Fly the flag for best of British

AS far as I'm concerned, the produce from this little island of ours is the best in the world. Meat, fruit and veg – we have it all, and we have some of the very best fish from our seas and the freshwater rivers – lochs as well as the odd lake.

Scottish salmon is known the world over for its quality and purity of flavour. Our seas produce, without doubt, the best lobsters, scallops and langoustines, as well as the other crustacean and bi-valve molluscs we have in our waters.

Our white fish – from the humble herring or haddock to the more majestic halibut and turbot – when fresh is outstanding in both flavour and texture.

True gourmet ingredients at their finest. Some warmer waters may have bigger, but no-one has better.

Wild game – both fur and feathered – is highly prized by our foreign visitors in all its many guises. We have birds here that do not exist anywhere else. Our farmers rear some of the very best animals, usually in a very good environment and with ever- improving conditions and thought to the animals' welfare. They produce some of the best beef, lamb and pork you will find anywhere, not just in Scotland but all over Britain.

We are moving towards producing better quality fruit and vegetables too. It's not always necessary to buy organic but to buy better quality will ensure that in the long run everyone's standards improve, and nasty, out-of- condition produce could be a thing of the past. Poultry in Britain is getting better, so I'm giving it a plug in my restaurant and creating really summery dishes.

Poussin are available all the year round, as they are farmed. I particularly like the corn-fed "Coquelet Jaune" or yellow cockerel. They may not be readily available in the shops right now but a decent butcher will be able to get them for you.

Sea trout also gets my vote. It is such a treat to get hold of a nice fresh sea trout for the six or seven weeks in the year when they are available.

Both of today's dishes are light and highly nutritious, simple to cook, allowing you more time to enjoy the weather. Which is what summer is all about, after all.

• Tony Borthwick is head chef of the Plumed Horse, 50-54 Henderson Street, 0131-554 5556


RECIPES
Corn-fed poussin with garlic and baby courgettes (serves two)
Ingredients:
2 corn-fed, oven ready poussin
11 cloves garlic
10 baby courgettes
50g unsalted butter, cold and cut into cubes
50g double or whipping cream
1 large sprig fresh tarragon
2 rashers streaky bacon
freshly ground salt and white pepper
10g table salt

Method:
Blanch ten of the garlic cloves in boiling water, refresh in iced water and repeat twice more. Do not remove the skins.

Remove the wishbone from the poussins, loosening the skin away from the breast. Crush one clove of garlic on a board with the table salt, working it into a puree with the blade of a knife. Smear half on the breast meat of each bird add a few tarragon leaves. Replace the skin, cover the breasts with the bacon. Season the birds inside and out, add a small nut of butter into each cavity and wrap loosely in foil. Put into an oven at gas mark five or 150C for 45 minutes. Remove and allow to stand for ten minutes.

Strain the juices into a small saucepan, skim off any fat, then bring to the boil and add the cream. Boil until it will coat the back of a spoon, then whisk in the remaining cold, unsalted butter. Just before serving, season and add some snipped tarragon.

Cook the courgettes in a hot pan with a little oil until slightly coloured, add the garlic, season and put the pan into the oven for five minutes to finish off the courgettes and crisp up the garlic skins.

Serve with small new potatoes.

Wild sea trout with green summer vegetables, surf clams and samphire (serves two)
Ingredients:
2 fillets of sea trout, scaled, pin boned and skin on
20 surf clams
75g peas out of the pod
75g fine French beans
75g mange tout or sugar snaps
75g broad beans, popped out of the casing
100g samphire

For the sauce:
50g sliced shallots
100ml white wine
Few drops of wine vinegar,
few drops of lemon juice
100g unsalted butter, cold and cut into cubes
50g finely chopped chives
salt and ground white pepper

Method:
Blanch vegetables in boiling salted water for one minute and refresh in iced water. Blanch samphire in the same way. Sweat off shallots in saucepan with a little of the butter until soft, but not coloured. Add a few drops of white wine vinegar, then add the white wine. Boil and reduce until a few teaspoons remain, strain into another saucepan. Whisk in the cold butter. Season with lemon, salt and pepper.

Bring a small pan of water to the boil, add the clams. Allow the shells to open and remove from the water, remove the flesh from the shells whilst still hot. Heat a non stick pan with a little unflavoured oil, grapeseed is good. Put the fish into the pan skin-side down, cook for 90 seconds and turn.

Season with salt and pepper, then lemon juice, remove from the pan and keep warm on a plate. This is best left under done. It will continue cooking in its own residual heat. Reheat the green vegetables in a little water and butter, add the salty samphire and season only with pepper. Plate the greens, place the fish on top, scatter the clams around and cover with sauce. Serve immediately.