Canteen: Neville Gabie

Canteen a building site cookbook

j A J G s U E l e n D s Neville Gabie Afterword by Louise McCrimmon

Canteen

Editor: Helen Tookey

First published in November 2008 by InSite Arts, 300 Burdett Road, London, e14 7dq.

07917 153555

Design: Alan Ward at www.axisgraphicdesign.co.uk

isbn 978-0-9547300-8-6 © 2008 InSite Arts, The Artist and Authors Photography © Neville Gabie Images p 142 © Harvey Nichols All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without prior written permission of the publishers.

British Library Cataloguing-inPublication Data A British Library CIP record is available

Typefaces: Scala and FF Scala Printed and bound by Editoriale Bortolazzi Stei, Verona

Contents

Introduction

5

Africa Somali South African

13 19

Australia/Asia Australian Punjabi Nepalese

27 31 39

Caribbean Belizean West Indian

49 55

Western Europe English (Seafood) Portuguese English (East End) Irish English (Medieval)

63 69 75 83 91

Eastern Europe Polish Slovakian Lithuanian Romanian

105 111 119 125

Afterword Recipe from Harvey Nichols, Bristol Acknowledgements

135 137 144

4

Introduction Neville Gabie In 2006 Neville Gabie was appointed by art consultants InSite Arts, on behalf of the Bristol Alliance, as artistin-residence. Neville’s commission has been programmed to run during the three-year construction period of the Cabot Circus development – a 37-acre site incorporating retail, leisure and residential accommodation in the centre of Bristol.

What exactly does an artist-in-residence do on a huge building site for three years? Not only was this project completely uncharted territory for me, but for a large developer to give total access to an artist over such a long period of time without any specific outcome in mind is itself perhaps unprecedented.

I came to the conclusion that the answer was not to be found sitting in my on-site Portakabin studio but lay somewhere out there in the mud, noise and chaos. In between wandering around the site and trying to look busy, I spent time each day in the crush of the site canteen in my boots, hard hat and high-vis jacket (at least I looked the part). Not only is the canteen respite from the intense activity outside but entering it is like undergoing some strange initiation ceremony into a world populated almost entirely by men.

Each day is punctuated by break-times and when it’s wet, the air inside is thick and hot, mixed with the smells of concrete, cooking and steaming clothes, windows obscured behind a foggy haze of condensation. The routine is almost tidal, with an ebb and flow of men in high-vis jackets that begins at 7 am with breakfasts and does not stop until Kristina finishes mopping up the trail of mud across the floors some time after 4 pm. By then Constantin, the site chef, is writing his shopping lists and preparing vegetables for the following morning.

Contrary to what one might expect, food in the canteen is not just the usual fry-up. Constantin is Romanian, so meals are often a strange hybrid of English and Eastern European dishes, with something different every day. Others bring their own food to work and sit in the canteen eating borscht,

5

curry or other dishes I don’t recognise, the smells drifting outside amongst the subcontractors’ offices and my ‘studio’.

After several weeks I gradually began to see the dinner breaks as the only brief moments of social activity in a long working day. One morning over a cup of builder’s tea, I lost myself in overheard conversations spoken in as many languages as you might hear in the international departure lounge at Heathrow airport. Instantly I realised that here was my project. Over the first few weeks I had imagined that building sites were just about buildings, when really they are about people – those who build, and those who will use the buildings. Right alongside me was a huge temporary community made up of nationals of over sixty different countries, all in Bristol for the duration. I could be chatting to someone from Angola one minute, then to someone from Romania, Slovakia, Russia or Somalia the next. I knew that I needed to create a project which made visible this international itinerant workforce, all of whom will vanish once the building is complete. Food seemed to be the perfect vehicle.

The idea was simple: invite anyone involved with the development to submit a recipe for a meal. I would arrange to have it cooked by professional chefs and served on site as an alternative lunch for them and their friends. I could then make a recipe book which used the construction as a subtext to celebrate the builders’ presence.

But simple ideas are often complicated to deliver. Leaflets inviting contributions had to be translated into fifteen of the most commonly spoken languages and distributed around

6

“The idea was simple: invite anyone involved with the development to submit a recipe for a meal.”

the site. Once these started to flood back in, the translation process began again in reverse, with the added complication of reading hand-written notes!

