BOOK/A TABLE - A Simple Supper

When I’m fed up with take-out options (and delivery fees!) and don’t crave anything in particular, but still feel the need to be fed, I start freezer-diving, sifting through the bergs of various meats to see what’s available for supper. Following the selection of a worthy protein, I then try to utilize one of the cookbooks lining our kitchen shelves to find a recipe that features ingredients we already have on hand. 

In these last-minute instances, I don’t want to run out to the grocery store of course or make anything overly complicated: chicken breasts from the freezer and my good old reliable Barbara Pym Cookbook won a recent round.

I ended up making fragrant Chicken Tarragon, served with a side of canned lentils, and unboxed some Jell-O chocolate pudding for a finish. It was as simple as you’d suppose, and oh-so-tasty.

The lentils can be prepared with a bit of simmered white wine or broth, garlic, and a bay leaf thrown in, but if you have time and the inclination, try these gorgeous Lentilles du Puy. Should you wish to think outside of the Jell-O box, look to this Mousse au Chocolat.

From Barbara Pym’s Excellent Women, Mrs. Bone speaks most vividly of The Dominion of the Birds, that apocalyptic scenario where our avian friends end up ruling the roost: “I very much fear it may come to that...I eat as many birds as possible,” said Mrs. Bone when we were sitting down to roast chicken. “I have them sent from Harrods or Fortnum’s, and I sometimes go and look at them in the cold meats department. They do them up very prettily with aspic jelly and decorations. At least we can eat our enemies.”

Chew on that. Delicious!

 

 
Chicken with Tarragon
Ingredients
One chicken, cut into 8 pieces (I just used two chicken breasts)
3 tablespoons butter or oil
One small onion, chopped
One tablespoon flour
One glass white wine
Half cup chicken stock
Finely chopped tarragon leaves to taste (dried worked out well)
Salt and pepper to taste

Method
Sauteed chicken pieces in butter or oil until lightly browned. Removed to a platter and keep warm period in the same pan, sauteed chopped onion, stir in flour, and cook 2 to 3 minutes. Add wine, stock, tarragon, and seasonings. Cook to reduce somewhat. Return chicken pieces to pan, cover, and simmer in sauce 20 minutes. To serve, place chicken pieces on a platter and pour sauce over.

BOOK/A TABLE - Silky Carrot Soup with Orange

 

Barbara’s back! Barbara Pym, that is. Having just made the beef bourguinon from The Barbara Pym Cookbook, I happened upon her recipe for Carrot Soup with Orange. Carrots remind me of rabbits, which make me think of Easter and naturally too, of springtime. So I thought this extraordinally flavored, silky, and simply made carrot soup would be perfect for the spring season and Easter’s imminent arrival!

I used rainbow carrots and the purple variety made the soup a little darker, but ordinary carrots will shine even more vibrantly on your table. 

“I thought perhaps a cold meal, but I’ve made one of my soups,” Leonora was saying, “just for your first evening back.”  —The Sweet Dove Died by Barbara Pym

Carrot Soup with Orange
Ingredients:
1 lb carrots, chopped
1 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
4 tablespoons oil or melted butter
4 cups chicken or vegetable stock
Salt and pepper to taste
Juice of 2 oranges
Grated rind of 1 orange
1 teaspoon brown sugar

Method:
Cook the carrots, onion, and garlic in oil or butter until softened, about 10 minutes. Add the stock, season, and simmer until tender. Puree in a blender or put through a sieve. Add the orange juice and grated rind, and return to stove. Reheat, add sugar, taste, and adjust seasoning. Serve quite hot.

BOOK/A TABLE - Barbara's Bourguignon

 

I previously posted a recipe for a classic—and heavy—beef bourguinon here. The French stew is certainly a sumptuous treat, ideal for winter hibernation. But as we tip-toe toward spring, I’d like to offer a lighter version of a warming bourguinon, perfect for those chilly days that pop up occasionally.

