GOAT D’AZURE

17 May 2020

MAIN COURSE

This is a favourite of ours when we stay with  our chums, Pietr and Daphne Glocks, at their lovely home in the South of France. Up in the hills there is goat to be had in abundance. The same may not be true for Guildford but mutton more than suffices – you just need less cooking time.
Choose a good sized leg of mutton and run it with salt. Marinade for a day and a half in rough white wine and lemon juice. Roast slowly for an hour. Baste and add vegetables and cook for a further hour and a half. with anything from  Enrico Macias.

(Taken from Jacaranda Fitch’s High Cooking, the No-nonsense Book of Haute Cuisine Ravelin Books £7.99)

NEXT WEEK: Oeufs au Beurre Noir

OEUF AU BOEUF 

Aug 2019

COOKERY, STARTER, BRUNCH, EGGS

If you have some good rich beef stock or gravy in the fridge, this makes a great snack or brunch dish. Fry or poach your eggs in combination of butter and beef gravy. If you are feeling virtuous, serve the eggs on wholemeal toast but the truth is they are even better on fried bread. Serve accompanied by  Little Feat’s Dixie Chicken 

(Taken from Jacaranda Finch’s High Cooking, the No-nonsense Book of Haute Cuisine Ravelin Books £7.99)

NEXT WEEK:  Garlic Jelly

ARBROATH PORRIDGE

Feb 2018

RECIPES, BREAKFAST

When Gerald and I stay with our dear chum, Hamish, Duke of Arbroath, his wonderful cook Mary  – an absolute poppet – always serves us this treat for breakfast in the winter months.  You need it. Dounrary is one very cold castle!

To your hot porridge add a little milk, quite a lot of cream, some  walnuts or pecans, yellow raisins, Muscovado sugar, maple syrup and a generous splash of whisky, brandy or rum. Yum!  Serve in elegantly hearty bowls accompanied by An Orkney Wedding, with Sunrise by Peter Maxwell Davies.  Gerald, Bless him, prefers Hieland Laddie from Kenneth McKellar .

(Taken from Jacaranda Finch’s High Cooking, the No-nonsense Book of Haute Cuisine Ravelin Books £7.99)

NEXT WEEK: Soupe en croute

PLUM PUDDING

Sep 2019

COOKERY, FRUIT, DESSERT

The special thing about this recipe is that  it actually uses plums.

Put quite a lot of plums in a saucepan with some  bayleaves, cloves, nutmeg and muscova sugar. Garnish with a combination of hot water and heavy red wine. Simmer for quite a bit and splash some cheap brandy over the fruit. Serve with lashings of cream in  plain glass bowls accompanied by  Dean Martin’s Volare.

(Taken from Jacaranda Finch’s High Cooking, the No-nonsense Book of Haute Cuisine Ravelin Books £7.99)

NEXT WEEK: Trevor Sorbet

ARE YOU IN A LATHER OVER FOAM?

Mar 2019 [pic]

COOKERY, FOAM, PRISON

Should chefs serving dishes garnished with ‘foam’ face lengthy prison sentences?

‘This is the daftest culinary development since ‘nouvelle square’ plates,’ says Broughton MP, Edwin Clews, ‘They are guilty of the most fatuous pretension and of perverting the course of cookery so of course they must face a spell in prison. The problem is apprehending them now that knife crime is taking up so much police time. But I say. ‘give me home cooking not foam cooking’.

So should it be a fine or a prison sentence? You have your say.

JOIN THE DEBATE

BOEUF SANS CROUTE

12 Nov 2018 

COOKERY, MAIN, BEEF

Here is another good recipe which cuts out all that pastry nonsense. Contrary to ‘accepted wisdom’  I believe it is perfectly accptable to serve a fillet of beef without a pastry tourniquet.
(Taken from Jacaranda Finch’s High Cooking, the No-nonsense Book of Haute Cuisine Ravelin Books £7.99)

NEXT WEEK:  Devilled Quails Kidneys

TATIN SANS TARTE

11 Oct 2018

COOKING, DESSERT, APPLES

This has been a fabulous year for apples with branches groaning with fruit.  This is how I deal with slightly bruised windfalls. The whiteness of the cream makes the dark apple look pleasingly evil. This dish is for those who like Tarte Tatin but don’t want to faff around making pastry.

