French Provincial Cooking - Elizabeth David [84]
PAIN GRILLÉ AUX ANCHOIS or ANCHOÏADE
Pound 2 cloves of garlic in a mortar, then add the contents of two 2 oz. tins of flat anchovies in olive oil, and pound them to a rough paste. Thin with olive oil, about a tablespoon, added gradually, and a few drops of vinegar. Toast 8 rather thick slices of bread on one side only. While it is still hot spread the anchovy paste on the untoasted side with a fork, pressing it well down into the bread. Heat in a fast oven for 3 or 4 minutes. This is not so much an hors-d’œuvre as the sort of thing to get ready quickly any time when you are hungry and want something to go with a glass of wine (after you have eaten it you may no longer be hungry, but you will certainly be thirsty).
There are many versions of anchoïade, and all sorts of things can be added, such as black olives, a few drops of cognac, a pounded tomato or a little concentrated tomato paste. (If whole anchovies in brine are being used, allow 6 oz. Skin and bone them, divide them into fillets and de-salt them in warm water for half an hour.) It is by no means an everyday dish, but like so many dishes which one forgets about for months at a time, when one wants it one feels that nothing else will quite do. Rustic and coarse though it is, anchoïade was not disdained by the famous Caramello who presided over the kitchens of the Réserve at Beaulieu, for years the best known restaurant on the coast, and then went to the Réserve at Monte Carlo. Expensive, solid, elegant in an old-fashioned way, the comfortable restaurant of this hotel used to provide unusually good food on a lavish scale. The anchoïade here was outstandingly good and I remember, in spite of the immense portions served, ordering, much to the amusement of the head waiter, a second helping. When I returned to the restaurant a few days later, he was ready with my double portion of anchoïade before I had even asked for it.
CERISES A L’AIGRE-DOUX
SWEET-SOUR CHERRIES
For each pound of morello cherries (the bright red bitter cherries which come into season in August) use 6 oz. of white sugar, 12 fl. oz. of wine vinegar and 6 whole cloves. Leave an inch or so of stalk on the cherries, discard any that are at all damaged or bruised and pack the rest into wide preserving jars, filling them about three-quarters full.
Boil the vinegar, sugar and cloves together for 10 minutes. Leave until cold and then pour over the cherries. Screw down the tops, and leave for a month before opening.
Served like olives, these sweet-sour cherries are delicious as part of a mixed hors-d’œuvre, and are obviously a useful standby, for they will keep for a year.
Although not, one would think, a typical French recipe, I first came across these cherries served as an hors-d’œuvre at la Mère Germaine’s11 at Chateauneuf du Pape. The hors-d’œuvre are beautifully served here, in small oval raviers of glowing deep yellow Provençal pottery. Brought on a basket tray which was left on the table so that we could help ourselves, they consisted only of olives, marinaded mushrooms, a rice and prawn salad, anchovies, these pickled cherries and the tapénade already described on page 142. But the visual effect had been skilfully thought out, and against the yellow background these few simple things made a dazzling display of colour.
LE SAUSSOUN, or SAUCE AUX AMANDES DU VAR
From Roquebrune in the Var comes this curious sauce which, served as an hors-d’œuvre to be spread on bread, or in sandwiches for tea, has a cool, fresh and original taste.
Pound 4 fresh mint leaves to a paste, then add 4 anchovy fillets. Have ready 2 oz. of finely ground almonds, about 2 oz. of olive oil, and half a coffee-cup (after-dinner size) of water. Stir in these three ingredients alternately, a little of each at a time, until all are used up. The result should be a thick mass, in consistency something like a very solid mayonnaise. Season with a little salt if necessary, and a drop of lemon juice.
SALADE NIÇOISE (1)
This is always served as an hors-d’œuvre. The ingredients depend