Then followed the challenge of finding chefs able to cook this eclectic mix of suggestions. It involved trips to Southall to cook curry and to the East End for authentic pie and mash; persuading the chefs at Mud Dock to cook Polish, Lithuanian, Portuguese and Irish dishes; acquiring chocolate cake makers and French pastry chefs; tracking down a chef who is known throughout St Paul’s only as ‘Chef’; and setting up a ‘braai’ for two hundred men with two South Africans on a half-built car park roof. I even had to find someone who was prepared to cook a medieval banquet complete with a whole suckling pig for the builders who refurbished Quakers Friars, one of the oldest buildings in Bristol. Suddenly I had entered a parallel universe of chefs and cooking.

With the chefs located, the ingredients sourced and the meals cooked, there was still the small matter of getting the food back to the site, keeping it hot and finding venues on site for anything from eight to two hundred people.

Coupled with this was the logistical nightmare of arranging coinciding lunch breaks between different subcontractors.

Whilst builders shifted concrete and scaffolding on site, I juggled dishes and cutlery, tables and chairs – an ongoing performance.

With the building site poised to become a shopping centre, the builders in their high-vis jackets were already being replaced by a new workforce, the thousands of staff needed to keep the centre running and ready to serve: retail staff,

7

security guards, maintenance teams, managers, car park attendants, receptionists, waiters, the list goes on. Before ďŹ nishing the book I wanted to acknowledge this new community, and with that in mind the last recipe was prepared by Louise, the new head chef for Harvey Nichols second oor bar and restaurant in Bristol, and served, the day before the centre opened to the public, to the staff who will run the store.

None of the recipes are mine, they are other people’s, although I have tried them all. Some were fantastic, others... well, I will leave you to experiment and make up your own mind. And just to give you an added sense of the project I have also included a few of the submitted recipes as I received them; untranslated and untested, but there for the brave to try.

A note on measurements Some of the recipes in this book use metric measurements, while others use imperial. To retain a sense of the different origins of the recipes we have not standardised all the contributions to one system (though each recipe does stick to one or the other).

1 cup equals 4 oz

8

AFRICA Somali South African

j A J G s U E l

I v H C O x i u

recipe suggested by: mahamoud, electrician date and location: 14 june 2008, st paul’s community centre catered for: 50 Although there is a big Somali community living in St Jude’s and St Paul’s adjacent to the building site, very few work on the development. So when I received a couple of Somali recipes I contacted Mahamoud and with his help we decided to hold the meal at a community centre so that wives and family members could join in. Early one Saturday morning I found myself in Daud’s basement kitchen cooking lunch for fifty people. What immediately struck me was the amazing range of influences in the dishes. I had imagined that the food would be a mix of Arabic and Asian, but Daud told me about the regional differences in Somalia which were a direct result of English, Italian and French colonialism.

13

Beef suqaar

ingredients

Heat the oil in a large pan. Add the chopped onion (keeping

4 tablespoons olive oil

back the sliced onion) and cook on a high heat until

2 small onions, 1 chopped, 1 thinly sliced

translucent. Add the beef, chilli, tomatoes, garlic, cumin,

1 lb beef; cut into approx.

1-inch cubes

down the heat to a medium setting and allow to simmer

1 chilli, chopped

for 15 minutes. Add the carrots and potato and continue to

4 small tomatoes, chopped

simmer for about 10 minutes or until the carrots and potato

4 cloves garlic, minced

are cooked but firm. Add the sliced onion, red pepper and

and seasoning to taste. Stir until lightly browned, then turn

1/2 teaspoon cumin powder

green pepper and cook for about two minutes. The onion and

Salt and pepper to taste

peppers should remain crunchy. Serve garnished with fresh

2 small carrots, chopped 1 large potato, cubed

coriander.

1/4–1/2 red pepper, sliced 1/4–1/2 green pepper, sliced 3 tablespoons fresh coriander, finely chopped

ingredients

Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl and mix well.

3 cups self-raising flour

Cover with a clean cloth and allow to stand in a warm place

1 1/2 cups plain flour

for two hours to enable the yeast to rise. In a small frying

1/2 cup cornflour

pan, heat a very small amount of oil. Pour approximately

1/2 cup sugar 1 tablespoon garlic, minced 1 tablespoon yeast 1 tablespoon black cumin seeds 5 1/2–6 cups (800–1000 ml) warm water Oil for frying

14

Muuffo with black cumin seed (pancakes to eat with suqaar)

half a cup of batter into the pan and spread it slightly as you would if making pancakes. When the underside has browned, flip it over, again as if cooking a pancake. When browned on both sides, remove from the pan and place on a paper towel to drain off any excess oil. The texture should be like a soft flannel. Continue until all the batter is used up. Muuffo often accompany suqaar as an alternative to rice.

