Forever Summer (3 page)

Chop the shellfish flesh finely with a mezzaluna or knife (you can use the processor but be careful not to turn everything into undifferentiated mush), then spread on to the crostini and sprinkle over some more chopped parsley. Eat while still warm.

Makes approx. 25.

GRIDDLED AUBERGINES WITH FETA, MINT AND CHILLI

You can griddle these aubergines, grill them or just blitz them in the heat of the barbecue: I really don’t care. The point is this: once your slices of aubergine are cooked, you pile up one short end with lemon-soused crumbled feta, chopped red chilli and fresh mint and roll the whole thing up; it’s really more of an assembly job than cooking.

I tend to think of these simple involtini as an ideal vegetable picky-thing to serve either as a starter before, or alongside, a generally meat-heavy barbecue, but they don’t have to be: frankly, just serve these with drinks and you don’t have to think of a first course for the rest of summer. And I eat these happily deep into winter too.

2 large aubergines, each cut thinly, lengthwise, into about 10 slices

4 tablespoons olive oil

250g feta cheese

1 large red chilli, finely chopped, deseeded or not, depending on how much heat you want

large bunch fresh mint, finely chopped, with some saved for sprinkling over at the end

juice of 1 lemon

black pepper

Preheat the barbecue or griddle to a high heat.

Brush both sides of the aubergine slices with the oil, and cook them for about 2 minutes each side until golden and tender.

Crumble the feta into a bowl and stir in the chilli, mint and lemon juice and grind in some black pepper. You don’t need salt, as the feta is salty enough. Pile the end third of each warm aubergine slice with a heaped teaspoon of the feta mixture and roll each slice up as you go to form a soft, stuffed bundle.

Place join side down on a plate, and sprinkle with a little more mint.

Makes 20 rolls.

HOT SALT COD FRITTERS WITH COLD SEAFOOD SALAD

These are actually two completely independent, separate recipes, but I so love the palate-searing, heavy hotness of the potato-fluffy fritters with the anise-clear coolness of the seafood salad that I had, quite bossily, to stick them together here.

SEAFOOD SALAD

Feel free to alter the relative amounts of seafood in this; indeed, play with it as you want to. Don’t think of making it just for some planned-for, guest-invited meal, though: nothing’s lovelier, in the summer (and beyond), than to have a huge, cold bowlful of this, standing in the fridge, for you to pick from when you want.

1 bottle white wine

4 bay leaves

8 black peppercorns

500g baby octopus

500g baby squid, sliced but tentacles left whole

500g medium raw prawns

125ml olive oil

juice of 2 lemons

2 red chillies, deseeded and finely chopped

3 sticks celery, finely sliced

large bunch fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped

salt, if necessary

Make a stock to cook the seafood in by boiling the wine, bay leaves and peppercorns in a large saucepan.

Cook the octopus, squid and prawns separately in the stock as they will take different times to cook. It’s very hard to be specific about lengths of time, though; fish changes in density, relative tenderness and size, from catch to catch. But taste as you go, and fish them out with a slotted spoon as they are done, letting them cool in a bowl. The liquid will go quite murky but that’s to be expected, so don’t be alarmed.

Whisk together the oil and lemon juice, and add the finely chopped chillies. Pour this mixture over the cooled seafood and add the celery and chopped parsley, mixing everything together thoroughly. Check the seasoning and add salt if necessary. Add enough of the cooled stock to cover the salad so that it macerates completely covered in juice.

Keep in the fridge and let the flavours develop for at least a couple of hours; after a day, this will really come into its own, though. Spoon out excess liquid, if there is any, drizzle over a little more olive oil if you like, and sprinkle over a bit more chopped parsley.

Serves 6–8.

SALT COD FRITTERS

I can’t pretend these aren’t fiddly to make, but they aren’t hard. The most taxing thing really is that you have to remember to start soaking the salt cod 24 hours before you want to cook it, and you do have to change the water regularly (just pour out then replace the water every time you think of it, or about four times during the whole soaking period). A friend of mine once told me that the best way of soaking salt cod was by sitting it in the lavatory cistern, so that everytime someone flushes you get a change of water. I wanted to try this but the protestations in my household when I suggested it, were simply not worth putting up with. I can’t quite see the problem, though, since you’re hardly soaking the fish in the water from the lavatory bowl, but the fresh water kept in the cistern. Still, perhaps you’ll have more luck.

