Sunday, June 14, 2020

Robin Ellis's Mediterrean Vegetatarian Cooking

DEBORAH CROMBIE: I have long been a fan of British actor Robin Ellis, best known for portraying Winston Graham’s hero, Captain Ross Poldark in the seventies BBC adaptation of the saga (which eventually ran to 13 books!) In the recent version on Masterpiece, Robin returned—40 years after the original version-- to play Rev Dr Halse in all five series, and he was fabulous in that, too.



But these days Robin's primary passion is not acting, but cooking, and I am as big a fan of his cookbooks as I am of his performances. I have the first two, which I use all the time, and the new one is ordered!


He lives in the a village in the south of France with his American wife, and has written four cookbooks based on low-carb Mediterranean cuisine.There is a history of diabetes in his family (his mother died from it) and he himself was diagnosed with Type 2 in his fifties—so all his cookbooks feature simple, fresh recipes that are suitable for anyone wishing to eat healthily but also well. 



His latest book, Robin Ellis’s Mediterranean Vegetarian Cooking is due to be published June 25 in the UK and Aug 18 in north America.


Here's Robin as the dashing Ross Poldark:


Here's Robin as the Reverend Dr. Halse, with Aidan Turner as Ross Poldark, in the remake of the series.


And here's Robin to share a recipe with us today!

ROBIN ELLIS: Sunday evening at home in North London (leafy Hampstead Garden Suburb) in the late forties, early fifties, was my mother’s night off. The rest of the week she would cook dinner for Dad and me and we would eat it together sitting at the kitchen table—an old pine number with a scrubbed top.

But Sundays in winter we were in the sitting room in front of the coal fire (no central heating, no TV) with a tray table between us, on which would be a simple supper--macaroni cheese, toast with homemade marmalade and I guess, tea. Comfort food before the week started over on Monday morning.

Robin with his parents and younger brothers
We’d sit there listening to Mary Martin "washing that man right outta her hair" from South Pacific (thereby hangs another tale) on Dad’s state of the art gramophone (78rpms with a wooden needle.) Some Sundays she’d encourage me do my special--buttered toast with grilled cheddar cheese and slices of tomato, finished off under the grill. Never occurred to me until writing this; that must be where my penchant for slices of ripe tomatoes on pretty much anything originates!

In the difficult make do and mend years (rationing lasted until 1954) after the war, Ma made do and cooked too. There was always something going on in the tiny kitchen just off the parlour and always a bowl to lick out.

Ma was a cake maker—fruit cakes, chocolate cakes, sponges, and a cake for CHRISTMAS started, with the Christmas pudding, in September. A spoonful of brandy trickled over each week.
That marmalade too, in February, home-made with bitter oranges from Seville. The kitchen was an everyday part of my life. A place where things-that-tasted-good came from--and within feet of the cooker, in the adjacent parlour, was the pine table where the family sat together and ate those good tasting things.

Thus Ma established in me a love of simple food eaten together round a table—tray or sturdy pine. As a bachelor in my tiny mews flat in Kensington, London, I’d cook myself breakfast —eggs, bacon and of course, fried slices of tomato, before going off to rehearsals. In the evenings after work I’d spend an hour cooking a curry and 10 minutes stuffing it in my mouth, while trying to stuff the lines in my head—sitting at my own sturdy pine table.

Molly Ellis’ love of food and dedication to serving it to her hungry family not only gave me a taste for good food but also taught me, by osmosis, that food did not arrive on the table magicked out of thin air; it came via a kitchen and there was work involved. A valuable lesson as things turned out.

This classic soup first appeared in my second cookbook, Healthy Eating for Life. It is a regular at lunches in the garden in August. Delicious and simple to make, it requires no cooking at all. 

