A Book of Mediterranean Food

by Unknown

  Another way of serving anchoïade is to spread the prepared mixture of olive oil, garlic, and anchovies on pieces of toast and heat them in the oven.

  ANCHOÏADE CROZE*

  Rolls cut in two and filled with a purée made of brined anchovies, almonds or walnuts, figs, onions, garlic, savoury herbs, tarragon, fennel seed, red pimento, olive oil, lemon and orange-blossom water; baked and served with black olives.

  ÉPINARDS EN BOUILLABAISSE

  Cook 2 lb of cleaned spinach in water for 5 minutes. Drain it and press out all the water, and chop it.

  Into a large shallow pan put 3 or 4 dessertspoons of oil and a chopped onion. After a minute or two add the spinach and stir over a slow fire for 5 minutes, then add 5 or 6 raw potatoes cut in thin slices; the waxy kind are best for this dish as they are less likely to disintegrate.

  Season with salt, pepper, and a pinch of saffron; pour over about 1½ pints of boiling water, add 2 cloves of garlic chopped, and a branch of fennel, and simmer with the lid on until the potatoes are cooked. At this moment break into the pan 1 egg for each person and cook gently.

  Into each guest’s plate put a slice of bread and with a ladle carefully take out an egg (they should be poached) and a portion of the vegetables, and place it on the slice of bread, with some of the bouillon.

  From Reboul’s La Cuisinière Provençale

  BUREK

  Burek are little pastries filled either with a mixture of spinach or fresh cream cheese flavoured with mint. They are of Turkish origin. The pastry used is called ‘fila’, which is something like flaky pastry, rolled out very thinly. In Greece, Turkey, and Egypt it can be bought ready-made and looks like sheets of paper. In London fila pastry can be bought from John and Pascalis, 35 Grafton Way, Tottenham Court Road, and from the Hellenic Provision Stores, 25 Charlotte Street.

  For burek cut the pastry into 2-inch squares, put a spoonful of spinach purée, or fresh cream cheese beaten with an egg and a little chopped mint in the centre of each one and fold the pastry over so that it is triangular shaped. Fry them in plenty of hot oil or dripping.

  SPANAKOPITTÁ

  This is a Greek (and also Turkish) dish made with the same fila pastry as the burek.

  3 oz fila pastry leaves, 2 lb spinach, 3 oz butter, ¼ lb Gruyère cheese.

  Clean and cook the spinach in the usual way, and squeeze it very dry. Chop it not too finely, and heat it in a pan with an ounce of butter. Season well. Butter a square cake tin, not too deep. In the bottom put 6 leaves of fila pastry cut to the shape of the tin and a fraction larger, brushing the top of each leaf with melted butter before covering it with the next leaf.

  Over the 6 layers of pastry spread the prepared spinach, then a layer of the grated Gruyère. Cover with 6 more layers of pastry, again buttering between each layer, and buttering also the top. See that the edges of the pastry are also well buttered, and cook in a moderate oven for 30 to 40 minutes. Leave to cool for a few minutes, turn upside down on to a baking dish, and return to the oven for 10 minutes or so for the underside to get crisp and golden.

  Similar dishes are made using for a filling chicken in a béchamel sauce (kotópittá) or cheese (tirópittá).

  GRENOUILLES PROVENÇALE

  2 lb frogs’ legs (medium size), ½ lb butter, 1 tablespoon olive oil, 1 tablespoon chopped parsley, 2 cloves of garlic (finely chopped), ½ cup milk, ½ cup flour, salt, and ground pepper, juice of ½ lemon, 1 teaspoon chopped chives.

  Dip the frogs’ legs in milk seasoned with salt and pepper and roll in flour. Heat 2 tablespoons of butter and 1 tablespoon of oil. Add frogs’ legs. Cook until browned, about 12 minutes. Add to them the lemon juice, parsley, chives, and pepper. Keep them warm over a low flame. Now brown the remaining butter until it is the colour of a hazel nut (beurre noisette). Add the garlic to the butter and quickly pour it over the frogs’ legs. Serve garnished with lemon slices.

  BOUDIN PURÉE DE POIS

  Take 1½ lb of boudin (blood sausage, which in the south of France is always highly seasoned with onions), prick the skin, cut in several pieces and grill them.

