À Mon Seul Désir by kudlimb

NINON de Lâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ENCLOS The secret of her beauty was disclosed after her death, by a woman who was in her service for over 50 years, through a brochure with beauty recipes, which she made on behalf of Ninon. The cream, which allowed her to keep her skin youthful, is described as follows: Original Recipe

Modern Modification

4 ounces of almond

113,4 grams of almond

3 ounces lard

85 grams of olive oil

1 ounce spermaceti

28,35 grams of beeswax

Onion juice

Onion juice Rose water a recipe by Ninon de Lâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Enclos

COTTAGE LOAF “I have only one passion in life — cooking,” Woolf wrote to her friend (and occasional lover) Vita Sackville-West. “I have just bought a superb oil stove. I can cook anything … I assure you it is better than writing these more than idiotic books.” “Cooked lunch today and made a loaf of really expert bread,” she wrote. Bread was her speciality, particularly a traditionally British double-decker creation: the snowmanesque cottage loaf. Her dedication to the kitchen was unusual for fo a woman of the upper-middle class. She did, however, draw the line at doing the dishes “How servants preserve either sanity or sobriety if that is 9/10ths of their lives … God knows.” Preferment: 1 cup all-purpose flour 1 cup bread flour 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon instant yeast 2/3 cup warm water In a large bowl, sift together flours and salt. In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in water. Add to flour mixture and stir until dough forms. Let rest 10 minutes. On a floured surface, knead dough briefly, then return to a greased bowl and allow to rise 1 hour at room temperature. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight. Cottage loaf: All of the p preferment 1 teaspoon yeast 2/3 cup warm water 1 3/4 cups bread flour 1/4 cup rye flour 1/2 teaspoon salt Remove the preferment from the refrigerator, cut into 8 wedges, and let sit 1 hour until it reaches room temperature.

In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in water. In a large bowl, mix together preferment, dissolved yeast, flours, and salt until a rough dough forms. On a floured surface, knead dough 10 to 15 minutes until smooth and elastic. Place in a greased bowl and let sit in a warm place 30 minutes, or until it has doubled in size. Divide dough into 2 pieces (with 1/3 and 2/3 of the dough respectively) and form into tight balls. Place rounds on a greased baking sheet and set 10 minutes. Preheat oven to 220 C. Place the smaller round on top of the larger round. Push a floured wooden spoon handle completely through the centre of the top round and 2/3 of the way into the bottom rounds to join them. Slash both rounds. Bake 40 to 45 minutes, or until golden brown and loaf makes a hollow sound when tapped on the bottom. a recipe by Virginia Woolf

GRUYÈRE TARTINES 2 cups flour 1 egg, plus extra for egg wash 1 stick butter, cut into small cubes 1 1/2 pounds potatoes (Russet or Yukon Gold), peeled and cut into 2-inch chunks 1/2 cup fromage blanc (You can also use full-fat Greek yogurt) 1/2 cup grated gruyè gruyère Salt and pepper to taste 1 tbsp fresh thyme or sage, chopped 1. On a clean surface, make the flour into a mound with a well in the center. Crack 1 egg in the well, along with a pinch of salt and 1 cup cold water. Knead the dough until smooth, and let sit 2 hours. 2. Put a large covered pot of water on medium-high heat. When water is boiling, add potatoes and cook until soft, about 10 minutes. Mash with a potato masher, then run through a fine sieve or potato ricer. rice Add to a large bowl with fromage blanc and gruyère, mixing well to combine. Season generously with thyme, salt and pepper. 3. While potatoes cook, roll dough to 1/4-inch thick. Cover half the dough with 1/4 of the butter cubes, then fold in half and roll out to the same thickness. Repeat with remaining butter, then chill in the freezer 30 minutes. 4. Preheat oven to 220 C. Cut dough into two 10-inch circles. Spread potato mixture on one circle, leaving a 1/2-inch border, then cover with second circle, crimping the edges closed. 5. Lightly beat the remaining egg in a small bowl and brush over top of the galette. Bake 30 minutes, until pastry is golden and potato is cooked. a recipe by George Sand

