Is There a Nutmeg in the House? (42 page)

Unpublished, January 1979

GATNABOR

Armenian rice dessert

Cook 90 g (3 oz) of round-grained rice in 600 ml (1 pint) of milk, with a couple of strips of thinly pared lemon rind, and 60 g (2 oz) of sultanas. After about 25 minutes of very slow cooking (in a large, heavy, uncovered saucepan) the rice should be soft and nearly all the milk absorbed.

Stir in 90 g (3 oz) of white sugar, 2 tablespoons of rosewater, and 600 ml (1 pint) of fresh creamy milk.

Put in the refrigerator to cool. Before serving, extract the lemon peel, and add 60 g (2 oz) of toasted and split almonds, and a small glassful of Bacardi rum. Serve very chilled.

This recipe comes from the Armenian Restaurant in Kensington Church Street, London W8. It is a very delicious dessert, and is perhaps at its best when served in individual glasses or bowls, filled well beforehand and left in the refrigerator. The rice should be at the bottom of the bowls covered by the thin milk, while the toasted almonds rise to the top.

The rum is not, I think, strictly necessary. And failing rosewater, orange flower water can be substituted, or alternatively put a half vanilla pod to cook with the rice.

Unpublished, early 1970s

BUDINO DI RICOTTA

Ricotta pudding

A new version of the recipe in
Italian Food
. This is really more like a light soft cake than a pudding. In fact it is the very nicest and most delicate cheesecake filling without the pastry.

Ingredients are: 400 g (14 oz) of ricotta, 1 heaped tablespoon of flour, 4 whole eggs, 4 tablespoons of sugar, a pinch of salt, 1 tablespoon of candied orange or lemon peel, the grated zest of a small lemon, 3 tablespoons of rum, 2 teaspoons of powdered cinnamon.

Press the ricotta through a fine stainless steel wire or nylon sieve. (This operation will only take a minute or two.) Stir in the flour, 1 whole egg, 3 tablespoons of sugar, the salt, lemon zest, candied peel, and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon. Separate the remaining three eggs. Beat the yolks with the rum. Incorporate the ricotta mixture. Have ready a plain cake tin of 1.5-litre (2½-pint) capacity, preferably a non-stick one, buttered and floured. Set the oven to moderate, 180°C/350°F/gas mark 4.

Now whisk the egg whites until they stand in soft peaks. Quickly fold them into the main mixture. Give the tin a light tap

against the table to eliminate air pockets. Bake the cake for 45-50 minutes, just below the centre of the oven. The mixture rises quite a bit (hence the seemingly overlarge tin) but should turn only a very pale gold, not brown. Cream cheese batters burn easily, so take a look after the first 25 minutes of cooking, and if necessary reduce the oven heat. When the cake is just beginning to come away from the sides of the tin it is done. Leave it to cool before turning it out on to a plate or flat dish. Eat cold. Just before serving, sprinkle the top with the reserved sugar and cinnamon, mixed together. Enough for 4 to 6.

Notes

1. 1. As the cake cools it sinks considerably. This is normal, but to ensure that it sinks
   evenly
   keep it in a warm place while cooling.
   
2. 2. Instead of candied peel I prefer a mixture of candied angelica and fresh grated orange peel. Or try crystallised ginger or ginger in syrup. Quite unorthodox but interesting.
   
3. 3. There are many variations of
   budino di ricotta
   . The above recipe is based on one given by Ada Boni in
   La Cucina Romana
   , 1st edition Rome 1947.
   

Unpublished, 1970s

TOURTE À LA CITROUILLE

A new version of the recipe in
French Country Cooking
. This is an interesting dish, a bit of a curiosity. I find the combination of yellow pumpkin and black prunes beautiful as well as unexpectedly good.

500 g (1 lb) peeled, de-seeded pumpkin, 60 g (2 oz) sugar, 150 ml (5 fl oz) fresh cream, 20 prunes, soaked, cooked and stoned, 60 g (2 oz) butter.
For the pastry
: 125 g (4 oz) plain flour, 60 g (2 oz) butter, a pinch of salt.

