Kitchen Memories

Put the salad leaves in a bowl and toss with the dressing and the feta cheese, then spoon the broad beans and pancetta over the top.

ROSE’S ORIGINAL CRÊPE RECIPE THAT SHE BROUGHT BACK FROM PARIS IN THE ‘70S

Everyone has their own pancake recipe; this is the one we traditionally make in our family. Rose always made this mixture on Pancake Day or as a quick pudding after supper. The pancakes are very thin and exciting to cook, and are eaten the moment they come out of the pan.

A good fat and plump vanilla pod slit in half and put in a jar with caster sugar is one of the simplest ways of tasting the vanilla bean. A squeeze of lemon juice to melt the sugar brings the taste out even more. Delicious …

MAKES 10–12 PANCAKES

about 150g vanilla caster sugar (see above)

4 lemons, cut lengthways into quarters, as Rose always did

FOR THE PANCAKES/CRÊPES

225g plain flour

4 medium eggs

450ml milk

150g butter, melted

2 tbsp vanilla caster sugar

FOR FRYING

110g butter

Sift the flour into a bowl, make a well in the centre, and add the eggs, slowly stirring and combining, then pour in the milk in a continuous stream, stirring all the time to form a batter. Add the melted butter and caster sugar. Cover with cling film and leave in the fridge for minutes.

When you are ready to eat the crêpes, heat a non-stick frying pan with a knob of butter, then swirl it around the pan until it starts to bubble. Take a ladleful of the batter and pour it into the pan, tipping it so that the batter spreads out evenly over the bottom of the pan. When the sides of the pancake start to stiffen and curl at the edges, flip the pancake over and brown on the other side – for a couple of minutes. Adjust the heat if it is too hot. Serve directly onto a plate with a sprinkling of the vanilla sugar and a good squeeze of lemon juice. Roll up the pancake and eat hot.

NOTE: The first pancake is usually a bit of an experiment as to how much batter to put into the pan – this should be just enough to coat the bottom. How big your pan is will dictate how much batter to use. The first one is usually chucked in my house until I have got the measure of the batter and pan.

SPRING MINESTRONE

The ingredients in a minestrone can vary according to what is available and in season. During spring I like to include asparagus, peas, broad beans, chard or early spinach. I use tinned peeled plum tomatoes in this recipe, as the fresh early varieties such as ‘Camone’ or ‘Marinda’, which both have incredible flavour, are too acidic and have not yet formed enough of the sweetness that comes from ripening in the sun later on in the year.

I love all the different textures and shades of green in this soup and the broth is a gentle and sustaining background in which to poach the vegetables.

FOR 6

3 celery sticks, ends trimmed

4 carrots, washed or peeled, ends trimmed

500g peas in the pod, which yields about 200g fresh peas

1 bundle of fresh green English asparagus, about 350g, tough ends snapped off, washed

1.5 litres chicken stock

olive oil

a small knob of butter

1 medium-sized red onion, peeled and finely chopped

200g chard, leaves stripped from their stalks and washed, stalks crossways cut into 5mm slices (or spring greens or crinkled spinach, removed from the stem)

3 medium-sized Charlotte potatoes (or any waxy variety will do), peeled and cut into roughly 1.5cm pieces

3 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped

1 × 400g tin of peeled plum tomatoes, drained of their juice

1 small bunch of fresh flat-leaf parsley, washed and dried

4 slices of ciabatta bread

100g Parmesan cheese

extra-virgin olive oil

salt and black pepper

Slice each celery stick lengthways into 5mm-thick strips, then chop the strips across about mm thick. Do the same with the carrots, so that you end up with roughly the same size pieces as the celery. Pod the peas into a bowl. Slice the asparagus spears at an angle into pieces about 5mm thick.

Bring the chicken stock to a simmer.

Add a slug of olive oil and the butter to a heavy-based pan and, as the butter starts to sizzle, add the onion, celery, carrots, chard stalks and potatoes. Turn the heat to low to medium and let the vegetables sweat gently for about minutes. They should not brown, but just soften.

