Midsummer — we hope
WE HAVE had three good British saints this week. St John Fisher, the Bishop of Rochester, and St Thomas More, Lord Chancellor of England, were both executed for refusing to accept Henry VIII's claim to be head of the Church. Quite right too look what has happened to that crumbling edifice. Then we had dear St Etheldreda (who is also called Audrey); she was the daughter of King Anna of East Anglia, and after two marriages was able to found a nunnery and a monastery where she ruled as abbess until finally dying of a plague in 679. Then, it's happy birthday to St John the Baptist on Saturday. I hear locusts are becoming rather fashionable food, so he obviously made a good choice of diet. I haven't eaten them, but I would like to try, I believe they are nutty-tasting and crisp. As summer has just put in an appearance, we had better dare to do something suit- able. I had this aspic last summer, at the house of Mary Lowe in Newton Reigny, Cumbria. It is spectacular-looking, and gleams like a vast bit of amber.
Tomato aspic ring 1 large tin Italian tomatoes (28 oz)
2 shallots 2 big cloves of garlic plenty of fresh basil (2 handfuls) fronds of fennel or dill chives 2 packets of Riebers aspic powder
Dissolve one packet of aspic in 1 pint of hot water and dissolve the other packet in a separate bowl in a generous 1/2 pint. Line a large ring mould with half the 1 pint of aspic and set in the refrigerator. Mean- while, in a heavy saucepan, soften the shal- lots in olive oil, add the chopped garlic and tomatoes and season to taste with salt, fresh ground pepper, a little sugar and a dash or so of Tabasco. Heat gently just to break up the tomatoes, then pour into a processor and whiz very briefly, adding the basil, fennel or dill and chopped chives. Add the 1/2 pint of the stiffer aspic and leave to cool down. Scatter more torn basil leaves or any other fresh herbs you fancy onto the set aspic from the refrigerator, then cover with the remaining 1/2 pint of aspic. Reset and when firm pour in the tomato aspic mixture. Chill well until quite set. Place the mould in some warm water for a moment, then turn out onto a pretty dish. Serve with a good home-made mayon- naise flavoured with garlic and mustard. The insertion of hard-boiled quails' eggs after you have sprinkled the middle with herbs is a nice little bit of excitement to find in the aspic. This will be ample for 6-8 people as a first course.
Here is a good way of dealing with the ubiquitous salmon recommended by Wait- rose via Raymond Blanc.
Fillets of salmon on a bed of sorrel ' 4 fillets of salmon weighing about 41/2 oz
each 2 tablespoons olive oil salt and fresh ground pepper
juice of 1/4 of a lemon
6 oz of sorrel leaves 1 oz butter 4 fluid oz whipping cream, lightly whipped In a non-stick pan heat the olive oil on a medium heat and cook the salmon fillets on the skin side for about 6-8 minutes until crisp. (It is worthwhile to have Scot- tish wild salmon if you can.) Turn over to the flesh side and cook for a further 1-2 minutes, depending on the thickness, until just cooked. Season with salt, pepper and the lemon juice. Meanwhile, place the sorrel in a saucepan with the butter and 4 tablespoons of water. Bring to the boil, cover and cook for one minute. Season with salt and pepper. Stir in the cream. Place the sorrel mixture in the centre of four warmed plates. Place the salmon, skin side up, on the sorrel and surround with a vegetable garnish of young spinach, baby carrots sprinkled with parsley and, or, sugar-snap peas, all lightly cooked. The crisp skin of the salmon is delicious — do eat it.
I see a lot of receipts for summer pud- ding, that most wonderful dish of sweet berries and bread, but I am often horrified by the instructions to use sliced white bread. This is a terrible crime as the bread turns into some horrible slimy thing rather than having that firm spongy texture. You must get first-class baked bread, one day stale, even if it is more trouble to cut. You must also have more than enough fruits to fit the bowl of your'choice as they shrink in the partial cooking. Even Elizabeth David gives far too little fruit for a deep dish in her receipt from Summer Cooking. Toodle-pip.
Jennifer Paterson
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