Hot stuff forcold nights

The Dish
Hot
stuff
for cold
nights
Gizzi Erskine’s
bonfire treats
AA Gill considers quitting
London for Edinburgh,
Bob Tyrer raises a glass
to good health, and
Alice Lascelles finds the
perfect whisky gift for men
THE DISH
bangers and mash-ups
Gizzi Erskine lights some culinary fireworks with her spicy sausage rolls,
apple fritters and a rich, cheesy pumpkin soup
Pal HanSen fOr THe Sunday TimeS magazine. fOOd STyliST: rukmini lyer aT
HerSagency. PrOP STyliST: alex OrTiz. reSTauranT PicTureS: marc miller
W
hen I was a child I was considered a bit of a dreamer.
I enjoyed some of the usual girls’ things such as kittens, stories and arts
and crafts, but during the week of Hallowe’en and bonfire night, my
imagination tended to run wild. It felt magical. There was a real energy
in the air, and I’d turn my attention to all that was spooky and dark —
ghosts, witches and wolves.
Nowadays, I’m more excited by the grown-up stuff. Bonfire night
is the first day of the year that I allow myself mulled wine or cider, or
even a boozy hot chocolate. Naturally, it all goes downhill from there for
the rest of the season, hence the mild asceticism before.
In the run-up to Christmas I’ll swing towards mulled wine, but
before then it’s mulled cider all the way. Here’s my favourite method.
Tie a piece of muslin round a bay leaf, a cinnamon stick, three cloves,
a star anise, three allspice berries and three peppercorns. Drop this into
three litres of wine or cider and a pint of orange juice, a vanilla pod split
down the middle and 100g sugar with tons of clementine and apple
slices. Bring it to the simmer, then turn it down and let it infuse for
10 minutes before ladling it out. If you’re feeling naughty, or if your
party needs a bit of a boost, add a good slug of brandy at the end.
And the food! Bonfire night and Hallowe’en are all about eating
things that don’t require you to remove your gloves: toasty pies, warm
mugs of soup, or even a cup of stew with some crisp white buttered
bread for dunking. I also love sweet seasonal puddings, such as warm
doughnuts or fritters.
The genius thing is that not only are these foods child-friendly and
need little cutlery, they’re supremely portable. Even if you’re going to
your local bonfire party, you’ll be able to transport them there. What’s
more, they’re terrific fun to cook — if you’ve never made sausage rolls
with kids, it’s a real laugh. The best thing of all is that these foods are all
eaten with your hands, so, because they are like little radiators, they’ll
help keep your fingers warm n
Apple fritters
Somewhere between a doughnut
and a fritter, these epitomise
all that’s wonderful about bonfire
night. To eat these tossed in
mixed-spiced sugar and
hot from a napkin while
watching the fireworks is a
glorious moment.
Serves 8
Prep time 10 minutes,
plus 30 minutes resting
Cooking time 10 minutes
150g self-raising flour
30g cornflour
1tsp baking powder
2 free-range eggs, beaten
100ml cold cider or fizzy water
4 small apples
Oil for deep frying
100g caster sugar
1 tsp mixed spice
Place the flours and baking
powder in a mixing bowl. Make
a well in the centre, then pour
in the egg and cider or fizzy water.
Quickly whisk and allow to rest
rest for 30 minutes in the fridge.
Cold batter will make extracrispy fritters.
Core the apples and cut off
the tops and bottoms to shape
them into neat barrels, then cut
each apple horizontally into
4 slices.
Heat the oil to 180C. Plunge
the apple slices into the batter
and deep-fry for 2-3 minutes until
cooked through. Scoop out with
a slotted spoon and drain on
kitchen paper.
Mix the caster sugar and spice.
Toss the apple slices into the
sugar and serve straightaway n
The Sunday Times Magazine
61
THE DISH
THE DISH
Pumpkin soup
with cheese toastie
croutons
Three
of
the best
ON THE BOTTLE
BOB TYRER
Pumpkin soup is a must every
autumn and this version, with
grilled cheese toastie croutons,
spins a familiar dish into
something packed with flavour.
A toast to good health
Serves 6
Preparation time 20 minutes
Cooking time 1 hour
Prosecco Asolo
Frizzante,
Colfondo,
Bele Casel
Lemony notes
and great gioia
di vivere (six
magnums:
£188.04,
bbr.com)
1 x 1.5kg small pumpkin or
orange-fleshed squash, peeled,
halved, seeds removed but saved
1 tsp ground paprika
3 tsp ground cumin
1tsp salt
½ tsp dried chilli flakes
½ tsp ground cinnamon
4 tbsp olive oil
300g n’duja or chorizo
70g smoked bacon lardons
100g parmesan
2 onions, finely chopped
Pinch of mace or nutmeg
A few thyme leaves, plus extra
for garnish
FAR RIGHT: GETTY
800ml chicken or vegetable stock
62
wedges, then rub with the chilli
flakes, cinnamon, the rest of the
3-4 tbsp crème frâiche, plus extra
cumin, a pinch or two of salt and
for garnish
pepper and half the olive
oil. Roast on a baking
For the croutons
Online
sheet for 25 minutes until
2 slices of white bread
For more
recipes
tender and slightly
visit
caramelised. While the
70g gruyère cheese, grated
thesundaypumpkin is roasting, fry
times.co.uk
/food
the lardons in a little oil
A large knob of butter
until crisp, then leave to
dry on kitchen paper.
