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HAVING JUST returned from my annual outing to Cumberland it is entirely appro- priate that I mention the feast day of St Ninian which falls on 16 September. Nini- an's father was a Cumbrian chief, which sounds nice and wild. When Ninian embraced Christianity, he popped off to Rome to study but returned to his native shores, befriending St Martin of Tours on the way. He founded his see at Whithorn, and built a stone church which became renowned as the 'White House' and was almost certainly the oldest Christian foun- dation in Scotland. My-modem journey was quite ghastly: still in the great heatwave, our train was five hours late, air-condition- ing off and buffet closed, and a very drunk Scotsman harassing us all the way. Good old British Rail.

However, I usually find a treasure up there. This is another grouse terrine and is a way of making two grouse a magnificent first course for 6-8 people. It comes from Jane Torday, who in fact lives in Northum- berland just across the border.

Terrine of young grouse

2 young grouse fat streaky bacon for wrapping 2 carrots 1 large onion 2 sticks of celery 2 bay leaves 4 fluid oz of medium sherry Worcester sauce 1 sachet of gelatine or 3 level teaspoons

1/21b good smoked bacon

'/'lb field mushrooms fresh thyme redcurrant jelly salt and fresh ground black pepper

Butter and season the grouse, wrap in the streaky bacon and sit in a small roast- ing tin with a cup of water. Cover loosely with foil so the birds are as much poached (in the honourable sense) as roasted and no juices wasted. Cook in a hot oven Gas 7, 425F, 220C, for 15 to 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool in their juices, then remove the flesh from the bones and cut into dainty slithers. Reserve.

Make a good stock by simmering the carcass in the cooking juices, a pint of water, the carrots, onion and celery, all roughly chopped, and the bay leaves. Bring to the boil, then turn down the heat and simmer very gently for about 2 hours with a cover on. When ready, season to taste and filter through a fine sieve. Add the sherry and a dash of Worcester sauce to the stock and reduce to 5/4 of a pint of liquid. Dis- solve the gelatine in the usual way and stir into the stock until quite dissolved. Dice the smoked bacon and the mushrooms. Sauté the bacon in a little butter, then toss in the mushrooms at the last minute and stir fry briefly. Add some fresh thyme as an optional extra.

Arrange alternate layers of grouse with the mushroom and bacon mixture in a ter- rine, or a loaf tin will do. Pour over the stock, which should just cover it. Leave to set in the refrigerator. Melt 2 tablespoons of redcurrant jelly and pour over the top as a glaze. Allow to set again. Sprinkle with a little finely chopped parsley and a few random redcurrants if you have any, after you have turned the terrine out of its container. Serve sliced with warm brown toast.

A painless way of converting late-sea- son or frozen broad beans with their leather jackets into something light and delicious.

Broad bean purée

1 lb of podded broad beans — fresh or frozen 2 oz of butter small tub of crème fraiche dessert spoonful of chopped summer savory or parsley salt and pepper

If you have summer savory, it is the ulti- mate complementary herb for broad beans but parsley will do very well. Cook the broad beans without salt until tender. Drain but keep the cooking water. Place the beans into a food processor, season with salt and pepper, add the herbs, butter and crème fraiche and whizz into a purée, adding enough cooking liquor to make it light and slightly sloppy. To achieve per- fect smoothness, push the purée through a fine sieve — it depends on how smooth you like it. Pour into a warm dish. This is an excellent accompaniment for roast pork or ham.

If you use quite a lot of vanilla from time to time you might like to make your own extract, which is much better than the usual bought one and very simple.

Vanilla extract

8 vanilla pods, split lengthwise with beans removed 2 pints of vodka

Put the beans and pods in a 2-pint bottle with a lid. Add the vodka and mix well. Screw on the lid and store in a cool dark place for at least two months before using. The extract becomes stronger the longer you leave it and can be stored at room tem- perature for a year.

Jennifer Paterson