7 DECEMBER 1985, Page 62

Cod, conger eel and turkey stuffing ri THE first Sunday

in Advent already, and the first sign of sun for what seems an age, quite balmy today; but, as this is my last piece for the year, some suitable and seasonable suggestions are warranted.

My splendid John Cobb from Portugal has been over and left me with another bacalhau dish, very curious in that you bake the mayonnaise. Remember that the bacalhau (salt cod fish) must be soaked for at least 24 hours, preferably 36, with constant changes of water. This dish would be very correct for Christmas Eve before Midnight Mass. Get the thickest pieces of fish you can find.

Bacalhau a ze do pipo (Oporto)

4 thick fillets of bacalhau

13/4 pints of milk

2 medium onions 4 tablespoons of virgin olive oil Salt, pepper and bay leaf 1 bowl of mayonnaise (2 egg yok'es, 12 oz olive oil) 2 lbs of potatoes

After soaking the fish, cut into the four portions and boil gently in the milk until tender when pierced (about 30 minutes). Chop the onions, cook them in olive oil with the bay leaf, ground salt and pepper and a little of the fish milk until transparent and golden. Boil the potatoes in their skins, peel and purée them. In an earthen- ware oven dish set the pieces of fish in the centre, surround with the puréed potato, cover the fish with the onion mixture then apply the mayonnaise on top; brown in a preheated oven for about 20 minutes at gas 5, 380F, 193C. Serve garnished with black olives and a green salad, I should think.

Another fish you might not have tried too often is conger eel; it has delicious firm white flesh and takes much longer to cook than other white fish, but its disadvantage is in the quantity of tiny bones it contains, especially toward the tail end, so try to get a cut from behind the head. At any rate it will be simpler than having a bathful of live eels as Digby Anderson had last Christmas Eve.

Braised conger eel 2 lbs of conger eel

4 carrots 3 medium onions 1 sweet red pepper 1 14 oz tin chopped tomatoes Salt, pepper and nutmeg Fennel seeds or a sprig of fresh fennel 1/4 pint dry vermouth

Peel and slice the carrots finely and diagonally, chop the onions and the de- seeded red pepper. Have an oval casserole with a lid which the fish will fit into, cover the base with olive oil and place the mixed chipped vegetables in an even layer over the surface. Cook over the heat until starting to brown. Place the eel on top, pour the tinned tomatoes and vermouth over it, season with salt, pepper and nutmeg, scatter some crushed fennel seeds or place a sprig of the herb on the fish, continue to cook until everything is bub- bling, then cover and place in a pre-heated oven Gas 4, 355F, 179C, for about an hour until cooked. Halfway through turn the eel over and give it a good basting. Serve from the dish, having flung a generous amount of chopped parsley over all.

If you are going to have a turkey the great thing is not to overcook it, otherwise it is a dry old beast. The best way to keep it moist is to cover it in a lot of soft butter, a lot of streaky bacon, then wrap it into a large loose parcel with foil. Cook low down in the oven, high temperature for the first half-hour, then low like Gas 3 for most of the time, then for the last half-hour remove foil and bacon, turn up high again for basting. Rest the bird somewhere warm for 20 minutes before carving.

I found lovely John Patten in the lift yesterday (something to do with housing) who thinks that to stuff a goose you put a lump of coal up one end and an onion, down the other. Tut tut, or maybe he's right? However, this is my most favourite stuffing for turkey, far too rich for goose anyway.

Collect together: one large cooking ap- ple, one large onion, two fat cloves of garlic, a handful of parsley, two sage leaves, 1/2Ib best quality sausage meat, 1/2lb of back bacon, 1/2.1b of loin of pork with the fat (like a good chop), 6oz of mushrooms sliced and gently fried in butter for a moment, a tin of puréed chestnuts approx. 15 oz (not the heavily sweetened one) unless you have the guts to peel the real things, the turkey liver and finally about 6oz of some pâté de foie. Chop everything finely, good knives or processors or what you will, season with a good deal of ground black pepper, 8 crushed juniper berries and very little salt. Mix well and stuff both ends of the bird.

And a Bon Noel to you all — Love,

Jennifer Paterson