500g salt cod, soaked for 24 hours, changing the water regularly

500g maincrop potatoes, peeled and quartered

600ml milk

2 bay leaves

1 egg, beaten

4 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

quarter onion, finely grated, to give about 2 tablespoons

1 clove garlic, finely grated

black pepper

sunflower oil for frying

Drain the salt cod and put it in a saucepan with the potatoes, covering both with the milk. Add the bay leaves and bring to the boil, cooking everything for 8–10 minutes, or until the salt cod’s tender, then lift it out. Let the potatoes cook for a further 20 minutes.

Let the cod cool slightly, until you can remove any bones without burning your fingers, then flake the fish into a bowl and beat it to threads with a fork or whisk, or even easier still, with the paddle attachment of a free-standing mixer. Drain the potatoes and add them to the fish, mashing them with the beater again. Or you can just push both through the coarse disc of a food mill.

Stir in the beaten egg, chopped parsley, grated onion, garlic and black pepper, adding a little of the poaching liquid to make a smooth mixture. Then shape, using two spoons, into quenelles or lozengey forms. Place these on baking sheets, lined with clingfilm (so they don’t stick), and sit them in the fridge to cool completely before you fry them. This helps them hold their shape.

Heat some oil in a frying pan to make a layer of about 1cm, and drop in the fritters a few at a time. Cook, turning as necessary, until golden on all sides, and drain on kitchen paper.

Makes about 20.

THAI CRUMBLED BEEF IN LETTUCE WRAPS

Given that I made this out of my head rather than out of a book, I don’t know how authentically Thai it is, but I do know it’s authentically wonderful. What I was after was that first course (among many) I always order in Thai restaurants, of crumbled meat, quite dry, sour-sharp with chilli, which you eat by scooping with crunchy, boat-shaped lettuce leaves.

One of the joys of this, in my version at any rate, is how easy and quick it is to make. If you’re having people over to dinner midweek, you could make this as a first course before a plain roast chicken and provide a full-on dinner with next to no effort. Mind you, as a meal in its entirety, for three or four of you, it takes some beating, too. Reduce quantities (or not) for a five-minute supper for one.

You may need to be rather brutal with the lettuce as you tear the leaves off to provide the edible wrappers for the beef, which is why I specify one to two icebergs. If you want to perk the leaves up a little, making sure they curve into appropriate repositories for later, leave them in a sinkful of very cold water while you cook the minced beef, then make sure you drain them well before piling them up on their plate.

1 teaspoon vegetable oil

2 red birdeye chillies, finely chopped

375g beef mince

scant tablespoon Thai fish sauce

4 spring onions, dark green bits removed, finely chopped

zest and juice of 1 lime

3–4 tablespoons chopped fresh coriander

1–2 iceberg lettuces

Put the oil in a non-stick frying pan on medium heat and when warm add the finely chopped chillies and cook for a couple of minutes, stirring occasionally. It’s wiser not to leave the pan, as you don’t want them to burn. Add the beef, turn up the heat and, breaking up the mince with a wooden spoon or fork, cook for 3 or 4 minutes till no trace of pink remains. Add the fish sauce and, still stirring, cook till the liquid’s evaporated. Off the heat, stir in the spring onions, zest and juice of the lime and most of the coriander. Turn into a bowl, and sprinkle over the remaining coriander just before serving.

Arrange the iceberg lettuce leaves on another plate – they should sit one on top of another easily enough – and let people indulge in a little DIY at the table, filling cold crisp leaves with spoonfuls of sharp, spicy, hot, crumbled meat.

Serves 6.

RICE PAPER ROLLS

I’ll be honest with you: I had longed to make some version of these little rolls for years but either essential laziness or fear that they would be frighteningly complicated put me off. Now that I’ve made them, I can’t quite see what I was on about. Fiddly they may be, but I think they must be one of the easiest recipes to make in the whole book. And also one of the loveliest: there is something about the light, unwheatenness of rice pasta (which in effect these sheets just are) and the bundles of fresh herbs within that make them compulsive and uplifting eating. You can, and this is how I ate them first in a Vietnamese restaurant, add some cooked prawns and cooled, stir-fried chopped pork along with the herbs and rice vermicelli, but I can’t honestly see that you need to.

You can often find the rice pancakes, or rice sheets (emphatically not rice paper) in the supermarket. If you’re unlucky in this respect, you will have to track down an Asian store, which offers a gastro-reward of its own.

100g rice vermicelli

1 tablespoon rice vinegar

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 tablespoon Thai fish sauce

bunch fresh mint, roughly chopped

bunch fresh Thai basil, roughly chopped

half a cucumber, cut into thin batons

6 spring onions, finely sliced

12 rice pancakes

soy sauce for serving (optional)

Soak the vermicelli according to the instructions on the packet, and drain once the translucent threads are rehydrated.