Recipe: Lemon & Gin Syllabub

With thanks to John Tovey. This is a couple of steps on from the straightforward nursery-favourite lemon syllabub, where the lemon-flavoured cream is delicious......but is recognisably nothing more than just that: lemon-flavoured cream. In this version, the introduction of Gin does a very strange thing to the lemon, and in fact the end result doesn't taste obviously either of Gin or of Lemon. Possibly, it tastes of juniper? I'm not entirely sure....
Somehow, the Gin changes the shape of the lemon flavour on the tongue in a way which is difficult to describe, but the end result is quite tight and complex on the palate. Anyway, delicious, and definitely worth trying, if only to see what I mean.

It's very important to leave these syllabubs to chill for at least a couple of hours once they've been put into their serving glasses - not just to get the temperature right, but also to let the flavours intermingle and do to each other whatever it is that they do.

This goes very well served with two or three langue de chat egg-white and almond biscuits per person. An indulgent and languorous way to end a good dinner....

For four.

Ingredients: half a pint of Cream; 2 tablespoons of Icing Sugar (or Splenda) ; rind & juice of 1 Lemon; 75 ml Gin; 2 Egg Whites.

Method:

1. Beat the Egg whites until stiff.

2. In a separate bowl, beat the Cream, along with the Sugar and Lemon Rind, until firm enough to hold its shape in a spoon.

3. Gradually add the Gin and Lemon Juice to the whipped Cream, stirring it in as you do so. (Don't be tempted to beat it in with the electric whisk - for some reason, this just makes the whole thing seize)

4. Finally, fold in the beaten Egg-White, and divide the mixture between four serving glasses that can be put into the fridge. Chill for at least several hours.

I was tempted when making this to put toasted slivered almonds on top, to serve, but in fact I think it doesn't need it and presents better without.....

Global Warming?

A week ago, I was sitting in Pisa, french-windows wide open, the sun streaming in from a garden filled with birdsong, blossom, and the button-sharp freshness of new leaves opening on the Pomegranate and the Persimmon trees. The first roses of the year were already visible on the pergola, and the water-lilies were starting to carpet the surface of the pond with a new growth of lily pads. Winter was definitely packed up and put away.....

So why is it that I'm now keeping close to a blazing fire, having spent the day watching - in relative disbelief - a succession of hailstorms, thunder, lightning and what the Met Office would presumably describe mellifluously as 'sunny periods'. And there was I under the mistaken impression that climate change was supposed to herald the arrival of olive groves in Leicestershire and a citrus harvest in the Wirral! Not a bit of it, it would seem....
The Moscow Times carried a piece on Wednesday which noted that this winter - the coldest for 26 years - has seen the increase of Arctic ice-cover of a million square kilometres over and above the amount this time a year ago (it's an increase of something like 7%, I think.....not sure precisely) and further remarked acerbically that the fact had gone largely unreported - presumably on the basis that it was inconsistent with the accepted global-warming narrative? If today's temperature is anything to go by, then I'm firmly in the as-yet-to-be-convinced category.....

The Brancolis were here for dinner last night (Crab Tart; Pork wrapped in Pancetta; and Lemon & Gin Syllabub, with Almond Biscuits) , amongst other things relating details of a recent Veal tasting they'd attended at The Ambassadors in Exmouth Market. In addition to the comparative tastings of Dutch and English Veal - English sweetbreads got a very positive thumbs-up - was a presentation by a Yorkshire producer of Veal, with interesting stories to tell. Have you ever considered that vast quantities of calves are produced and disposed of merely as a means of keeping the milk-producing cows lactating? Perhaps rather dimly, I never had.....It is kind of obvious, but somehow not something that we tend to be focused on. Because....well.....cows eat grass and .....er....produce milk....don't they? Everybody knows that. Well, yes. But their systems also require the other thing to happen as well..........from which lots off unwanted calves are the by-product, the vast bulk of which are then despatched, at best to be turned into offal, and at worst merely to be disposed of. I wonder if all those milk-drinking vegetarians from the lofty heights of their moral high ground ever give that fact a moment's consideration? Somehow, I doubt it....

Tonight's Dinner:

Salade tiède of Lambs Lettuce, with sautéed Chicken Livers & Garlic

Braised Salmon, in a Walnut Cream sauce; roast Celery.

