Chef and Aran Bakery owner Flora Shedden on hero ingredients, prepping for the festive period and dishes to impress

Image credit: Laura Edwards

Your fourth cookbook, Winter in the Highlands, is all about embracing the colder months by eating, drinking and celebrating. How does that look for you? 

I adore winter for its contradictory nature. I don’t think any other season does celebrating, cooking and feasting followed by calm, comfort and quiet quite as well as we do in December. Eating during this time is all about cosiness and fighting off the outside chill – so being in a kitchen and keeping warm during the cooler months brings me immense joy.  

The book illuminates the region’s festive traditions. Are there any annual non-negotiables for you? 

We don’t have set rules for celebrating festivities, but we do always tend towards similar things year to year. Homemade advent calendars hurriedly made on the 30th November, epic sandwiches and Bloody Marys after a game of shinty on Boxing Day. The Hogmanay fire pit is a fairly new addition, but I really enjoy being outside with fizz in one hand and a sparkler in the other for the bells.  

Which dish from the cookbook do you find truly banishes the winter blues? 

I love the chanterelle bread pudding recipe for its comforting cheesiness, the steamed lemon pudding for a January boost or the confit duck with lentils for some hearty fare. 

What’s your hero seasonal ingredient in the wintertime? 

We are lucky to have an abundance of amazing growers in Perthshire. Leeks, kale, sprouts, cabbage and celeriac will always be my winter heroes.  

If you could only create one dish to impress, what would it be? 

The venison wellington in the book is a bit of a mission, but I love it. It’s worth gathering some extra hands to help make it during the day on Hogmanay and then serving it centre stage.

Chef and Aran Bakery owner, Flora Shedden. Credit: Kim Grant

What’s your kick-starter tip for getting ahead with festive cooking?

I spend most of the lead up to Christmas at the bakery, so I am never as organised as I would hope. If I did have spare time, I would get things like the shallot and marsala gravy and the baked bread sauce in the freezer in November. Also, any baking bits you plan on gifting are worth doing in November too. Never underestimate how long it takes to wrap biscuits, nougat or caramels.

What’s the most memorable meal you’ve ever had? 

We had a really delicious candlelight dinner in Paris during a rainstorm that was so heavy, my one-year-old shrieked with excitement as he danced in and out of the canopy. I remember the sheer happiness of eating there just as much as the very perfect anchovies and bread, beans and buttered cabbage, and amber-coloured crème brûlée.  

Winter in the Highlands by Flora Shedden (Quadrille, £26) is out now