The Vicar’s Wife’s Cook Book. Elisa Beynon
put them into a 1.5-litre serving bowl. Slosh on the booze, then put the marmalade in a small pan, warm gently and pour that over the panettone, too. Finely grate the zest of 1 of the oranges and put it in a bowl. Shave off the zest from the remaining 2 oranges with a potato peeler, cover, and set aside for decoration. Now take a thin slice off the top and bottom of each orange, sit them one at a time on a chopping board and carefully slice away all the skin and white pith – which is one of those jobs that everybody hates.
Then slice away the segments from between the pieces of membrane and cut each one in half. Put the apricots into a small pan with the jam, water and the 1 tablespoon of sugar and poach gently for 10 minutes or until just tender, then mix into the finely grated zest with the orange pieces. Pour the whole lot over the Cointreau-sloshed panettone base.
Now for the custard. As a child I hated two things: custard and boys. The first, because it was too sloppy; the second, because they weren’t sloppy enough (that is, for all non-Welsh readers, they weren’t much into kissing and the like). Anyway, I love both now, so custard here we come. In a large pan, heat up the milk and 300ml of the cream. Meanwhile, whisk together the egg yolks, vanilla seeds or extract, the sugar and cornflour in a big bowl. Once the milky cream is hot, add it gradually to the egg mixture, whisking all the time. Pour it back into the pan, the heat turned to low, and stir constantly until it has thickened enough to coat the back of a spoon. Pour it through a sieve on top of the fruity stuff already in your serving bowl. Cover and let it cool for a few hours or overnight in the fridge.
When you are ready to serve, whip up the rest of the double cream and smear it over the top of the custard. Once you have sprinkled over the almonds and pieces of reserved orange zest, it’s at last time to dig in.
A different sort of Sunday
I have to confess that I do like a big slab of meat on my plate on a Sunday, but there is no reason not to play the wild card now and then. Here, I offer a showcase for crab; in this recipe its delicate freshness is offset by the rich fruitiness of the tomato and the indulgent creamy sauces.
The pudding is equally a picture of elegance: passion fruit may look ugly when uncut, but once opened it releases a mound of tiny, glinting, flavour-packed jewels, with a heady fragrance.
PAVLOVAS WITH PASSION FRUIT CURD AND CREAM
A cheap and cheerful version of this, which is more suitable for a simple midweek supper, could be to replace the crabmeat with tinned tuna or salmon. A dish the children will love …
200g fresh white crabmeat
juice of ½ lemon
3 teaspoons lemon-infused olive oil
a pinch of cayenne pepper
salt and pepper
a handful of fresh basil leaves, shredded
250g fresh egg lasagne sheets
For the tomato sauce:
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, peeled and finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
1 × 400g tin chopped tomatoes
2 teaspoons caster or granulated sugar
juice of ½ lemon
salt and pepper
For the cheese sauce:
1 onion, peeled and halved
6 cloves
900ml full-fat milk
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon black peppercorns
60g butter
60g plain flour
4 tablespoons double cream
120g finely grated Parmesan or Cheddar cheese, plus 30g Parmesan to sprinkle on the top
2 egg yolks
salt and pepper
For the cheese sauce, stud the onion with the cloves and put it in a pan with the milk, bay leaves and black peppercorns. Bring the milk to the boil, take the pan off the heat and set aside for 20 minutes to allow the flavours to infuse.
Meanwhile, get cracking on the tomato sauce. Heat the oil in a medium-sized pan and add the onion. Cook for a few minutes until softened then add the garlic and cook for 5 minutes more, taking care the contents of the pan don’t brown. Add the tomatoes and sugar and simmer gently for 15–20 minutes, stirring now and then, until reduced and thickened. Squeeze in the lemon juice, add some salt and pepper and spoon the sauce over the base of a rectangular, ovenproof dish (around 30cm x 20cm and 5cm deep) in which the cannelloni will fit side by side in two parallel rows.
For the cannelloni filling, mix the crabmeat together with the lemon juice, lemon oil, cayenne pepper and salt and pepper. Finally, stir through the basil.
Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil. Drop in the sheets of lasagne one at a time and leave in there for 5 minutes. (I know fresh pasta is supposed to be ‘ready-to-roll’, as it were, but it can often be a bit stiff. Here, you want to be sure the sheets are floppy and pliable, especially as they are encasing the deliciously delicate crab.) Drain the pasta well, place the sheets side by side on a large piece of clingfilm and leave to cool. Spoon some of the crab filling along one short edge of each sheet and roll up. Arrange the cannelloni seam-side down on top of the tomato sauce. Preheat the oven to 200°C/Gas Mark 6. Bring the milk back to the boil, then strain it into a jug. Melt the butter in a pan, add the flour and cook over a medium heat for 1 minute. Gradually beat in the milk and bring it to the boil, stirring, then leave to simmer very gently over a low heat for 5 minutes, giving it a stir every now and then. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the cream, 120g of the cheese, the egg yolks and salt and pepper to taste. Pour the cheese sauce over the cannelloni, sprinkle over the rest of the cheese and bake for 30 minutes until golden. Serve with a salad and maybe some bread.
Mini Pavlovas with Passion Fruit Curd and Cream
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