Penitent pears and potatoes

MY, MY, how the year goes by. The purple vestments are back and Lent has com- menced with a rousing sermon from Father Ignatius at the London Oratory (he always seems to get the pre-Lent sermons — I well remember his one on Gin and Sin, great stuff). This time it was a plea for us all to go to confession through Lent and not to be embarrassed about confessing sexy sins, as the priests have heard it all before and all have to go to confession themselves. So make good, clear confessions without dodg- ing the issues. The sins will then be lost and forgotten as though thrown down an end- less well, and will not be mentioned again even at the Last Judgment, which is a com- fort.

I promised to tell you about some deli- cious pears last month and, though they could hardly be described as Lenten fare, they could be served on Mid-Lent Sunday as a treat. This is enough for four, but you can multiply at will.

Pear Tart with spices and caramel

4 fine pears 2 pints water 12 oz sugar 1 pinch grated nutmeg 2 cloves 1 tablespoon ground ginger I/3 cinnamon stick Zest of half a lemon, grated 74 vanilla pod

Put 10 oz of the sugar with the water into a saucepan, heat gently until the sugar is dissolved, then bring to the boil and cook fiercely for about 2 minutes until syrupy. Melt the remaining sugar in another pan and cook it until golden caramel, then add it to the syrup to colour it. Add the nutmeg, cloves, ginger, cinnamon, lemon zest and vanilla pod. Peel the pears carefully, leav- ing the stalks on, and poach them in the syrup for 15 minutes. Leave them to cool in the syrup. Meanwhile make the pastry cases.

For the pastry:

4 oz butter 1'/_ oz sugar 5 oz ground hazel nuts 4 az flour V2 teaspoon baking powder 3 eggs Zest of half a lemon, grated 1 teaspoon allspice Pinch of salt Few drops of vanilla essence

Pre-heat the oven to Gas 4, 355F, 179C. Cream the butter and the sugar, then work `It's the dating agency come to repossess you.' in the rest of the ingredients in the order listed. Pipe into four suitable little pastry flan rings or make four discs on a baking tray and bake for 15 minutes. If you have no piping bag, do the best you can with a spoon and spatula.

For the caramel sauce, put 6 oz of sugar in a saucepan and cook over a moderate heat until the sugar melts and turns to a brown caramel. Heat 12 fluid ounces of sin- gle cream until it boils, then pour it into the caramel, stirring well until all is smooth, keeping warm. Cut each pear and place it on its pastry case, dust with icing sugar and caramelise under a pre-heated grill. Place on dainty plates and serve with the caramel cream sauce. Very rich and wonderful.

There is a very nice Vegetable Market Cook Book by Robert Budwig (lovely name) where I found a more suitable Lenten dish of simple potatoes and black olives, perfect for Good Friday and excel- lent with fish.

Potatoes and black olives 2 tablespoons virgin olive oil

8 cloves garlic, peeled and roughly chopped 7 oz black olives with herbs 4 bay leaves 2 lbs small waxy potatoes, peeled and diced Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Get the best quality black olives pre- served with herbs at some good deli- catessen. Heat the olive oil in a terracotta or cast-iron pot over a moderate heat and add the garlic, olives and bay leaves. Stir and cook for 5 minutes. Mix in the pota- toes, season to taste and pour in about an inch of water. Cook covered for 20 minutes until the potatoes are tender. Serve imme- diately.

If you live in the wilds and cannot buy the prepared olives, marinate them your- self, but they must be done at least 24 hours in advance. Pack ordinary black olives into a glass jar with a tightly fitting lid. Add a tablespoon of good olive oil and a table- spoon of mixed herbes de Provence. Leave for 24 hours, giving the jar a good shake every hour or so. When the olives are used up you can use the oil and juices as the base of an interesting salad dressing.

For St Patrick's day you could have an Irish Rarebit, which is made with the addi- tion of chopped gherkins and white wine vinegar to the usual cheese mixture.

Jennifer Paterson HELP!

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