famous Shieldaig Bar Seafood Stew and oven-fired pizzas, seafood and steaks – but we are also a wi-fi and wildlife spotting ‘hot spot’, where you can just drop in for an espresso coffee, home baking or a drink with friends or over the day’s newspapers.’

Panaché of Shieldaig langoustines, leek and chèvre in a filo basket

Serves 4

Filo baskets

12 sheets of filo pastry, about 15cm square

50ml clarified butter

Equipment: 4 medium dariole moulds

Method: Pre-heat oven to 190ºC. Butter the outsides of the 4 moulds and place, base upwards, on a baking tray. Place a filo sheet on a chopping board and brush with butter, place a second sheet on the first at a 30º angle and brush with butter and repeat again, with a third sheet, at a further 30% angle. Place the centre of the resulting overlapping sheets, butter side up, on the mould and gently press the pastry around the mould to form a basket shape. Repeat to form 4 baskets. Place the moulds on the baking tray into the oven and bake until golden (around 6 minutes). Carefully prise moulds away, place baskets on their bases and replace in oven for 4 minutes or so to brown insides.

Beurre rouge

100g finely chopped red onions

150ml red wine

150ml fish stock

65ml red wine vinegar

175g unsalted butter (chilled and diced)

Salt and black pepper

Method: Place all ingredients except butter into a saucepan with a couple of pinches of salt. Bring to boil, simmer uncovered for 15 minutes and covered for a further 20 minutes. Reserve.

Panaché

6 freshly cooked and peeled langoustines (or, even better,

4 handfuls of freshly cooked and peeled spiny lobsters, which we are lucky enough to be able to obtain from our local fishermen) Double cream

Ripe goat’s cheese, cut into small chunks

2 slim leeks

Salt, white pepper, black pepper

Chopped chives

Method: Top and tail leeks, remove outer leaves, wash thoroughly and thinly slice. Cook quickly in a pan of boiling salted water then plunge into iced water to arrest cooking and intensify colour.

To serve: Warm filo baskets. Heat beurre rouge base and whisk in butter pieces a few at a time. Season to taste with salt and black pepper.

For each portion heat some cream in a shallow pan, add some goat’s cheese chunks then, when almost melted, season to taste with salt and white pepper, add some leeks, further cheese chunks (to soften but keep whole) and 4 langoustines and heat through.

Place a filo basket in the centre of a large bowl and fill with the langoustine, leek and cheese mixture, scattering a few chopped chives on top. Spoon the hot burgundy coloured beurre rouge around the outside of the basket to provide a lovely contrast of colours.

Fillets of wild brown hare roasted with caramelised apples and chestnuts, spices and Sauternes cream

Serves 4

2 saddles of hare

6 rashers of smoked back bacon

Twine for tying

2 apples, peeled, cored and quartered

2 pinches of salt

2 pinches of sugar

3tbsp unsalted butter

900g fresh chestnuts

50g sugar

60ml veal stock

60ml chicken stock

Zest of one orange, chopped

2 sticks of celery, chopped

1 bay leaf

1tbsp juniper berries

2tbsp coriander seeds

2tbsp dried pink peppercorns

1 tbsp black peppercorns

180ml Sauternes

120ml double cream

Juice of ½ lemon

Sprigs of thyme

Chestnut confit

Method: Heat oil in a deep fat fryer to 350˚C. Slit chestnuts and lower into oil until skins burst open, when they can be peeled. Place sugar in a saucepan and heat until becomes a pale caramel, then add 100ml water, veal stock, chicken stock, orange zest, celery, bay leaf and chestnuts. Simmer, covered, for ½ hour then uncover and reduce liquid gently to a syrup (10 to 15 minutes). Reserve.

Apples, Sauternes cream and hare

Method: Heat a knob of butter in a sauté pan, add the apple wedges, sprinkle with the salt and sugar and fry until golden. Keep warm. Crush the juniper berries, coriander seeds and both types of peppercorn quite finely in a pestle and mortar. Place Sauternes in a saucepan over a high heat and reduce by half. Add cream and reduce liquid again by half. Season with salt, white pepper and lemon juice and finish sauce by whisking in a tablespoon of butter. Remove 2 fillets from each saddle and trim off the covering membrane.

Place three slices of bacon, overlapping, on a board and place the fillets of hare side by side (wider end of one fillet next to narrower end of other) lengthwise on top. Roll bacon around the fillets and tie around middle and at each end. Pre-heat oven to 220˚C. Sear ballotine all over in a pan then roast in the oven for 5 to 7 minutes, depending on the size of the fillets.

Rest for 3 minutes or so. To assemble each portion, place a small pile of confit chestnuts on plate with a caramelised apple wedge on each side. Roughly chop some of the exquisitely flavoured bacon from the ballotine and add at front of chestnuts. Slice hare fillet on the bias and fan around the apples, chestnuts and bacon. Top with some fresh thyme sprigs. Spoon sauce around the hare slices.

Finish with pinches of the spices around the front of the plate on the sauce – the mixed red, brown and black colours will contrast beautifully with the lemony yellow sauce (visually and of course taste-wise).

Ginger-poached Williams pear, warm gingerbread, double ginger ice cream and an orange syrup

Serves 4

Pears

4 ripe Williams pears

450g sugar

450ml water (or white wine, or a mix)

1 lemon, sliced

3 balls of stem ginger, chopped

Method: Bring sugar and wine/water to boil and simmer together with lemon slices and stem ginger. Peel and core the pears and place in the syrup. Cover pears with greaseproof paper and simmer gently until slightly soft. Turn off heat and allow to cool.

Gingerbreads

125g butter

140g soft brown sugar

90g treacle

½ tsp ground ginger

½ tsp ground cinnamon

2 eggs

140g plain flour

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

50ml milk

50ml cream

Equipment: 10-12 dariole moulds, (6cm diameter, 3½ cm deep) buttered and floured and with a disc of greaseproof paper in the bottom.

Method: Pre-heat oven to 180°C. Melt butter, sugar, treacle, ginger and cinnamon in a pan. Add the warm melted mixture to the eggs, beating together, then mix in remaining ingredients. Pour the mixture into the lined moulds and bake in oven for 10-15 minutes.

Orange syrup

900ml fresh orange juice

350g sugar

Method: Place juice and sugar in a pan and reduce slowly until you achieve a syrupy consistency. Double ginger ice cream 500 ml milk 500 ml cream 11 egg yolks 225g sugar 100g chopped stem ginger 100g ginger syrup (from the stem ginger jar) Method: Warm cream and milk together. Whisk egg yolks and sugar in a bowl and gently pour liquid over the bowl contents, mix and cook gently. Pour bowl contents through a sieve, add the stem ginger and ginger syrup and churn the liquid in an ice cream machine.

To serve: For each portion, warm an individual gingerbread. Take a thin slice off the bottom of a pear and slice pear horizontally restacking the slices in a pear shape. Place on a plate with the gingerbread and a scoop of ice cream, placed on the slice taken off the pear bottom. Spoon a little poaching juice over the pear. Serve orange syrup chilled in a shot glass (or alternatively drizzle around plate).

field facts

Chris and Cathryn Field Tigh an Eilean Hotel, Shieldaig, Loch Torridon, IV54 8XN Tel: 01520 755251

Email: tighaneilean@ keme.co.uk

www.stevecarter. com/hotel/rest.htm