A Tip...

I don’t really know whether this counts as an ingredient, or as a piece of kit……Whichever it is, though, it occupies a place of fundamental importance in my kitchen: catering-strength non-stick spray. The one I currently use is called Trennwax, made by a German (I think) outfit called Boesen; I get it through Vin Sullivan, who seem only ever to have one kind of non-stick spray in their list. For a long time, this was something called ‘One Spray’, and only rcently have they gone back to a new version of Trennwax, which appears to have been significantly upgraded from the Trennwax I first used about ten years ago. This stuff is quite simply wonderful! I use it for the insides of terrine moulds, for baking trays and roasting pans, for ramekins to be used for baking soufflés, for egg dishes, for the insides of aluminium foil which I’m about to use for wrapping and baking fish……..in fact for absolutely anything where a non-stick surface is appropriate, and where a traditional recipe would talk about ‘greasing’ the surface with a butter wrapper, or indeed brushing the surface with melted butter. On occasion, if I want to ‘dry’ sauté something like a salmon fillet, then I don’t use any oil or butter as a frying agent , but merely spray some of this stuff into the frying pan or on the griddle, and the result is first class, dry and crisp and exactly as desired……

On supermarket shelves, I’ve come across distant – very distant – cousins to this product, which claim to do the same job, but which in practice are completely hopeless. They don’t do what they claim on the tin, which isn’t surprising, since it’s obvious to the naked eye that they produce a blotchy and uneven covering, which of course means that the end result sticks. Well, it would, wouldn’t it…..?

Trennwax (or equivalent products) appear to fall into the category of culinary goods which are generally available only to professional cooks, and for some reason are kept out of reach of the domestic cook – praline and pistachio pastes come under the same heading, I find, as do decently strong aluminium foil and cling-film. I don’t believe this culinary apartheid has a basis in anything other than manufacturers’ distribution practices, though, and if you can track these products down, I don’t believe there’s any reason why you shouldn’t be able to buy them.

Trennwax doesn’t come exactly cheap – I think a can of spray costs something like six pounds – but it lasts well. I get through a can in about six months, on the basis of almost daily use for some task or other (which, if nothing else, is a clear demonstration of how many things I use it for in practice).

If I were to give this a rating out of ten, it would have to be at least a twelve…. if not more!

Tonight’s Dinner:

Moules Marinières. (Using Pisan mussels, which cook and taste completely differently from those in London – they don’t turn a deep orange as they cook, and have a wonderfully ‘meaty’ flavour when ready….)

Scaloppini, with a sauce of Ham, Capers, Anchovy and Grappa

Chocolate & Apricot Tarts.

Recipe: Timbales of Smoked Salmon & Celery...

This was one of the first recipes I ever came across from Bruno Loubet, and it remains one of my favourites. It encapsulates all that is great about his work - an unexpected combination of flavours and textures that works supremely well: refreshing, and simple, and complex, and rich, all at the same time. This would be equally in place as part of an al fresco summer lunch-party as it would be as the first course for Christmas dinner.....

For four.

Ingredients: 200g Smoked Salmon (better to use good quality salmon for this; I've tried it using either pre-flaked salmon or pre-packaged 'trimmings' - the difference is noticeable); 2 stalks of Celery; 500g of peeled plum tomatoes (1 standard can of italian tomatoes is fine); a Cucumber; Salt; 1 clove of Garlic; half a slice of White Bread; 2 tablespoons of Red Wine Vinegar; Celery Salt; Tabasco; 1 tablespoon of Olive Oil; 4 large fresh Basil leaves; chopped Parsley (for garnish)

Method:

1. Make a Gazpacho by liquidizing the Tomatoes, Bread, half of the Cucumber, Vinegar, and Garlic. Pass this through a sieve, then add Celery Salt and Tabasco, to taste (I'm quite generous with both, but then I like the Gazpacho to have quite a bite - it's all a matter of personal preference). Stir in the Olive Oil, then leave to chill in the fridge for at least half an hour.

2. Finely dice the Smoked Salmon and the Celery. Mix together in a bowl, then set aside.

4. Line 4 ramekins with four large squares of cling-film, the top side of which has been greased.

5. Peel the remaining Cucumber and slice it into paper-thin slices (a mandolin is best for this, but sliced by hand is fine as long as the slices are very, very thin). Line the insides of the ramekins with the Cucumber slices, on top of the cling-film linings, as though lining a charlotte mould.

6. Just before serving, chop the Basil leaves and mix thoroughly with the diced Salmon and Celery; spoon this mixture into the Cucumber-lined ramekins, pressing the mixture firmly down into each ramekin.

7. To serve, invert each ramekin into the centre of a soup plate, and remove the ramekin and cling-film; surround with a ladleful of chilled Gazpacho, and garnish with chopped Parsley.

Pull at a thread.....

......and before you know it, you're wondering where half the afternoon has gone!

Further musings on Ben Ryé have left me uncertain whether I'm in the middle of Six Degrees of Separation, or else caught up in a game of Chinese Whispers! For a start, when I was surfing for information on Ben Ryé the other day, I came across references to a Praline Ben Ryé which had been designed (if that's what you do to a chocolate) by 'world-famous chocolatier' Paul de Bondt.

