THE DELICIOUS MS DAHL: ROMANCING THE FOOD

I watched ‘The Delicious Ms Dahl’ cooking episode on ‘Romance’ two days ago and was drawn by her structured session that celebrates romance in 3 stages: the first date, the honeymoon phase and ‘settled-on-sofa’ stage.

In the ‘first date’ stage, Ms Dahl recommends scallops barbecued in their own shells, with garlic and chilli marinade served with crushed, minty peas and a pudding heaped with rhubarb, sprinkled with rosewater and garnished with crystallised rose petals. The honeymoon phase focuses on serving alluring breakfasts in the form of cheese soufflé blinis with scrambled eggs and smoked salmon. That was the first time I’ve heard of blinis. It looks like pancake yet there are differences in the ingredients used such as the use of egg whites only, cheese and chives. I have to try them this weekend. The last stage, the ‘settled on-the-sofa’ stage is a stage when the couple becomes comfortable with each other. Here, Ms Dahl suggests serving personalised shepherd’s pie.

I enjoy watching Ms Dahl’s cooking series as I find I can somewhat relate to her literary nature of visiting old bookshops, leafing through yellow-edged pages of hardcover books and reading excerpts from those pages. Since the episode was hinged on the theme of romance, Ms Dahl concentrated on love poems. So befiitingly in the episode, Ms Dahl included a poem by Wendy Cope entitled ‘After the Lunch’ and an excerpt from the Pursuit of Love by Nancy Mitford which I am going to download on my kindle. In that episode, I also newly discovered, ‘He Loved Three Things’ by Anna Akhmatova.

Below is an extract from Wendy Cope’s poem ‘After the Lunch’:

“On Waterloo Bridge, where we said our goodbyes,
the weather conditions bring tears to my eyes.
I wipe them away with a black woolly glove
And try not to notice I’ve fallen in love.”

Ms Dahl’s literary pursuits were not restricted to bookshops and books. She explored an old cemetery that contained hidden love stories, deduced only from inscriptions on tombs. Ms Dahl pointed out a tombstone of Norman Warne, Beatrix Potter’s publisher and secret fiancée. Her parents disapproved of him and packed her off to the Lake District and told her that if she still had strong feelings for him until her return then they could think about pursuing the relationship. And then he died suddenly while she was still away. How sad!

Interestingly, Ms Dahl also associates the train station with romance as she recalled meeting her date in her teenage years. This I find hard to agree. To me train stations and romance don’t go well together. A busy setting, bustling with noise, teeming with people in frenzy, is a far cry from my notion of romance – idyllic, peaceful, alluring, away from the hustle and bustle of the crowds and traffic.

Here is a reading extract that Ms Dahl included from ‘The Pursuit of Love’ by Nancy Mitford:
“She was filled with a wild, unfamiliar happiness, and knew that this was love. Twice in her life she had mistaken something else for it; it was like seeing somebody in the street who you think is a friend, you whistle and wave and run after him, and it is not only not the friend, but not even very like him. A few minutes later the real friend appears in view, and then you can’t imagine how you ever mistook that other person for him.”

Indeed, love can be easily recognised once you have found it. You just feel it in your bones. That’s the magic of love.

Ms Dahl’s cooking series is unique in its own right. Unlike other cooking series I have watched, it has a classy touch attached to it and also an air of nostalgia and enchantment as she walks down memory lane. This is done through the insertion of literary moments which I can relate to, her leisurely visits to old bookshops and antique stores and her solitary walks along rivers and in old cemeteries. Now, wouldn’t you call that contemporary cooking series with a twist?

I have added Ms Dahl’s blinis and scambled eggs with smoked salmon recipe below, a recipe I’m going to try this weekend:

Ingredients

For the blinis

170g/6oz buckwheat flour

2 tsp baking powder

salt and freshly ground black pepper

290ml/10fl oz full-fat milk

2 tsp mustard powder

150g/5¼oz cheddar cheese, grated

small handful chopped fresh chives

4 free-range egg whites, preferably organic

pinch salt

knob of unsalted butter

For the scrambled eggs

4 free range or organic eggs (plus 4 free-range egg yolks)

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

knob of unsalted butter

To serve

2 tbsp chopped fresh chives

250g/9oz smoked salmon

1 lemon, cut into wedges

Preparation method

1.For the blinis, mix together the buckwheat flour, baking powder, a pinch of salt and freshly ground black pepper and the milk to make a smooth batter.

2.Add the mustard powder, cheddar and chives and mix until well combined.

3.In a seperate bowl, whisk the egg whites with a pinch of salt until soft peaks form when the whisk is removed.

4.Gradually fold the whisked egg whites into the batter mixture using a metal spoon.

5.Melt the butter in a frying pan over a medium high heat, and spoon large tablespoons of the batter into the pan to make medium sized pancakes, about 10cm/4in in diameter.

6.Fry the blinis, in batches, for 2-3 minutes until small bubbles appear on the surface and the underside looks cooked. Turn the blinis over and cook on the other side for a further 1-2 minutes, or until golden-brown. Keep warm.

7.Repeat until all of the mixture is used up.

8.For the scrambled eggs, whisk the eggs in a bowl, and season, to taste, with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

9.Melt the butter in a small saucepan over a medium heat, then pour in the eggs, stirring a little to break the eggs up slightly as they set. Cook for 1-2 minutes, then remove the pan from the heat and set the eggs aside to finish cooking for a further 1-2 minutes.

10.To serve, place two blinis onto each of four serving plates, spoon on the scrambled eggs, and sprinkle over the chopped chives. Arrange the smoked salmon on the side, and finish with the lemon wedges.

PS: I will replace buckwheat flour with plain flour and will give you an update. So stay tuned:)