“This was one of the rare meals where the participants included women and children, with only a few high-vis jackets to be seen.”

Potato and coriander sambusa

ingredients

Heat the butter in a large frying pan; add the ginger, cumin

Filling

seeds, curry powder and garam masala and fry gently for one

2 tablespoons butter

minute or until very fragrant. Add the potato and water and

1 teaspoon ginger, grated

cook over a low heat for 15–20 minutes or until the potatoes

1 teaspoon cumin seeds 1/2 teaspoon curry powder 1/4 teaspoon garam masala 1 large potato, peeled and finely diced 3 tablespoons water 2 tablespoons raisins 1/4 cup frozen peas 1/4 cup ground coriander 2 spring onions, finely chopped Sambusa/samosa pastry (makes 32) 16 oz plain (wheat) flour plus extra for rolling 3 teaspoons salt 4 tablespoons oil plus extra for rolling 1/4 pint water Oil for frying

are tender. Add the raisins, peas, coriander and onion and stir through. Set aside to cool.

Combine the flour, salt, oil and water in a large bowl and knead until a smooth dough is formed. Cover in plastic wrap and allow to rest for 30 minutes. Knead the dough for a further 2 minutes, then divide the dough into 16 equal pieces. Flatten each piece to form a 3-inch disc. Coat the top of each disc with oil and then with flour. Make eight stacks with two discs on top of each other. Flatten the two discs down together and, using a rolling pin, roll out until they are about 10 inches in diameter. Heat an empty frying pan on a low heat and place each of the 10-inch diameter discs into the pan in turn, turning to heat both sides. (You are not cooking the pastry but gently drying it out to make it easier to use.) Remove from the heat and cut each 10-inch disc in half. Take each piece and carefully peel apart the two layers.

(This gives you very even and thin pastry but it is difficult to do if you did not put enough flour between the layers when you stacked them.) Fold each piece to form a cone and fill with the sambusa mixture. Make a paste with flour and water and use to seal the cones (this needs to be done carefully otherwise the sambusas will break open when being deepfried). Deep-fry until golden brown and place on paper towels to drain off any excess oil.

15

18

recipe suggested by: andries, storeman, and jacques, engineer date and location: 2 may 2008, sixth floor cabot circus car park catered for: 200 The building of the car park was rapidly being completed and I was anxious to mark the moment.

With a whole handful of recipes to choose from, a South African ‘braai’ or barbecue seemed to be ideally suited for providing something for all 200 site staff. Several hours before the meal, in between lifting reinforcing bars and concrete, the site crane had to lift spit roasters, gas canisters, tables, chairs, two whole lambs, boerewors and a host of other ingredients to the sixth level for George to begin cooking. Throughout the morning the smell of roasting meat was drifting across the whole site so by lunchbreak the queue stretched the length of the building.

19

Traditional boerewors recipe

ingredients

Cube all the meat and the spek. Mix together thoroughly

1 kg beef

and mince coarsely. Place the meat in a large bowl, add

1 kg mutton

all the dry spices, vinegar, brandy and marsala (if used)

1 kg veal or lean pork

and mix together lightly with a fork. Place in the fridge for

500 g spek (firm pork fat from under the skin)

approximately 2 hours to allow the flavours to blend. During

25 ml salt

this time, soak the sausage casings in water. Fit the casings

5 ml ground black pepper

to a sausage-maker and fill with the mixture. Do not over- or

15 ml coriander seeds, dry roasted and ground

under-stuff.

1 ml ground cloves 2 ml nutmeg powder 125 ml brown vinegar 25 ml brandy (optional)

Banana curry

25 ml marsala (optional) 200 g wide sausage casings

Mix together all the ingredients except the bananas. Slice the Banana curry 100 ml mayonnaise

bananas into the mixture just before you want to serve it.

