Carina Contini shares her love of food with a kindred spirit, plus Rose Murray Brown on some of France’s lesser known regions
Here’s to the immigrant families who made Scotland their home, bringing their traditions and cuisine with them, writes Carina Contini of The Scottish Cafe
We love our customers. Some visit once a year as they flit around the Festival while we see others daily for their compulsory coffee fix. One lovely lady, Elise Theures, has been a customer and friend at The Scottish Cafe since we opened 10 years ago. The team love her as much as she loves them. Birthday cards are exchanged and stories of holidays and happy events are shared over lattes.
Elise’s grandfather was Scotland’s first German baker. He travelled from Schwieberdingen, near Stuttgart, in 1901 and worked as the head baker at what was then The North British Hotel, now the Balmoral.
Sadly, he was interned as an enemy alien between 1914-18, something I wasn’t even aware had happened. He returned to the hotel as soon as he was released, to continue baking.
Elise’s grandmother was born in London, of German parentage, at the turn of the century. My grandmother was also born in London but from Italian stock about 10 years earlier. Immigrant families with parallel stories. Her grandfather died in a British internment camp in October 1939 a few months before my grandfather (and Victor’s) died on the enemy alien ship, the Arandora Star, heading to Canada, which was torpedoed off the Irish Sea.
Now Elise is a few years older than I am, but she feels as German as I feel Italian, though we’re both very proud of being Scottish, having been born and raised here. We love Scotland as much as we love Italy or Germany, but neither of us has lived for any length of time in the land of our grandfathers. Today’s column is dedicated to all our grandfathers, especially those who we never had the chance to meet. n
Wild garlic sausages and beans
There are certain dishes that you know have been enjoyed throughout the generations. This is an Italian version of sausages and beans.
Serves two
1 onion, finely chopped 4 chunky fresh Italian sausages 125g dried cannellini beans, soaked overnight 125g passata 2 large handfuls of fresh spinach or wild garlic 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil a few sage leaves for decoration rustic bread or soft polenta, to serve
1 Swap the water that the beans were soaking in overnight to fresh water and bring to the boil. Simmer until slightly al dente, but not soft, drain the beans.
2 Gently fry the onion in the olive oil. Add the passata and an equal quantity of water and bring to a simmer. Add the beans and the sausages.
3 Simmer for about 45 minutes until the sausages are cooked and the beans are tender. You may need to add a little water if it’s looking too thick.
4 Add the spinach or wild garlic just before you are ready to serve. Check seasoning. Serve with some chunky bread or soft polenta.
Pasta alla broccoli
Carbonara is a traditional dish originally made by the Neapolitan charcoal burners on open fires. But no cream, no onion, no Parmigiano and no mushrooms – EVER! This dish was taught to me by my father, loved by his father. This is a vegetarian version with broccoli instead of pancetta.
Serves two 225g tagliatelli 3 organic free-range eggs 125g sprouting broccoli, sliced into small quill shapes 125g Pecorino Romano, grated a small handful of fresh flat leaf parsley, chopped freshly ground black pepper a handful of cress, to serve
1 Blanch the broccoli until al dente and drain.
2 In a large bowl, crack the eggs and add the parsley, pepper and Pecorino. Beat lightly with a fork.
3 Boil the pasta in salted water until al dente, strain and then quickly toss in beside the broccoli.
4 Transfer to the bowl with the egg and mix through. Serve immediately and with extra Pecorino. The egg will be slightly wet but that’s what you want. If you’ve got scrambled eggs you’ve done something wrong. Decorate with the cress.
Bluberry and almond tart
This tart doesn’t need to be blind baked before you fill it so it really is easy to make.
Serves six to eight 250g plain flour (plus an additional tbsp for the filling) 120g unsalted butter, chilled 125g unsalted butter, at room temperature 70g icing sugar 125g golden caster sugar 2 eggs and a further 2 yolks 125g whole blanched almonds 1 tsp vanilla extract 125-200g blueberries (depending on how fruity you want the tart to be) pinch of salt
1 To make the pastry, sieve the 250g of flour and salt into a bowl. Grate in the chilled butter and mix with your
fingertips to the consistency of fine breadcrumbs.
2 Add the icing sugar, mix well, then add the egg yolks. Combine to form a dough. If you need a splash of ice-cold water to help, don’t resist. Refrigerate for about 1 hour. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 180C/gas Mark 4.
3 Remove the pastry from the fridge and allow to come to room temperature. Roll it out to the thickness of a pound coin and use to line a 24cm loose-bottomed tart tin. Refrigerate while you prepare the filling.
4 For the filling, roast the almonds in the preheated oven until golden, then leave to cool. Put in a blender or food processor and blend until a fine powder. Set aside.
5 Beat the golden caster sugar and room temperature butter together in a bowl until light and fluffy. Fold in the vanilla extract, and then beat in the whole eggs, tablespoon of flour and almonds.
6 Remove the tart tin from the fridge and scatter the blueberries over the bottom of the pastry case. Spoon the almond mixture on top.
7 Bake in the preheated oven for 50-60 minutes until the tart is golden and a knife comes clean from the centre. ■