Saturday 23 June 2012

Moules Mariniere



I have decided that to consecutively cook every recipe in Elizabeth David's Mediterranean food isn't fitting in with my life, I can't bring myself to feed R & G soup every night, this means it is taking me weeks just to cook through the first chapter! Where as I am quite happy to eat meagre meals, G especially likes a 'proper meal' after work. Now, I don't bow down to such chauvinistic demands and, even though, when he gets home from work, he likes to tease me about what meat he's getting for his supper, he knows better than to refuse any food that I have prepared

So, slight change of plan, I am going to cook the recipes which suit the weather, my time, what's cheap in the shops and what I fancy...oh and what keeps the rest of my family happy.

Today they had rope grown Scottish mussels in the supermarket, the sun was shining (a little) and I fancied mussels...

3 quarts (2 pints) mussels, 1 small onion, 1 clove of garlic, 1 small glass of white wine, a small stalk celery, parsley.

Put a splash of olive oil into a deep saucepan and start to cook the onion, celery and garlic, don't let it colour, just heat. Add some pepper. Throw in the mussels and then the wine and a splash of water. Put on the lid and let the mussels steam until they are all open (disregard any which remain closed) Remove the cooked mussels and keep hot while you boil the liquor to reduce slightly, you can thicken this with butter and flour or add cream. Once you have achieved your desired or preferred liquor, pour over the mussels and serve. Sprinkle with parsley and serve very hot with warm bread.

Thursday 21 June 2012

Avgolemono




2 Pints Chicken Stock, strained
2 oz Rice
2 eggs
1 Lemon
Salt and pepper to taste

Add the rice to the chicken stock and boil until the rice is cooked.
In a basin beat the eggs and the juice from the lemon.
Add the boiling broth to the eggs in the basin, a spoonful at a time and keep stirring. Add this back into the broth and stir for a few minutes over a low heat.

This soup is actually delicious and perfect for summer, well worth having a go making. It is refreshing and very moorish.

Monday 11 June 2012

Soupe Basque


1/4 Onions, chopped
1/4 lb Pumpkin (I used Butternut Squash), cut into pieces
Lard
1 White Cabbage, leaves cut up
1/2 lb Dried Haricot Beans, previously soaked
2 Cloves Garlic
Salt and Pepper
4 Pints of stock or water.

Brown the onions in the lard, add the remaining ingredients, seasoning and liquid. Cook, covered, for 3 hours.

*Served this with griddled Sour Dough Bread - surprisingly good. Excellent on such a cold winter, sorry,  summer, evening!!

Saturday 2 June 2012

Soupe Au Pistou




                                                     
1lb French Beans cut into inch lengths
3 Pints of Boiling Water
4 Medium sized Potatoes, chopped finely
3 Chopped, peeled Tomatoes
1/4 lb Vermicelli
Salt and Pepper

Into the boiling water throw the beans, potatoes and tomatoes. When the vegetables are almost cooked add the vermicelli.

For the Aillade

3 Cloves of Garlic
Sweet basil, a good handful
1 grilled tomato, skin & seeds removed

Pound these ingredients together until smooth, add 3 tablespoons of the Pistou.

Pour the Pistou into a tureen, stir in the Aillade and some grated Gruyere





A Book of Mediterranean Food




I'm not going to wax lyrical about the book which bought a little of the warmth, colour and flavour of the Mediterranean to a cheerless post war Britain. I had never heard of the author until I was about 21 and become a mother, a friend gave me their old copy of Elizabeth David's French Provincial Cooking. I was enchanted. I still can't quite describe what is so bewitching about her books? Maybe her written instructions reminded me of my own grandmother's? Or is it the brief, simple and precise recipes and their lack of hyperbole? Maybe it's because it reminds me of becoming a mother and the early days of the most wonderful and fullfilling time, a time where I excelled in my new occupation and was spellbound with my beautiful baby daughter, I discovered motherhood and food. I was needed and I was blissfully content.

Food will never be written about in the same way again. Now cookery books are more about lifestyle with beautiful glossy photographs of stunning houses with perfect happy families blurred in the background. It's about selling the image.

In Mediterranean Food Elizabeth David wrote about food remembered from a time in her life, just before the war, when she was young and carefree. She wasn't preaching or patronising in her writing, she was just 'passing on' what she had seen, cooked and tasted. Most recipes are just a paragraph. No separate ingredient list, no temperatures, just 'quick' or 'slow' fire and no photos. It was honest, intelligent and very clipped writing, no pretence but just peppered with anecdotes and stylishy simple illustrations.

She didn't preach the 'chef's oath' which seems to have been taken by anyone who cooks on TV "I am passionate about food and only cook seasonal, local ingredients" I could scream every time I hear this mantra chanted by another 'chef' (ex model/actress/rugby player etc), it sends all my cringe nerves rattling; you're a chef, do you really think that we automatically think you use mouldy rotting fruit and veg to cook? Do we really care if it's local, surely all food is local to somewhere? It's like saying "Mm, I absolutely love breathing and use only the finest oxygen and carbon dioxide for my gaseous exchange"

I digress...., returning to the book in question, I have simply decided to cook every recipe in the book. I'm not trying to do a Julie & Julia, that would be naff and pretentious, I just need to get my act together with this blog and having a list of recipes to cook will make it a lot easier - I will have to cook what's written rather than remembering to photograph the occasional biscuit I may have been bothered to bake. It would also be really love to bring each recipe to life with a photo!

The first chapter is 'Soups' and the first recipe I will be cooking is Soup Au Pistou.....