Nigel's fruit

"And then there was fruit" Nigel Slater

And flowers and nuts too. On the cover of this book - a Christmas present that I requested and received from my son and his ex?partner - is - I think - a blurry fig. Inside the cover is a rather beautiful red flower - also in soft romantic focus, but then all of the photographs in this companion volume to Nigel's book on the vegetables in his garden Tender Volume 1, are taken by his friend and favourite food photographer of the British cookbook élite, Jonathan Lovekin. So they are classy. And each chapter tends to have a full page picture of the fruit on the left and a small photograph of the flower or blossom as a lead in to the introductory essay on each fruit. In fact I think there are probably more pictures of the flowers, blossoms, trees and leaves than of the actual fruit of the plants and blossoms of the vegetables in volume 1. Maybe the fruit plants and trees are more beautiful or at least photogenic than the vegetable ones.

In some ways it is a foretelling. Because these days Nigel's garden has no dedicated fruit or vegetable patch. It is now mostly flowers, quiet 'rooms' in which to retreat, and spaces for eating, socialising and working outside. I find the garden went through three phases. The first was the one described in these two volumes neat raised vegetable beds surrounded, like the garden itself with box hedges, and with fruit trees, shrubs and espaliered trellises here and there. Then came first the foxes and then the box blight which fundamentally destroyed virtually everything. The foxes left, the box hedges were partially removed, but a smaller vegetable garden remained, and more personal space was inserted, but then came the final disaster of the box moth which completely destroyed the hedges and so the vegetable garden was removed and flowers and ferns took their place:

"my three great garden loves: topiary (though obviously not of box), ferns and climbing roses."

He says that this is possibly the last incarnation of the garden, but as he is a passionate gardener I doubt that this is the case.

But back to Tender Volume 2 which was published way back in 2010.

Recently I have either received as presents - they don't really know what else to give me - cookbooks, or I have treated myself to some on the Readings bargain table, so I apologise for a string of 'reviews' that will be coming up. This is the first of the Christmas bunch.

Like its companion volume it is hefty - 1226 pages and over 300 recipes although I'm not sure whether that includes the throwaway lines littered throughout the book that are really also mini recipes - e.g. "Sage. A difficult herb to marry with fruit, but apples and sage get on well. A couple of leaves tucked into the filling of a pie with a cheese crust is worth a try." No good for a beginner cook I guess -'cheese crust?' but for an experienced cook it might be a thought worth pursuing. Or - from the same mini list which he calls Apples and ... : "Dried fruits. Slices of yellow Russet and a lump of British cheese on a piece of rasin-freckled bread is a great mid-morning pick-me-up and much better for us than tiramisu."

Every fruit has a similar section and also a section with no title but which is a bulleted list with comments/recipes? such as (in the apple chapter): "Most varieties can be used as a flavouring in a sausage hotpot, but only as a gem to find hidden in the rich gravy, not as a main ingredient, where their effect would be too sweet." He often then expands these brief notes in the recipe section which follows, as with A hotpot of sausages and apples. A couple of bloggers have tried this one, the first of which (A Cookbook a Month) was not a success for its makers, whose husband described it as 'all a bit beige' and of which she also said "Ok but it's highly unlikely I'm going to make it again. Sorry Nigel."

And here I will digress for a moment on to photographs. The picture at right from A Cookbook a Month is indeed very beige - almost repulsive I guess - and I say this in the full knowledge that some of the photographs I have posted of my own efforts have not been any better. In a way Jonathan Lovekin's photograph is just as beige. But. There is a darker beige background with some red stripes, and a perfectly placed small coloured logo, which somehow, together with the very white plate shown in full, makes the beigeness of the dish, less beige. The sausages are much more effectively browned and there is a sprinkling of green. Never underestimate the power of a sprinkle of green herb on brown or beige food. Ottolenghi and co are masters at this. Well their food stylists and photographers are.

The other blogger (The Great Cookery Adventure) did not even try to take a photograph, but did use tinned beans - Nigel had started from scratch with dried beans - flageolet or cannellini were his choice and the Cookbook a Month lady had undercooked hers, which didn't help. She of The Great Cookery Adventure was, however, very pleased with the result and said that it was now her favourite autumn casserole. So once again, generalise at your peril. Everyone is different, and even one person making the same recipe over and over again will get a different result every time.

And Nigel himself has also experimented with the concept of sausages and apples with his later Sausages, apples and onions. No beans here and not much liquid so a different dish altogether, but perhaps the original idea is still the same.

In a way I was less impressed with this book than volume 1 - but part of that may be because the whole concept was no longer new to me. The way the book is organised is exactly the same - a brief general introduction to the ingredient, in the garden, in the kitchen general remarks followed by technical garden stuff about varieties and how to grow them, the fruit and ... and that bulleted list before a whole lot of recipes. He is generous with the recipes. There are many.

I find I have not 'bookmarked' many or indeed many 'words of wisdom' or graceful thought with this volume. Volume 1 still sits on my desk with many yellow stickers still waiting for my attention. There are few in this one and mostly for actual recipes I want to try some time.