I include it again in memory of my mother, whose cooking inspired me to get in the kitchen. It’s a fair bet my mother first tasted this traditional summer soup from Andalusia in 1953, when my parents took my brother and me to the Costa Brava for a fortnight’s holiday. (Dad worked for British Railways and got a certain amount of concessionary travel in Europe.)  There were five hotels in Lloret de Mar. Now there are over five hundred. It was there that I first tasted an egg fried in olive oil—a memory that never left me.

Ma’s Gazpacho

Robin's gazpacho with his mother's recipe


SERVES 8

1kg/2lb 4oz ripe tomatoes, roughly chopped, juice reserved

1⁄2 large cucumber, peeled and roughly diced

1⁄2 large red pepper, deseeded and roughly diced

2 spring onions, chopped

3 garlic cloves, pulped in a mortar with 1 tsp salt

3 tbsp red wine vinegar

2 tbsp olive oil, plus extra to serve

a few drops of Tabasco (optional)

salt and freshly ground black pepper

a few parsley or basil leaves (optional), chopped, to serve

8 ice cubes (optional), to serve

1. Put the tomatoes, cucumber, red pepper, spring onions and garlic in a food processor. Pulse to combine until you have a not-too-smooth. Tip the purée mixture into a large bowl and season with salt and pepper.

2. Stir in the red wine vinegar and olive oil and add a few drops of Tabasco if you wish – it’s a matter of taste. Chill for a couple of hours or overnight.

3. When you’re ready to serve, pour a ladleful of the gazpacho into each bowl, add a whirl of olive oil and a pinch of chopped parsley or basil, if you wish. On a hot day, I sometimes add an ice cube to each bowl, too. 

DEBS:  Robin is also featured in the Merchant Ivory adaptation of the Henry James novel, The Europeans (recently re-released). And one of best performances—though little known—was in a superb Granada adaptation of Ford Maddox Ford’s seminal novel, The Good Soldier (well worth seeking out.) 

Robin will be stopping in to chat with us today from the south of France, where his village is home to the annual Pink Garlic Festival! He blogs about cooking, food, and life in rural France here.

His American wife is the photographer for his two most recent cookbooks. 

 
To get his latest cookbook before the north American release, try The Book Depository (free delivery worldwide):







78 comments:

  1. Yum . . . can’t wait to try this . . . it sounds delicious. Thank you for sharing the recipe.

    Robin, do you have a favorite meal [or recipe]?

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    Replies
    1. Somehow we're having difficulty posting from Robin's account, so here it is from me (the American wife and photographer)

      I once heard film maker Robert Altman asked if he could say which of his many films was his favourite. He answered, rather immodestly I thought at the time, that he thought of his films as his children and he loved them all! Maybe though it was his way of avoiding an answer!
      Rather than picking a favourite outright here’s a delicious provencal dip recipe we come back to again and again and with summer on the doorstep I’m certain it’ll be a regular on the menu.

      Tapinade (named after the provencal for caper—taper.

      It's a great standby to have in the fridge and is simplicity itself to make.
      Serve it as a summer lunch on toast brushed with olive oil with a slice of the ripest tomato on top,
      or on grilled slices of courgettes or aubergines,
      or on savoury biscuits.
      For a vegetarian version (in my new book!) leave out the anchovies.
      for 4

      200gms/7oz black olives--the oily fleshy Greek ones are best, carefully stoned. It's important to use the plumpest, tastiest olives

      6 anchovy fillets-chopped
      2 tbsps capers
      2 cloves garlic crushed
      1tsp fresh thyme
      1tbsp Dijon Mustard
      juice of a lemon
      120ml/4fl oz olive oil
      black pepper

      put all the ingredients, bar the oil, in a food processor and—using the surge button—gradually pour in the oil, bringing it to a nice, nobbly sludge—i.e. not too smooth
      Taste for balance--you may need a little more lemon juice.
      Pour into a bowl or plastic box and dribble a little more olive oil over to form a preserving film
      and it will keep in the fridge for at least two weeks.