Deep-fried pancake baskets, filled with Raspberries & Cream

Recipe: Pasta cooked in the style of Risotto

Apparently, this method for cooking pasta came from the chef at the Hotel Tre Vasselle near Perugia – an establishment of some culinary renown in years gone by. We stayed there once for the weekend, as part of attending the International Chocolate Festival in Perugia sometime in the late nineties. Sadly, by that stage, The Tre Vasselle had sold out to the package tour market, and was already coasting along on the basis of its former reputation Sic Gloria Transit.

The method for pasta, though, remains uncompromised in any way. Pasta – a short tubular form is best for this, as it gets knocked around quite a bit in the process of stirring – is cooked in chicken stock, and then finished off with cream and a thick, coating sauce. Not only are more flavours absorbed along the way than with the traditional cooking method, but this way of doing it has the additional benefit of speed – rather than having to bring to boiling point a large pan of water, you merely have to heat a small saucepan of stock, and in the time that would normally be taken to heat the water, you actually have a dish finished to completion.

This particular recipe uses brandy and a mushroom sauce; I’m sure vermouth or something similar could be substituted for the brandy – you just want something with a slight ‘kick’ - as could any sauce that has a good thick coating consistency be used in place of the mushrooms.

For four.

Ingredients: Pennette (or similar pasta) for four people; 2 tablespoons of Olive Oil; a quarter cup of Brandy; 1 pint of Chicken Stock; a quarter cup of Cream; 250g mushrooms (either standard cultivated white-caps or something more exotic like Chanterelles or Trompetes de Mort – whatever you prefer); 2 cloves of Garlic; 30g Butter; Seasoning; 2 tablespoons of chopped Parsley.

Method:

1. Chop the mushrooms thinly. Melt the Butter in frying pan, and sauté the minced Garlic for a minute, before adding the sliced Mushrooms. Sauté over medium heat for five minutes, until the mushrooms have thrown off all their liquid, which has then been cooked away. Stir in the chopped Parsley and add Salt and Pepper to taste. Set aside.

2. In a large sauté pan, heat the Oil, then add the pasta, and stir it, to coat it in the hot Oil, for a minute. Add the Brandy, and stir vigorously.

3. In classic risotto style, add stock, a ladleful at a time, and add more as it is absorbed by the pasta. Maintain the heat under the pan just sufficiently to keep the stock bubbling slightly, and add more as required. Stir very regularly throughout the process – you will feel the pasta softening against the wooden spoon, as it cooks, as you do so. After about fifteen minutes it will be cooked practically to al dente (test it by biting into a piece).

4. Add the Cream, and stir for a further minute or two, just until the Cream has reduced to a good thick consistency, then stir in the Mushroom sauce. Test for seasoning and adjust if necessary.

Serve.

An Englishman Abroad....

As any regular reader of these jottings will know, Moscow is NOT my favourite city in the World. The inhabitants are notable chiefly for their sour disposition, which is reflected in the grimy and depressed spirit of the place. For the most part, the architecture is a cross between the least salubrious kind of Housing Project and a spuriously cheerful and intellectually bereft building style, not unlike a series of Travel Lodge Motels, for instance….or 'Toys R Us'….. or Burger Kings ......
I say ‘for the most part’ since, periodically, this depressing sprawl is punctuated by the soaring towers of some Stalinist palace or other, which can’t help but inspire feelings of awe – until, of course, you recall the nature of the regime that was responsible for them in the first instance……

I got here yesterday, after a white-knuckle ride of a journey from Rome, which had even the cabin crew lurching around in the aisle and looking distinctly uncomfortable. On the bright side, though, the immigration process – which I’d been dreading, from previous experience – passed incredibly smoothly. Russians, it appears, have discovered queuing since I was last here…. Mirabile dictu!

My driver – a chubby fellow called Alexey, with a complexion reminiscent of pizza topping and teeth that were resolutely nicotine-yellow – proudly pointed out the delights of the building work going on at Sheremetyevo airport, as he tried ineffectually to get his car to start. Like most taxis in Moscow, it stank like the inside of a very old, very stale, never-cleaned ashtray, and nothing about the grubby surfaces within the car inspired confidence. Certainly, it seemed advisable to have as little physical contact with any of them as could be managed. As I sat there, becoming increasingly resigned to the idea of several hours stranded in this defunct vehicle, slowly asphyxiating from the stench, and in full view of a bright scarlet building-block development (see above) that was part of the new terminal building, Alexey’s guttural grunts of encouragement to the engine appeared to work, and as it spluttered into life the car radio came on, playing a disco version of ‘Ave Maria’.
I hoped it wasn’t a sign………

-

And it wasn’t, really. Nothing of religious significance occurred during the drive into the centre of town, as the disco version of Ave Maria gave way to a disco version of Boheme - Mimi’s tiny hand getting funkily frozen against a background of heavily syncopated pan pipes – and Alexey insisted on pointing out to me every item of interest along the way, from the IKEA car park, to the Central Station, to the fact that traffic in the opposite direction was stopped and backed up for miles. Which he appeared to find deeply entertaining, and I found I was rapidly developing a headache.