Make a shortcrust with the flour, butter, a pinch of salt and enough iced water to make a soft dough. Roll into a ball and leave to rest for 2 hours.

Cook the pumpkin, cut into chunks, in the butter. When reduced almost to a purée add the sugar and the cream, then the prunes.

Roll out the pastry to fit a 18-cm (7-in) removable-base pie tin. Line the buttered and floured tin with the pastry. Put in the filling,
strew with a little extra sugar. Bake in the centre of a fairly hot oven, 220°C/425°F/gas mark 7, for 15 minutes, then at 190°C/ 375°F/gas mark 5 for 20–25 minutes.

A variation is to use the flesh of a yellow or green honeydew melon instead of pumpkin. Melon doesn’t reduce to a creamy purée as pumpkin does and you need only 350 g (¾ lb), so with one average-sized melon two pies could be made.

Unpublished, early 1970s

LEMON AND BROWN SUGAR CAKE

As an alternative to the rich and leaden fruit cake of Victorian tradition I think this one might prove popular. It has a most refreshing flavour and attractive texture. There is nothing in the least troublesome about it, even to a reluctant cake maker like myself.

Ingredients are 250 g (½ lb) of plain white flour, 125 g (¼ lb) of butter, 125 g (¼ lb) of Demerara cane sugar, 125 g (¼ lb) of seedless raisins, the grated peel and strained juice of one large lemon, 125 ml (4 fl oz) of warm milk, 2 eggs, 1 level teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda. To bake the cake, a 17–18 cm (6½–7 in) round English cake tin, 8 cm (3 in) deep. (I use a non-stick tin.)

Crumble the softened butter into the flour until all is in fine crumbs. Add the grated lemon peel, the sugar, and the raisins. Sift in the bicarbonate. Beat the eggs in the warm milk. Add the strained lemon juice. Quickly incorporate this into the main mixture and pour into the tin. Give the tin a tap or two against the side of the table to eliminate air pockets. Transfer immediately to the preheated oven, 190°C/375°F/gas mark 5. Bake for about 50 minutes until the cake is well risen and a skewer inserted right to the bottom of the cake comes out quite clean. Leave to cool for a few minutes before turning it out of the tin.

Notes

1. 1. The Demerara sugar is important. Barbados is too treacly for this cake.
   
2. 2. The raisins I have been using of recent years are the little reddish ones, seedless, from Afghanistan. They need no soaking, no treatment at all. Just add them straight into the cake mixture. They are to be found in wholefood shops.
   
3. 3. It is important to put the cake into the oven as soon as you have added the eggs, milk, and lemon juice mixture. This is because the lemon juice and bicarbonate start reacting directly they come into contact. If the cake is kept waiting, the rising action of the acid and the alkali is partially lost and the cake will rise badly.
   
4. 4. Under the name of Shooting Cake, the recipe on which mine is based appeared in
   Ulster Fare
   , a little book published by the Ulster Women’s Institute in 1944. I was struck by the composition of the cake – the Demerara sugar, the lemon juice replacing the acid or cream of tartar necessary to activate the bicarbonate and the grated peel instead of the more usual spices.
   

Unpublished, December 1978

MADELEINES

Madeleines are among the lightest and most beguiling of all French
petits fours
or small cakes. At one time they were made in a variety of sizes and in decorative moulds of different shapes. Nowadays, the name is mainly associated with the scallop shell shape characteristic, originally, of the madeleines of Commercy in Lorraine. These were the madeleines immortalised by Proust. Whatever small mould is used, the French madeleine mixture is extremely simple to cook. (French madeleines are not to be confused with the English coconut-decorated castle-pudding shaped cakes of the same name.)

