FOOD
following delicatessens: I D’Arcy’s Comestlbles Princes
I [lowlands 42 Howe Street. Edinburgh, 031 225 3711.
2 tsp Chopped 9375'” Square. Glasgow. 041 226 4309. I Vawona & em"; 19 Elm Row‘ F0 i “ll and pepper I Haddows 15 Roseneath Street. Edinburgh, 031 556 6060 ' 1"" 9"“ “mam” Edinburgh. 031 228 2217- I Victor Hugo 26—27 Melville
Claudio Nardoni, head chat at Glasgow’s North Rotunda Italian and French restaurant has created a sumptuous seatood sauce tor spaghetti.
Spaghetti Alla Scogllera : (enough tor tour people) 5009 spaghetti
300g mussels in their shells 200g clams in their shells
2009 squid sprigs Oi parsley. name. this is a juicy volume to thumb £239 scampi " The North Rotunda, 28 Tunnel Street, through in autumn, YOU can almost .
$90 V80 l Glasgow. . . .. a; . 2 cloves game, crushed 3 smell leaf mould on its f intastle
Boil spaghetti in salted water tor approximately seven minutes, water should be boiling betore immersing spaghetti.
Fry, in a large pan, the olive oil and garlic tor three minutes, then add the mussels, clams, squid and scampi and stir tor around live minutes. Add tomato, parsley and seasoning and cook for ten minutes. Strain spaghetti, mix in sauce and serve garnished with
went to France for his inspiration: his Bonchester is very like Camembert, with a white coat and a soft. viscous texture. It has a good. strong flavour if it is allowed to ripen and is eaten at ; room temperature, and is not chalky like many inferior imports. Its yellow l colour is due to the creamy Jersey milk he uses. Like other cheeses. his I is made by addingastarter. in this l case streptococcus lactus and
cremoris. which multiplies in the milk, producing lactic acid which makes the milk coagulate. as does rennet. which is added about an hour and a half after the starter. He also adds penicillin spores— the seeds for the white coat. The curds are cut up into cubes and tipped into cylindrical moulds (for a hard cheese you would ‘ use presses that can be tightened). The whey drains off. and the top third of the curd is skimmed off. The cheeses are turned several times at intervals and then immersed in brine. After this. they are turned daily for three weeks and sprayed periodically with mould culture in solution until the white coat grows. I Room temperatures and timings are l crucial. The finished cheeses are ' then wrapped in French paper and dispatched by Securicor - they ripen very quickly. Curtis also makes a
but equally delicious cheese produced in a similar way with cows‘ milk.
Goats also have their fans. Jane Heape. who produces Ballindalloch and Strathspey cheeses on Speyside. with the help of her ‘very intelligent‘ family ofgoats. praises their milk for its low cholesterol levels and lack of allergens. Like ewes‘, goats‘ milk and cheese should only taste of the animal when it is older. though many pe0ple buy goats‘ cheese because they like the real pungency that comes from one of the animal‘s hormones. She sells both mild and matured to suit different tastes.
There are plenty ofother Scottish hand-made cheeses worth looking out for; Clava, for example. is a full fat ewes‘ milk cheese, hard pressed with a dense, moist, but not wet.
texture. Clava Croft. from the same dairy is a semi-hard cheese best eaten fresh. The Ingle Smoke House in Perth subjects a variety of cows‘. ewes‘ and goats‘ milk cheeses to the same treatment as smoked salmon. to enjoyable effect: try (iowrie. Craigrossie. and Madoch if you can get hold of it. Another very impressive range of cheeses is St Finian‘s, from Donside in Aberdeenshire. Their ‘Jersey cow‘ is
I Peckhams 100 Byres Road (and branches). Glasgow. 041 357 2909.
Terrace. Edinburgh, ()31 667 1827.