Add the garlic and let it soften, then add the tomatoes and cook for a few minutes until they start to fall apart. Add enough of the hot stock so that it comes about two-thirds up the pan and let it simmer very gently for minutes or so, stirring occasionally, to help break up the tomatoes.

Check the potatoes are just cooked but not overdone, then roughly shred the chard or spinach leaves and add them to the soup, along with the peas and asparagus, making sure there is enough stock to submerge them. Simmer for about 5 minutes until they are just tender, then season with salt and pepper.

Preheat the grill. Roughly chop the parsley and grill the ciabatta. Ladle the soup into the bowls and add a scattering of parsley and a grating of Parmesan. Finish with a little extra-virgin olive oil and serve with a piece of the grilled bread.

SEA BASS WITH PORCINI AND SPRING GREENS

Charles came home the other night with three sea bass fillets. We had with us David, my stepfather, and my little niece, Ella, for the night while her parents were producing a new brother for her. None of us really knew how the evening would turn out in terms of being called and asked to take Ella to the hospital or back to her house, so we decided to just play it by ear.

In my cupboard were some dried porcini and in my fridge a bag of spring greens. Cooking the porcini with the bass imbues the delicate flesh of the fish with the most wonderfully scented flavours. Spring greens prepared simply, just shredded across the leaves and stems then blanched for a few minutes, are the only vegetable you will need and are utterly delicious. The sea bass takes about 5 minutes to cook in the bag and the spring greens about minutes. This is an incredibly easy, quick and utterly delicious supper that is also very healthy.

FOR 4

10g good-quality dried porcini mushrooms

500g spring greens

olive oil

2 rose garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped

extra-virgin olive oil

4 sea bass fillets (preferably cut from a large wild fish … the fatter the better), or bream, halibut or brill fillets, each weighing 175–200g, pin-boned

1 lemon, cut crossways into thin slices

4 sprigs of fresh thyme, washed and dried

2 tbsp good-quality dry white wine

sea salt and black pepper

Place the porcini in a bowl and cover with 1½ cups of boiling water. Leave for 20 minutes in the boiling water, then strain the mushroom pieces into a bowl and retain the liquid.

Cut the stems off the spring greens at the base and then roughly shred the leaves into 3cm-wide strips. Wash under cold water.

Preheat the oven to 220ºC (200ºC fan) Gas 7. Put a pan of water on to boil for the spring greens.

Heat a swirl of olive oil in a small, heavy-based pan and, as it starts to get hot, add the garlic. Just before the garlic starts to brown, when it becomes sticky, add the porcini pieces. Toss them in the garlic and oil for a minute or so to release the flavours but don’t allow them to become crisp. Add 4–5 tablespoons of the mushroom juice and let it simmer, reduce and thicken a little for a minute. Remove from the heat.

To make the bags, cut four sheets of silver foil, each 36 × 30cm, and lay them out. Drizzle the extra-virgin olive oil lightly over the foil and season with salt and pepper. Lightly season the bass fillets and lay them, skin-side up, just off centre of the foil (as you are going to fold the foil over to make the envelope). Put a slice of lemon on each fillet, then add a small sprig of thyme and put a few pieces of the cooked dried porcini on top.

Fold the foil in half over the fish, then fold in the sides a couple of times to seal them, leaving the top open. Keep each parcel fairly flat but just tilt it slightly, then add ½ tablespoon of white wine and 1 tablespoon of the porcini juice to each bag. Fold the top opening over twice to seal the bag and to prevent any of the juices escaping. Place the bags flat on a baking tray (but don’t overlap them) and cook in the oven for 10 minutes. The bags will puff out and will be filled with air like plump pillows when they are ready.

While the bass is cooking, blanch the spring greens in the boiling, salted water for 4 minutes or so until tender. Drain and put back in the pan, then season with salt and pepper and a good drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil.

