Fête Champetre
THIS SATURDAY, 19 June, apart from being the feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (moved from 22 August, despite Pope Pius XII's decree, and reverting to being the Saturday following the feast of the Sacred Heart which is on Friday), is also the London Oratory's Summer Fête, held in their fine garden at the back of the house. Lots of things to buy or win, good bookstall, raffles, flowers, treasure-trove etc., good food and drink; so come along, and pray for a sunny day. You could win £1,000. Also, it is most enjoyable. The aubergines in the market are look- ing particularly beautiful at the moment, glossy and plump. What a lovely vegetable they are, but very few people seem to use them in their own right. They either get stuffed, baked with cheese and tomato sauce or used for moussaka and ratatouille; all very good, but they can be used as a separate vegetable and make a very good accompaniment to any meat or chicken dish; I think they go perfectly with lamb. The Italians simply saute them in olive oil:
Melanzane a funghetti 4 perfect aubergines 1/4 pint good olive oil 3 plump cloves of garlic parsley
salt and pepper Cut the aubergines into cubes of about half an inch. Put them into a large sieve or colander, sprinkle them with a little salt, then turn them over and over to distribute it. Leave to drain in the sink for an hour or so. Squeeze them to remove moisture and roll them in a tea-towel. Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan, put in the aubergines and cook over a gentle heat, turning them over now and then until they are soft, about 20 minutes. Halfway through, add the garlic chopped finely. When ready, sea- son to your taste (remember the aubergines have already been salted); they can take quite a lot of freshly ground pep- per. Transfer to a warmed dish and sprin- kle with chopped parsley. This is also excellent cold as a salad. The term `funghetti' in this case has nothing to do with mushrooms, it is merely a method of cooking the vegetables with their skins on.
If you go into the courtyard of the Savoy and look up to the first floor on the left, you will see embedded in the green, gold and white tiles the windows of what is called 'Upstairs'. It is a sort of bar where they are plugging Canadian lobsters for a month. Flown live from Canada daily, they are really very good, moist and succulent, and at £12.85 for a main course not too pricy; but if you can purchase your own at the fishmonger, here is one of the dishes to make a lobster go a long way.
Lobster risotto
1 llb lobster
1/3 pint white wine 1/3 pint spicy tomato sauce
4 oz arborio rice 1 oz chorizo sausage 5 oz butter 1 tablespoon chopped parsley
1 oz chopped shallots 11/2 tablespoons brandy
2 tablespoon fish stock 1 oz grated parmesan cheese 2 oz black-eyed beans olive oil, salt and pepper
Wash the beans, soak them overnight, then wash them again before simmering them for two hours until soft. Blanch the lobster in boiling water for 11/2 minutes. Remove from the water, crack the meat from the shell and keep warm. In a pan, place a tablespoon of olive oil and half the butter and the lobster shells, fry gently for 5 minutes, add the shallots and sweat until cooked. Flame with the brandy and, when the flame has died down, remove the shells, then add the rice. Stir this until it goes opaque, then add the white wine and a lit- tle seasoning. Reduce the wine by half and add half the fish stock and all the tomato sauce. Stir continuously while the rice is cooking, slowly adding the remaining fish stock. When the rice is cooked, approxi- mately 30 minutes, add the black-eyed beans, chorizo sausage, the rest of the but- ter and parmesan cheese. Adjust the sea- soning. Add the lobster meat in chunks, heat until just cooked, about three minutes, then serve immediately. Sprinkle with chopped parsley and parmesan. For the tomato sauce, sweat a chopped onion and garlic clove plus 2 oz of chorizo sausage in a mixture of olive oil and butter. When soft, add a tablespoon of tomato purée and a handful of torn basil leaves, cook for 3 minutes. Add 2 lbs of chopped fresh toma- toes. Cook until soft. Liquidise, sieve and season.
Jennifer Paterson
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