V IN PRINT
I Mushroom Magic Michael Jordan. A Channel 4 Book. £10.99. Re-issued to coincide with the rc-run of Channel Four‘s series ofthe same
photos of fungi. which are enough to lure you towards the woods and have you foraging. Not only are these strange not-animals. not-plants shown to be remarkably beautiful and various. but their biology. history and mythology is explained. A large portion of the book is devoted to the culinary virtues of the mushroom. from little white factory numbers to frilly. be-skirted ink-caps. and there is essential advice on differentiating the tasty ones from the deadly. An appendix of a dozen or so recipes ranges from Wild Mushroom on Toast to such delicacies as Diamant de Sole all
Trompettes de la Mort. but all respect the fact that these fungi are so special. The less they are messed around the better.
I Oddbins For the fifth year running. ()ddbins. with its 156 branches throughout the UK. has been voted overall Wine Merchant of the Year by The Sunday
Telegrap h Wine Magazine 1992 (ioml Wine Guide. The guide states simply: ‘lts range. its spirit of innovation. its list. its staff and the ambience of its shops all make it a role model for almost all Britain‘sother wine
Merchant ofthe Year! This award. also organised by Wine Magazine. is all the more prestigious considering the high standard ofmuch ofthe competition- SCottish wine drinkers are amongst the best served in Britain. The Chip's
' proprietor Ron
(‘Iydesdalc shall have the last word: ‘The (‘hip has worked hard to maintain its high reputation for wines — both for quality
and value for money and is
cock-a-hoop with this
lllam—l 1pm Mon.Tue. Wed. lllam—Zam'l‘hurs. Fri. Sat. closed Sun. A new identity for the rather uninspiring Cafe Biarritz. This time. the place is to have. believe it or not . a French theme. with suitably French late opening hours. It will be open all day for coffees. drinks. crepes. croissants and reasonably priced bar lunches -- lasagnc. salad. baked potatoes and club sandwiches for example are all under £3.20. On Thursday. Friday and
. . A .~ . .. ," ‘ dz‘th‘r'ar‘l'v‘ firmer. longer keeping cheese along a lovely pale orange cheese: smooth. mULh‘m‘S- ”‘”“’”“I r““’1‘"'t"m' zflfirmgds Last, Jezénuc the lines ofa Vignotte. called mild, but interesting with a lemony Glasgow . . wwumuce panics, which Tev10tdale. He goes to France every hint to it. Their ‘sheep‘. like other .Ubiqunous Chip Wine Edinburgh it will accommodate free
two years to learn some more from the Gallic mairres defromage. and to ' grin at his own Scottish Camemberts displayed along with the best of them : at Rungis. the huge Paris food I market.
Though it has only been available for six years. Lanark Blue is probably the best known and most widely available of the Scottish hand—made cheeses. In using ewe‘s milk. Errington is reviving a Scottish 3 practice that went out of vogue as I long ago as the early 19th century. Whereas cheeses in those days would probably have been blue because there were so many bacteria floating : around the dairies. Errington carefully introduces the spores which produce the veins and flavour characteristic of Roquefort.
Dunsyre Blue is a milder. less salty, i
ewes‘ milk cheeses. is very white and with a similar texture to the cow; its tasty sharp edge is particularly good with whole black pepper corns in an alternative ‘pepper‘ version. All St Finian‘s cheeses are made with vegetarian rennet.
The nature of production of these cheeses, and it adds to their charm. means that they are not always available. Also. when you do find them. they can vary considerably. depending on all kinds of things. from which season‘s milk they are made from. to how energetic Brenda Leddy was feeling with her potato masher. Storage time and conditions are important too. as some retailers will buy in cheeses and ripen them themselves.
Some ofthe best selections of Scottish cheeses will be found in the
Shop 12 Ashton Lane. 334 5007. Scottish W'ine
I Cale Parisien Frederick Street. 225 7369.
ofcharge.
Ubiquitou: Chip
Gill-554 5001
Wine Shop
Glorgow’r Independent Wine and Spirit merchant
WINNER ()F SCOTTISH WINE MERCHANT OF THE YEAR 1991/2 WINE MA GA ZINE
8 nthton lone,GlntgowG|2
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The List 27 September — 10 October I991 79