Remove peel and bruised areas and chop into largish irregular shapes. Put into a saucepan of water and add lots of  Muscovy sugar, nuts and sultanas. Simmer for quite a long time over a low flame stirring occasionally. Allow to cool and then chill in the fridge. Just before serving splash and stir in some liqueur. For a seriously sweet tooth use Cointreau, Disaronno or a sweet sherry. Gerald and I prefer something fiery (wouldn’t you have guessed it!)  like a slivovitz or vodka or rum brandy, or a tautologous Armagnac.
(Taken from Jacaranda Finch’s High Cooking, the No-nonsense Book of Haute Cuisine Ravelin Books £7.99)

NEXT WEEK:  Clay pigeon stew

CAD’S PEA SOUP

8 Aug 2018

COOKERY, SOUPS

Here is a lovely summer soup and a way of preparing it which suggests to any guests that you are prepared to go to great lengths to entertain them.
The secret is to use frozen peas – add some shredded lettuce to throw the more discerning palettes off the scent. Purchase a handful of fresh peas to add to the potage and leave the shelled pods left lying ostentatiously on your kitchen counter.
Serve in shallow bowls accompanied by Jimmie Rogers  An English Country Garden  

(Taken from Jacaranda Fitch’s High Cooking, the No-nonsense Book of Haute Cuisine Ravelin Books £7.99)

NEXT WEEK:  Jellyfish Pie

HAIL CAESAR SALAD

1 Mar 2018

COOKING, SALADS

They built aqueducts and the coliseum they conquered nations and ruled half the known world or whatever but the ancient Romans never managed to come up with fried bread. Legend has it that it was during Julius Caesar’s invasion of Gaul that they first encountered the concept of the artisan crouton. The rest is history too. Jerry, who is a keen student of the classics and has the boxed set of I Claudius maintains that there is growing evidence for the claim by Professor Ted Peasely of the University of West Spalding – among others – that its origins lie in the kitchens of Caesar’s Palace in Luton.
(Taken from High Cooking, the No-nonsense Book of Haute Cuisine Jacaranda Fitch Ravelin Books £7.99)

SEL DE CÉLERI AUX OEUFS DE CAILLES

09 Sep 2018

HIGH COOKING, STARTERS, EGGS

A profound delicacy. Best taken almost in the manner of snuff – sprinkle some on the back of your hand but instead of sniffing it just a little gathered on the tip of the tongue is very pleasurable. If you feel your guests might find that a little indelicate there are other means of taking the salt. Try, for instance, oeufs de cailles. Boil these little dears for the best part of??? minute, chill in cold running water, roll gently under you palm, peel and serve them in a plain bowl beside a ramekin of sel de célery. You will see that they provide an excellent vehicle for that celery salt.
(Taken from Jacaranda Finch’s High Cooking, the No-nonsense Book of Haute Cuisine Ravelin Books £7.99)

NEXT WEEK: Bambi burger & mash

CONDOLEEZZA RICE

12 Jun 2018

COOKERY, MAIN COURSE

An old idea with a new twist from Condie’s home city of Birmingham. Add to cooked rice: a sliced omelette, cooked peas, caramelised onions, lightly fried onions, raw chopped spring onion green stalks, chopped ham or bacon, chopped walnuts plus garlic, herbs and seasoning as you choose. Stir in a lightly-oiled pan over a medium heat.  Serve in shallow bowls accompanied by  The Blind Boys of Alabama.  (Taken from Jacaranda Finch’s High Cooking, the No-nonsense Book of Haute Cuisine Ravelin Books £7.99)

NEXT WEEK:  Foie Gras Jerky

FABERGÉ EGGS

3 Jan 2018 [no pics]

STARTERS

The simple dish is my affectionate tribute to Carl Fabergé, celebrated jeweller to the Tsars, ‘the Russe that laid the golden egg’ as one wit had it – actually he was French, but there we are!

Cook eggs in the Mollet manner and serve with sour cream, a teensy bit of chopped onion and a generous dollop of caviar. If caviar presents problems for those with earning difficulties black lumpfish roe is a perfectly adequate subsitute. I like to serve the dish with Sergei Rachmaninov’s All Night Vigil aka ‘Vespers’. Gerald, bless him, when he gets his way, chooses  Kenny Ball’s Midnight In Moscow.

(Taken from Jacaranda Finch’s High Cooking, the No-nonsense Book of Haute Cuisine Ravelin Books £7.99)