  For the purée cook ½ lb of dried split peas in water with an onion, a bay leaf, salt and pepper, for 2½ to 3 hours. Put them through a sieve, and if necessary add a little milk and an ounce of butter. Serve piping hot.

  TIRI TIGANISMÉNO (Fried Cheese)

  Kasséri (hard, salt, goat cheese) is simply cut in squares and fried in very hot oil without benefit of batter or breadcrumbs.

  This simple dish can be very good indeed, but it depends very much upon the quality of the cheese. This question of quality applies to all Greek food. Greek gourmets know exactly where the best cheese, olives, oil, oranges, figs, melons, wine, and even water (in a country where water is often scarce, this is not really so surprising) are to be found, and go to immense trouble to procure them.

  They are also exceedingly generous and hospitable, and when they see that a foreigner is appreciative, take great pride in seeing that he is entertained to the very best which Greece can offer.

  Snails

  ********************

  ‘I was once present at a learned discussion between two stubborn gentlemen, who were arguing as to the respective merits of the snails of Bourgogne and of those of Provence. They were not speaking of the manner of preparing the snails, but of their natural flavour. One declared that the Bourguignons were more delicate, since they fed on vine-leaves, and the other that those of Provence were more delicious, owing to their diet of thyme and fennel.

  ‘All that is simply absurd. Whatever the snail’s food may be, it is improbable, to say the least of it, that any flavour is left after the animal has been starved for thirty or forty days, cleaned in vinegar and salt, rinsed in ten lots of water, and then boiled for several hours.

  ‘Those who succumb (and with reason) to the winy taste of the Bourgogne snails, and those who are enchanted (and one cannot too highly appreciate their attitude) by the thyme and fennel-scented blanquettes of Provence, forget one thing. They forget that the Bourguignon snails have been cooked for an hour in a litre of Chablis, while the Provençals have undergone the same process in salt water, together with a large bunch of thyme and a still larger quantity of fennel. At that rate one might impart the taste of wine or fennel to chewing-gum.

  ‘It is therefore in the manner of preparing them that personal preferences are suited. The choice of snails is of secondary gastronomic importance. For instance, in the case of a dainty dish, the big Bourguignon is preferable to the little grey kind because the shell is thicker and may be left to simmer in its sauce for a long time without danger of cracking.

  ‘Apart from this, it is all a question of personal taste. Both methods of cooking are delicious. These, however, are not the only ways of preparing snails, which you must remember are essential to aïoli (garlic and oil sauce).

  ‘It is in the south of France that one finds the most varied snail recipes; there, for instance, they serve them with sauce piquante, tomato sauce, and with sauce verte froide. At Montpellier, nuts and pounded cracknels are added, together with a great variety of vegetables and herbs chopped fine, such as lettuce, chicory, chervil, celery, marjoram, and basil; elsewhere just a plain vinegar sauce is preferred. In Languedoc, where goose-fat is widely used, snails are prepared with the following sauce:

  ‘You take a fair amount of goose-fat, a large slice of fresh ham cut in dice – the Languedoc housewives affirm that each snail must have its bit of ham – an onion chopped small, and some garlic and parsley also chopped. When this mixture has been browned you add three or four tablespoons of flour and stir briskly until it has turned a golden colour. Sprinkle salt and pepper sparingly before adding the remaining ingredients, which consist of four or five cloves, a little grated nutmeg, some juniper leaves, two sliced lemons, and a generous pinch of saffron. Leave the whole to boil for some minutes.

  ‘Delectable as snails are, people who are lucky enough to live in the country find that the pleasure of eatin
g them is only complete when they have gathered the snails themselves. Few rural delights can compete with that of running through the wet grass, after spring showers, or in the summer after a thunderstorm, in quest of the plump snails. They make their way through shivering grass-blades, or string out across the soft clay like fishing boats leaving port, followed by a silvery wake.

  ‘In catching snails which one will cook oneself, one experiences the joy of the hunter who stalks his prey, anticipating stew, and that of the fisherman casting his line, with matelote before his mind’s eye.’*

  GARLIC BUTTER FOR SNAILS (for 50 Snails)

  7 oz butter, 1 or 2 cloves of garlic, a handful of very fresh parsley, salt, pepper, pinch of nutmeg.