50 ml condensed milk 2 teaspoons curry powder 1 teaspoon sugar 4–5 bananas

Mielie bread

Mielie bread 480 g self-raising flour 3 teaspoons baking powder 1 teaspoon salt

baking powder, salt and sugar together in a bowl. Beat the oil,

50 ml sugar

eggs and milk together, then add to the flour. Keeping back

30 ml vegetable oil

a little of the cheese and onion (to sprinkle on the top), add

2 eggs

all the other ingredients. Put the mixture into a well greased

200 ml milk

baking tin, sprinkle the last of the cheese and onion on the

1 tin (418 g) creamed sweetcorn

top and bake for approximately 1 hour.

100 g Cheddar cheese, grated 1/2 onion, finely chopped

20

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 2. Mix the flour,

24

AUSTRALIA / ASIA Australian Punjabi Nepalese

a V G w X m r U

g j n D G p y q

recipe suggested by: chris, subcontractor’s foreman date and location: may 2007/august 2008, outside the site canteen catered for: 100+ I needed to start this project with something simple, something I could cook to see how the idea might work. Armed with boxes full of biscuits and with Chris’s Aussie humour we began distributing them on-site outside the canteen. Within fifteen minutes they were gone.

27

“Anzac biscuits were baked by anxious wives and mothers during wwi and sent to Australian soldiers in the trenches.”

Anzac biscuits

ingredients

Preheat the oven to 150°C/300°F/Gas Mark 2. Mix together

1 cup rolled oats

the oats, flour, sugar and coconut. Melt the syrup and butter

1 cup plain flour

together. Mix the bicarbonate of soda with the boiling water

1 cup sugar

and add to the melted butter and syrup. Add the syrup

3/4 cup desiccated coconut 2 tablespoons golden syrup 4 oz butter 1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda 1 tablespoon water

28

mixture to the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly by hand.

Place tablespoon-sized pieces of the mixture onto a greased tray (allowing room for spreading) and bake for 20 minutes.

The biscuits should be golden brown and with a slightly chewy texture.

30

recipe suggested by: sachdev, sub contractors health and safety officer date and location: july 2007, building site information centre catered for: 45 Sunday was spent cooking several different curry dishes with Virpal and Sachdev in a suburban house in Hayes on the outskirts of London. Virpal is a fantastic chef but with forty-ďŹ ve to cook for there was a mountain of onions, garlic, ginger, chillies, cheese and chicken to prepare. The following morning, after picking up Sachdev and all the food, we had a two-hour drive back to Bristol to be there in time for a 12 pm lunch break. I received several recipes from the Punjabi site staff and the meal was selected from a number of these.

31

Chicken curry

ingredients – serves 8

Heat the oil in a large pan and gently fry the cumin seed

1/2 cup oil

for a few minutes until it starts to change colour. Add the

2 tbsp cumin seed

ďŹ nely chopped garlic and ginger and continue to fry, stirring

1 whole head garlic, chopped

to prevent sticking, for 5 minutes, then add the onions and

1 large piece ginger, chopped 7 large chopped onions 2 tbsp salt 1 can chopped tomatoes 7 large green chillies, chopped 1 tbsp turmeric

and cook for a few minutes before adding the green chillies.

Continue to cook for 10 minutes, then add the turmeric, chilli powder and chicken masala. Stir in half a cup of hot water, and then add the washed chicken pieces. Continue

1/4 tbsp red chilli powder

cooking on a medium heat for 15 minutes. Turn the heat

1/2 tbsp chicken masala

down, cover the pan and cook for 30 minutes, or until the

1.5 kg chicken pieces on the bone, washed 4 handfuls fresh coriander, ďŹ nely chopped

32

salt and mix well. Cook over a medium heat, stirring, until the onions are soft and nicely browned. Add the tomatoes

meat is beginning to fall off the bone. Add more water to the sauce if it becomes too thick. Finally, stir the chopped coriander into the cooked curry and serve.

Shhaee paneer (royal paneer)

ingredients – serves 8

Heat the oil in a large pan and gently fry the cumin seed for

1/4 cup oil

a few minutes until it starts to change colour. Add the finely

1 tbsp cumin seed

chopped ginger and garlic and continue to fry, stirring to

1 medium piece of ginger, chopped

prevent sticking, for 5 minutes, then add the onions, green

1/2 head garlic, chopped

chilli and salt and mix well. Cook over a medium heat,

3 large chopped onions

stirring, then cover the pan and allow to cook for 10 minutes.