Carefully cut or tear the bags open at the top so that you can check that the fish is cooked and re-seal if necessary. Slide the fillets out onto the plates and carefully tip the juices out of the bags and over the fish. Serve with the spring greens.

SLOW-ROASTED SHOULDER OF LAMB WITH PEAS AND BROAD BEANS

The young new lamb is often quite pale in colour and needs less time to cook than mature lamb. I love using the shoulder joint, which is delicious roasted slowly on the bone; the fatty juices that are released keep the flesh tender and full of flavour.

New peas and broad beans, freshly podded, add a note of refreshing vibrancy. Podding the beans is a huge part of the enjoyment – sitting at a table with a glass of wine, easing the beans out of their pods is a pleasure in itself that does not compare to opening a bag of frozen broad beans with their dull grey skins, the beans all the same size, graded to within an inch of their lives.

FOR 4

1 shoulder of new season’s lamb (it should be quite small, about 2kg), or ½ shoulder of mature lamb

4–5 garlic cloves, peeled and cut into fine slivers

2 sprigs of fresh rosemary, leaves picked from their stems, washed and dried

300ml red wine

1kg peas in the pod

1kg broad beans in the pod

about 2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

1 sprig of fresh garden mint, washed and dried

salt and black pepper

Preheat the oven to 220ºC (200ºC fan) Gas 7. Using a small, sharp knife, make little slits about mm deep into the lamb shoulder, about 5cm apart. Put a sliver of garlic (reserving some for the peas and beans) and a couple of rosemary leaves into each slit and season well with salt and pepper. Put the rest of the garlic to one side. Put the lamb in a flameproof roasting tin, cover with foil and put in the oven for 40 minutes, then remove the foil, turn the oven down to 200ºC (180ºC fan) Gas 6 and cook for a further 2–3 hours, adding a slosh of wine every now and again. How long depends on the size of your shoulder, so check after hour of cooking. About minutes before you take the lamb out, pour a final generous glass of wine into the bottom of the roasting tin. Transfer the lamb to a warm dish, cover with a sheet of silver foil and let it rest for 20 minutes.

While the lamb is cooking, pod the peas and broad beans and put in separate bowls. Put a pan of water on to boil with a pinch of salt and blanch the peas for 5 minutes, then drain. Blanch the broad beans in a separate pan of boiling, unsalted water for 4–5 minutes, then drain.

Heat a good drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil in a pan and add the reserved garlic slivers. As they become sticky and start to colour, add the broad beans and peas and toss together, then season with salt and pepper. I add a whole sprig of fresh mint, which I remove when I am ready to serve, as it blackens with the heat from the beans and peas.

Skim off any fat from the juices in the roasting tin and add more wine, if needed. Put on the hob and let it bubble and reduce, then pour into a bowl or small pan to keep it hot.

Pull the meat away from the bone in pieces and serve with the peas and broad beans and the juices from the pan.

I serve this with piping-hot potato gratin, which is very simple and quick to make (see here).

POTATO GRATIN WITH PARMESAN

FOR 4

20g unsalted butter

300ml double cream

1kg waxy potatoes, peeled and cut lengthways into 3mm slices, then rinsed with cold water

2–3 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped

60g freshly grated Parmesan cheese

olive oil

salt and black pepper

Preheat the oven to 200ºC (180ºC fan) Gas 7. Lightly butter an ovenproof dish.

Put the cream in a saucepan large enough to contain the potatoes and bring to a simmer. Add the potato slices and stir together with the cream. Add the garlic and season with salt and pepper. Cook for about minutes, then pour into the prepared dish, sprinkle the Parmesan over with a small drizzle of olive oil, cover with silver foil and place in the oven. Cook for minutes or so until the potatoes are cooked through, then remove the foil and return to the oven. Turn the oven up to 200ºC (200ºC fan) Gas and cook for a further 15–20 minutes until the top is bubbling and golden.

UGLY BISCUITS … BRUTTI MA BUONI; UGLY BUT GOOD

I love the simplicity of this recipe. These light, Mediterranean biscuits are perfect with an espresso after a meal or with a peaches and cream ice cream, or simply on their own as a sweet biscuit for the children. If you want to make half the quantity, just halve the ingredients.

