WE HAVE a very great saint coming up on the

13th of this month. He used to be cele- brated in January but, as with so many oth- ers, he has been pushed around and is now in September. St John Chrysostom, Arch- bishop of Constantinople, was a man of exceptional genius and a very great bishop, and is counted with St Athanasius, St Gre- gory Nazianzen and St Basil as one of the four great Doctors of the Eastern Church. So powerful was his eloquence in the East, it earned him the title of Chrysostom, the golden-mouthed. His courage in condemn- ing vice in season and out of season' brought him exile and every kind of ill- usage. We could do with some more like him around now instead of all the mealy- mouthed politicians and counselling care people. Boom, boom.

I feel a nip in the air and have a hanker- ing for a lovely great casserole of oxtail. I have given you my method for this desir- able dish before, but this is a simpler ver- sion for people with less time to spare, and was the way Roald Dahl used to make it and very good it was, despite the fact that he considered himself a very ordinary cook.

Roald's oxtail stew

1. Always buy more oxtail than you think you'll need as it is mostly bone and people always want second helpings. Allow one tail for every three guests. Ask the butcher to chop them up. 2. Always trim off fat and gristle.

3. He didn't bother to brown the pieces (I question this but it was his way). Simply bung all the pieces into a large saucepan, cover with water and get the whole thing boiling gently. Shove in a lot of beef stock- cubes (fie!). 4. The main secret of this dish is to make absolutely sure that the meat is very well cooked. It should be almost falling off the bone when served. This will require rough- ly 4 hours' simmering. Toward the end, keep taking out a piece and testing it.

'Somebody up there hates me.'

5. While the tails are cooking, boil some carrots and then puree them in the blender or food processor. This will ultimately be the only thickener you use for the liquid, so you must judge how many carrots to use depending on the amount of liquid you are using. No flour is needed.

6. About 20 minutes from the end, throw in plenty of medium-sized onions.

Y. Examine your bottles of herbs and make an instinctive selection, choosing the ones you yourself particularly like, perhaps rosemary, thyme and mixed herbs. Use lib- erally. (I would add a tied bunch of fresh parsley and the odd bay leaf.) 8. Three minutes from the end, add whatever frozen vegetables you have: broad beans, sweet-corn and peas. The quantity of each is a matter for your own judgment.

9. Lastly, thicken the liquid with your purée of carrots and season with good salt and fresh-ground pepper to your taste.

You should now have a lovely, rich, pun- gent oxtail stew. Serve in soup plates with plenty of hot French bread. Have a large dish on the table into which people can throw their used bones.

This is what I call boy-scout cooking but none the less good for that.

It should be good mushrooming weather at any moment if you are clever enough to find them in the woods or fields. If not, try to buy something a little better than the ubiquitous white button. This is a tasty lit- tle first course.

Garlic mushrooms 1 lb mushrooms, wiped and quartered

2 oz butter 4 tablespoons olive oil 2 cloves garlic, crushed 16 cloves garlic, peeled and whole salt and pepper chopped parsley lemons Heat the oil and butter in a large frying pan, add the mushrooms and sauté over a medium heat for three minutes. Stir in the crushed garlic and sprinkle with Malden salt and sauté for another 1-2 minutes. Add several turns of the peppermill and about 2 tablespoons of chopped parsley. Taste the seasoning, transfer to a warm dish and serve with wedges of lemon and the whole cloves of garlic which you have fried gently until soft and golden. They will be sweet and succulent.

Jennifer Paterson