For a moment I studied the painting on the wall: Matisse’s La Chambre Rouge. In this painting I always saw my own mother placing fresh fruit on the table in a stylised atmosphere in which life and food were richly celebrated.
The phone rang again reminding me of my next patient. I checked her file: Carla, a very friendly woman whose eyes were also constantly on the Matisse. It reminded her of the still-life exhibition she’d seen in Paris in January when she’d been on a culinary tour of the French capital.
I hoped that Carla was getting over the fact that Armand and his little daughter, Juliette, were moving out and that she’d decided, as I’d suggested, to work part time, doing the shopping and cooking herself since she had learnt so much from Armand. That would also mean she’d have more time to visit Armand and Juliette, who were going to live in Brooklyn with Armand’s girlfriend, Liana. There was no reason why Carla shouldn’t cook a wonderful Christmas dinner for herself, her husband Rick, Armand, Liana and little Juliette. I resolved to give her my recipes for the certosino and mincemeat cake. Christmas is always such a great time for food, comfort and joy!
Elaine’s Christmas Cake Recipes Certosino
This traditional Italian Christmas cake is best made at least three days ahead. A week is even better.
¾ cup (120g) glacé cherries, chopped, plus 8 more, halved, to decorate
½ cup each (80g) chopped dried apricots and chopped pitted dates
½ cup (125ml) dark rum
¾ cup (180ml) runny honey, plus another 2 tbsp, to decorate
2 cups (250g) wholemeal flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp cocoa
5 tbsp each orange marmalade and apricot jam
½ cup (100g) mixed candied peel
1 cup (120g) ground almonds
½ cup (50g) each chopped walnuts and almonds
¾ cup (100g) pine nuts
1 tsp anise seeds butter, for greasing
½ cup (60g) toasted flaked almonds, to decorate
1. Soak the glacé cherries and dried fruit with the rum for about an hour.
2. Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas 4. In a large bowl gently mix the honey with ½ cup (125ml) water. Add the soaked fruit along with the rum and all the other cake ingredients except the flaked almonds, and mix well.
3. Grease and line an 8 in (20cm) cake tin and transfer the mixture to the tin. Bake the cake for 45 mins. Test with a skewer that the cake is cooked right through. Turn off the oven but leave the cake in until cold, then turn out.
4. Mix 2 tbsp honey with 1 tbsp water and brush over the top of the cake. Arrange the remaining glacé cherry halves over the cake along with the flaked almonds. Store for at least 3 days in an airtight tin before cutting. Certosino is excellent served with chocolate cherry ice cream or whipped cream.
Mincemeat Cake
A quick and easy Christmas cake that busy people, like Elaine and Paul, can make at the last minute.
120g softened butter
⅓ cup (60g) soft light brown sugar
3 eggs, at room temperature
1 x 410g jar mincemeat
½ cup (60g) self-raising flour
½ cup (50g) oat flakes
½ cup (80g) polenta
1 tsp baking powder
½ cup (80g) chopped dried cranberries
1 cup (100g) chopped walnuts
grated zest of 1 tangerine
½ cup (125ml) dark rum
1. Preheat the oven to 160°C/325°F/Gas 3. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating thoroughly with each addition. Fold in the remaining ingredients.
2. Grease and line a 9 x 5 in (23 x 12.5cm) loaf tin and transfer the mixture to the tin. Bake for 1–1¼ hours. Test with a skewer that the cake is cooked right through. Turn off the oven and leave the cake in until cold. The cake keeps well for a week in an airtight tin and is excellent served with whipped cream.
See a selection of the recipes from Freedom Fries and Café Crème demonstrated at www.gallicbooks.com
The Gourmet
Muriel Barbery
France’s greatest food critic is dying, after a lifetime in single-minded pursuit of sensual delights. But as Pierre Arthens lies on his death bed, he is tormented by an inability to recall the most delicious food to ever pass his lips, which he ate long before becoming a critic. Desperate to taste it one more time, he looks back over the years to see if he can pin down the elusive dish.
Revealing far more than his love of great food, the narration by this larger-than-life individual alternates with the voices of those closest to him and their own experiences of the man.
Muriel Barbery’s gifts as an evocative storyteller are put to mouth-watering use in this voluptuous and poignant meditation on food and its deeper significance in our lives.
A delectable treat to savour.
ISBN 978-1-906040-31-4
£6.99
Where Would I be Without You?
Guillaume Musso
Over 1 million copies sold worldwide
Sometimes, a second chance can come out of nowhere… Parisian cop Martin Beaumont has never really got over his first love, Gabrielle. Their brief, intense affair in San Francisco and the pain of her rejection still haunt him years later.
Now, however, he’s a successful detective – and tonight he’s going to arrest the legendary art thief, Archibald Maclean, when he raids the Musée d’Orsay for a priceless Van Gogh. But the enigmatic Archibald has other plans. Martin’s pursuit of the master criminal across Paris is the first step in an adventure that will take him back to San Francisco, and to the edge of love and life itself.
ISBN: 9781906040345
£7.99
The Girl on Paper
Guillaume Musso
Just a few months ago, Tom Boyd was a multi-million-selling author living in LA, in love with a world-famous pianist. But after a very public break-up he’s shut himself away, suffering from total writer’s block, with only drink and drugs for company. One night, a beautiful, naked stranger appears in Tom’s house. She claims to be Billie, a character from his novels, who has fallen into the real world because of a printer’s error in his latest book.
Crazy as her story sounds; Tom comes to see that this must be the real Billie. And she wants to strike a deal with him: if he writes his next novel she can go back to the world of fiction; in return she will help him win back his beloved Aurore.
What does he have to lose?
Guillaume Musso’s latest romantic adventure is a story of friendship, love and the special place that books have in our lives.
ISBN: 978-1-906040888
£7.99
About the Author
Originally from France, Jocelyne Rapinac is a modern languages teacher who has lived in the US, Switzerland and the UK with her husband James. Freedom Fries and Café Crème is her first novel.
Copyright
First published in 2012
by Gallic Books, 59 Ebury Street,
London, SW1W 0NZ
This ebook edition first published in 2012
All rights reserved
© Gallic Books, 2012
The right of Jocelyne Rapinac to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with Section 77 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly
ISBN 978–1–908313–25–6 epub
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