Fig Jam and Foxtrot

by Lynn Bedford Hall

  ‘Well, not right away, but you could say he was looking to settle down. We met in London. I was helping out in a soup kitchen, and one day there he was, so handsome and charming and brave, and you could say it was love at first sight.’

  ‘Over the soup?’ asked Maria.

  ‘Over the soup. He said he liked my youthful freshness and that I was exactly the charming, bonny girl he could see in his solemn old home.’

  ‘Well, let me tell you, that solemn old home is a very large and grand place on the Blake-Sampson estate, Erin Park, and I – well, I had grown up in a small village in Yorkshire and Erin Park really took me by surprise. Suddenly I was mistress of a huge estate and there was so much I had to learn. William was terribly kind of course. He tried to teach me to shoot grouse, but it upset me too much, shooting those lovely birds. He tried to teach me to play bridge, but I kept trumping my partner’s ace. As you know, that’s something you must never do.’

  ‘No. You must never trump your partner’s ace,’ they agreed.

  He did not like me to work in the garden. He said that was the groundsman’s job. And he didn’t like to see me in the kitchen, either, even though I’m a good cook; learnt at my mother’s knee, as they say. But he said that’s what he employed two cooks for. And then there were all those house parties. We entertained often. He said I looked so beautiful in the clothes and jewellery he had bought me and he loved watching me chatting to his guests over our candle-lit dinners. For a while this was fine, he was such a caring husband, but then I began to feel just useless.’

  ‘Babies?’ Amelia asked.

  ‘Old war injury,’ Virginia explained, and they nodded understandingly.

  ‘When he went away to the First World War I thought I would die. But after a while I learnt I could have fun in the kitchen – I did learn a lot from my mother, as I said, and William’s cooks taught me a great deal more, especially the one from France. But when he came back from the war, all full of medals, he once again wanted me by his side all the time. He really loves me you know, but I long to do something to make him really proud of me so that people don’t always speak of me as the Colonel’s sweet but rather useless little wife. And now here in Corriebush, I see no chance of that. Nothing to do. I just don’t know how I’m going to last until he finishes this book.’ Virginia started to cry. ‘And now I’ve gone and hurt all you kind, sweet ladies and I feel awful and I’m so sorry. Nellie, have you a pill? My head is starting to ache.’

  ‘Have something to eat, it will help,’ said Maria, offering her a buttered bun.

  On the whole, the picnic had been a success because Virginia had got a big weight off her chest, they all felt closer, and lending a helping hand was really what the Corriebush women liked best.

  ‘But we have to bring back some confidence there,’ said Anna, when they were discussing the whole business the following day.

  ‘Give her a chance to show off her talents.’

  ‘But she said she was useless.’

  ‘But she also said she liked to cook.’

  ‘And there’s the Annual Baking Competition coming up soon. This year the theme is Chocolate Cake.’

  ‘I know, I know!’ Nellie was beside herself with excitement.

  ‘We’ll give her our favourite recipes – yours and mine and everyone else’s, they’re all a little bit different – and encourage her to enter. And then…’

  She needed explain no further. Already six pairs of eyes were beginning to sparkle.

  During the week of the competition, the very air in Corriebush was thick with the aroma of baking: chocolate and cocoa, butter and vanilla, and sponges rising in ovens all over the town, while the constant clatter of spoons and tins and whisks tinkled out from every kitchen.

  ‘Sounds as if a whole flock of guineafowl has come to town,’ Herman remarked.

  On the morning of the big day, they all gathered at Amelia’s house with their bounteous, beautiful chocolate cakes.

  ‘Bless my soul, Maria, you’ve really done it this time!’

  ‘Too good to eat, Anna!’

  ‘Nellie, yours simply takes the cake. I’ve never seen such a smelter of icing.’

  ‘You mean welter, Sophia.’

  ‘Smelter, welter, what’s the difference? It’s a beauty!’

  ‘Poor Virginia, she wouldn’t have stood a chance if we hadn’t thought of our plan.’

  And gleefully they put it into action. First they lovingly set their cakes out on Amelia’s large kitchen table and then carried out the operation, one by one. A deep breath, and there they went, without a single shudder or flinch. First Anna turned her back on her offering, and sat on it. Then Maria carefully positioned six dead flies among her beautiful little chocolate rosettes. Lily threw a cup of tea over hers. Sophia picked hers up and dropped it on the floor. Nellie cut a slice out of hers and ate it. Amelia burst into tears and left her crumpled handkerchief pressed deeply into the top. Then they took them to the hall.