Only finally dispelled by a couple of glasses of really very good Chilean Malbec, which washed down the rump steak and pommes frites that were what I ended up having for supper, having eventually entirely surrendered any hope of finding something that was the slightest Russian in style. I’d asked for suggestions at the reception desk in the hotel, but everything they came up with reeked of leopard-print velour and diamante, and looked more like a circus-cum-bordello than any ethnic Russian eatery. Nikita’s in Ifield Road was more the sort of thing that I had in mind – but it seemed that Ifield Road was probably where I’d have to go to get it. Instead, where I found myself was so similar to a sports bar I’d once discovered in Portland, Oregon that at one point I even had to concentrate to remember exactly where I was.

I know, I know......I gripe about Moscow being what it is, and then gripe about it when it's pretending to be something else. What to say? Not always easily pleased.

It was a long day……and there are four more to go……With a combination of Ave Maria and Malbec, I might just about survive.

Recipe: Pancetta-wrapped Roast Pork

This recipe was a recent and splendid new discovery - hailed by the Technical Department as the best version of roast Pork since the classic version with a mustard-and-herb poultice that was immortalised by Julia Child, forty years ago now, in 'Mastering the Art.
I was sceptical when I first looked at this one. Having long been devoted to the Barbara Kafka method of roasting (heat the oven to smelting temperature, and then blast the meat for as short a time as possible), the idea of heating the oven to only 175 degrees C seemed highly dubious. And then the fact that the meat only cooks for fifty minutes at that temperature.... Hmmm..

But, it works! Even the slightly unexpected combination of Pork wrapped around Pork works well, as the Pancetta becomes beautifully crisp, while the loin within is tender and succulent.

Potatoes are added as an easy means of cooking a vegetable at the same time. If you wanted to omit them in order to serve a different vegetable instead, this would be fine.

For four.

Ingredients: 1 kg boneless pork loin; 250g sliced Pancetta (not the affumicata variety for this dish - and also, I suspect it has to be true Pancetta; this isn't an occasion when you can substitute bacon rashers and expect it to work just as well); 4 sprigs of fresh Rosemary; 4 large Garlic cloves, peeled; 1 kg Potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks; 8 tablespoons of Olive Oil.

Method:

1. Heat the oven to 175 degrees C.

2. Season the Pork Loin and wrap it in the strips of Pancetta; then, tie the bundle loosely with string. (Don't make too much of a meal of this task, and worry about the end result being too beautiful - the string really needs to do its job only during the period when the bundle is being seared; after that, the searing process will have caused the Pancetta significantly to stick together and adhere to the Loin, even without the help of the string. When doing this task, I was forcefully reminded of a Christmas job at Selfridges, once, spent stringing packages in the Small Electrical Goods department - which suggests exactly how much three-star skill I was bringing to the job at hand!)

3. Under the strings, insert the sprigs of Rosemary.

4. In a heavy casserole, heat half of the Oil to 'searing' temperature, and colour the bundle on all of its sides - about a minute on each side.

5. Add the Potatoes to the pan, around the Pork, along with the cloves of Garlic.

6. Generously season the Potatoes with Salt & Pepper, and pour the remaining Oil over them all. Stir with a wooden spoon to ensure the Potatoes and Garlic are well covered with Oil.

7. Place the pan, uncovered, in the pre-heated oven and roast for 50 minutes. Test for done-ness by inserting a skewer into the centre of the Loin and putting it to your tongue to see if it is hot (if not, the Pork needs to cook for longer - but this shouldn't be the case).

8. Leave the Pork to rest for 10 minutes, and then slice and serve it with the Potatoes.

If there's any left to pick at, cold, the next day.............Enjoy!

Napoleons...

....come in a number of forms.

It's the name in French for the Humphead Wrasse, for a start - an enormous blue-green fish to be found in great quantities in tropical waters, with a wise and avuncular face, and a huge blocky body that it manoeuvres delicately by the use of tiny little fins, managing to resemble an articulated lorry doing a three-point-turn in a very confined space. They're rather beautiful things...

