Saints and singer kjautiftLik-JOILIAL
APART FROM the great feast of Pente- cost this Sunday, we have some interesting runners-up. St Dunstan, on 19 May, who was the nephew of the Archbishop of Can- terbury in better times, like the year 960. He seems a charming fellow, addicted to playing the harp and illuminating manuscripts as well as founding monaster- ies and being a skilled metal-worker. Then there is St Bemadino of Siena on the 20th, St Andrew Bobola, a Polish aristocrat, known as the thief of souls by his enemies, on the 21st, and, on the 22nd, dear little St Humility, who had herself bricked up in a cell for 12 years, fasting and praying, but, once out, lived until she was 80.
Not a saint but a great operatic soprano, Dame Nellie Melba was born on 19 May 1865. She was really called Helen Porter Mitchell, but that wouldn't have sounded quite the same affixed to the variety of foodstuffs named after her, would it? There was sauce Melba, a blend of strawberry and raspberry jam or the real fruit, heated and sieved. For fish there is a sort of hol- landaise made with shallots cooked in chablis, egg yolks and tomato. Noisettes of beef, mutton or lamb coated in rich brown port wine gravy. A special salad, and, of course, Melba toast, which we owe to Madame Cesar Ritz.
On 23 May, yet another of our British chefs is producing a cookbook: Modern Bistro Cookery. Antony Worrall Thompson is usually my partner on Radio 4's Question of Taste, so I had better give him a plug. As a matter of fact, it is a splendid book of mixed and seasonal receipts with a robust and Mediterranean style of cookery, simply explained if quite intricate at times. There is a great garlic dinner chapter, and a fanta- sy of black foods for a funeral banquet in memory of an eccentric's recently expired virility. It starts with black velvet, through pudding, caviar, truffles, risotto nero, woodcock, fruits and espresso with black Russian vodka. Sounds terrific.
But as we hope sumer is icumen in I shall give you his seasonal fare.
Chilled tomato soup with frozen extra virgin olive oil
2 slices white country bread, decrusted 1 tablespoon sherry vinegar 1 clove garlic, peeled and finely chopped 2 teaspoons caster sugar 1 red chilli, seeded and finely chopped 2 fluid oz extra virgin olive oil 1 lb plum tomatoes, peeled and seeded 1 tablespoon tomato ketchup (only the best) 15 fluid oz good tomato juice 4 spring onions, finely sliced 1 sweet red pepper, roasted, peeled, seeded and diced '/2 large cucumber, peeled, seeded and roughly diced 1 tablespoon pesto salt and fresh ground pepper 8 cubes frozen extra virgin olive oil 8 basil leaves, ripped.
To make the oil cubes, half fill eight sec- tions of the ice tray with oil. Tear the bread to pieces and place in a food processor or blender. With the machine running add the vinegar, garlic, sugar and chilli until smooth. Add the liquid olive oil until the bread will absorb no more, then, a little at a time, add the tomatoes, ketchup, tomato juice, spring onions, red pepper, cucumber and pesto. Continue to blend to form a smooth emulsion. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Chill. Pour into brightly coloured terracotta bowls and just before serving garnish with frozen olive oil cubes and ripped basil leaves.
To make the pesto, blend 4 oz basil leaves, 2 large garlic cloves, 4 oz grated Parmesan cheese and 1 oz pine nuts. Add enough olive oil to make a smooth purée. This will make about 10 oz of pesto, so you will have plenty left over, which will keep happily in a jar in the refrigerator.
Now for a beautiful summer's pudding. Lemon syllabub with red fruits
4 fluid oz dry white wine 2 fluid oz brandy 1 teaspoon grated lemon rind juice of 1 lemon 1 tablespoon clear honey 10 fluid oz double cream pinch freshly grated nutmeg
Red fruits
1 punnet each of strawberries, quartered, raspberries, blackberries, redcurrants, prepared and cleaned 4 fluid oz crème de cassis 3 oz caster sugar 1 tablespoon lemon juice
Place the first five ingredients in a china bowl and leave overnight for the flavours to mingle and develop. Next day, add the cream and the nutmeg, and beat with a whisk until the syllabub holds its shape. Pour into a glass bowl and refrigerate. In another glass bowl, combine all the fruits gently with. the cassis, sugar and lemon juice. Allow to macerate for about 3 hours, turning the fruits from time to time Serve both bowls together and let the folks choose and mix. Be careful not to overbeat the syllabub: it might curdle.
Jennifer Paterson
Previous page
