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After the fastings and feastings _ •
SAINT JANE Frances Fremiot de Chantal seems to have slipped her moorings: her feast used to be in August but now it is on the 12th of this month. By the time she was 28 she was a widow and had borne six chil- dren. She developed a vocation and with the help of Saint Francis of Sales she detached herself from every bond of affec- tion, even to separating herself from her children in order to found the Order of the Visitation nuns. How about that? Through the years, I think I have given many forms of Advent and Christmas food, so I thought you might like something completely differ- ent to have after the fastings and feastings are done with.
I was having Sunday lunch with the ebul- lient Billy Keating, who hails from Georgia, and his partner, Angela Nevill, who pro- duced an excellent English Sunday lunch; but, as a side dish, we had Billy's only claim to cooking, something he stews up on Fri- days to eat whilst watching Cheers: one of those American receipts where you open a lot of tins, easy peasy, but surprisingly good. There was a wonderful American there, Sandra Magrath, who comes from Alabama; she had just been to a football match and was mystified by the supporters' rendering of 'Swing Low, Sweet Chariot'. She couldn't understand why they should be singing a Negro slave song about death arriving. I see her point. Anyhow, this is Billy's stew, which can be traced back to the Red Indians who used to throw anything and everything edible into their stews, including squirrel, which I believe is deli- cious but have never had the good fortune to eat.
Brunswick (Georgia) Stew 1 chicken of about 3lbs, cut into pieces 1'a lbs good beef mince or cubed silverside Salt and pepper
2 fluid oz oil 2 large onions, finely chopped 2 large cloves of garlic, crushed and chopped 6 oz chopped celery 6 oz chopped green pepper (capsicum) 1 red chilli pepper, de-seeded and chopped 2 pints good chicken stock 28 oz tin of tomatoes, chopped and drained 6 allspice cloves 5 whole cloves 1 lb potatoes 20 oz frozen corn kernels (or tinned) 10 oz frozen or tinned flageolets 3 oz melted butter 2 tablespoons Worcester sauce 1 tablespoon Tabasco sauce
Sprinkle the chicken and meat with salt and a good grinding of pepper. Heat the oil in a large, heavy frying-pan. Cook the chicken pieces until golden brown on one side, turn over and do the same. Transfer to a heavy casserole. Add the meat to the frying-pan and cook until browning, turning it over and over. Transfer to the casserole. Remove most of the fat from the frying- pan, add the onions, garlic, celery and green pepper. Cook gently until softened, giving the odd stir. Mix in the chopped chilli, tomatoes, allspice, cloves and the stock. Bring to the boil, stirring from the bottom, then pour into the casserole. Bring to the boil again, cover and simmer for 1 hour, stirring occasionally to prevent stick- ing, or you can transfer to a low oven if you prefer. Remove the chicken pieces but let the stew continue for another half hour. Discard the skin and bones from the chick- en, shred the meat and keep at the ready. Peel the potatoes and dice. Add to the stew together with the corn, flageolets and the shredded chicken, adjust the seasoning and continue cooking for a further 45 minutes. Pour in the melted butter and stir it well, add the Worcester sauce and the Tabasco. Serve very hot in a soup bowl with some good bread — you really don't need any- thing else. I have recently found tiny, frozen broad beans at Sainsbury's which could be used instead of the flageolets if you like. This should feed about 12 people. I noticed that Billy added even more chilli sauce to his bowl, so see what you think, depending on how hot you like it.
As people tend to serve disastrous hot types of punches around the festive season you might as well have a good receipt from the experts. Mulled wine from Pru Leith's Complete Christmas is for about 20 people and, as she says, the important ingredient in mulled wine is the water. Without it, it can be far too rich and sickly. This is just a guideline and can be altered at will. You need: 4 bottles full-bodied red wine
3 pints water 20 cloves wrapped in a piece of butter muslin or an old piece of tights 3 sliced oranges 3 sliced lemons 8 oz granulated sugar or to your own taste 2 cinnamon sticks.
Put all the ingredients in a large saucepan (stainless or enamel), dissolve sugar gently, bring to a very gentle trem- bling point and keep warm for at least 15 minutes. Do not allow to boil.
Jennifer Paterson
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