Then, of course, there are any number of many-layered dessert confections which go under the name of 'Napoleon' - I've no idea why - from the banal to the knee-weakeningly delicious. Amongst the latter, Raymond Blanc has one concocted from melt-in-the-mouth rectangles of buttery pastry, interleaved with slices of poached pear and a vanilla-flavoured Crème Anglaise; and my favourite is probably Bruno Loubet's Napoleon of crisp circles of tempered chocolate, with a filling of rich chocolate mousse and fresh raspberries (sometimes served also with whipped cream, into which chopped fresh mint has been mixed)...

Less appealing is the nineteenth century recipe for steak, prepared à la Napoléon 1er, which apparently involved cooking rump steak in boiling water in which a turkey had also been poached, and then serving the two of them, accompanied by thyme-flavoured mashed potatoes and a hollandaise-rich purée of Leeks. Boiled Steak and Turkey? Presses no buttons for me, I'm afraid....although the leeks sound like quite a good idea.

Actually, the only thing that directly comes to mind when I think of the corsican dwarf and foodstuffs of any kind is that wonderful anecdote that Andrew Roberts related in his book on Bonaparte and Wellington: when once staying in some rural wasteland, Napoleon ordered that the local dignitary arrange for a rabbit hunt, so that he could have some entertainment; when they did, though, it was with semi-tame rabbits who had been reared by a farmer with a surprisingly napoleonic stature - with the result that when Bonaparte stepped out of his coach, guns at the ready, Peter and Cottontail and Flopsy (and their 3,000 friends and relations) all thought he was bringing lunch, and so they went for him. En masse. He fled. Exit stout party, pursued by several thousand rabbits....!

And I could wish the same fate for his blasted legal system, which still 'operates' - and I use the inverted commas advisedly - across those large swathes of southern Europe into which he managed to introduce the Code Napoleon in his wanderings across the continent. It was for this reason that we spent four hours in a cramped courtroom in Lucca this morning, following on from a similar session on the same subject a mere fourteen months ago, for which the proceedings had originally been initiated only sixteen months before that! And we still appear to be far from finished! On reflection, I can see the connection with the Humphead Wrasse, as it moves its fins frantically, all in order to manoeuvre its cumbersome bulk on as tight a turning circle as you could imagine .......

Tonight's Dinner:

Pasta, with Mushrooms & Cognac & Cream, cooked alla risotto

Scaloppini, in Sage & White Wine,with Peas.

Crespelle, stuffed with Frangipane cream

Recipe: Almond Semifreddo

Memory is an unreliable thing. For years, I was convinced that this recipe originated with Claudia Roden, and came from her ' Food of Italy' - it was faxed to me by a friend as a post-dinner-party thank you, many years ago, and the sheet of faxed paper was used repeatedly over the years until the letters had faded to indecipherability, and the detail had anyway been mentally filed away as the inevitable result of such regular use. When it came to stocking the library shelves in Italy, when we first came here, a copy of the original 'Food of Italy' seemed like a good idea, since I'd so much liked the one thing that I knew came from it. Except that I then found that it hadn't. There is a recipe in its pages not a million miles different from the one I had in mind - but with the crucial difference that Ms Roden's didn't use Crème de Cacao - which absolutely makes the recipe, IMHO.

This was a staple on my catering menus for quite a few years, when I generally served it with chocolate-dipped bruta ma buona biscuits. Simple, straightforward, sophisticated, and delicious!

For six.

Ingredients: 4 oz blanched Almonds; 3 oz granulated Sugar; 1 pint of Cream; 2 Eggs; 3.5 oz of Icing Sugar; 2 tablespoons of Crème de Cacao.

Method:

1. Make a Praline: toast the Almonds in a small pan over medium heat until they begin to colour, then add the granulated Sugar and raise the temperature slightly. Stir continuously as the sugar first melts, then bubbles, then colours as it caramelises. As soon as it is a rich golden colour, pour the mixture out onto a lightly oiled baking sheet and leave it for a few minutes to go crisp. After several minutes, it should be possible to pick it off the sheet in one slab; at this point, break it roughly into a number of pieces so that you can fit it into the food processor, where you should process it until it has broken down into a fine powder.

2. Whisk the Cream until it is thick.

3. Beat the Egg Yolks with a third of the Icing Sugar, then beat the Whites with the remaining Sugar to make a meringue mixture.

4. Fold first the Egg Yolk mixture then the meringue mixture into the whipped Cream, then fold in the praline, and finally the Crème de Cacao.

5. Transfer the mixture to a terrine mould, and freeze it for at least 24 hours. Remove the semifreddo from the freezer and leave it in the fridge for 15 - 20 minutes before serving.