MAY DAY, May Day, May Day has passed without danger,

I hope, and beloved St Joseph can stop being a worker and return to happy home-making and joy- ful deaths. On 4 May I have found a beau- tiful girl saint, Pelagia, who had the most extraordinary and horrendous death thought up for her by the wicked Emperor Diocletian and his nasty son. They both fancied her, and when she refused their advances as well as sticking to her Chris- tian beliefs they had a hollow bull made from bronze. St Pelagia was put inside it and then roasted to death — imagine.

I have been filming in the ravishing little harbour of Mevagissey, Cornwall. Such a wonderful treat to be able to buy fish and crabs straight from the splendid fishermen, £10 for a crab the size of a carving dish. I was so moved, I thought we had better have a fish dish. This is an interesting way with cod from Creative Belgian Cuisine.

Cod Waterzooi — Flemish style 1 lb 5 oz filleted, skinned cod 41/2 oz butter

1 lemon 5 oz onion, sliced finely 5 oz Belgian endive, sliced finely 2 oz watercress 1 oz raw spinach 1 oz chives 1/2 oz white part of spring onions 1 oz parsley 3 good red tomatoes

2 small slices of bread 1/3 pint fish stock

3 dessertspoons dry white wine 6 dessertspoons regular vinaigrette 3 dessertspoons water salt and freshly ground black pepper

Blanch the tomatoes, remove skin, de- seed and cut into large dice. Put the water- cress, spinach, chives, spring onions, pars- ley, vinaigrette and water into a mixer. Blend and strain through a sieve, pressing the mixture through. A mouli des legumes is ideal. Season with salt and pepper. Squeeze half the lemon. Melt 2 oz of the butter in a medium-sized saucepan. Add the onion, endive and a little lemon juice, and let them sweat 3 to 4 minutes, stir around, add the fish stock and white wine. Bring to the boil, then simmer gently for 25 minutes. Add the diced tomatoes and whisk in 2 oz of butter to thicken. Cut the fish

into 8 pieces of equal size. Season them lightly with salt and pepper and put them into 1 or 2 buttered shallow saucepans or frying pans. Pour the sauce over the fish, heat and simmer the fish for about 5 min- utes. Do not overcook. Meanwhile, cut the slices of bread into little dice and saute them in 1 oz of butter to make tiny golden croutons. Salt and drain on kitchen towel. Place a piece of the fish on each plate, and pour over a good spoonful of the sauce. Put a few croutons on one side of the plate and a dessertspoon of the green purée on the other. Serve very hot with some beautiful little new Jersey potatoes. Note: by Belgian endive I mean the little white bomb-shaped creatures.

As we hope it is spring, let us have: Stuffed spring chicken

2 fine 1 lb spring chickens 5 oz chicken stuffing

2 1/2oz tongue, diced 21/2 oz chicken livers, chopped

1 shallot, chopped finely 20 French beans 2 small carrots 20 little spring onions About 20 tarragon leaves

31/2 pints good chicken stock 1/2 pint thick cream

2 oz butter salt and freshly ground pepper

You can make the stuffing by whizzing a 4 oz piece of chicken breast, a little egg white and some cream in a processor, sea- soning with salt and pepper. It should be a smooth, firm consistency. Turn out and keep in a cool place. Melt 1 oz butter until very hot, cook livers for 1 minute, add shal- lot, season with salt and pepper, cook for a further minute without browning. Allow to get cold. Mix the stuffing with the tongue and the livers. Stuff the chickens (if you can bone the breast out, so much the better), secure the opening and tie up. Cut the beans into four and cook in salted water; they should remain slightly crisp. Slice the carrots and cook the same way. Remove the dark green part of the spring onions and cook the same way. Bring 2 1/2 pints of the chicken stock to the boil, put in the chickens, season, lower the heat and sim- mer for 20-25 minutes. In another saucepan, reduce the rest of the stock to 1/4 pint by boiling, add the cream and reduce to l/4 pint again. Remove from the heat and beat in the remaining 1 oz of butter to thicken. Season and add the vegetables and the chopped tarragon. Drain and untie the chickens, slice in half and serve with the sauce and vegetables poured over the birds in fairly divided amounts.

A bit of trouble but well worth it. More Jersey potatoes, I think.

Jennifer Paterson