However, as always the words are sometimes poetic, sometimes informative, often evocative - as in this piece from his introduction to figs - he still has a fig tree:

"The fragility of the fruit is also part of its attraction. Stroke the ripest fig and it is as if you are touching flesh. Sniff it and not only is it summer but the hottest day, the air is heavy and still, the earth beneath your bare feet cracked and dry. Sink your teeth in and you meet no resistance. Just soft, sumptuous flesh and tiny pearlescent seeds, little crimson beads that dissolve on your tongue."

Too much? Precious? Maybe. It depends a little on your mood and your taste in writing. But certainly well above the usual blurb or complete lack of it that you get in a cookbook.

This being a book about fruit there are of course many more recipes for dessert, cake and indulgent snacks than for savoury dishes but there are some, albeit, in his own words:

"I have generally kept away from fruit's more unusual applications. Some may say that I haven't been experimental enough and I take that accusation on the chin, but I wanted to produce a collection of recipes that were useful and delicious rather than extraordinary and seasoned with the zeal of an evangelist. ... If I am unsure whether a particular fruit will work with meat or game, I apply a simple rule. If the two regularly share a landscape, then maybe the combination is worth trying. The chances are that grouse, deer and partridge will have eaten the wild berries that pepper the hedges and moors that are part of their habitat. Most game birds are happy to indulge themselves on elderberries, just as pigeons do on my plums."

And so the first recipe in the book - I deliberately chose the first recipe - is Roast pheasant with apples and cider which both illustrates his philosophy and also highlights one of the problems I have with this book.

Well it's not a problem really. That is far too negative. I'm sure this is a delicious dish. But in so many ways this book is very British. So many of the fruit are not to be found here - or only with extreme difficulty - all of the currants, gooseberries, elderflowers, damsons, medlars, sloes and chestnuts. And ditto for the multiple recipes for various game birds - pheasants, partridges, guinea fowl, grouse and pigeons, even rabbits which are a plague but very difficult - and expensive to find to eat here. There might be lots of venison in New Zealand, but not here although I guess in that case kangaroo might be a substitute. It's more of a quibble really, and somewhat sad for me as it raises a nostalgic longing for blackcurrants, damsons and gooseberries in particular.

To be fair, although he doesn't say this in the book in a later publishing of his recipe for A casserole of rabbit and onions he does suggest that chicken could be used as a substitute for rabbit.

Anyway what's the problem? There are over 300 recipes in this book and if even 20 or so are for fruits or animals not available here there are hundreds of others that I can easily tackle.

And as a kind of footnote to this particular issue - he has three recipes in the book that include verjuice, and every time he bemoans the fact that verjuice is very difficult to find in England. Well it was when he was writing. Maybe not today. Maybe his moaning made Waitrose and co begin to stock it.

Here, however, thanks to Maggie Beer's passion for this ancient ingredient - something interestingly in between vinegar and wine - we can find it on our supermarket shelves quite easily - and not just from Maggie Beer. The recipe shown here is for Chicken with verjuice, celery and cream and it's one that I'm going to try some time soon I think. After all grapes are creeping their way on to our summer shelves and will soon be cheap - they almost are now.

I have tried to find more recipes to illustrate how good this book is, and how, if you see it in an op shop somewhere, or want to lay out the money online, you should grab it. However, not many of them seem to be online - at least for this lazy searcher - sometimes there is a reference or a picture, sometimes a recipe and no picture - and not every recipe in the book has a picture, but there is almost always a little introduction and the book is so beautifully designed that you don't really miss the pictures. So if you are at all interested in cooking you should perhaps try to find it.

Now I have to find a space for it on my shelves and not forget that it is there.

THE FRIDGE IS NOT GOING WELL

Yesterday I took a step back really. It was very hot - 42 degrees I believe, so obviously dinner had to be something uncooked, so I decided on the tried and true Chicken Caesar salad - Jill Dupleix's version which is a David favourite. However, this entailed buying a roast chicken from Coles - a bargain as it happens because their free-range Lilydale chicken was on a special and actually cheaper than the ordinary ones. The point however is that I only used one breast and wing meat, and so now I have more than half of a pre-cooked chicken that has to be used quickly and nothing was used for the salad that needed desperately using from the fridge. Indeed I also bought an oakleaf salad, which is better than iceberg which is what I generally have in the way of lettuce. So now I have that as an extra too. I used just a spoonful of yoghurt - which doesn't really count - I need to have yoghurt in the fridge at all times - and a piece of stale bread. There's always stale bread in the fridge. Anyway some more chicken in tonight's soup, and then I shall have to think of what to do with the rest. Probably a pie of some kind. And today I succumbed to buying some mushrooms - fresh looking and cheap - another extra. I'm also getting nowhere with my experiments with miso. None today (should I add a little to the soup?) and only three more days of the first week of January to go.

YEARS GONE BY

January 8

2025 - Nothing

2024 - Finding joy on a very wet day - what a contrast to today - 32 degrees currently and tomorrow we are expecting 43.

2023 - Success does not necessarily mean quality

2022 - Sweet potatoes - a leftover on my desk

2021 - Missing

2020 - Honey and marmite - weird or brilliant?

2019 - Doughnuts (or donuts)

2018 - A good deal - lunch in the Yarra Valley

2017 - Where has all the horseradish gone?