Food & Drink
Good food is a comfort during our strange new normal, so keep cooking and carry on
Recipes from Carina Contini, plus Rose Murray Brown on sommelier turned wine importer Severine Sloboda
May is normally my favourite month. It’s the month that me and my husband Victor got married. It’s the start of the good weather and summer is just ahead of us. It’s usually joyous.
Thankfully, it’s still glorious in our garden and Victor has been in his element planting, weeding, tending to the bees, harvesting. I’ve no complaints about his gardening skills but I’m desperate; along with the team, to get back to our real work.
What do they say, no rest for the wicked? The restaurants aren’t open, but we’ve got so much to do. Trying to be leaner and fitter in business when you’re getting fatter at home is challenging.
I’ve never spent so much time on my laptop. Virtual meetings, tutorials, catch ups. It’s a whole new world. Interesting and efficient for sure, but are we all missing out on the energy? I suppose it is calmer. The children are attending class online too. Trying to find them and I get, “I’m in a meeting!”.
Unbelievably, while there is loads to do for our three closed restaurants, the cleaning and the cooking still has to be done. Today is our housework day. Family effort. After a few disgruntled looks we get there in the end.
Cooking for me is the easy part. Please believe me there are many parts of my life at the moment that aren’t easy, so cooking is almost therapeutic, even if I’ve had a few days of repeat dinners leaving me feeling guilty.
Tripadvisor may not be busy, but I bet your household isn’t short of a few food critics either. For our anniversary, our children are cooking. Result! We’ll be seated, served and for once I’ll get to critique. This I’m looking forward to. ■
Spring risotto
Take it slow and you won’t go wrong. Promise.
Serves 4 as a main course
2 litres of hot chicken or vegetable stock
400g Vialone Nano risotto rice 1 shallot, grated glug of white wine
200g seasonal spring vegetables 50g butter (and an additional lump) extra virgin olive oil a handful of grated Parmigiano Reggiano seasoning pea shoots, to garnish
1 Choose a heavy based casserole pot and add the 50g of butter and the same amount of olive oil.
2 Fry the grated shallot until soft and golden. Add the risotto rice and toast for a minute or so. The pan will be hot so keep moving the rice to ensure it doesn’t stick or burn. Add the white wine and cook off.
3 Add half the vegetables. Lower the heat.
4 Season with a little salt and a ladle of the hot stock. When it’s cooked off, slowly add more stock a little at a time ensuring it’s cooked off each time. Continue to do this for about 30 minutes. The rice should be creamy, quite sticky, but as wet as good porridge.
5 When the risotto is al dente and has a slight bite, I add the remaining vegetables after finely chopping them, and remove from the heat.
6 Stir in a lump of unsalted butter and allow to rest for 5 minutes. Then add the handful of grated Parmigiano. The cheese can be quite salty so check seasoning at this stage. Serve.
Chicken stock
Having some staple cooking skills will always serve you well. Especially in a crisis.
Makes approximately 1 litre
6-8 chicken thighs or drumsticks 2 litres cold water
1 large bunch of flat-leaf parsley 2 celery sticks, halved generous pinch of salt
1 Thoroughly wash the chicken pieces and put them in a 2-litre stockpot.
2 Cover with cold water, add the salt and bring to the boil. Reduce to a simmer and skim off the foam that comes to the surface. It will take 5-10 minutes of skimming and simmering until the broth clears. Taste. You may need to add a little more salt.
3 Add the celery and parsley and halfcover the pot with a lid. Simmer for about 2 hours. Strain into a jug, leave to cool and refrigerate overnight. Chicken stock can be very fatty, so you can scrape off some of the fat before use.
Apricot meringue
This is a favourite of mine too. Heaven.
Serves 6-8
200g hazelnuts, blanched and peeled
6 egg whites
300g caster sugar
1 tsp white wine vinegar
1 tsp vanilla extract for the apricot cream
250ml double cream
250g dried apricots, chopped 55 per cent cocoa Valrhona dark chocolate, melted
1 Preheat the oven to 180C/gas Mark 4.
2 Put the hazelnuts on a baking tray and toast in the preheated oven until golden. Remove and cool.
3 Turn the oven up to 190C/gas Mark 5. Blend the hazelnuts to a fine powder.
3 Either generously oil a 30cm ceramic ovenproof dish or line a baking tray with greaseproof paper and draw round a plate to mark a 30cm circle.
4 Beat the egg whites until stiff in a clean, dry bowl. Very gradually beat in the sugar until the mixture is stiff. Gently fold in the ground hazelnuts and finally the vinegar and vanilla extract. Spoon the mixture into the dish or within the circle marked on
the greaseproof paper.
5 Bake in the preheated oven for about 30 minutes until the meringue is golden and risen. Remove from the oven and leave to cool.
6 Put the double cream in a bowl, whip it and fold in the apricots. Use a spatula to distribute this mixture onto the meringue. Drizzle with the melted chocolate to finish.