      Delete
    2. "Anchovy fillets" - are we talking the oily shriveled kind that come in a can or the 'white anchovies' you can sometimes find brined in lemon juice and oil?

      Delete
  2. Thanks Debs for introducing us to Robin's cooking. I am always on the hunt for new cookbooks and recipes!

    Sadly, I can no longer eat gazpacho due to an allergy to tomatoes. I am slowly able to eat sweet bell peppers again, so I am hoping that tomatoes can be re-added back into my meals one day.

    It was meatless Saturday at home yesterday. A roasted beet salad with arugula and feta, as well as strawberry-rhubarb cobbler from Diane Mott Davidson's Goldy's Kitchen Cookbook. And dinner was pasta made with local Quebec goat cheese, asparagus, mushrooms and chives/parsley from my balcony garden. Both meals were delish.

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    1. Grâce, your two meals made me salivating.

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    2. Another recipe from Goldy! I have both strawberries and rhubarb so off to look that up...

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    3. Lucy, the time window for when local strawberries and rhubarb are available here in Ottawa is very short, so I made the cobbler when I saw my favourite FM vendor had opened a stall yesterday. Sooo good, and very easy to make.

      Danielle, I am now "Grace" with a circumflex, lol? I know that noun has a different meaning in French!

      For some reason, my laptop keyboard sometimes changes from US English to Canadian multilingual without my permission. So annoying!

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    4. Oh Grace, you are a Diane Mott Davidson fan too...I love her recipes, or Goldy's recipes. I am eager to get this beautiful new cookbook from Robin Ellis. Mediterranean Vegetarian, how can one go wrong with that !

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  3. What a treat to have you as a guest! I adore gazpacho and will save this version. I also adore fresh produce season here in northeast Massachusetts and we're already eating salads out of the garden. Tomatoes won't be ripe for at least another month, but my plants are looking healthy. We're lucky to have two excellent small farms nearby for things I don't grow.

    I've been growing garlic for decades. Will you tell us about pink garlic?

    Debs, how did you meet Robin?

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    Replies
    1. I agree it is great to be able to eat food from your own garden, Edith. I have also made some salads with my greens, microgreens and herbs. Our Farmers Markets are only open for limited preorder pickups and only 1/4 of the vendors/farmers are participating. But I am excited to hear that my local FM (only 5 minute walk from my apartment) will be opening on Thursday. It will still be a different system since the stalls and pathways are too close together, but I am happy to be able to buy more local produce.

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    2. Edith, I'm trying to remember how I first learned about Robin's cook books. (He also has a book about the making of Poldark, which is great fun.) Somehow we got internet connected and I also got to be friends with Meredith, Robin's wife. Robin has taught some cooking classes in France and I would LOVE to attend for a one of those weeks--one of these days!

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    3. Grace, maybe you'll meet my sister Janet at the market! She's my height but more petite, wears glasses, and has very short silver hair. You'll know her because she walks fast. ;^)

      Debs - Tell me when you attend and I'll sign up, too!

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    4. Edith, I hope more people come down to the Byward Market soon, including your sister. It is normally one of the top visitor destinations in the city in the summer but is still largely deserted. Hopefully things will pick up this summer with the opening of the patios and the return of the Farmers Market this week.

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    5. Pink Garlic is one of three varieties grown in southwest France (the others being violet and white). It gets its pink color from the soil, but the interior is creamy white, like all garlic. It has a long shelf life and is supposed to be milder than some other varieties. You can read more about it here: https://specialtyproduce.com/produce/Lautrecs_Pink_Garlic_12889.php

      Our village has an annual garlic festival the first weekend of August. The narrow, Medieval streets of Lautrec are packed with 10,000 visitors (pop normally about 1100). Unfortunately this year it had to be canceled due to the virus. They give away garlic soup to everyone in the main square at noon.

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    6. 10000 people! Where do they all stay! And that's a lot of bowls of soup lol!

