Eastfield

“I’m very relaxed so hopefully this comes through?” checks Harris McNeill. It’s a preface to his answers about Eastfield, his new café with a forest-green frontage, “jammed between the university and the top of Perth Road” in Dundee. Chalkboards propose breakfasts, lunches, small starters and mains, but the menu changes daily, weekly and monthly because the former Ballintaggart head chef talks to his “amazing suppliers to see what’s best and what’s delicious”. There will always be some sort of pasta, though: “I love the simplicity of it, but how a few ingredients can be so complex. I love the imperfection of it.” It is, says Harris, “just like Eastfield.”

So even without his preface, it’s clear that simplicity is Eastfield’s raison d’etre. There is no phone number, or option to book. The interior is “nothing too fancy, just locally sourced woods and products” (though the colour palette is balanced by colour consultant Siobhan Doherty from home_stead). The aim is, ultimately, “relaxation for everyone”. 

Very basically, says Harris, Eastfield is a café using “everything seasonal, everything high quality, and from the best suppliers in Scotland and slightly further afield.” He will “always and forever” stand behind local produce. “We can get such wonderful produce in Scotland these days… Little Trochry Farm, East Neuk Market Garden, Pillars of Hercules – just to name a few,” he reasons.

This is why Eastfield’s menu is “vegetables most of the time” and venison “when it’s on”. But “let’s not get into the politics of venison, just eat more of it”, Harris urges. “It’s so good for you, it tastes so good, it’s not expensive, and you can buy it everywhere. Perthshire Game are our guys: a couple of gents running around butchering top venison!” Eastfield followed Harris’s chef-ing stints at other highprofile foodie outposts like Garden’s Cottage, Elliot’s and Kinneuchar Inn, but he wouldn’t call himself a chef – “I’m not serious enough for that. I cook. I love what I do, and hopefully that comes out in my food.” He’s always cooked. It’s a passion that developed from “fishing for mackerel on the west coast with my uncle Davie, dad and brothers. Then being taught how to gut, fillet and cook them back on the beach over a fire.”

He says he couldn’t run the business without his kids and his wife, who grew up in Dundee in a house called Eastfield. “Within that area snowdrops grow like madness! Hence the name, and hence the logo,” he says. He also has “an amazing team” and is “so grateful for their general commitment to my absolute nonsense”.

His customers are, he says, a “lovely mix”: students come in to do laptop work, families with kids come in for lunch and “to throw food on the floor”, and business people pop in for a “quick-ish” lunch – because “slow food is the best food”. He also calls the neighbourhood supportive and accepting. “I could reel off eveyone who has helped out over the last few months but the list would be endless. I love the fact that we all just want Dundee to be moving in the right direction. It’s a good place to be!” Especially when there is simply good food on your plate.

Recipe Roast Potato and Herb Gnocchi with a Sage Fried Butter

This little recipe is a simple and great entry pasta dish for cooking at home. I’ve got two little kids and they love getting involved with the mashing and rolling side of the gnocchi. Pasta is a staple at Eastfield and there will always be some type on the menu. The glutenous hug from pasta can’t be beaten. With this recipe, aim for about one potato per person and this will be ample enough. Désirée potatoes would give you the fluffiest and lightest gnocchi but a Maris Piper would do well too.

Ingredients
Serves 2, cooking time approx: 1 hour

Roast Potato and Herb Gnocchi
2 large potatoes around 200gs/300gs (Désirée)
50/60g plain flour (00 is amazing but plain works well too)
50g rough chopped soft herbs (parsley, dill and mint)
1 egg yolk ( for richness but leave out if vegan)
Rapeseed oil
Sage Fried Butter Sauce
100g butter
6-ish leaves of Sage
A couple of pinches of Blackthorn sea salt
Parmesan ( for love but subtract if veggie)

Method

Heat your oven up to 180ºc. Place your potatoes on a baking tray with a good sprinkle of salt on the base. Bake for about 30-40 minutes or until a knife easily pushes all the way through. 

While they are hot cut the potatoes in half and leave to steam and cool enough to handle. With one half push them though a sieve to create mash. Don’t be shy, make sure you smooch them all the way through. 

Hopefully you’ve ended up with a nice pile of mashed potatoes. Spread these out a little bit, sprinkle over the flour, chopped herbs and fold in the egg. 

Knead the dough for a few minutes until it’s combined and comes together. Don’t over work it otherwise it’ll become chewy. Should be a wee ball of glory, slightly sticky but a formed dough. 

Cut the dough into four pieces and roll into a sausage shape; this part is where you can decide how thick or stubby, thin or long you’d like your gnocchi to be. The main objective is making sure they are all around the same size! Add a big pinch of salt to a large pot of water and bring to the boil. It’s not meant to taste like the sea or anything crazy like that. 

Once at a rolling boil, drop your gnocchi in, being careful as they may splash and hot water is….hot. 

When the little pillows have all been floating for 2 to 3 minutes depending on size they can be scooped out. At this stage you’ve got two options. Option one - add straight into your sauce and serve, option two - place onto a tray, drizzle with Scottish rapeseed oil and leave to cool and pan fry for a crispy fluffy gnocchi. 

If you’ve gone with option one add the gnocchi after the butter sauce has been made, if going for crispy and fluffy in option two, I would keep it simple with a sage burnt butter. 

Heat a good tablespoon of Scottish rapeseed oil into a pan, and once hot slide in your gnocchi and fry till golden brown. Add a good knob of butter to the pan and cook this off, nice and gently till it starts to foam and bubble like a bath. At this stage drop in your sage and a good sprinkle of salt. Toss a few time to get a good coating. 

To serve, spoon onto a plate and grate as much Parmesan as you can on top. No one has ever complained about too much cheese.