  Chop the parsley very finely indeed. Pound the garlic in a mortar, removing any shreds and leaving only the oil of the garlic. Put the butter into the mortar and work it so that the garlic impregnates it completely, and then add the parsley, which should also be thoroughly worked in and evenly distributed, then add a very little salt, pepper, and nutmeg.

  Sometimes a shallot and a few mushrooms, cooked a minute in butter, and chopped with the parsley, are added.

  The snails which can be bought in tins, with shells in a separate packet, are quite good. It is really the garlic butter which counts. (Always use this butter when it is absolutely freshly made. The garlic very quickly turns the butter rancid, which is the reason that snails bought ready-filled at charcuteries are not always satisfactory.)

  To prepare the snails, put one into each shell, and fill it up completely with the prepared butter. The snails are then heated in the oven for a few minutes. On no account must the shells turn over during the cooking or all the butter will run out. The French use special dishes with a little compartment for each snail. Failing these, use little metal or china egg dishes filled with mashed potato in which the shells can be embedded.

  The special dishes, the tongs to hold the snails with, and the little forks for extracting them can be bought from Madame Cadec, 27 Greek Street, Soho, WI; and, nowadays, from many other shops catering for the serious amateur cook. Among these are Habitat, 77–9 Fulham Road, SW3; Domus of 109 Clapham High Street, SW4; the kitchen departments of Woollands, Knightsbridge, and Liberty’s, Regent Street. Out of London there are Schofield’s, Jesus Lane, Cambridge; Brown’s of Chester; Harvey’s of Guild-ford; Doodie’s Cook Shop at 2 Upper Bow, Lawnmarket, Edinburgh; and Harold Hodgson, Castle Street, Farnham, Surrey.

  Fish

  A Venetian Breakfast

  * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

  ‘Begin with a Vermouth Amaro in lieu of a cocktail. For hors d’oeuvre have some small crabs cold, mashed up with sauce tartare and a slice or two of prosciutto crudo (raw ham), cut as thin as cigarette paper. After this a steaming risotto with scampi (somewhat resembling gigantic prawns), some cutlets done in the Bologna style, a thin slice of ham on top and hot parmesan and grated white truffles and fegato alla veneziana complete the repast except for a slice of strachino cheese. A bottle of Val Policella is exactly suited to this kind of repast and a glass of fine Champagne and of ruby-coloured Alkermes for the lady, if your wife accompanies you, make a good ending.

  ‘The Maître d’Hôtel will be interested in you directly he finds that you know how a man should breakfast.’

  The Gourmet’s Guide to Europe

  by Lt-Col Newnham-Davis and Algernon Bastard, 1903

  Shell Fish

  * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

  FRIED SCAMPI

  Make a frying batter of 4 oz flour, 3 tablespoons of oil or melted butter, three-quarters of a tumbler of tepid water, a pinch of salt, and the beaten white of an egg. Mix the flour and the butter or oil, adding the water gradually, and keeping the batter smooth and liquid. Make it some time before it is needed, and add the beaten white of egg at the last moment.

  Dip the tails of the scampi, or Dublin Bay prawns, into the batter and fry them in boiling-hot oil. Nothing else will produce such a crisp and light crust.

  Pile the scampi up on a dish garnished with parsley and lemon, and, if you like, serve a sauce tartare separately, but they are really best quite plain. Whenever possible, make this dish with scampi which have not been previously cooked. Simply cut off the head and body of the fish, take the tails out of the shells and dip them raw into the batter.

  SCALLOPS or COQUILLES SAINT JACQUES

  In spite of the instructions given in nearly every cookery book, my own belief is that scallops should not be served in their shells; they tend to dry up when baked in the oven, and however well cooked are inevitably reminiscent of the unpleasant imitations served in bad restaurants – usually flaked cod with a crust of heavy mashed potato.

  COQUILLES SAINT JACQUES À LA CRÈME

  (sufficient for 2 people)

  4 scallops, ¼ lb mushrooms, 1 teaspoon tomato purée, 2 egg yolks, 2 tablespoons sherry, 1 large cup cream, 2 oz butter, salt, pepper, lemon juice, parsley, a clove of garlic.

  Cut each cleaned scallop in two. Put them in a small pan with the butter, salt and pepper, reserving the red part of the fish. Cook gently for 10 minutes.