1 large green chilli, chopped

Add the turmeric, garam masala and tomatoes and cook for

1 tbsp salt

another 5 minutes. Turn the heat right down, add the cream,

1 tbsp turmeric

and continue to cook for 10 minutes. Add the chopped green

1/4 tbsp garam masala

pepper and put the lid back on the pan for a further 10

1 can chopped tomatoes

minutes. Remove the lid, add the cubed paneer, and gently

175 ml single cream

cook for 20 minutes until the paneer is soft. To finish the

1 large green pepper, chopped 2 packets paneer, chopped into 2 cm cubes

curry, dry roast the cashew halves and use to garnish along with the fresh coriander.

40 g cashew nut halves 1 handful fresh coriander, finely chopped

Senwiyan (vermicelli milk pudding)

ingredients – serves 6–8

Heat the ghee gently in a large pan and fry the vermicelli

2 tbsp ghee

until golden, being careful not to let it burn. Add the milk

200 g packet senwiyan (vermicelli) 1 1/2 litres full cream milk 10 tbsp sugar 30 g almonds/pistachios, chopped

and then the sugar, bring to the boil, and allow to simmer for 10 minutes. Stir in half the nuts, and take off the heat.

You can either serve it straight away, or leave it to cool, put it in the fridge and serve it as a cold dessert. Garnish with the remaining nuts.

33

37

38

recipe suggested by: jeeti giri, nargit singh thapa, balkeshar tamang, om gunung, babukaji gurung, indra gurung, jiet budhathoki, site security staff date and location: 12 april 2008, temporary canteen car park, quakers friars catered for: 14

Curiously, many of the site security team are from Nepal, mostly ex-teachers and university lecturers from Katmandu. I had some great recipes from them but trying to do a meal together was a real challenge. The site has 24-hour security so the only time we could have a meal was onsite at changeover, 7 pm on a Saturday night. Bal and Indra, two of the guards, cooked the meal of several different dishes in their shared house on Stapleton Rd. We ate together with several invited guests in a surreal temporary site canteen in a car park in almost total darkness.

39

Mutton curry (you can also use chicken for this dish) ingredients

Heat half of the oil in a pan and fry the onions, garlic and

200 ml oil

ginger until golden brown. Add the tomato slices, turmeric

2 large onions, chopped

and salt and continue to fry for another 2 minutes, stirring

1 garlic bulb, chopped

constantly to make sure the mixture does not stick or burn.

1 10cm piece ginger, chopped 1 teaspoon salt 2 large skinned tomatoes 1 teaspoon turmeric powder 1 teaspoon salt

In a separate pan, heat the remainder of the oil and fry the mutton for about 10 minutes until browned. Add the meat to the cooked onions and tomatoes, add all the other spices, and mix well. Add sufficient hot water to cover all the ingredients

1 kg mutton, cubed

and allow to simmer on a low heat for approximately 30

1–2 teaspoons black pepper

minutes or until the meat is tender. When ready to serve,

3 teaspoons cumin powder

garnish with chopped coriander.

Approx. 8 cardamom seeds 1 stick cinnamon 1 teaspoon chilli powder 2 teaspoons garam masala Fresh coriander to garnish Rice 1/4 cup of oil

Heat the oil in a flat-bottomed saucepan. Add the onion,

1 onion, sliced

cardamom, cloves, and cinnamon and sauté until the onion

4–6 cardamom pods

is translucent. Stir in the rice and mix well. Add the water

4–6 cloves

and stock cubes and cook until all the water has evaporated

1 cinnamon stick

from the surface of the rice. Reduce the heat to a low

3 cups basmati rice; rinsed until liquid is clear 4 cups water 3 chicken or vegetable stock cubes

temperature and continue to cook until the rice is soft. This can take between 15 and 20 minutes. Fluff with a fork before serving.

Melt the ghee over a medium heat, add the onion and

Garnish

turmeric and fry for about 2 minutes. Add the raisins and

1 tablespoon ghee (clarified butter)

cook for a further 2 minutes (you can also use cashew nuts in

1 small onion, sliced

before serving.

