The Vicar’s Wife’s Cook Book. Elisa Beynon
SALAD WITH BROAD BEANS AND GOAT’S CHEESE
Salmon Stuffed with Herbs and Garlic
4 spring onions, trimmed and finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
25g, flatleaf parsley, chopped
1½ tablespoons tarragon, chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
salt and pepper
1 whole salmon (about 2kg)
big handful of dill, chopped
200ml soured cream
1 large bunch of asparagus, trimmed
knob of butter (optional)
3 lemons
Preheat the oven to 160°C/Gas Mark 3. Combine the spring onions, garlic, parsley, tarragon and oil in a bowl and season well. Place the fish on a large piece of foil that has been lightly brushed with oil and stuff the cavity with the spring onion and herb mixture. Wrap the fish up in the foil and pleat the edges together to make a good seal. Place the fish parcel on a large baking tray so that the foil pleat is at the top when it goes in the oven. Put it in the oven: if the salmon is over 2.5kg, cook for 10 minutes per 450g and add 10 minutes to the cooking time; if it weighs less than that, cook for 15 minutes per 450g, then add 15 minutes. In my oven it took 1 hour and 10 minutes to reach lightly cooked perfection.
If I were you, I’d open the top of the foil and start sticking a knife in the middle as the cooking time reaches its final stages. The flesh should be opaque but still moist, and the fish should come away from the bones easily. It’d be a shame to have spent good money on a beautiful fresh salmon for it to end up overcooked and only fit to feed people at wedding receptions. (Some wedding caterers seem to be able to squeeze moistness out of a salmon with the skill that house-proud types wring out their dishcloths.)
Next, mix the dill with the soured cream and add lots of salt and pepper. This potion is to be smeared on the salmon and potatoes alike whilst you are eating.
Shortly before the salmon is ready, cook the asparagus. You can either boil it in salted water or steam it, but either way it should take about 3–5 minutes. Drain and toss with some salt and pepper and maybe a small knob of butter.
Once the salmon is ready, remove it from the foil parcel and put it on a big serving plate. If you have fiddled a lot with it to test if it’s ready whilst it was in the oven, remove the skin and make sure the other side is facing upwards, otherwise people will think a cat’s been at it. Remove the rest of the skin and the head, if seeing them would put your guests off their food. Squeeze the juice of 1 lemon over the fish and cut the other 2 into quarters. Arrange the asparagus around and over the fish, along with the lemon quarters. Serve the salmon with the salad, roasted baby potatoes and creamy dill sauce. The eating of it reduced four people with chatty Welsh blood in their veins to silence. Well, almost.
500g baby new potatoes
3 tablespoons olive oil
salt and pepper
Whilst the salmon is cooking, wash the potatoes, or scrape them, if you prefer. I am lucky in that I have two ovens, so I cooked them in a small roasting tin, bathed in olive oil, at 200°C/Gas Mark 6 for 1 hour. If you haven’t got two ovens, then just serve boiled potatoes, cooked for 20–25 minutes or until just tender. When they are ready, they need an abundance of salt and pepper.
Green Salad with Broad Beans and Goat’s Cheese
The Vicar would never choose to eat broad beans, so I sneak them into his summer meals as subtly as I can. For me, they ooze nostalgia, conjuring up happily shared conspiracies with my long-gone father. He would pick them from the garden, my mother would cook them, and then he and I would eat a big plate full of them, all by themselves, secretly slathering them in butter when my mother wasn’t looking.
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
a pinch of mustard powder
salt and pepper
2 handfuls of broad beans
600g green leaves (I used baby spinach, rocket and watercress)
50g Chèvre cheese, crumbled into small chunks
First, combine the oil, vinegar, mustard powder and seasoning together in a small bowl. Next, cook the beans in boiling salted water for 1–2 minutes or until tender, then drain them, tip them into a serving bowl and add the dressing while they are still hot. Leave them like this until you are ready to serve. Add the salad leaves and Chèvre and toss together well.
This is a make-ahead dessert. If you are planning on eating it for lunch you could still prepare it in the morning, but it would make your day more relaxed if you don’t. I made mine the afternoon before, when I had a rare moment of kitchen quiet.
5 slices of panettone, cut about 1.5 cm thick
6 tablespoons Cointreau
2 large tablespoons good-quality marmalade (I bought breakfast marmalade from my butcher but thick-cut, quality marmalade is fine – something like Frank Cooper’s)
3 oranges
5 fresh apricots
1 tablespoon apricot jam
1 tablespoon water
75g caster sugar, plus 1 tablespoon
250ml full-fat milk
500ml double cream
6 egg yolks
seeds from 1 vanilla pod, or a few drops of vanilla extract
1 teaspoon cornflour
1 tablespoon flaked almonds, lightly toasted
First, break up the