  At the same time sauté the mushrooms in butter in another pan. Add the sherry, the tomato purée, and the cooked mushrooms to the scallops, then stir in the cream and beaten egg yolks, taking care not to let the mixture boil. Put in the red pieces of the scallops, which will be cooked in 2 minutes, the finely chopped garlic, the parsley, and a little lemon juice.

  Serve with triangles of fried bread.

  FRIED SCALLOPS À LA PROVENÇALE

  Cut the white part of each scallop into two rounds, season with salt, pepper, and lemon juice, dust with flour, and fry them in butter for a few minutes, put in the coral and a little chopped garlic and parsley, and serve with the butter poured over them.

  MOULES MARINIÈRE

  There are several versions of moules marinière Here are three of them.

  3 quarts mussels, 1 small onion, 1 clove of garlic, 1 small glass white wine, a small piece celery, parsley.

  Put the chopped onion, garlic, and celery into a large pan with the white wine and about 1 pint of water. Add pepper but not salt. Put in the well-cleaned mussels, cover the pan and cook until the shells open. Take out the mussels, keep them hot, and thicken the liquid in which they have cooked with 1 oz of butter and ½ oz of flour. Pour the sauce over the mussels in a large tureen and sprinkle with parsley. Serve very hot.

  To be eaten out of soup plates, with a fork and a soup spoon.

  Another way is to prepare the sauce first; make a little white roux in the pan with butter, flour, chopped onion, celery, etc., and the white wine, add the water, and put the mussels in when the liquid has the consistency of a thin soup. The mussels can then be served directly they are opened, a great advantage, as they then do not lose their freshness and savour, which they are apt to do if they are reheated. On no account must the sauce be over-thickened, or you will simply have mussels in a white sauce.

  Perhaps the most usual way of cooking moules marinière is simply to put the mussels into the pan with the white wine but no water, throw chopped parsley and onion or garlic over them as they are opening and serve as soon as they are all open.

  Always serve plenty of French bread with moules marinière.

  STUFFED MUSSELS

  This recipe was given me by a fisherman in Marseille, who made them for me on his boat – and most delicious they were.

  For the stuffing: 1 large lettuce, 1 onion, garlic, parsley, 3 oz cooked liver or chopped salame sausage.

  Boil the lettuce for 10 minutes, drain well and chop finely with the onion, garlic, parsley, and meat. Open the mussels, which should be the large ones, without separating the two shells. Stuff with a teaspoon of the mixture and tie up each mussel immediately with string. Cook them slowly for 20 minutes in a tomato sauce to which a glass of white wine has been added. Remove the string and serve hot in the sauce.

  The above quantity of stuffing is
sufficient for 18 large mussels.

  MOULES AU CITRON

  2 oz carrots, 2 oz butter, ½ oz shallot, 1 tablespoon flour, 4 pints mussels, 2 lemons, bouquet garni, salt and pepper.

  Clean the mussels. Chop the carrot and shallot and cook them in a little of the butter, adding salt, pepper, and the herbs. Add the juice of the lemons, then put in the mussels. Cook them rapidly, shaking the pan. As soon as they open, they are cooked. Keep them hot. In another pan put the flour and ½ oz of butter, and when the flour is beginning to turn golden pour on the stock from the mussels, through a fine sieve. Cook another minute or two, finish the sauce with the rest of the butter.

  Serve the mussels on the half shells heaped up in a dish, and the sauce separately.

  SPAGHETTI WITH MUSSELS

  Cook mussels and clovisses (small clams)* as for moules marnière. Shell them and add the liquid to the boiling water in which the spaghetti is to cook. Put in the spaghetti. Add stoned black olives. When the spaghetti is cooked, drain it, heat the mussels 1 minute in the liquid which has come out of their shells, pour on to the spaghetti, sprinkle with chopped parsley, and serve with grated Parmesan cheese.

  CRAYFISH WITH SAUCE PROVENÇALE

  Make a parsley butter with 2 cloves of garlic pounded, to which you add a ¼ lb of butter and a handful of chopped parsley.

  Take 1 lb of crayfish tails out of their shells and put them in a fireproof dish with salt and pepper. Cover them with the parsley butter and place in a hot oven for 10 minutes.