Except that I don't really think of him as that, but rather as the jolly dutchman that we encountered at one of the first Eurochocolate festivals in Perugia in 1998, when he was using one of our chocolate-tempering machines as part of a chocolate demonstration......Depending on who you speak to, apparently he's now generally considered to be one of the top ten, if not one of the top eight chocolatiers in the entire World.......

And as though that isn't enough, he turned out by chance to be based in Pisa, where we fell across his shop several years ago, nestling in a back street not far from the station (although he's just moved to much more prestigious premises on the Lungarno, just along from the Victoria Hotel). He and his wife have a workshop, it appears, in Gello, which is an eminently unremarkable conurbation on the outskirts of Pisa, on the flatland that runs between us and the Monte Pisano. I'll think of the place with renewed respect, now that I know it is home to something other than merely the pizzeria belonging to Paolo Pirelli, Massimo's father-in-law......

And having wallowed indulgently through all of that, I was tempted to go and see what the Donnafugata website had to say about it all.........and that was my downfall! At that point, my afternoon was completely shot! Splendid website, bursting with intriguing comments, and detail, and images, and information......and a page of recipes to accompany their best wines.....I loved their explanation that the woman's head that seductively graces every bottle from the estate is in fact that of Maria Carolina, Queen of the Two Sicilies - when I'd taken it for granted all along that it was supposed to be Claudia Cardinale, from the 1963 film of The Leopard! I can't speak too highly of either the wine or the website - both are well worth sampling for yourselves...And the website at least is only a click away, at www.donnafugata.it Highly recommended ....as long as you're not short of time, that is......


Tonight's Dinner:

Timbales of Smoked Salmon & Celery, served with spicy Gazpacho (an old favourite from Bruno Loubet)

Supremes de Volailles with Archduke Sauce, on a bed of Spinach

Pear & Chocolate Tarts

Recipe: Scallop Mousseline....

This recipe is quite simply spectacular! Served hot, the flavours are strong, clean and sophisticated, while the texture is firm, but wonderfully light. Served cold, after a night in the fridge, this is one of the most 'more-ish' things I've ever eaten. Beguiling and intense, the first mouthful is a show-stopper........and each mouthful thereafter is just as good, leaving you licking the pattern from the plate at the end of the process.
Eminently dinner-party-able, this can be prepared in its entirety and left in the fridge up until the point that it goes into the oven, or else can be served cold, having been cooked the day before. The choice of sauces to go with it is varied: hollandaise works well, as does a sieved watercress sauce......or even a light tomato sauce delicately flavoured with tarragon... Up to you.

For four.

Ingredients: 400g Scallops, without the coral (for this dish, it's fine to use Scallops which have been frozen); 2 teaspoons of Salt; a dozen grindings of Black Pepper; 1 Egg plus 1 Egg-white; 500 ml of Cream.

Method:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 220 degrees C.

2. Generously butter four individual ramekins.

3. In the food processor, process to a fine purée the Scallops and seasoning; add the Egg +egg-white, and process some more, then finally process the Cream into the mixture. If necessary, use a spatula to clean the mixture from the sides of the processor bowl from time to time, to ensure the ingredients in the mixture are all entirely incorporated.

4. Divide the mixture between the greased ramekins, then cook in a bain marie in the pre-heated oven for thirty minutes. Loosely cover the bain marie with a sheet of aluminium foil before you place it in the oven, as this will prevent a skin from forming.

5. If to be eaten hot, unmould the mousselines into heated shallow bowls, and surround each one with the sauce of your choice. If to be eaten cold, allow the mousselines to cool, then chill them in the fridge and serve them cold in the same manner the following day.

Enjoy!

The Wine that launched.....

.....a thousand ships? I mentioned recently the bottles of Ben Ryé which had generously been provided by some Brancoli dinner guests, a couple of weeks ago, and the fact that it was both delicious and historically interesting, since it came from Donnafugata, the ancestral Lampedusa family estate in Sicily where The Leopard had in part been set. A little further digging, and the historical underpinning for the wine becomes ever more intriguing......

The grapes for Ben Ryé - which in arabic means 'Son of the Wind' - come from vineyards on the small island of Pantelleria, which is halfway between Sicily and Libya. Pantelleria had historically been part of the Lampedusa estate, but had come adrift as the family fortunes unravelled, and it was only in the 1990's that it once again became part of the Donnafugata fattoria, when the Pantelleria vineyards were bought by the Rallo family, the new owners of Donnafugata. Until that time, the sweet wine produced on Pantelleria was a Passito, politely described by the experts as rather 'figgy' (i.e filthy) and it is only after the various changes by the Rallos to the production method that we have the wonderful Ben Ryé product of today - an extraordinary wine, with a deep caramel flavour and a complex body.

Pantelleria is a desolate little rock - both windblown and arid, with no water source other than rainwater. The vineyards are comprised of ancient vines, many on pre-phyloxera root stock, growing in the greek style - i.e either on the ground or on low trellis in depressions where there is a little shelter from the wind. That you can grow vines at all in such conditions is a tribute to the persistence and ingenuity of the islanders. The grape from which Ben Ryé is made, Zibibbio, is also ancient and can be traced back to Egypt, before the fog of history closes in.....

