Good Cook by Simon Hopkinson Read Free Book Online

Cover the cucumber and onion in the bowl with the tomatoes, scatter over about 3 finely chopped
cloves of garlic
and add a little more
salt
. Mix everything together—hands are best, here, and it is quite a pleasure to do. Add a couple of tablespoons of
red wine vinegar
, about 6–7 of fine and fruity
olive oil
, and leave to macerate for 30 minutes.

    Meanwhile, deal with the
bread
. It should be broken up into chunks of random size. Well, “should,” here, is moot; their size and shape will be determined by how stale the bread and how strong one’s fingers, and random will not be a matter of choice. In terms of quantity, allow about 4–5 handfuls of bread chunks. Thoroughly mix into the macerated salad (a good deal of juice will have formed), together with the leaves from a large bunch of
basil
, torn into pieces. Try not to leave longer than about 10 minutes before eating, so that the bread retains an inner crunch. Maybe not traditional Tuscan, but this is the way I like my panzanella.

salad of broad beans, smoked cod’s roe, ricotta & olive oil
    serves 4
    4½ lb broad beans, podded
    7 oz fresh ricotta
    4½–5 oz firm smoked cod’s roe, peeled of its membrane
    fine and fruity olive oil
    salt and freshly ground black pepper
    Truthfully, this is nothing more than an assembly of immaculate ingredients. However, it is a harmonious and sunny sort of thing, with its green slippery beans, splashes of bright white cheese and golden-orange roe, all glistening with fruity olive oil. If you can get it, there lurks some astonishingly delicious sheep’s milk ricotta in occasional fine cheese shops. Ask your favorite monger for this rare, fermented curd.
    Before you start, have ready a bowl of cold water with several ice cubes in it.
    Cook the broad beans in boiling salted water for about a minute. Drain and immediately plunge them into the bowl of ice-cold water. Peel the pale green skins off the beans and put on a shallow serving dish. Randomly place pieces of ricotta and thin slivers of the roe over the beans, then liberally douse with olive oil. Season with salt and pepper.
    Eat with bread.

wilted greens wrapped in Parma ham
    serves 4
    12 slices of Parma ham
    for the dressing
    good pinch of sea salt
    1 small clove of garlic, crushed to a paste with the above
    2 tbsp red wine vinegar
    1 small shallot, very finely chopped
    freshly ground black pepper
    5–6 tbsp olive oil
    for the greens, all well washed and dried
    2 large handfuls of small spinach leaves
    2 large handfuls of watercress
    2 large handfuls of pea shoots
    1 large handful of arugula
    several mint leaves, roughly chopped
    I ought to say here that when it comes to the most beautiful Parma ham, I cannot think of anything more than just that; quite unadorned and fiddled about with, laid upon a pristine white plate in delicately rumpled sheets. However, sometimes, just sometimes, it is interesting to see how a judicious and tasteful addition can work with an ingredient that is, how shall we say, happy in itself.
    We used to serve a version of this at Bibendum, some years ago now. I think it is rather nice. For one thing, although it is a composed dish, both components shine without outdoing the other: the greens quietly warm the ham, while their wrapping offers a meaty note of great subtlety and savor. A swish dish.
    Make the dressing by whisking together the first 5 ingredients, then slowly incorporate the olive oil as for making a vinaigrette dressing—which is, after all, what it is. Pour into a wok or large frying pan and begin to warm it over a low heat. Tip in all the greens and toss and turn using a couple of salad servers, say, until wilted but not limp past recovery. Pile into a colander set over a large bowl,reserving the precious liquid beneath. Allow the greens to cool to a warm, room temperature. Once well drained, pour the “precious liquid” into a small, stainless steel pan and reduce, over a moderate heat, until well flavored and with the look of