1/2 teaspoon turmeric 1/4 cup raisins and sultanas

40

Rice & garnish

addition or as an alternative). Spoon over the rice and mix in

“We ate together with several invited guests in a surreal temporary site canteen in a car park in almost total darkness” Mixed vegetable curry

ingredients

Parboil the potatoes and the green peas. Heat the oil in a

2 medium potatoes, cubed

large pan and fry the onion, garlic and ginger until golden

200 g green peas

brown. Add the potatoes, peas, cauliflower and kidney beans

100 ml oil

and fry for a further five minutes. Add the turmeric, chilli

1 medium onion, chopped 4–6 large cloves garlic 1 medium piece ginger, chopped 1 medium cauliflower, cut into small florets

powder, fenugreek, salt and pepper and mix thoroughly. Add the water and simmer on a medium to low heat for 20–30 minutes or until all the vegetables are tender. Keep an eye on the consistency and add more water if necessary, but this is

200 g cooked kidney beans

a relatively dry curry. When ready to serve, garnish with the

1 teaspoon turmeric

sliced tomatoes and coriander.

1 teaspoon chilli powder 4 teaspoons fenugreek seeds 1 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon ground black pepper 1–2 cups water

Mixed dahl

2 tomatoes, sliced Fresh coriander, chopped Mixed dahl 100 g each of chana dahl, toor dahl, moong dahl, urid dahl, masoor dahl (available from any Asian store) 1 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon turmeric 1 tablespoon ghee (clarified butter) or cooking oil

Soak the dahl for 40 minutes, then rinse and cover with water, add the salt and turmeric powder and bring to the boil.

Cover and turn down the heat. Cook for a further 30–40 minutes, checking that it does not dry out, top up with water if necessary. In a seperate saucepan, heat the ghee or oil and fry the onion, garlic, ginger, chopped chilli (to taste), chilli powder (to taste) and tomato, until golden brown. Lightly mash the dahl, then add to the other ingredients and simmer for a further 5 minutes. Serve with a garnish of coriander.

1 medium onion, chopped 2–4 cloves garlic, finely chopped 1 medium piece ginger, finely chopped 1–2 fresh chillies, finely chopped 1 teaspoon chilli powder 1 tomato, sliced Fresh coriander, chopped 41

44

45

Afterword Louise McCrimmon Louise McCrimmon began her career at Harvey Nichols 11 years ago, joining the Leeds Fourth Floor Café on its launch in 1996. Having ascended through the ranks to become the ‘right-hand man’ of the Leeds executive chef, in her new role as head chef McCrimmon is responsible for bringing the Harvey Nichols dining experience to the Bristol scene.

I cook because I adore eating. It thrills me every time I sit down in front of a plate of food – slow roasted chicken with truffle butter melting to a rich silkiness; a bacon sarnie, more bacon than bread; roast fig paired with soft, creamy cheese. There is no great secret to these delights.

When the opportunity arose to have my own kitchen in Bristol I jumped at the chance to carry on the Harvey Nichols restaurant legacy, with its eminent sense of luxury and style, but also to create a flavour unique to Bristol and the surrounding area.

They needed a chef to run the restaurant and oversee the food in the bar. I’m not sure I had any real concept of how much work there was to do. I planned the kitchens, hired staff, worked on menus and generally became a desk jockey until our opening in late September.

Meeting the fantastic local food suppliers has been a delight; my suppliers are central to what I do. I have to have the best and there is no room for compromise. Supremely fresh, seasonal ingredients feed my creativity. Seasons are such an ancient measure, but they are so delightful, diverse and approximate.

So much of the charm of food lies in the circumstances – the people, the atmosphere, the conversation. My travels abroad have had a huge influence on the food I like to cook and eat. The new restaurant menu features indulgent world ingredients alongside the finest local produce from the south west; it has accents inspired by holidays to North Africa, France and other parts of Europe. The food I cook at home

135

“Supremely fresh, seasonal ingredients feed my creativity.”

includes recipes from all around the world – from Somalia to the Caribbean.

The highlights of the last few months’ preparation have been experiencing the speed of the transformation from building site to sumptuous and elegant restaurant, and seeing how the front-of-house team and back-of-house kitchen brigade have breathed life into the Second Floor Restaurant. My goal for the team now is simple – for our food to bring people happiness.

I hope that this unique book, celebrating the diversity of the workforce at Cabot Circus, will reside in your kitchen and not on your coffee table. I look forward to cooking from it and sharing some of the delights of these global dishes with my friends, family and customers.