To make 20–24 madeleines (the number will depend upon the dimensions of the moulds, which vary quite a bit) ingredients are 125 g (4 oz) each of plain flour, butter and sugar; 2 eggs; a teaspoonful of baking powder; 2 of orange flower water or fresh lemon juice; the grated zest of half a lemon; a pinch of salt.

Have the oven turned on to 200°C/400°F/gas mark 6.

Put the flour in a bowl. Sprinkle in the baking powder and salt. Add the sugar and grated lemon rind. Separate the eggs. Stir the yolks into the flour mixture. Add the orange flower water or lemon juice.

Put the butter in a small saucepan or bowl over very low heat until it has softened. Do not let it melt or oil. Keeping back a tablespoon or so for coating the moulds, stir the butter into the main mixture. With a pastry brush dipped in the reserved butter,
paint the moulds. (These can be bought in sheets of six or twelve.) Now whisk the egg whites to a stiff snow. Amalgamate them swiftly with the cake batter.

Using a dessertspoon, put the mixture into the moulds. Each mould should be half filled, no more. This is the only difficult moment in the cooking of the madeleines – difficult because it is so hard to believe that the little spoonful of the mixture lying rather sadly in the mould will rise, swell and take on the beautiful shape and markings of the shell mould. At this moment faith is essential; should the moulds be overfilled, the mixture will spread sideways; the result will be a failure.

As soon as the moulds are filled, put them into the oven, on the centre shelf, and preferably on an iron baking sheet. In 14–15 minutes the madeleines should be cooked.

While they are baking, butter and fill a second sheet of moulds with the rest of the mixture. If you have only one sheet, you have to wait until the first batch is cooked. For the cook this slows up the proceedings, but the short wait does not affect the mixture.

When, after the prescribed 14 minutes, you see that the cakes have risen and are a very pale gold, remove them from the oven. Let them rest for just a few seconds before turning them out – using a small palette knife – on to a cooling rack. The underside of the madeleines should be a delicate golden sand colour. As soon as they are cool they are ready to eat, and at their best. They can, however, be reheated, extremely gently and for a few minutes only.

Madeleinettes

These are, fairly obviously, miniature versions of madeleines. The quantities given yield something like 80 madeleinettes, cooked on sheets of 20 moulds and for about 12 instead of 14 minutes.

Note

The lemon zest in the madeleine mixture is unorthodox. I find that it enhances the flavour. Leave it out if you prefer to adhere to tradition.

Unpublished, 1969 and 1971

ALMOND SABLES TO SERVE WITH ICES

150 g (5 oz) of plain white flour, 90 g (3 oz) of icing or caster sugar, 75 g (2½ oz) of almonds, 125 g (4 oz) of butter, 2 egg yolks, lemon juice.

Sift the flour into a mixing bowl. Throw the almonds into a small saucepan of boiling water, remove from the heat, leave for a minute or so before taking out the almonds with a perforated spoon. Skin them quickly, put them on a fireproof plate, dry them in a very low oven for 5 to 7 minutes. Don’t leave them long enough to take colour. Put them with the sugar in a food chopper or processor and grind them until powdery. Shake them through a wire sieve into the flour.

With your fingertips rub in the softened butter, as lightly as possible, keeping aside a tablespoon or so for brushing the baking sheet. When the butter, flour, sugar and almond mixture is all in

fine crumbs, beat the two egg yolks with a tablespoon of lemon juice and quickly, using a fork, beat them into the pastry mixture.

Roll the dough out lightly on a floured board, gather it up into a ball, leave it to rest, covered with a cloth or wrapped in greaseproof paper, in a cool place for about an hour.

Now roll out the pastry again, not more than 5 mm (¼ in) thick. Cut out small rounds, ovals, diamonds, transferring them as you go to the buttered baking sheet or, better, to a non-stick one. Gather the trimmings into a ball.

Heat the oven to 190°C/375°F/gas mark 5 and put the sablés in to bake when they have rested for about 10 minutes after cutting. They will take 7–8 minutes to bake and should be scarcely browned.