Something fishy

A recipe from the Borders, in Scotland.

Here are two recipes from the Borders. ... The second recipe is from the Wheatsheaf, at Swinton, where John Keir has run the restaurant for a number of years.

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HALIBUT ON A SAFFRON RISOTTO WITH POACHED EGG and lemon butter sauce Serves 4 • 7oz/200g Arborio rice or similar • 2 shallots, skinned and finely chopped • 4 tablespoons dry white wine • 3/4pint/450ml vegetable stock • 2oz/56g diced chilled butter • 4 trimmed halibut portions, each approx 41/2oz/125g • 8oz/225g baby spinach • 10 cherry tomatoes • 5 tablespoons olive oil • 1 tablespoon saffron in 4 tablespoons boiling water • 2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese • tablespoon chopped flat-leaved parsley • juice from 1 lemon • 4 free-range eggs Pre-heat the oven to Gas Mark 3/325F/170C. To make the risotto, heat the olive oil in a pan and sauté the rice and diced shallots for two minutes, stirring frequently, adding the wine and reducing almost completely. Add a ladle of hot stock to the risotto, and stir until almost all is absorbed. Continue adding the hot stock. Check the rice grains - if they are at all chalky, add more stock and continue to cook for five to 10 minutes. Meanwhile, melt half the butter in a pan. Add the halibut, turning occasionally, just enough to colour it as it cooks. Transfer the halibut to the oven to stay warm, while finishing off the risotto. Toss the baby spinach and tomatoes in oil and set aside. When the risotto rice is cooked, stir in the saffron water followed by the Parmesan, parsley and a little of the lemon juice. Keep hot. Poach the eggs. Place round metal moulds on four warmed plates to hold the risotto, and fill firmly. Remove the moulds, and place a piece of halibut on top of each risotto mound, followed by a poached egg. Garnish with spinach and tomatoes and drizzle with lemon butter sauce. To make the lemon butter sauce, pour the remaining lemon juice into a pan and put onto a moderate heat. Whisk the rest of the butter into the lemon juice, gradually, until the butter has melted into the lemon juice forming an emulsion-like sauce.