29 APRIL 1995, Page 50

Awards and accolades

MANY THANKS for your appreciative let- ters regarding the festive cake; I hope you all had a very merry Easter making it. We are still in the throes of Easter. It was Quasimo- do last Sunday, which always reminds me of poor Charles Laughton in his terrific perfor- mance as the Hunchback of Notre-Dame, and it will be the great St Catherine of Siena this Saturday. I had a fine Easter in York- shire again with the Pennybacker and Toynbee wild bunch, eating huge lunches at their various houses; there were always about 40 people including many children, dogs and horses. The main event in the food world last week was the Glenfiddich awards, the 25th anniversary of 'recognising excel- lence'. The food book of the year award went to Simon Hopkinson, the lovely chef from Bibendum, all his receipts were tested by Lindsey Bareham. Roast Chicken and Other Stories is a very worthwhile treasure for your kitchen. I shall give you his chicken dish which is not roasted.

Poulet poche a la creme with crepes parmentie

a 41b chicken (the best you can buy — Bresse) 3 carrots, peeled and cut lengthways 4 celery sticks, cut into 3 3 leeks, trimmed and split lengthways For the chicken: 1 onion, peeled and studded with 3 cloves 2 bay leaves, a few sprigs of thyme and tarragon salt and peppercorns

1/2 bottle dry white wine

1 pint double cream juice of I lemon For the crêpes: 1 lb 2oz potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks 2 fluid oz milk

21/2 tablespoons plain flour

3 eggs 4 egg whites

21/2 tablespoons double cream

salt and pepper 8 oz unsalted, clarified butter

Put the chicken in a large flameproof casserole or boiling pot with the vegetables, herbs, peppercorns and two teaspoons of salt. Add the white wine and sufficient water just to cover. Put on a high heat and bring to the boil. Skim the surface, which will have produced a grey scum. Turn down the heat to a mere tremble. Go on remov- ing more scum as it appears. Do not cover but turn occasionally. Simmer for an hour. Carefully lift out the chicken and place it on a large plate. Strain the cooking liquid into a clean saucepan and throw away the vegetables. Put the chicken back in the pan and add a 1/2 pint of the strained stock, bring back to the boil, then remove from the heat and cover. This will keep the chicken warm and allow it to 'rest'. Reduce the rest of the stock until syrupy, ending with about a 1/4 pint. Add the lemon juice and the cream, boil to reduce again, gently, until the sauce is unctuous and the consis- tency of a thin custard. Check the season- ing and keep the sauce warm. Meanwhile, to make the crêpe batter, steam the pota- toes until cooked through. While still hot, put through the smallest holes of a mouli- legumes or a sieve. Leave to cool. In anoth- er bowl, mix together all the other ingredi- ents except the butter and add to the pota- to. Pass the whole mixture through a sieve and check the seasoning. Heat a table- spoon of the clarified butter in a frying-pan (non-stick preferably) until hot but not smoking. Use one tablespoon of the batter for each pancake and cook three at a time. When the top of the pancake looks almost set flip it over with a palette knife. Cook for a few seconds, then transfer to a warm plate. Continue in this fashion until all the batter is used. Keep the crêpes in a single layer on an ovenproof plate in a warm oven. The nicest way to present this dish is to place the whole chicken on a grand charger, arrange the crêpes attractively around the edge and pour the rich sauce over the whole bird. This is a great Burgun- dian speciality. Treat it with reverence.

Now for a splendid old-fashioned choco- late pudding from the Fletcher family with whom I lunched on Easter Sunday.

Negresse en chemise

1/2 lb best plain chocolate 1/4 lb unsalted butter 1/4 lb ground almonds 1/4 lb sugar

3 eggs, separated

Melt the chocolate in a bowl over just sim- mering water with the butter. When melted, stir in the sugar and ground almonds. Remove from the heat and add the egg yolks one by one, beating all the while. Whip the egg whites to soft peak stage and fold into the chocolate mixture. Pour into a well-but- tered pudding bowl and steam for 40 nun- utes. Leave to cool overnight, then turn out onto a pretty bowl and cover with thick or even whipped cream. Absolutely outrageous.

Jennifer Paterson