  ‘Whatever Virginia has come up with, it will definitely be better than this lot,’ they all agreed, as they marched up the steps.

  Virginia arrived soon after. Shyly she placed her cake at one end of the table. Maria nudged Lily, who nudged Sophia, who nudged Anna, who was already tugging at the others. They were knocked speechless.

  Virginia had made a chocolate truffle gâteau. Four layers of chocolate sponge, sandwiched with chocolate melted with double cream; over the top she had poured a layer of rich glacé icing; and on this she had spelt out the name CORRIEBUSH with miniature rum truffles and maraschino cherries. The whole glorious affair sat poised on a crystal cake stand, surrounded by candied violets.

  ‘A work of art!’ the judges exclaimed.

  ‘A work of art!’ the women repeated, shaking their heads in disbelief.

  Virginia blushed with embarrassment. ‘To me it looks rather like a Caribbean sunhat.’

  ‘That too,’ they nodded.

  ‘The recipe comes from a French book,’ Virginia explained, feeling really awkward now that she had seen their cakes at the other end of the table. ‘I just dolled it up a bit.’

  When the judges placed the red card reading First Prize in front of Virginia’s cake, all the women clapped, and Amelia told her she was a dark horse and that she should take it home quickly, before they all started nibbling, and share it with the Colonel for tea.

  The rest of them carried their cakes home, quite happily. For several blocks, however, no one spoke. Then Anna broke the silence.

  ‘Needn’t have sat on mine.’

  ‘Put flies on mine.’

  ‘Thrown tea over mine.’

  ‘Dropped mine.’

  ‘Eaten half mine.’

  ‘Never seen a cake like that. I wish she would show us how.’

  ‘That’s it! That’s it! Yoo-hoo!’ Anna called to Virginia, who was trying to push open the gate to Number Four with her knee, while carefully balancing her cake in both hands. ‘Listen, we’ve got a lovely plan.’

  They wasted no time in getting it off the ground.

  Every Monday morning for the following three months, they all gathered in Maria’s big kitchen, while Virginia led them through some English Country Cooking.

  ‘She’s showing us a thing or two about fancy foreign food,’ Anna told Herman, proudly setting a perfectly roasted sirloin of beef before him, with Yorkshire pudding, crisp and puffed up and golden brown on the side.

  Virginia followed up with English Rhubarb Crumble, Bubble and Squeak and Wiltshire Tatties, then continued with slightly more sophisticated recipes like English Cider Cake and Fig Pudding with Brandy Butter, which of course Sophia wouldn’t touch because of the brandy.

  Every Wednesday morning it was the Corriebush ladies’ turn, when Virginia learnt all about koeksisters and sosaties, tomato bredie, pumpkin fritters, watermelon preserve, apricot chutney, mealie bread, even boerewors and biltong. At the end of the lessons all the note-books were bulging with recipes, tips and new ideas.<
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  The final class was a happy celebration, with sparkling wine and butternut soup, roast turkey and soetpatats, trifle and malva pudding. After which, they all rose to show each other how much weight they had gained.

  ‘Just watch when I pinch here, under my belt. See how thick?’

  ‘It’s my backside that’s got it.’

  ‘When I nod, my neck looks just like a turkey’s dangle.’

  ‘Crop, Sophia, you mean crop.’

  ‘Crop.’

  All the husbands were delighted with the new menus and the Colonel was as pleased as punch. He had never seen Virginia so happy, and he had finished his book, although he had not managed to get news of Gideon Loots.

  ‘We’ll just have to come back again,’ Virginia remarked, as the TO RENT sign was nailed to the front gate. ‘I think we should leave some of our furniture here, then we’ll feel quite at home when we return.’

  ‘Jolly good idea, old girl,’ William agreed. ‘Perhaps for a few months next summer. But now I must get to my publisher, he’s waiting for this manuscript and I’ve already drafted my next one. Got some good ideas. And in any case it will be nice to be back at Erin Park for a while.’

  ‘Yes. Yes it will,’ Virginia replied. ‘I’m looking forward to it because I’m going to be very busy. I have a plan.’

  William raised an eyebrow.