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    7. Meredith, what a wonderful festival it must be. In California we have the town of Gilroy ("Garlic Capital of the World"...) with an annual festival and cookbook.

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    8. Ah- I now see that "Meredith Wheeler" must be Robin! Thank you for finding a way to comment.

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  4. Robin, in the early 1950s, gazpacho must have been quite an exotic dish for your family! I know it would have been in my own. Cold soup? Your mother was an adventurous eater, and cook, it seems.

    Robin, I also grow garlic, and am curious about pink garlic! Coincidentally, just yesterday I cut the scapes from a future 175 bulbs in my garden. I bet the scapes would be good in gazpacho, too. They are a favorite spring vegetable, and I use them in a lot of ways. Have you ever cooked with them?

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    Replies
    1. Oh my goodness—this is so strange! Before I read all the comments, I added mine below. And look what I asked! (And last night I used them in a shrimp zucchini pasta dish.) Amazing coincidence.

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    2. With fresh basil and parsley from our garden! Yum.

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    3. On the side, I usually serve gazpacho with finely chopped up onions, green pepper, tomatoes, and cukes. Chopped scapes would be a great addition.

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    4. My scapes are ready to cut, too!

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    5. RE: My father for British rail so the family received concessionary fares. He took the family to the Costa Brava in 1953. I had my first taste of an egg cooked olive oil. (At that point in England, olive oil could only be purchased at the chemist primarily for ear problems.) My parents went on subsequent visits to Spain and to Italy, and my mother loved the cuisine--and searched out recipes. I found the gazpacho recipe written out on the back of an envelope in her lovely, flowing hand. I make it exactly as she instructs.

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    6. Her handwriting was beautiful, Robin. And such a treasure to have her handwritten recipes.

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  5. Welcome Robin! These are such lovely memories of your family--you celebrate your mom with every meal you make! I'm yearning for France and hoping you'll describe a little about where you live?

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    1. Laautrec is medieval hilltop village (bastide) in southwest France about 50 miles east of Toulouse, with a view of the Pyrenees. It's a two-hour drive from the Mediterranean Sea. It's rolling countryside where garlic, sunflowers and corn are grown and cattle and sheep are raised (the ewes' milk goes into roquefort cheese). I blog about life her at http://robin-ellis.net/.

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  6. I love everything about food, cooking, feeding. Most of the shows that I watch on TV are about food.
    Thank you for this interesting essai and for the recipe.
    As I love fresh produces and have a flexitarian approach in food, I'm looking forward to your new book Robin.

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  7. I love gazpacho, even though I never make it exactly the same twice. Why is that,I wonder. Anyway as soon as a few more things are ready in the garden I'll be able to make it. Yum!

    Debs, I am in the midst of finishing your books now, one more to go and what a trip it has been. But reading about Robin and growing up and being in the kitchen with his mother I am struck that Kit seems to be following in those shoes!

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    Replies
    1. What a lovely thought, Judi! That hadn't occurred to me but I can certainly see it now!

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  8. Tomatoes! The perfect food. (Do you keep them in the fridge?)
    We’re having our groceries delivered now, sigh, and instead of the spring onions I requested—he brought a weird and mysterious thing that google tells me are garlic scapes. Are you familiar with those?
    And oh —we are so honored and thrilled to have you here today! Thank so much for such marvelous entertainment!

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    Replies
    1. Garlic scapes are delicious. And you can only get them this time of year. I've seen recipes that use them as the base for a pesto. And they're very nice as a substitute for scallions... just garlicky.

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    2. Tomatoes and strawberries should never be refrigerated. Never!

      Heading out to cut my scapes now. ;^)

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    3. Hank, there are a ton of recipes for using scapes online. I happened to be Googling them last night. They're abundant at the markets right now, and that's it for the year. But they're very inexpensive, and if you can, snap a bunch up to use later, too.

      I'm planning to make pesto from some of these, and freeze them in silicone ice cube trays. Each section hold two tablespoons, which is perfect for recipes. And I'll chop a bunch and freeze to use a bit at a time later, as well.