136

recipe by: louise mccrimmon date and location: 23 september 2008, harvey nichols second floor bar and restaurant catered for: 50+

The day before Harvey Nichols opened its doors to the Bristol public for the ďŹ rst time, Louise and her staff in the kitchens were busy making sure everything was just right. As part of the preparations, under Louise’s instructions, the chefs cooked recipes to be served in the restaurant to other Harvey Nichols staff. After all the years of construction, these are the people who will staff the buildings into the future, and I was keen that the last meal should acknowledge this transition.

Just like all the previous meals, this one took place within the boundaries of the construction site, but in surroundings transformed almost beyond recognition.

137

Grilled quail with rose

ingredients – serves 2

Mix the marinade ingredients together, coat the quail and

2 quail, spatchcocked

leave for 24 hours.

Salt and freshly ground black pepper for seasoning

To make the sauce, mix the jam, garlic and cinnamon

Marinade 1 clove garlic, crushed 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1 teaspoon ground cumin 3 tablespoons rose water 1 tablespoon lemon juice Black pepper

seasoning. If you cannot get rose petal jam, use quince paste and rosewater instead.

Preheat the grill. Season the quail with a little salt and freshly ground black pepper and place under the hot grill, skin side up. Cook for approximately 5–6 minutes (or longer depending on the heat of your grill), until the quail are

Rose petal sauce

cooked but still pink and juicy. To serve, plate up the quail

3 tablespoons rose petal jam

and drizzle with the rose petal sauce.

1 clove garlic, crushed to a paste 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1 tablespoon olive oil Lemon juice to taste

138

together. Add the olive oil and lemon juice and taste for

Pineapple polenta upside down cake

ingredients

Cream the butter and sugar together in a bowl. Gradually

Polenta batter

add the eggs and egg yolks. Fold in the flour, polenta, baking

3/4 cup butter

powder and salt. Grease 10 dariole moulds, line their bases

1 cup sugar

with greaseproof paper and set aside.

3 eggs 6 egg yolks

To make the caramel, put the water into a deep, heavy-based

3/4 cup + 1 tablespoon plain flour

saucepan. Sprinkle in the sugar and heat gently, stirring

1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons polenta

occasionally, until the sugar is completely dissolved. Use a wet pastry brush to brush any sugar crystals from the

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

sides of the pan. Bring the syrup to a simmer; after about 15

1/2 teaspoon salt

minutes it will start to develop a caramel colour. Swirl the pan

Caramel 300 ml water 600 g caster sugar 1 pineapple, trimmed and cut into small chunks

occasionally to ensure an even colour, but don’t stir. Once it is a deep amber (after about another 4–5 minutes’ cooking), take it off the heat and immediately place the base of the pan into cold water to stop the caramel cooking any further. Swirl the caramel into the bases of the dariole moulds, then fill the base of the mould with pineapple. Spoon batter into the moulds and bake for 20 minutes at 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4.

139

142

Acknowledgements

This project would not have been possible without the fantastic commitment of many people, in particular the site staff who embraced the challenge of writing recipes – and eating the results. There were dozens of submitted ideas we never had a chance to cook, but thank you all. I also owe a huge debt of thanks to many chefs and restaurants for their help in the preparation of the meals, in particular Mud Dock who cooked six of the meals we served. Without Bristol Alliance and InSite Arts, who initiated this residency, none of this would have happened, and I want to acknowledge their faith in me for the many months before there was anything tangible to show for it.

Special thanks to: Beverley, Marco and David www.mud-dock.co.uk 0117 929 2151 Arnaud and Richard www.therealartisanbakery.com 01179547488 George Manzes, 204 Deptford High St, London 0208 692 2375 Daud Frances www.cliftoncakes.co.uk 0117 927 7693 Chef rice_things@btinternet.com 07786 827951 Antoin Leighton, for meeting the challenge of creating a medieval banquet leightonberry@hotmail.com [freelance] Virpal and Sachdev, for cooking all weekend Jeet, Bal and Indra, for cooking during their free hours off work George, Nyama Catering www.Nyama-catering.co.uk Maureen, for her pastry recipes Chris, for always keeping me smiling on site Louise McCrimmon, Mary Richards and Josephine Freeman at Harvey Nichols, Bristol Kip, Gavin, James and all the Sir Robert McAlpine staff, for their fantastic help Sam Wilkinson, for all the work and support over three years, way beyond anything one could ever expect Helen Tookey, Sarah Butler and Sam Wilkinson, for editing and proofreading Alan Ward, for delivering such a stunning publication

144