This bourguinon is courtesy of The Barbara Pym Cookbook and unique in that the beef is marinated overnight. It’s simple to prepare and just listen to the young clergyman Basil Branche in Pym’s An Unsuitable Attachment wax romantic as he speaks of the dish:

“Imparadised in one another’s arms,” as Milton put it, Basil went on. “Or encasseroled, perhaps—the bay leaf resting on the boeuf bourguignon.”

I hope you enjoy Barbara’s beef bourguinon—or more properly, Boeuf à la Bourguignonne, beef in the style of Burgundy!

P.S. The Burgundy wine I planned to use was wildly expensive, so I went with a more reasonable Côtes du Rhône that did the trick for less than twenty bucks. 

Boeuf Bourguinon

Ingredients:

1 lb braising or stewing beef, cut and cubes
1 onion, sliced
1 carrot, diced
1 bay leaf
Thyme and whole peppercorns to taste
2 tablespoons oil
2 glasses red wine
Flour
Butter or margarine
½ pound button mushrooms
4 oz bacon, diced
12 small onions, peeled

Method:
Marinate meat, onion slices, carrot, and herbs for 24 hours in oil and wine. Strain marinade and reserve it, discarding solids. Pat meat dry, roll cubes in flour, and sauté in butter or margarine until browned. Place meat in a stewpan. Sauté mushrooms, bacon, and whole onions in butter, then add to beef. Pour reserved marinade all over, cover, and simmer 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

 

BOOK/A TABLE - Victorious Victoria Cake

“Under certain circumstances there are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea. There are circumstances in which, whether you partake of the tea or not—some people of course never do—the situation is in itself delightful.”

So begins The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James. I’ve always admired the gentle ritual of the British tea; the pause that refreshes, like a siesta—but with caffeine—and have enjoyed an afternoon or two steeped in civilization at The Ritz in London and The Plaza in New York.

But what is tea without cake? This heavenly Victoria Sandwich Cake courtesy of Barbara Pym is stuffed with raspberry jam and might well be the queen of all teatimes. With only a few ingredients and a modicum of effort, you can emerge victorious when serving this dessert any hour, even at midnight, to yourself. 

Victoria Sandwich Cake

Adapted from The Barbara Pym Cookbook

(My suggestions in italics)

Ingredients:

12 tablespoons (180g) butter

1 cup (180 g) castor or superfine sugar

Vanilla extract

3 eggs

1 cup (180g) self-rising flour

Raspberry jam (go nuts and break from tradition with strawberry jam!)

Method:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). 

Beat butter and sugar together until light and creamy. Add a few drops of vanilla extract and beat in eggs, one at a time. Sift flour, and fold into batter gently.

Put the mixture into two 7-inch ( 18 cm) sandwich tins that have been greased and dusted with flour. Bake 17 to 20 minutes (I used one 8-inch tin and baked for 30 minutes. Tent with foil if browning too much), until done.

To sandwich, spread slices with raspberry jam, layer, and sprinkle tops with castor or superfine sugar.  

BOOK/A TABLE - Chicken Fricassée

I love Elizabeth Taylor with the heat of a thousand burning suns. I don’t mean the actress (great as she was)—I’m talking about the British author Elizabeth Taylor who wrote mostly in the 50s and 60s and travels on the same spiritual sister plane as Barbara Pym and Iris Murdoch. I’m not sure how I discovered Taylor exactly, but Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont was the first book of hers I read, probably her most well-known, before I made it a mission to read the rest of them!

Taylor writes about private domestic disasters, the little tremors that occur in our everyday interactions; turning an afternoon tea, for example, into a hollow den of restlessness or unrequited love with the stroke of a pen. “Even the humdrum becomes astonishing,” the Daily Telegraph noted even as she was being recognized as one of the greatest writers of the last century. Novelist Valerie Martin puts it perfectly: “Elizabeth Taylor is the thinking person’s dangerous housewife.” 

See how Taylor’s character Edwina fares over lunch with a chicken fricassée from In a Summer Season:

“It was surprising that she, to whom social occasions meant so much, should never have been able to master the art of being a hostess. At meal-times, even with just the family, she became as uncertain as a young bride, quite obviously checked the table to see if all was there that should be, bothered the maid, lost the thread of conversation, became absent-minded when dishes were brought in and stared anxiously and silently as Kate helped herself to some chicken fricassee.”

