French Provincial Cooking - Elizabeth David [155]
Cooked in this way the leeks, instead of having that seaweed-like look and texture which they acquire from being overcooked in water, retain a certain crispness and all their flavour. Served cold, this dish also makes a good hors-d’œuvre.
POIREAUX AU VIN ROUGE
LEEKS WITH RED WINE
Unexpectedly, perhaps, when wine is to be used in the cooking of leeks, the French always use red rather than white wine.
Choose small leeks, all of a size. Having cut them down almost to the white part and cleaned them thoroughly, put them side by side in a frying-pan in which you have heated 3 or 4 tablespoons of olive oil. As soon as they have taken colour on one side, turn them over. Season with very little salt. Pour over them, for 1 lb. of leeks, a wineglass of red wine (look out for the spluttering), let it bubble, add 2 tablespoons of good meat stock, or water if no stock is available, cover the pan and cook at a moderate pace for 7 to 10 minutes, turning the leeks over once during the process. They are done when a skewer pierces the root end quite easily. Put the leeks on a shallow oval dish, cook the sauce another few seconds until reduced and pour it over the leeks.
Serve hot as a separate vegetable course, or cold as an hors-d’œuvre. This is an example of a dish for which one would not buy wine specially, but which is delicious if you happen to have a glass to spare. It is a dish of particularly beautiful appearance, with the green of the leeks and the dark purple of the wine sauce.
PIMENTS DOUX FARCIS AU RIZ
SWEET PEPPERS STUFFED WITH RICE
Stuffed sweet peppers, whether in France, Italy, England or anywhere else, very often become a very heavy and stodgy dish. The common mistake is to cram the peppers too full with too solid and rich a mixture.
This recipe, said to be of Corsican origin, makes a good dish to serve as a hot first course, and shows how small a quantity of stuffing is necessary for peppers.
Ingredients are 4 large red or green sweet peppers, 1 teacup of rice, olive oil, lemon juice, 2 to 3 tablespoons of finely-chopped parsley mixed with a little marjoram or wild thyme, salt and freshly-milled pepper. Boil the rice, keeping it a little undercooked. Drain and season it; stir in the parsley mixture, some lemon juice and a little olive oil. Cut the peppers in half lengthways. Remove all the core and seeds and rinse the peppers under running cold water to make sure that no single seed is left. Put 2 tablespoons of the rice mixture into each half pepper; pour a film of olive oil into a shallow baking dish, put in the stuffed peppers, cover them and cook in a gentle oven, Gas No. 3, 330 deg. F., for about an hour. From time to time baste the peppers with the oil in the dish, adding more if necessary. The rice should remain moist, and no hard crust should form on the top. There should be ample for four.
The dish is usually served hot but is also good cold as an hors-d’œuvre.
POIVRONS À LA CORSOISE
SWEET PEPPERS STEWED WITH TOMATOES
Cut a slice from the stalk ends of two sweet red or green peppers; extract the cores and seeds. Rinse the peppers to get rid of any lurking seeds; cut them in narrow strips; fry them gently in a little olive oil in a covered pan for 10 minutes; add a sliced clove of garlic, 1 lb. of skinned and chopped tomatoes, several dried basil leaves, salt and pepper. Cook until the whole mixture is a fairly thick purée. Enough for three or four.
Serve with sausages, fried chicken or eggs.
Poivrons is the alternative French name for sweet peppers.
LES POIS CHICHES
CHICK PEAS
The method of cooking dried chick peas is described in the soup recipe on page 164.
For those who have a taste