The production method on Pantelleria is exactly the same as that found in the islands of the Cyclades where the growing conditions are similar, it is far too windy in summer to do otherwise. The grapes are also allowed to dry after harvesting and the resulting wine which is similar in taste to a slightly odd Dubonnet is also thick and ......um.......figgy.
Not far from the Cyclades, the island of Limnos,opposite the site of ancient Troy, is the only place in Greece where the Zibibbio grape predominates. The original inhabitants of Western Sicily, where Donnafugata is located, were the Elymians, who founded Erice and Segesta, are credited with bringing wine-making to Sicily, and - according to the ancient Greeks - were descended from those Trojans who had fled the smoking ruins of Troy.....

Elymians? Limnos? Zibibbio? Figgy wine? Could it be that the direct ancestor of Ben Ryé was the wine of the Trojans? Fanciful, of course........but no less engaging for all that.

It isn't often you get given a bottle of wine with three thousand years of history behind it......!

Tonight's Dinner:

Is courtesy of the Brancolis-in-London

Oktoberfest.....

........is not to be recommended as a spectator sport! Having arrived in Munich last Sunday for a few days' work, I can vouch for this fact, as my first evening coincided with the Beer-swillers' last blast, and the centre of town was densely populated with international revellers distinctly the worse for wear. On the whole, it was the foreigners who seemed most on the point of physical collapse, whilst the effect of the beer intake on the lederhosen-clad locals (and what a daft costume is that!) was to make them even more carefully ramrod straight, if a little steely-eyed in their determination not to fall over.....

Bavarian food takes no prisoners, and by the time I was back at the airport, on Wednesday, I'd consumed enough slabs of cooked-to-death fleisch and servings of sauerkraut, and kartoffeln served up in myriad formats to last me a lifetime. On Monday evening I was part of a very jolly group - some new friends, and some of ancient long-standing - whose choice for dinner was an italian restaurant nestling in the shadows of the Frauenkirche, where we sat outside and were served prawn salad incongruously garnished with raspberries (excellent raspberries, I hasten to add, despite their surprising context) and I played safe and followed it with tagliatelle con salsiccie, all washed down with a perfectly serviceable pugliese red. It was a splendid evening, all told - but I have to confess that I thought rather longingly of the boconcini of tuna, wrapped in lardo di colonnato and then fried which I'd had for lunch at Cammillo in Florence the previous Friday.....

Tuesday was an 'oh, what the Hell!......In for a penny.....' event, when I met Sonia for dinner, and she took me to the most bavarian of all choices in town, a place called Beim Sedlmayer, where the menu-planning definitely has in mind the approach of a long, hard winter, and the recurring theme of the place is foot-tall glasses brimming with frothy weiss bier. And frequently re-filled. In memory of a shared cooking occasion in Greece nearly three decades ago, we had a couple of semmelsknoedel which were awe-inspiring in their density and sheer weight. No surprise that I ended up choosing to go by foot all the way back to the hotel afterwards, in an effort to walk some of it off.....!

There were some lighter moments, though. The advent of mushroom season was evident on every restaurant menu, and I'd be amazed if there's a chanterelle now left standing within several hundred miles of Munich, given the number of dishes that appear to major on it. Pfefferlinge is the name in German, which is rather charming. And remarkable not least for the fact that the english name for chanterelle appears to be ......chanterelle. Walking back amongst the darkened stalls of the market, it was clear that in daytime there are whole businesses devoted exclusively to trade in pfefferlinge, which to me suggests a rather softer side to the bavarians than the image portrayed by the lederhosen and bristly titfers.........

London now for the next fortnight.

Tonight's Dinner:

Tart shells, with sautéed funghi and fegatini, in a cream and sherry and ginger sauce.

Roast Beef; Celeriac and Carrots roast in duck fat; Yorkshire Pudding.

Baked Apples, stuffed with amaretti biscuits soaked in hazelnut liqueur.

Recipe: Prune Ice Cream

This is another one of those recipes which is so simple it almost doesn't merit writing down; I was a little sceptical when I first tried it, as it is based only on cream, rather than on a custard, and with the lightweight cream we get in Italy I had my doubts that the finished product would be dense enough to be satisfying. Not a bit of it! It was as rich and unctuous and delicious as you could hope for....

For four.

Ingredients: two cups of soft, stoned Prunes; Marsala(or Cream Sherry, in the absence of Marsala), sufficient to cover the Prunes in a bowl; two tablespoons of Sugar; 8 fl oz Cream.

Method:

1. Macerate the Prunes in the alcohol for three or four hours, then liquidize the whole lot briefly in a blender.

2. Put the liquidised Prunes and the Sugar into the ice cream machine, add the Cream, and churn until ready - normally about twenty minutes, depending upon your machine.

3. Freeze until needed. This ice cream doesn't go very hard in the freezer, so there's probably no need to take it out of the freezer before you actually need to serve it.