To find out what’s fracturing Edwina’s soul, you’ll just have to read the book. Otherwise, enjoy this marvelous chicken fricassée and see what else Elizabeth Taylor’s got cooking in her remarkable books!

Chicken Fricassée
Adapted from recipetineats.com

(My comments in italics)

Ingredients
CHICKEN
4 chicken drumsticks
4 chicken thighs, skin-on and bone-in (try doubling the tasty thighs, instead of using drumsticks) 
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
4 tbsp unsalted butter

STEW INGREDIENTS
10 oz white mushrooms, halved if small, or cut in 4 to 6 if large
2 medium yellow onions, sliced (1/2 in) wide
2 garlic cloves, finely minced
1 bay leaf, fresh or dried
3 thyme sprigs (or 1/2 tsp dried thyme)
3 tbsp flour, plain/all-purpose
1/2 cup white wine, preferably chardonnay
3 cups chicken stock , low sodium
1/4 tsp salt (cooking/kosher salt)
1/4 tsp black pepper
2 tbsp parsley, chopped
2/3 cup thickened/heavy cream (substitute evaporated skim milk to lighten things up!)

Instructions
Pat chicken dry with paper towels then sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Melt butter over medium-high heat in a large skillet or heavy based pot with a lid. Add chicken thighs, skin side down, and cook for 4 to 5 minutes until golden brown. Turn and cook the other side for 1 minute then remove to a plate.
Then brown the drumsticks--on 3 sides, about 2 minutes each. Then remove from skillet.
Add mushrooms, onion, bay leave and thyme. Cook for 5 minutes until mushroom is lightly golden.
Add garlic and stir for 30 seconds. Add flour and cook for 1 minute.
Add wine and chicken stock. Stir, scraping the base of the pot to dissolve the brown residue stuck to the pan ("fond") into the sauce.
Return chicken back into the sauce with the skin side up.
Simmer covered 10 minutes: Once it comes to a simmer, medium-low. Cover with lid and simmer 10 minutes.
Remove lid and let it simmer for a further 20 minutes. Chicken will be cooked – internal temperature 75°C/167°F or slightly higher.
Remove chicken to a plate. Add cream to sauce and stir. Once it comes up to a simmer, taste sauce and add more salt if desired.
Return chicken into the sauce then remove from the stove. Sprinkle with parsley and serve!

And how about the gorgeous book cover art? I think Sarah Maycock is absolutely tremendous. 

BOOK/A TABLE - Venetian Pancakes

 

I’d like to tell you about my secret love affair with British authoress Barbara Pym. I’m not sure how we met, but in the last year I have delighted in the companionship of all of her wonderful books.

The stories (written mostly in the 50’s; a few posthumously published) are deceptively simple, revolving around the goings-on in small English villages—like Agatha Christie, but without the murder—and involve above all, I think, the little earthquakes we all experience in our daily lives and our attempts to connect to others and reveal what is in our hearts. 

In the meantime, there are one’s concerns about the handsome new vicar, jumble sales and sherry parties, which character will wind up with whom—and how they all come together to eat!

I recently discovered both Barbara’s sister Hilary Pym and Honor Wyatt published The Barbara Pym Cookbook, compiling actual recipes that Barbara made and featured in her books. I’ve enjoyed making many of these dishes myself, so look here for further posts about what to serve at your next supper or afternoon tea. 

Try using these thin Venetian pancakes (like crepes!) to layer in your favorite lasagna recipe instead of pasta sheets—or butter them up with cinnamon and sugar for a different kind of treat. As Sybil Forsythe remarks in A Glass of Blessings, they needn’t be “thin enough to read a love letter through.”

Venetian Pancakes
Adapted from The Barbara Pym Cookbook

Ingredients:

2 eggs
1 cup milk
1 cup flour, sifted

Method:
Beat together eggs and milk, then add to flour and stir just to combine. Spread a thin amount at a time on a lightly greased griddle or in a skillet and cook through. Slide your pancake out on a plate and repeat. Makes six or seven large, thin pancakes.

Do enjoy!