      I've run out of my other garlic, so the scapes come at just the right time to add garlicky deliciousness to dishes.

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    4. Garlic scapes are tasty, Hank, and only available for a limited time in the spring. Sadly, with the closure of our Farmers Markets, I had NO garlic scapes this year. There are plenty of recipes. As Karen says, pesto is pretty good and easy to make.

      I did get some fiddleheads (at the supermarket) but the quality was not the same.

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  9. How lovely to think about France and food this rainy morning! Last night I made my usual shrimp with feta cheese, green onions, and chopped fresh tomatoes and basil.

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    Replies
    1. Garides Tourkolimano
      Saute one pound shrimp (frozen and thawed is fine) in olive oil, one minute on each side. Remove
      Saute 4 cloves chopped garlic one minute
      Add six chopped Roma tomatoes (or canned), four sliced green onions, saute 3-5 minutes.
      Add shrimp, 1/2 cup white wine, one teaspoon oregano, one quarter cup chopped fresh basil, one bay leaf, salt and pepper. Simmer 2 minutes
      Remove from heat and mix in crumbled feta. Cover and rest three minutes.
      Bon Appetit!

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  10. Your mother's cooking reminds me a bit of my own mother. She also made do and made good food--still does, although she does say that after all these years of cooking she's tired of thinking up what to cook. She still loves to bake though, especially at Christmas. Unfortunately, I don't seem to have inherited any of her skill. While staying at home for the last few months, I have been trying to cook more and more healthy since I couldn't go out, and I've actually been successful at a few dishes.

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    Replies
    1. My mom was not a good savory cook at all - but boy, could she bake!

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  11. Robin Ellis! I am such a fangirl! Loved his Poldark. Be still my beating heart... and here he is on Jungle Red Writers!

    Gazpacho is my favorite summer soup, and so easy to make. I make a version that has most of these ingredients plus V8 juice. Or tomato juice. When we traveled in Spain I was amazed at how many different versions of it there were. I'll be printing this recipe and making it... so perfect for a hot summer evening. (Leftover (would there be any) gazpacho is a perfect dressing for cold poached shrimp and avocados)

    (Margaret, that sounds delicious... last night I made fried shrimp with stir fried bok choy (a bok choy the size of a tuba came with my last Peapod order... we'll still be eating it in a month.))

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    Replies
    1. Hallie, about Robin Ellis, what you said!!

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    2. Monster bok choy! Was it still edible?

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    3. We'll have the last of it tonight. It lasts forever.

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  12. In 2000 I worked remotely for a brand-new online magazine/store. We all met in Anaheim for a big conference, and stayed at a motel near Disneyland.

    Our boss, who was a devoted health food eater and long-distance runner, shopped for groceries (tomatoes, garlic, peppers, onions, herbs) as soon as he hit town, and every day he made gazpacho in his hotel room--in his coffeepot!

    Lesson learned: never, ever use the coffeepots in hotel rooms.

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    Replies
    1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    2. With COVID-19 changing the cleaning protocols in hotels, I have read that most chains are removing coffeepots (and pens, notepads, ice buckets and other handheld items) from hotel rooms.

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    3. Karen, I'm picturing the poor guest who next used that room, and couldn't figure out why his morning coffee tasted like an Italian dinner...

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    4. Oh, ugh. Totally disgusting! I never use a hotel coffee maker anyway, except the kind that the water flows straight through for tea, and even those I run a couple of clean cycles first.

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  13. Wow, what a coup, Debs, getting Robin on Jungle Reds! I was a huge fan of the old Poldark, and usually would be in Cornwall at this time of year. Robin, what is pink garlic and how does it taste different?

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    Replies
    1. Rhys, I know this! It's pink because it comes from a certain region of France - can't recall which - and the color comes from the terroir. You can get a similar taste from farmer's market garlic; look for a purple color through the skins, which are thinner than the bulbs usually available in supermarkets.