FOR ABOUT 30 BISCUITS

4 medium egg whites

250g caster sugar that has been kept in a jar with a vanilla pod (or add ½ tsp vanilla extract)

300g skinned whole almonds, finely chopped (not to a powder) in a food processor or by hand in the pestle and mortar

Preheat the oven to 170ºC (150ºC fan) Gas 3. Whip the egg whites with a pinch of sugar until very stiff. Mix the almonds with the remaining sugar (and the vanilla extract, if using) and fold in the egg whites.

Grease a baking sheet (or use a non-stick baking tray liner), as they are quite sticky. Using a tablespoon, place little dollops about 3–4cm apart (they spread a little when cooking), onto the baking sheet and bake for 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and leave to firm up on the tray and dry out a little, then transfer to a wire rack to cool. They can keep for a while in a tin but are so good they will soon be devoured.

EDIBLE FLOWERS

One year at Petersham I decided to grow edible annual flowers between the usual flowers we grew for cutting – dahlias, zinnias, scabious, cosmos and sweet peas amongst others, none of which are edible but which were chosen for their cut-and-come-again abilities as well as for their ornamental virtues. I also planted endless roses, the petals and hips of which are edible. My boss at Petersham, Francesco, would walk past me and say, ‘Roses, more roses, I want the whole place filled with roses.’

For edible flowers, I sowed seeds of blue and white borage (which over the years has continued to self-sow), sweet rocket, nasturtiums, malope, calendula and violas, amongst others. My good friend Skye Gyngell loves to use flowers in her cooking and so the rocket was allowed to bolt and flower along with the coriander. Francesco thought this an example of sloppy gardening practice – which it is if you don’t want rocket or borage seeding itself all over the place.

Skye is naturally inquisitive in her approach to cooking and has an intuitive sense of flavours that go well together. Rose petals were stolen to use in salads for the Petersham café kitchen and the blossom from the rosemary bushes picked along with the usual squash and courgette flowers. I even tried to grow caper plants for their flowers and buds but without much success – they need a long, hot growing season. Perhaps some seed artfully dropped into the rough hogging that makes up the dusty floor in one of the glasshouses would succeed. It might be perfectly happy in a sunny, neglected spot; my stepfather, David, grows them in pots in his sun-filled flat very successfully. The plant sprawls away on the windowsill, producing a mass of dense green leaves with beautiful little buds and flowers.

RECIPE FOR A PLATE OF FRIED FLOWERS AND BUDS – ARTICHOKES, CAPERS AND BORAGE

FOR 4

4 whole artichokes (‘Violetto’ are a good variety for this)

1½ lemons

30g salted capers, rinsed, soaked in a bowl of water with a splash of red wine vinegar for minutes (or capers from a jar, rinsed and dried)

8 stems of borage with the flowers and leaves attached, washed and patted dry and the ends trimmed

150ml sunflower oil, for frying

2 tbsp plain flour (for dusting)

salt and black pepper

FOR THE BATTER

150g plain flour

3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

6–8 tbsp water

pinch of salt

3 medium egg whites

To make the batter, sift the flour into a bowl and make a well in the middle. Stir in the extra-virgin olive oil and add the water a little at a time, stirring to make a smooth, creamy consistency, then cover with cling film and put in the fridge for half an hour.

Meanwhile, prepare the artichokes. Cut the end off each stem, leaving 1cm still attached to the bud. Pull away the tough outer leaves until you reach the tender yellow ones. Slice the top of the leaves off just above the heart. Pull the leaves apart slightly to reveal the hairy choke, then remove the choke with a spoon. Peel the stalk and trim off the tough bits around the base of the heart. Cut the artichokes lengthways through the stem into quarters, then put in a bowl of water with half a lemon and its juice to prevent them discolouring. Once they are all prepared, remove them from the water and pat dry on kitchen paper.

