Bruce’s Cookbook. Bruce Poole
peeled and chopped
2 sticks of celery, chopped
3 bay leaves
½ bunch of fresh thyme
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
12 spears of asparagus, woody ends cut off, lightly peeled
good-quality olive oil
1 lemon
Place the ham hock alone in a pan in which all the ingredients (minus the asparagus, which I hope is obvious) will fit comfortably. Cover with cold water and bring to a simmer. Skim and taste the water – if it is too salty, throw out the water and start again. If it is fine, add the chopped vegetables, the bay leaves and thyme. Bring back to a simmer and poach very gently until the meat has softened and is almost falling from the bone – a couple of hours or so. This can be cooked the day before, if liked. Allow the ham to cool in its liquor.
While the hock is still warm, pull the meat from the bone in pieces that respect the naturally elongated nature of the meat. Look out for the nasty needle of cartilage and chuck this out together with the other osseous matter. Do not discard the softened, gelatinous skin, but reserve separately. Also reserve the liquor. Keep the whole lot warm or, if preparing the day before, gently reheat the meat and skin on a plate in a low oven for 5–10 minutes before finishing the dish. If the skin is particularly fatty, scrape off most of the fat with a spoon. Slice the skin into long thin strips rather like a skinny pencil. I admit that the skin is not everybody’s cup of tea – I love it – so if it doesn’t appeal, by all means leave it out.
When you are ready to serve the salad, have a large pan of well-salted water at a rolling boil. Throw in the asparagus and cook until the thick part of the shaft is pierced easily by the tip of a sharp knife. This will not take long at all if the water is seething furiously enough, about 3 minutes. (Few things are as depressing in the kitchen as overcooked asparagus.) Lift out the asparagus with a slotted spoon and drain on a cloth.
Working quickly, combine the warm asparagus with a little of the warmed ham liquor (2 dessertspoons only should do the trick), a slug of olive oil and a few drops of lemon juice. Season with sea salt and pepper. Divide the asparagus spears evenly and in the same direction on plates. Spoon a little of the liquor and olive oil over. Arrange the ham pieces on top, together with a couple of strips of the skin, if using. A generous dollop of sauce gribiche to one side completes the picture. Serve immediately.
Salad of lettuce hearts with shallots, baguette wafers and herbs
This is essentially a very smart and elegant green salad. In fact, so elegant that it would feel completely at ease as the starter to a very grand dinner party. The point is, a really well and carefully prepared green salad takes some beating and another benefit is that it is a very rare thing indeed. Don’t be tempted to try this recipe by substituting the leaves specified here with a bag of supermarket salad. That will not do at all. It is also an extravagant dish because only the lettuce hearts are used, but as the salads themselves are not prohibitively expensive, that should not be too much of a consideration, I hope. This is a light starter, so perhaps best followed by a richly satisfying main course.
Serves 4 as a starter
15–20cm piece of fresh baguette
1 clove of garlic, peeled and finely minced
olive oil
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp freshly picked thyme leaves
1 head of lollo rosso
1 head of curly frisée
1 head of oak leaf lettuce
2 Little Gems or 1 romaine heart
2 large shallots, peeled and very finely chopped
1 small bunch of fresh tarragon, leaves picked and roughly chopped
1 small bunch of fresh flat-leaf parsley, leaves picked and chopped
Place the baguette in the freezer for about 45 minutes until it is semi-frozen. Set the oven to 150°C. With a very sharp, serrated knife, slice the bread into the thinnest possible slices – ideally wafer-thin so that you can see through them. (You will require 12–16 wafers in total – you may get more depending on the size of baguette.) Place the wafers carefully on a wire rack, itself placed on a baking sheet. Place the garlic in a teacup and barely cover it with olive oil. Using a pastry brush, paint the wafers lightly with the garlic oil and season with a touch of salt and pepper. Remember, the wafers are thin and will not require much seasoning. Sprinkle on the thyme leaves and bake in the oven until golden – about 20 minutes or so. Remove from the oven and allow to return to room temperature. Set aside.
Cut out the core from the salad heads and remove the outer leaves. (We use these for staff dinner at the restaurant and they are perfectly good, although not required here.) It is only the smallest, crispest inner leaves or hearts that we are after. The leaves should be kept whole and be no more than 6–8cm in length. Pick through all the lettuces in this way and wash the salad hearts in plenty of cold water. Drain them and spin dry, or simply leave them in a large colander for 20 minutes or so.
Place the drained salad hearts in a roomy glass bowl. Add the chopped shallots and herbs and season with a little sea salt and pepper. Dress with the vinaigrette and toss the whole lot together lightly and quickly.
Divide the salad between the plates, remembering that one of the most important ingredients of a good salad is air. Try to achieve height and lightness to the salad. Lightly break the wafers over the salads, add an extra sparing drizzle of olive oil and serve immediately.
Grilled courgette salad
This is slightly time consuming, as each thin slice of courgette requires grilling and one is usually short of grilling space in the domestic kitchen. A barbecue is useful here, or alternatively a couple of large non-stick frying pans. The courgettes also need constant attention, as they grill and burn fairly quickly.
Allow one small courgette per person as a salad. This is also very good with lamb kebabs or in a souvlaki or somesuch. In that case, one courgette would serve three. A mandolin is required for this recipe.
Serves 4 as a light starter or side salad
4 courgettes, topped and tailed
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 dsp red wine vinegar
caster sugar, to taste
1 clove of garlic, peeled and minced
olive oil
1 small bunch of fresh mint, leaves picked and chopped
Thinly slice the courgettes lengthways on the mandolin. The slices should be about 2mm. Place them all in a roomy colander and season with salt, rubbing the seasoning through the courgettes with your hands. Leave for 1 hour and then dry the courgettes thoroughly on absorbent kitchen paper.
Heat one or two large non-stick pans over a high heat for 2–3 minutes. When the pans are really hot, cook the courgettes without any oil, without overcrowding the pan. The courgette slices should be completely flat in the pan and not overlapping. Turn the slices with tongs when they have singed and blackened slightly. When cooked, transfer to a large mixing bowl and continue to cook the remaining courgettes.
When the whole lot are cooked, add the vinegar, a generous pinch of caster sugar and the garlic. Combine well with your hands. Add plenty of pepper, a slug of olive oil and the chopped mint. Combine well and serve. This salad does not keep well, as the courgettes will become soggy and mushy with time.
Crushed new potato salad
This is a good alternative to the ubiquitous mayonnaise-based potato salad. It should really be served warm, but not hot, and therefore