Kevin Henry wears many different hats: husband, father, grandfather, businessman, mechanic and RNLI engineer among them. This afternoon I found him tending a large pot of reestit mutton soup in the kitchen at the Aith Hall, on the west side of Shetland. He had helped organize, with a team of other volunteers, a soup & sweet fundraising event in support of the Shetland Bereavement Support Service (SBSS).
The SBSS was established seven years ago to meet the need for a bereavement support service on our islands. It is a charity offering one to one counselling from fully trained support workers for those affected by the death of a loved one.
Ellen Hughson, the SBSS admin assistant, says that they were originally funded through a five year Big Lottery Fund, but this funding is up so they are looking at other ways to keep going.
They have submitted a funding bid to the Aviva Community Fund for £25,000 - enough to help run SBSS for one year.
To help, you can register with Aviva where you will be allocated 10 votes. Each vote you give to SSBS will make a huge difference to their project. Voting ends on the 30th of May, so get them in quick!
To find out more, visit the Shetland Bereavement Support Service website, their Facebook page and their AVIVA page.
SBSS are pleased to report that their soup and sweet fundraising event raised over £1000! When I was there the lounge was filled with people enjoying the different soups and gorgeous sweets on offer, with Kevin's reestit mutton being a particularly popular choice.
Here's Kevin's own reestit mutton soup recipe, which he makes with his own homemade reestit mutton from his own flock.
Kevin's Reestit Mutton Soup Recipe
Course: Main
Servings: 6 people
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour
Ingredients:
- Reestit mutton -
- White cabbage - (finely chopped)
- Carrots - (finely chopped)
- Neeps - (finely chopped)
- Potatoes - (Kerr Pinks or Rooster, diced)
Instructions:
- Boil the reestit mutton in plenty of water for 10 minutes.
- Pour the water off and discard. Place the reestit mutton in fresh water, bring to the boil and boil for 15 minutes.
- Take the water out and put it in another pan along with the chopped up ordinary white cabbage. Boil for 15 minutes.
- Add the diced carrots and neeps, and boil for 10 minutes. Some folk add diced onion at this stage, Kevin says, but he doesn't as "it gives him the heartburn".
- Dice up the potatoes and add to the pot along with the chopped up reestit mutton. Boil until it's ready!
Elizabeth Atia
I am a self taught home cook, feeding my family on the west side of Shetland with as much local produce, flavour and love as I can. I am no expert by any means, but I do enjoy learning and writing about food, flavours and techniques.