Saturday 16 March 2024

Leek and Mushroom Custard

 An uninspiring name for an ethereal dish: light, and elegant, and quietly spectacular. This is another gem from the largely unsung Stephen Bull, to whose solitary published volume of recipes I've returned time after time, over the years (for me, he and Jill Norman together occupy the same place in the firmament of great food-writers; clearly neither of them interested enough in the commercial aspect of becoming a Celeb-Foodie to churn out book after book, to keep their public attached, and with ever-diminishing returns - and yet what little they have given us has been solid gold). 

Bull gives these quantities as being sufficient for four servings, and he specifies use of ramekins of 9 cm diameter. I think the luxury is more than merited of doubling the ramekin size, and indulging in double the quantity per person. Once you taste it, you'll understand why!

Ingredients: 25g butter; 4 leeks (approx 110g; white parts only); 220g mushrooms, chopped; salt; 150g chicken stock; 1/2 cup dry white wine; 150 ml cream; 2 eggs; generous tsp dried tarragon; ground pepper.

Method:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 170 degrees C. Butter two  ramekins (10 cm diamater/200 ml capacity) and put a circle of greaseproof paper in the base of each, buttered again once in place. 

2. Melt the butter in a small pan, and sweat the finely-sliced leek, covered, for about five minutes. Add the chopped mushrooms, cover again, and continue cooking over a low heat for a further ten minutes. Add the stock, wine, and cream to the pan, along with a little salt; bring to the boil, and then reduce the heat to a steady simmer. Cook for approx twenty minutes, until the liquid has reduced by half.

3. Let the mixture cool slightly, and then liquidise it, along with the eggs and tarragon. Check seasoning, and adjust as necessary. 

4. Divide the mixture between the prepared ramekins, place the ramekins in a bain marie, and bake for thirty minutes. Leave to settle for a minute or so after they come out of the oven, then run the tip of a small knife around the inside of each ramekin and unmould onto serving plates. 

Bull serves his with hollandaise, but I don't bother - it doesn't need it, and anyway, it isn't practical to make a sensible quantitiy of hollandaise for just these two servings. Revel instead in the delicacy of the leek and mushrooms on their own.

Tuesday 27 February 2024

It rains...

 and - for once - I revel in it. For the first time I can stand in any of the rooms at the top of the new house, and enjoy the sound of rain drumming onto the skylight above. And there isn't a single sound of drips falling incessantly into buckets which have been strategically positioned around the place for the past months. Because - the roof has been fixed! Alessandro, the miracle-worker from Ruota, with the aid of his silent henchman, spent five days carefully hoiking out and replacing any and all of the damaged tiles, along with several hundredweight of accumulated moss and sedum.  And, for the first time, we have a dry house. 

Bliss! 

I'd practically given up hope.

Meanwhile, outside, there are downpours, punctuated by brief periods of calm, and then yet more rain.

The stream has become a river, and the waterfall thunders away, mere metres away from the house. 

The main waterfall

And the two immediately subsidiary ones

Looking upstream, towards the waterfall, from the old bridge

From the Giovannetti bridge, outside the front door, looking
downstream, towards the top of the waterfall

And from the same place, looking upstream


Inside - in the dry! - Michele is finishing off the work in the ante-room, and will then 'wrap' the inside of the house, to protect it from the paint-sprayer which, we hope, will be available for use next week. And yesterday, we had an afternoon first with the electrician, and then with the plumbers...and there's a distinct possibility that they can all get started as soon as the painting will have been finished. 

Tonight's dinner:

Sweetcorn galette

Spanish chicken (boned thighs, braised with garlic, dry marsala and sherry vinegar); sprouts (newly-available in Italy, seasonally...which is much-heralded)

Lemon cheesecake 






Monday 22 January 2024

This week, in pictures...

 

Lemon, Pear, and Fennel Tart

Ravioli, with celery & mushroom stuffing

Phyllo and Apple 'Pastis'

Newly-restored windows in the dressing room (to-be)

Newly-restored windows in the kitchen (to-be)

The view from London Bridge station at the start of the week (years ago, we
lived in the white house, centre-right, just in front of the faux-Globe theatre)
,
New french windows, looking out...

New french windows, looking in...