  ‘I’m going to start a cookery school in Chipping Hampton!’

  ‘Good gracious, Ginny, you are full of surprises!’

  ‘And that’s not all. When we return to Corriebush you can write your next book and I’m going to write mine. A cookery book!’

  ‘Bingo old girl!’ exclaimed the Colonel.

  ‘Bingo William!’

  Virginia waved and waved through the passenger window as her husband slid behind the wheel.

  ‘She’s a changed woman,’ remarked Lily. ‘Happy as a lark.’

  ‘Found her feet in Corriebush, that’s for sure!’

  ‘And didn’t she have the time of her life with those cookery lessons!’

  ‘Simply fell into the idea like a croûton into soup.’

  ‘I’m really so sad to see her go, even though they have promised to come back.’

  ‘Oh my hat, my blerrie hat!’

  ‘What now, Sophia?’

  ‘We forgot to buy her a farewell present! How could we? After all she’s taught us!’

  ‘Don’t worry ladies,’ Anna reassured them. ‘I’ve got something that will keep her smiling all the way to Port Elizabeth.’

  And she slid a steaming Cornish Pasty through the window.

  Virginia laughed delightedly. ‘Right size, right shape, good pastry, smells gorgeous. Ten out of ten Anna!’

  The Colonel accelerated, and they were gone.

  VIRGINIA’S RECIPES

  Due to the variety of culinary influences in her life, Virginia was a trifle confused as to where her tastes and talents lay. She was perfectly confident cooking traditional English food, of course, but then there was William’s father who came home from his years in India with a great fondness for spices and kept dropping hints whenever he came to visit.

  He would dab at his moustache at the end of a meal and say ‘Very good, my dear, but do you know, over in the East they would have given this a bit of a lift. Not too hot, the children won’t like it, but just a nip of this and that. Try it next time.’

  And so she did.

  And then there were the two chefs at Erin Park – one French, and the other a Yorkshireman. Goodness knows how they kept the peace in the kitchen, but they seemed to fuse quite well, and because they often invited Virginia to watch while they were working, they had a profound influence on her culinary knowledge. As a result, Virginia found it quite difficult to single out any one cuisine in her classes, and in the end she simply went for a delicious, eclectic mix.

  Chilled Beetroot Soup with Avocado Cream

  Cauliflower Vichyssoise with Nutmeg and Lemon

  Cucumber and Avocado Soup on Ice

  Fish with Lime-Chive Butter and Glazed Mushrooms

  Chilled Smoked Salmon Patties with Dilly Mayo and Walnut Bread

  Spicy Indian-style Butter Chicken

  Tarragon and Lemon Cream Chicken Breasts

  Buckingham Chicken with Litchis and Almonds

  Fillet of Beef with Port and Mushrooms

  Braised Lamb Steaks with Wine and Herbs

  Pork Chops with Cider, Apples and Sage

  Strawberry Amaretto Syllabub

  Chocolate Mousse Trifle

  Apple and Pear Dessert Cake

  Rooibos Earl Grey Fruit Cake

  CHILLED BEETROOT SOUP WITH AVOCADO CREAM

  Imagine a bowl of incredibly vivid, magenta-coloured soup, floated with avocado and swirled with cream, and you’ve got this colourful wonder. It’s the sort of soup photographers love to shoot, set out in white bowls on a table on a patio. Blue sky, bougainvillea, beautiful people, beetroot soup. It’s a fun soup, and easy as pie to make because the ingredients are so basic.

  15 ml (1 Tbsp) each oil and butter

  1 medium onion, sliced into thin rings

  2 large leeks, white parts only, well washed and chopped

  15 ml (1 Tbsp) water

  450–500 g potatoes, peeled and cubed

  2 ml (½ tsp) each grated nutmeg and paprika

  1 litre (4 cups) hot chicken stock

  2 bay leaves

  a little sea salt

  a good pinch of sugar

  2 medium, raw beetroot, peeled and coarsely grated (about 230 g peeled weight)

  125 ml (½ cup) milk

  a little fresh lemon juice

  white vermouth (optional)

  cubed or balled avocado, and softly whipped cream (or thick sour cream or creamy Greek yoghurt), and milled black pepper – these are not just garnishes, they are essentials