Heat the oven to 200C. Wash and
Heat the rest of the oil in a
dry the pumpkin seeds and toss
large saucepan, then slowly fry
them in the paprika, 1 tsp of the
the onions for 10 minutes until
cumin and 1 tsp salt. Roast them
soft. When the pumpkin is
in the hot oven for five minutes
cooked, add it to the pan with the
before leaving them to cool. Turn
thyme and stock and cook for
the heat down to 180C.
15 minutes. Blitz with a stick
Cut the pumpkin into 5-7cm
The Sunday Times Magazine
Flour, for dusting
blender for 1-2 minutes until
smooth. Pass through a sieve for
a very smooth soup, if you wish.
Return to the pan, add half the
crème frâiche and season.
For the croutons, assemble
the cheese and bread into a
sandwich and press down so it
holds its shape. Melt the butter in
a frying pan on a medium heat
and cook until golden on both
sides and the cheese has melted.
Cut into 1cm squares.
Ladle the soup into bowls or
mugs and top with a spot more
crème frâiche, grilled cheese
toastie sandwich croutons,
bacon bits, toasted seeds and a
few thyme leaves n
N’duja or chorizo
sausage rolls
N’duja is an Italian spreadable
sausage flavoured with smoked
paprika. You can buy it from delis or
online, or use 400g of cooking
chorizo, blitzed in a food processor
with a splash of olive oil. Delicious
on their own but great with mash,
onion gravy and greens as a dinner.
Makes 9
Preparation time 30 minutes
Cooking time 25 minutes
450g pork sausage meat or 450g
pack of 8 sausages, skinned
1 x 400g pack of ready-rolled
puff pastry
4 tbsp apple sauce
1 large free-range egg,
lightly beaten
Sea salt and freshly ground
black pepper
Place the sausage meat in a
mixing bowl along with the
n’duja, parmesan, salt and
pepper. Really get your
hands in there and squidge it
all together.
Dust the kitchen surface
with flour, then lay out the pastry
and roll a little thinner to the
thickness of a 50p piece. Cut the
pastry into 3 across its width,
then spread 1 tbsp of apple sauce
along each strip.
Split the sausage-meat mix
into 3 and form into 3 long
sausages, the same length as the
pastry strips. Seal whatever
edges are still visible with the
beaten egg, then fold the sausages
up in the pastry. Turn them over
onto the folded side, then carry
on glazing the rolls with the egg.
Make lots of little slashes on the
surface of the rolls with a small
knife, then pop them in the fridge
for 30 minutes.
Heat the oven to 200°C.
Place the sausage rolls on a
chopping board and cut into
smaller rolls, chopping each
long roll into 4, or into lots of
small, bite-sized pieces. Pop them
onto a baking sheet and bake in
the oven for 20 minutes for the
small ones, 30 minutes for the
larger ones. Leave to cool for
10 minutes, then eat warm n
Bellavista
Franciacorta
Brut NV
Brimming with
yellow plums
and marzipan
(£29.95,
slurp.co.uk)
Antech Cuvée
Eugenie
Crémant de
Limoux 2010
A brilliant blend
of chardonnay,
chenin blanc and
mauzac, the
local grape
(£14.95,
winelibrary.
co.uk)
How does one celebrate
a kidney transplant? By
taking lots of liquid, of
course. But which? My big
brother and his wife had a
hippyish plan to abandon
everything and meander
around Britain in an old
camper van. But his
kidneys conked out,
and you can’t
do dialysis in
a Dormobile.
Then this year
she died of a
sudden cancer.
So it was a sad
big brother who came
to stay last month.
We perked him up as best
we could with love and a
few chirpily fizzy bottles
(he rationed himself to
half a glass).
On the third night
I was woken at 2am
by thumps from his
bedroom. I knew there
was scaffolding outside
his window, because we
were having the house
painted, so I feared
burglars. But he was
packing his bags.
Astonishingly he’d
been summoned in the
middle of the night for
a transplant. It was an
extremely excited
big brother — to a
degree I hadn’t seen
since we were boys —
who drove off into the
dark. He briefly couldn’t
find the hospital at the
end of the 100-mile
journey but he now has a
new kidney, and the scans
look good.
So, how to celebrate?
Obvious, really. The
sparkling wines I had
opened for him now have
a talismanic
value as agents
of rebirth. Elixirs,
in fact. He’s not a
champagney
sort of person,
so the names on
the left will be unfamiliar,
but they are none the
worse for that.
Top of the list is a
prosecco “colfondo”.
Unlike most prosecco,
which is made in a tank,
this is refermented in the
bottle and is slightly
cloudy. Don’t be put off.
It’s gracious and lovely.
Bought in cases of six
magnums, it costs the
equivalant of about £15 a
normal bottle.
Second, another
Italian: a franciacorta
from Lombardy.
Franciacorta uses the
champagne recipe but,
like this one, has delicate
almondy overtones.
Third, a Crémant de
Limoux from southwest
France — fleshy, ample
and life-affirming n
The Sunday Times Magazine
63