Madam, making new friends in San Giuliano, while we were in London


I've started to transplant things from the garden in Pisa to the garden-to-be at the new house, but have called a halt for a few days because I have a filthy cold - so much for this winter's flu jab!

Tonight's dinner:

Turkish scrambled eggs

Fegato alla Venezia

Pineapple & Almond Tarts


Monday 4 December 2023

Meanwhile, over at The Project...

 

The window in the old grinding room has been transformed into a
doorway -french windows being installed, this week.

All the old milling kit has been dismantled and removed - we're still looking for a
 home for the old wheels; not practical for a dining room, whichever
way you look at it

Tidied-up doorway looking from the ground floor guestroom, across the hallway
and through the doorway into the salone

And the same view, in the opposite direction

Looking from the kitchen into and across the dining room

Looking across the inner hallway, where the builders have made a
new entrance into the cantina, and out into the ruin.

New windows! (This one, in the main bedroom).

And more new windows (top floor - the ones on the first floor and ground floor are currently
being repaired, restored and painted)

I'm midway through excavating the paved area in front of the ruined wing...old cobblestones,
on a distinct slope, emerging from their tomb

The rear of the building, looking surprisingly organised.



A million (or so) new floorboards, delivered roadside, and waiting to be
carried one-by-one indoors...backbreaking!

Reticulated beams, between the building and the hillside, awaiting installation
of a decking terrace on top of them.


Tonight's dinner:

Courgette souffles

Penne, with a tomato and garlic sauce

Dark-molasses treacle tart


Sunday 19 November 2023

Cheese Fritters

 


Wonderful!

I love cooked cheese, in practically any form. These are a distant cousin to the fried cheese (saganaki) that was served in the little local taverna in Athens that I used to frequent for lunch nearly fifty years ago(!) that was in the centre of the little park between our office and the Evvangelismos Hospital. 

This particular recipe is taken, loosely, from one by Elisabeth Luard, and can be found both in her collection of Adalusian Recipes and in 'Saffron & Sunshine'. With a provenance like that, you can't go wrong.

The quantities EL gives, she says are sufficient for four people. Since they're so more-ish, though, I find that they're barely sufficient for two, as a starter. The quantities given here produce 8 to 10 generous fritters.

Ingredients:

3 eggs; 3 tbs milk; 150g grated parmesan (or grana); 3 tbs flour; 1 tbs finely chopped onion; 1 tbs chopped parsley; 1 tsp paprika; salt and pepper. Sunflower oil, for frying.

Method:

1. Beat the egss and the milk toegther, and then thoroughly incorporate the cheese.

2. Stir in the flour, until lump-free, and then add the onion, paprika, and parsley; season to taste.

3. In a heavy pan, heat a generous layer of oil until it is very hot. Add spoonfuls of the batter to the oil, and cook for 1-2 minutes on each side. (I use a small metal ring of about 2 inches diameter, into which I spoon the batter while the ring sits on the hot oil, and I then remove the ring once the batter has 'seized', and I can progress to making the next fritter - I guess you could just spoon the batter into the oil in a more free-form way, but if you do you risk the batter running everywhere before the shape of the fritter has been captured).

Saturday 5 August 2023

This week's progress....

 For those who might be interested:


The southernmost vasca (i.e tank), in the process of being cleared out; future use
will be as a cistern to hold water for the garden 

Looking through the new-doorway into the to-be second floor bathroom

Upper guestroom, with its four-square new lintel over the window

Library to-be, all cleaned up (the black and white look will disappear when
all of the beamed ceilings are painted entirely white (sometime soon)

Western door in the ruined wing - new lintels installed right across door and window
(previously, they were perilously in danger of imminent collapse)

Our geometra is on borrowed time, as he continues to maintain radio silence, while we still have no electricity supply, or the various 'relazioni' which are needed to progress our planning application. I accept that geometras are a weird breed, but patience has a limit...

Tonight's dinner:

Cauliflower, fried in parmesan batter

Pork chops, in onion sauce; artichoke hearts, braised in butter

Phyllo tarts of fiori-di-sicilia cream, topped with blackberries

Saturday 29 July 2023

Crinum Vanillodorum

Not looking too bruised, having travelled to London
from the garden in Pisa


Tonight's dinner 

 Frogs' Legs in cream, in pastry cases 

 Hamburgers, with caramelised mushrooms 

 Raspberries and Cream