Fruit and Nuts

Appears in
top 1000The Independent Cook: Strategies for Seasonal Cooking
The Independent Cook

By Jeremy Round

Published 1988

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Exotic seasonal imports such as slithery fresh lychees and tart orange kumquats come into their own at this end of the year. As well as eating kumquats as they are, marinating them in alcoholic sugar syrup or making preserves with them, chef Jeremy Ashpool has the cleverest use I’ve seen: stewed until soft with water, wine vinegar, bay leaves, a little honey and seasonings, to use as a fresh relish garnishing any meat main course.

As well as the British crops of apples and pears – many still in prime condition – the Christmas trade brings in a host of further-flung and totally unseasonal fruits, including peaches and strawberries. Fresh cranberries from America make a bright red sauce for sharpening up the festive fowl. Their subtle tartness has also made them a fashionable restaurant addition to many dishes, from Anton Mosimann’s escalopes of salmon trout with cranberries to Raymond Blanc’s roast woodcock with a St Emilion sauce garnished with bread mousse and cranberries.