There are probably more people writing about food than ever before. What they write is better illustrated, more fact-filled and better presented than in times past. But for me, there’s just too much of it that’s not very good. As a music lover can recognise Mozart, Beethoven or Brahms after hearing a few bars, so a good food reader knew his preferred food writers. Each one had style. Sometimes you could pick them up on accuracy, but the words were well crafted and enjoyable for themselves. Unless you were a complete sham, if you published a recipe you should have tested it yourself, or, at the very least, tasted it cooked by someone else.
Today too many “writers” go on the Net, find a recipe, cut and paste it, alter a word or two here and there and palm it off as your own – all done in minutes. Why is this? Because, in order to make a living most journalists, except the “stars” of the profession, have to work incredibly hard. In this day and age, editors or publishers can pick up every kind of food article or recipe FREE. I hope my editor doesn’t read this.
Such are the pressures, that writers have little time to fine-tune their work or little time to develop their own style, like those of a generation ago, many of whom I fear are regarded as old fashioned today. One such is an author I enjoy a lot; Norman Douglas (1908 – 2003), whose writing about life assumed we eat and drink (as opposed to many who completely or mostly ignore the two vital factors that keep us alive) He wrote….
THE IDEAL CUISINE
‘You are quite right’, the Count was saying to Mr. Head. ‘The ideal cuisine should display an individual character; it should offer a menu judiciously chosen from the kitchen-workshops of the most diverse lands and peoples – a menu reflecting the master’s alert and fastidious taste. Is there anything better, for instance, than a genuine Turkish pilaff? The Poles and Spaniards, too, have some notable culinary creations. And if I were able to carry out my ideas on this point I would certainly add to my list of dishes a few of those strange Oriental confections which Mr. Keith has successfully taught his Italian chef. There is suggestion about them; they conjure up visions of that rich and glowing East which I would give many years of my remaining life to see’.
From “South Wind”, by Norman Douglas
INFLUENCES
I am fortunate in one respect in comparison to Mr Douglas. I have seen “that rich and glowing east” (and the grubby, dusty, war-torn East, too) and loved a great deal of it. People, places, occasions: many of them, in diverse places, combined to provide interest, fascination and, mostly, enjoyment. All kinds of foods have slipped down my gullet, though fortunately not the choice dish offered to one of my colleagues on a visit to China in the 1960s – a bowl of live worms squirming in a hot sauce.
Two editions of Elizabeth David’s splendid book, both available from on-line sellers.
I could say with little fear of contradiction (basically I have outlived anyone who could disagree) that I have been cooking Mediterranean and English food for more than 60 years. When the doyenne of food writers, Elizabeth David’s first book “A Book of Mediterranean Food” was circulating among British foodies in the early 1950s I was already at the pilaffs, chopped salads and flat breads. This was by virtue of having married a Levantine lady. In actual fact, I didn’t pick up an Elizabeth David book until I met my second wife in 1971. Like her, I became a David devotee. In recent years I have been inspired to greatly widen my repertoire through studying her work, and then adapting, experimenting and developing, but hopefully never plagiarising. But writing every week does mean some regurgitation now and then! At a rough count, my tally of newspaper, magazine and website food articles is approaching 2,000, so this means writing about quite a lot of meals and individual dishes.
Elizabeth David at lunch. Snails? Clams? She told the story of going into a British Rail dining car for lunch, on a trip to the north of England. The waiter asked if she would like a drink. “A bottle of the Burgundy”, she said. “A bottle?” enquired the waiter, “…..a WHOLE bottle”. “Yes”, Mrs David said. “Madam”, asked the waiter, “Do you know how much a WHOLE BOTTLE contains?”. “Yes I do”, she said tersely, “And I would like it now”. I think times have changed!
Despite one’s love of Mediterranean food, the British climate is not suitable for year-round sunshine cooking. So, my influences are several, and most of them are from the female sex. For instance: Yorkshire Pudding: my mother. Stuffed cabbage, Palestinian style: my first wife. Kofta: from Madame Ttokos, founder of the first Greek Cypriot taverna in London. Daube Provencale: Mary, my wife. Stuffed courgette flowers: Ariadne of Vasa. Ragu Bolgnese: Bianchi’s spaghetti bar, Soho, London.
And, I owe a lot to Elizabeth David – who opened my eyes to the wonderful variety of Mediterranean cooking. If you haven’t read any of her works, may I strongly recommend the anthology, “South Wind through the Kitchen”. Read this and I will bet you will soon get hold of her other books. Her life was not your ordinary one, so was good material for a biography. In fact, there are two, both excellent; one “authorised” (by Artemis Cooper) and the other unauthorised (by Lisa Chaney).
But perhaps, the experience that most widened my culinary horizons was writing about food and wine for the past quarter century, 21 years of which were spent in Cyprus. There, friendly chefs and proprietors happily told me how they cooked. And they showed me, too…. Just like this…..
THIS WEEK’S RECIPE
Lamb Kleftiko on rosettes of potatoes & aubergines and Tomato, with red wine sauce & rosemary
4 lamb cutlets, each approx 7 oz (200gr)
2 large onions
1 clove garlic
Rosemary
4 medium potatoes of similar shape unpeeled and well washed
2 small-medium aubergines, preferably the slim purple variety
2 medium tomatoes
2 glasses of sweet red wine or Cyprus Commandaria.
3½ cups (90 cl) of meat stock or Demi glace
2 dessert spoons dried coriander
Salt
Freshly grated pepper
2 tbsp olive oil
4 pieces of greaseproof paper, 30cmx30cm
4 pieces of aluminium foil, 40cm x 40cm
Method
1. Pre-heat the oven to 400°F (200°C)
2. Peel and slice the onions and garlic.
3. Season the lamb cutlets and sprinkle with the dry coriander
4. In a large very hot heavy pan, heat the olive oil and brown the lamb on both
sides. Remove cutlets and set aside.
5. In the same oil fry the onions and garlic with the rosemary. When they start to brown, pour half of a glass of wine and allow it to reduce to glaze.
6. Place the greaseproof paper on top of the aluminium foil. Arrange the onion in the centre and place the lamb cutlet on top.
7. Close the aluminium tightly to obtain a sealed parcel.
8. Place in the hot oven at for 1 hour.
Meanwhile…
9. Slice the potatoes, aubergines and tomatoes. No need to remove the skins.
10. Fry the potatoes and aubergines in oil on both sides until they begin to brown and are almost cooked through.
11. On greaseproof paper first arrange the potato slices in the shape of a rosette by overlapping them in a circular shape, then on top place the aubergines and tomatoes. Season.
12. Place in the oven on a low shelf for 12 minutes.
The Sauce:: place in a small saucepan the wine, the stock and the rosemary and simmer until it starts to thicken.
Serving: place the meat on the rosettes. The onions from the parcels are added to the sauce and the sauce is spooned around the rosettes. Garnish with parsley and Rosemary.
Note: Traditional Kleftiko, of course uses cuts of whole lamb leg, which I like, so you may have your butcher cut leg into pieces for you and proceed as above. The cooking time, however, should be longer – two hours at least – to ensure tenderness.