Drain the salted capers, rinse again and dry on kitchen paper.

When you are ready with the artichokes, capers and borage, pour enough sunflower oil into a large, heavy-based pan so that the oil comes to about 1cm or so up the sides of the pan, then heat to about 180ºC.

Back to the batter. Whip the egg whites until they are soft but can stand alone. Fold the egg whites into the flour and olive oil and water mixture and season with salt and pepper.

Dust the artichokes with flour seasoned with salt and pepper and shake off any excess. Put them into the hot oil and fry for about 4 minutes, turning them, until they start to turn golden and crisp at the edges. Remove with a slotted spoon onto kitchen paper.

Holding the borage by the stalk, sweep the buds and leaves through the batter, tap off any excess batter against the side of the bowl and then carefully place in the hot oil. Fry for a minute or so until golden and crisp, then using tongs turn the borage over and fry until golden on the other side. Remove with a slotted spoon onto kitchen paper.

Put the capers in a clean, dry metal sieve (it is important not to let any water near the oil) and lower into the hot oil. Let them sizzle for 1 minute, then remove onto kitchen paper.

Cut the remaining lemon into quarters. Put all the ingredients on a plate, sprinkle some salt and pepper over the top and serve immediately with the lemon quarters.

PETERSHAM

When I arrived at Petersham, I wanted to grow vegetables and salads that were difficult to obtain here and for Skye to use in the restaurant and Gael (Francesco’s wife) to cook with in her kitchen. I wanted to pick the male flowers from the courgettes when they first opened up in the morning to take to the kitchen, and to choose at what stage of growth to harvest the courgettes for eating raw when they are still relatively small and firm and delicate in flavour, without too many seeds and flesh, or to leave them on the plant for longer and allow their skins to thicken and the flesh to swell. These I use for grilling, as the moisture evaporates over the heat and condenses the flavour in the skin.

Rocket, the commercial varieties of which are so bland, is a delicious and incredibly versatile leaf used as either a herb or salad. The broad-leaved varieties are hard to find and the tastiest mainly sold in Middle Eastern stores, tied in bundles. I scattered a packet of seeds in some of the herb pots in my garden the other day and three days later they have already germinated and are showing signs of growth. Perhaps that is due to the warm week we have had this March.

All the chards are easy to grow here, despite the fact they are sold as specialist produce, along with cavolo nero, the black kale from Tuscany. I sow broad beans, peas, French and runner beans and borlotti beans (which are expensive to buy, that is, if you can find them). Start the borlottis off under glass in March to give them the long growing season they need, then plant them out in May for a September crop.

The most challenging Italian ingredient I attempted to grow was radicchio ‘Rosso di Treviso Tardivo’. Tying up the summer and autumn growth of leaves to ‘blanch’ the inner hearts was my inexperienced way of trying to figure out how to grow this specialist plant. It was successful to a degree in that during the winter I dared to untie the plant and peep at the leaves within: there were, huddled in the dark heart, beautiful cold-white spines dividing the dark wine-red leaf, crisp and dense and beginning to fold like a death at the tips.

Tomatoes: last year we grew an avenue of them in terracotta pots, tying the stems to string attached to the roof of the glasshouse. Francesco had instructed me to fill the glasshouses with them, so we did. He also suggested I ask his housekeeper for any old linen sheets we could tear up and use to wrap around the supports for the tomatoes as they grew. I did ask but got one of those ‘you must be insane’ looks. Varieties we grew included ‘Tigerella’, little yellow plum, ‘Gardener’s Delight’, ‘Bull’s Heart’ (‘Cuore di Bue’), ‘Black Russian’ and ‘Costoluto Fiorentino’. I love tomatoes, missing their wonderful flavours and aroma in the winter months.

PENNE CARBONARA WITH ASPARAGUS

I often make this on a Sunday night when eggs can be particularly soothing and I want to cook something simple but delicious. You can replace the asparagus with either peas, broad beans or courgettes. This is one of my favourite ways of eating asparagus.