Montrose
Basin Visitor Centre and Wildlife Reserve is The Flag visitor destination
for this week, which has something for all age groups. A 4-star visitor
attraction centred around the Montrose Basin. The Basin is an enclosed
estuary of the South Esk and covers 750 hectares. A daily tidal cycle brings
in a rich supply of nutrients that attracts over 50,000 migrating birds each
year. High powered telescopes in the wildlife centre provide magnificent
opportunities to view wildlife. Three television cameras bring the
surrounding wildlife literally into the centre.
The reserve
attracts pink-footed geese from Iceland and Greenland, common eels swimming
across the Atlantic from the Sargasso Sea, knots on their way from Siberia
to West Africa, salmon travelling thousands of miles from Artic Canada and
Greenland and sedge warblers which return to the Basin in the spring after
watering in West Africa. The centre, run by the Scottish Wildlife Trust is
open all year round apart from 25 & 26 December and 1 & 2January, and has
interactive displays for all ages, bird-viewing areas and a gift shop
offering light refreshments with free parking.
Angus is
part of Scotland famous for soft fruit and in season there is nothing better
than Scottish raspberries – the basis of this week’s recipe – Raspberry
Pavlova.
Raspberry
Pavlova
Ingredients:
Meringue – 280 g (10 oz) caster sugar: 5 egg-whites
To
serve: 100 g (3 ˝ oz) white chocolate, melted; 250 ml (9 fl oz) double
cream, whipped; 350 g (12 oz) fresh raspberries; icing sugar for dusting: 4
mint sprigs to garnish
Method:
Preheat oven to 120 deg C/ 250 deg F/ Gas Mark ˝. Line a baking tray with
non-stick parchment. Boil 100 ml (3 ˝ fl oz) of water and the caster sugar
till it gets to the soft-ball stage (115 deg C/ 239 deg F). Remove from the
heat. Whisk the egg whites. Pour in the liquid sugar while beating. Whisk
until cool. Divide the mixture into four circles on the tray. Using a spoon,
make an indentation in each one. Place the tray in the oven and cook for 3-4
hours. Remove from oven and cool. Spread the chocolate on top of each one
and leave to set. Serve with whipped cream, raspberries, a dusting of icing
sugar and a spring of mint.