PIGEON PIE It was the custom to put ‘nicely cleaned’ pigeon feet in the crust to label the contents (although sensible Margaret Dods says ‘we confess we see little use and no beauty in the practice’). Georgian recipes for pigeon pie called for whole birds, but I’ve suggested stewing the birds first, so your guests don’t have to pick out the bones. Serves 6–8 as part of a picnic spread 4 rashers of st streaky bacon, chopped Slice of lean ham, chopped 4 pigeons with their livers tucked inside (the livers are hard to come by, but worth hunting out) Flour, seasoned with salt and pepper 9 oz/250 g steak, diced (original cooks would have used rump steak, but you could use something cheaper like topside, diced across the grain of the meat) Butter Olive oil Finely chopped parsley 2 white onions, roughly chopped A bouquet garni of any of the following, tied together: thyme, parsley, marjoram, winter savory, a bay leaf Beurre manié made with about 2 tsp butter and 2 tsp flour 1 lb/500 g rough puff pastry, chilled Optional additions: 1 onion, quarte quartered; 2 carrots, roughly chopped; 1 celery stick, roughly chopped 1) Brown the bacon and then the ham in a frying pan, then add the onions, if using, and cook until they are translucent. Transfer the mixture to a large saucepan. 2) Flour the pigeons well and brown them all over in butter and olive oil in a frying pan, transferring them to the same large saucepan. Flour and brown the steak in the same way. 3) Put the pigeons in a saucepan, and push the steak, bacon, and onions down all around them (choose a saucepan in which they will be quite tightly packed). Although the original recipe doesn’t include them, you may want to add the car carrots and celery stick to improve the stock. Add approximately 300 ml water, or enough to just cover the contents. Cover the pan, and simmer slowly until the meat comes off the pigeon bones — at least an hour. Do not allow the pan to come to a boil or the beef will toughen. Remove from the heat.

4) When it is cool enough to handle, remove the steak and pigeons with a slotted spoon, and carefully pull the pigeon meat off the bones, keeping it as chunky as possible, and put it, with the livers from the cavity, with the steak. You should have a good thick sauce; if it is too thin, stir in the beurre manié a little at a time. Wait for it to cook the flour, and thicken before adding any more, until you have the right consistency. 5) Preheat P the oven to 375°F/190°C/Gas Mark 5. Roll out two-thirds of the pastry and line a pie dish about 3 inches/8 cm deep, keeping a good 1⁄4 inch/5 mm of pastry above the lip of the dish to allow for shrinkage. 6) Prick the bottom of the pastry and bake blind for 12 minutes. Add the meat mixture and pour in enough gravy to come to within an inch of the top. Roll out the remaining pastry to cover the top, crimping the edges together. Make a vent in the centre, and use the trimmings to decorate. You may like to use the point of the knife to make small slash marks in the shape of pigeon footprints — a nod to the “nicely cleaned feet” of the original recipe. Bake for 25–30 minutes until the pastry is lightly golden, and cooked through. 7) To serve, this is a juicier pie than we are used to for picnics, so you will need plates, and knives and forks, in the Georgian manner. a recipe by Jane Austen

PASTA BOLOGNESE Servings: 4-6 at minimum Time: allow a few hours Difficulty: easy You’ll need a large saucepan. 2 large onions, chopped 2 tablespoons olive oil 4 cloves garlic, minced 2 pounds extra lean ground beef 1 bottle Chianti or other dry red wine 4 tablespoons tomato paste 1 teaspoon Italian herbs 1 cup heavy cream c salt and pepper to taste, at least 1/4 teaspoon of each 3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley or basil 1 pound spaghetti, cooked & drained or any other pasta you like freshly grated Parmesan I also added a jar of Newman’s classic tomato sauce because I found the dish just too meaty without it. In a heavy-bottomed large sauce pan cook the onions in olive oil over ove medium heat until softened. Stir in the garlic, add the beef, and stir until the meat cooks through and separates into crumbly pieces. Add the wine and turn the heat up so that the wine bubbles continuously. Keep cooking until the volume is reduced by about half – at which the mixture will be quite thick. Add the tomato paste and stir. Cover and turn the heat down very low, and cook for a minimum of two hours and up to four hours. Stir from time to time, scraping the bottom to ensure that nothing sticks to it or o burns. Shortly before serving, turn the heat to mediumlow and stir in the cream and Italian herbs. Taste, and then add salt and pepper. Cook, uncovered another ten minutes. Taste again, adjusting seasonings as necessary, and stir in the parsley. Serve with pasta, sprinkled with Parmesan. a recipe by Anaïs Nin

SYLVIA PLATH’S FAVOURITE CAKE Classic Tomato Soup Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting Ingredients: 3 teaspoons baking powder ½ teaspoon nutmeg ½ teaspoon cloves 1 cup raisins 1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts 2 tablespoons shortening 1 can tomato soup 2 cups white flour ¼ teaspoon baking soda ½ teaspoon mace 1 cup white suga sugar 1 egg (well-beaten) Frosting: 2 cup cream cheese 1 ½ cups confectioner’s sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla Directions: 1. Preheat P oven to 350 degrees. 2. Mix dry ingredients. 3. Wash and cut raisins and roll them in a little flour. 4. Cream the sugar, shortening, and egg together thoroughly. 5. Add dry ingredients and soup to the creamed sugar mixture in alternating batches, a third at a time, and mix until all soup and dry ingredients are incorporated. 6. Fold in raisins and chopped nuts. 7. Pou Pour into floured cake pan. 8. Bake one hour; let cool before icing. 9. For the frosting, beat the cream cheese until soft and airy. Add sugar and vanilla. Stir until smooth. Spread on cooled cake.