What Grant Ate This Week
Wild garlic pesto gnocchi with salmon fillet
Wild garlic grows on the north-west coast of Sutherland for a short window in spring — typically April into May — and right now it's at its best. This week, Grant is making a hand-foraged wild garlic pesto, served with gnocchi and a salmon fillet.
Hand foraged means exactly that — gathered from the hillsides of Sutherland by hand, in season, in the window when the flavour is right. Wild garlic has a softer, greener character than cultivated garlic — more herbal, less sharp — and it makes a pesto that tastes specifically of this place and this time of year. In a few weeks, it'll be gone until next spring.
The salmon is fresh, the gnocchi is made in the kitchen, and the dish is one of those things that exists because of where we are and when it is. It won't be on the menu indefinitely. If you're on the NC500 in May and you see it, order it.
Cape Wrath oysters from Patrick and Lucy
Patrick and Lucy are based at Bow, near Durness — about 30 miles north of Scourie at the north-western tip of mainland Scotland. Their oysters are on the menu right now, and they're exceptional.
Native oysters from this part of the Scottish coast have a clean, cold minerality that reflects the water they come from. The North Atlantic at this latitude is about as clean and cold as seawater gets in the UK, and that comes through in the flavour. These aren't oysters that need dressing up — a squeeze of lemon, maybe, but they're better eaten simply.
If you've been on the fence about oysters, these are the ones to try. The quality of the source makes a significant difference, and the source here is about as good as it gets in Scotland.
What else is on this week
The langoustines from Sandy in Kylesku are in good supply right now — the catch has been consistent and they're going straight from the creel to the kitchen. Scallops from Adam at Handa Island are on the menu. Kylesku crab is also available.
Grant's cooking from what's come in, as always. A sample of the current daily changing menu is on the website.
Come and find us
Crofter's Kitchen is metres from Scourie Beach on the NC500. Open Monday to Saturday, noon to 7pm. No booking required.
Croft 17, Scouriemore, IV27 4TG. Get directions.