  Heat the oil and butter in a really large saucepan (because grated beetroot is bulky), and add the onion and leeks. Toss until coated, then add the water and sweat, covered, over very low heat until soft and golden; do not brown. Add the potatoes, nutmeg and paprika, toss to mix, then add the stock, bay leaves, seasoning and beetroot. Cover and simmer very gently until the vegetables are cooked – about 25 minutes. Remove from heat, stir in the milk and, when reasonably cool, whizz in a blender, in batches, until smooth. Check the seasoning – if it needs a little oomph, shake in a few drops of lemon juice. Refrigerate. To serve, ladle into the soup bowls. If using vermouth, it goes in before the garnish – just a dash. Spoon a large dollop of cream on top, gently mix in a generous helping of the cubed or balled avocado, then grind over a little black pepper. Serves 6–8.

  CAULIFLOWER VICHYSSOISE WITH NUTMEG AND LEMON

  This is a slightly different version of the classic creamy potato and leek soup, offering a new taste without altogether changing the character of the original, and a good choice when you need a soup that’s unfailingly popular, quick to make, and doesn’t require a shopping trip because the ingredients are already in your pantry. Although vichyssoise is traditionally served cold, chilling does tend to dull the flavour, and this one is best served hot.

  30 ml (2 Tbsp) each oil and butter

  2 medium onions, chopped

  4 large leeks, white parts only, chopped

  700 g potatoes, peeled and cubed

  500 g cauliflower florets

  7 ml (1½ tsp) grated nutmeg

  4 x 4 cm strips lemon peel

  2 litres (8 cups) hot chicken stock

  4 bay leaves sea salt to taste

  125 ml (½ cup) each milk and thick cream

  lemon juice (optional)

  snipped chives to garnish

  Heat the oil and butter in a large saucepan, add the onions and leeks and sweat over low heat, shaking the pan occasionally and taking care that the vegetables do not brown. When soft and pale, add the potatoes, cauliflower and nutmeg and toss to mix, then add the remaining ingredients except the milk and cream. Cover and sim
mer until the vegetables are soft, about 25 minutes. Leave to cool down a bit, remove the bay leaves and lemon peel, then purée in a blender, in batches, until smooth. Return to the saucepan, add the milk and cream and reheat, stirring, without boiling. Check seasoning – the soup might need a little more salt, and a squeeze of lemon juice to sharpen the flavour. Ladle into warmed soup bowls and sprinkle with chives. Serves 8–10.

  CUCUMBER AND AVOCADO SOUP ON ICE

  This is a thick and gorgeous soup, so smooth and rich that it needs no extras, not even a cobweb of cream. The garnish, so to speak, comes in the form of little dill fronds frozen in ice cubes. It’s altogether a smashing combination, amazingly easy to make and the fresh, funky colour is stunning.

  1 x 550–600 g English cucumber (that’s a big one)

  15 ml (1 Tbsp) each oil and butter

  2 medium leeks, chopped

  1 medium onion, chopped

  500 ml (2 cups) hot chicken stock

  a small clutch of parsley tufts

  2 bay leaves

  a little sea salt

  2 medium or 1 jumbo avocado, diced (300 g flesh, once peeled and pipped)

  2–3 small fronds of fresh dill

  15 ml (1 Tbsp) fresh lime juice

  finely grated rind of ½ small lime

  Pare the cucumber, cut in half and remove the seeds, then dice. Heat the oil and butter in a deep saucepan, add the leeks and onion and cook slowly until soft and transparent. Mix in the cucumber and cook briefly until it has started to shrink a little. Add the stock, parsley, bay leaves and salt, then cover and simmer for about 25 minutes until the vegetables are very soft. Leave to cool, then remove the bay leaves, add the avocado flesh, the dill, lime juice and rind, and whizz in a blender until beautifully thick and smooth. Pour into a large glass jug, drop in the avocado pip, then cover and refrigerate for at least 6 hours, or even overnight.

  During this time, make the DILLED ICE CUBES. Empty an ice cube tray and, in the hollows, place a small frond of dill, fill up with water, and freeze. Use a tray with small, round hollows or, if yours makes large cubes, only half-fill them with water, otherwise the cubes will take too long to melt. Check the seasoning, give the soup a good stir, remove the avo pip and pour into small bowls (not soup plates). Drop two dilly ice cubes into each bowl, then go away for a few minutes to allow them to just start melting before serving. Serves 6–8.