A beldam's dish
Pamala Vandyke Price
People react in diverse ways crises, but I had not anticipate", that the current complications 0' life would strip the years off sd many contemporary female
colleagues. One has only to inur; mur that rationing was the most
ghastly bore about the quieter phases of the last war, for eyes td be cast up above skinfood' enriched sockets and all recollection of same disclaimen. Two characters who for the Past fifteen years have been brushing me aside in doorways as the; swept in to dinners now give W9Yo' giggling about seniority. And 011: lady editress (she deserves tr" e
ughsome title because she onc
refused me a job because 11°, woman could ever write aboui
wine for a newspaper) wh° t recall was cluttering up Flees
Street when I was a junior subba just published an editorial W0111;
dering what it could have like to have been limited to 2 oz butter a week.
Me, I am like mehitabel the Otto — "there's a dance in the 0', dame yet" — and, as I come frorl; long-lived stoc!... on )oth sides, o' have not only 'ookt forward t/ all graduation:, of age, but, was born in a delicious year tur claret and a great one for 1311„t gundy, I did not hide this ft'st when I got to my half centurY la
year. 1Q23 Bottles of both from the 'vintage garnished my. presents. / Characteristically difficult,
evinced scant interest in food until it was scarcely obtainable due to the war. What I should do now if I had to exert influence on those Who fly to bring me lemons, onions (why on earth couldn't we get them?), and of course culinary Oil (the inroads I made on my doctor husband's hospital supplies), I cannot think. There are, even for the optimistic, bounds which eventually are reached as far as one's market or
barterable favours are concerned (and consider the fatigue second time round). But if the present situation, frustrating as it is, encourages the public to make more imaginative use of certain foods, and weans the conservative types (who still see the EEC as a threat to their roast beef, heaven knows how or why), then I will willingly return to the dried egg, the WooIton pie and swedes mashed with everythin_g. Cheese, cooked or raw, as a source of protein, rice as an eker otof meat or fish, the abandonment of puddings while we can buy fresh fruit, the use of vegetable dishes on ther own and of soups as pre-meat fillers are all notions within the capacity and budget of most; indeed, if many households totted up their expenditure on confectionery, pseudo 'fruit' drinks, salad creams, pre-prepared rice, and mashed potato, and virtually all the sweet and gourmet-garni frozen,. canned or dried gumf that either needn't be eaten or can be prepared and taste better from raw materials, it might well find it could, by curtailment on some of these items, afford a steak once a week.
Meanwhile, as there are dishes in the old dame yet, here's a recipe that a number of friends have found novel and which, because it can be served hot or cold, warrants making in quantity. It is for a cold mushroom salad, which can be a delicacy in a simpler form if you live in mushroom country, but which the town dweller can also make satisfactorily, either to accompany meat and poultry, form part of a hors d'oeuvre, or, as a change from a green salad, accompany cold cuts. You need field mushrooms, not the button type. Chop off the.stems and slice the caps into three or four segments (I don't suppose anyone does still think mushrooms ought to be peeled, but then, I knew a really old lady who took her own lavatory seat about with her, so nervous was she of risking her antibodies and the great wide world). For about lb of mushrooms, melt li-2 oz of unsalted butter (no, not margarine) over gentle heat, then put in the mushrooms, salt and pepper them, add some paprike (generous pinch) squeeze of lemon juice and shake or turn them, with the lid of the pan on, for about 5-10 minutes. They should remain quite firm. Ada to the pan a couple of teaspoontuis or cry vermouth, or white wine, plus a drop or two of Angostura Aromatic Bitters. Cover the pan and go on shaking the contents in it from time to time. After about fifteen minutes the mushrooms should be tender and the juices and wine
combined. Turn off the heat, sprinkle some freshly-chopped parsley into the pan, plus a little ore paprika, and allow everything to cool, covered. If you wish to serve the mushrooms hot, re-heat them very gently. They can be combined with scrambled or poached eggs, and also make a pleasant first course if you mix into them a few chunks of avocado pear turned in a dressing of lemon juice and wine vinegar and a very little oil, plus plenty of salt.
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