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    2. Oh, and it's taste - it's stronger than regular white garlic, and it really comes through when it's been sauted in oil. So good!

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    3. I wonder if that is the Rocaille garlic. I grow some of that type.

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  14. Your memories of your mom and her cooking are so sweet. We also ate simply on Sunday nights. I wonder if that was due to running low on food at the end of the week (grocery stores were closed on Sundays) or the weekly food budget was squeezed. Or maybe Mom was just tired!
    Since my granddaughter is currently vegetarian I’ll have to try your recipes. Thanks for visiting today!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Robin has been trying to post for ages and just cannot get Blogger to take a comment! So frustrating!

    From Robin:

    once heard film maker Robert Altman asked if he could say which of his many films was his favourite. He answered, rather immodestly I thought at the time, that he thought of his films as his children and he loved them all! Maybe though it was his way of avoiding an answer!
    Rather than picking a favourite outright here’s a delicious provencal dip recipe we come back to again and again and with summer on the doorstep I’m certain it’ll be a regular on the menu.

    Tapinade (named after the provencal for caper—taper.

    It's a great standby to have in the fridge and is simplicity itself to make.
    Serve it as a summer lunch on toast brushed with olive oil with a slice of the ripest tomato on top,
    or on grilled slices of courgettes or aubergines,
    or on savoury biscuits.
    For a vegetarian version (in my new book!) leave out the anchovies.
    for 4

    200gms/7oz black olives--the oily fleshy Greek ones are best, carefully stoned. It's important to use the plumpest, tastiest olives

    6 anchovy fillets-chopped
    2 tbsps capers
    2 cloves garlic crushed
    1tsp fresh thyme
    1tbsp Dijon Mustard
    juice of a lemon
    120ml/4fl oz olive oil
    black pepper

    put all the ingredients, bar the oil, in a food processor and—using the surge button—gradually pour in the oil, bringing it to a nice, nobbly sludge—i.e. not too smooth
    Taste for balance--you may need a little more lemon juice.
    Pour into a bowl or plastic box and dribble a little more olive oil over to form a preserving film
    and it will keep in the fridge for at least two weeks.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I love olives in all kinds of dishes, and tapenade is one of my favourite dips.

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    2. I love olives, too, and had just bought a jar at Trader Joe's this morning before I read Robin's comment! I'm sure his recipe is much better.

      I have a problem in the US, however, finding olives that taste like olives in the UK and Europe. They are so salty here! Even the olive bars in the nicer supermarkets don't compare to European olives. The best I've found are Trader Joe's jarred Kalamata Olives, which taste like olives rather than balls of salt...

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    3. That is sad, Debs, that you have a hard time finding good olives. My fave ones are also Kalamata but I get them at an Italian deli bulk food section, and they don't tasty too salty.

      Delete
  16. Robin, I'd love to know if you and Meredith spoke French before you moved to your village.

    And readers, I highly recommend Robin's blog, where he posts stories about their village and life in France, and recipes! https://robin-ellis.net/

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    Replies
    1. RE: School French--nine years for me, but taught as a discipline. The idea that we might ever want to speak to someone French never occurred to the teachers. From 1990, when we bought our house, until we moved her permanently, we made an effort with classes at the French Institute, the Alliance Française and private tutors. We still had a lot to learn when we arrived! Nobody speaks English here, so we had to improve. Luckily they were very tolerant and patient.

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    2. Meredith, do you follow David Leibovitz? I love reading about his life in Paris. And he's done great Instagram "apero" hours while in quarantine, although I think he's finished with them now. I bought his Drinking French and have entertained myself for the last three months making French cocktails!

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  17. Robin, welcome to JRW! And congratulations on your cookbook! Thanks for the recipe. Did you live near the actress Jenny Agutter in Hampstead?

    Deborah, did you meet Robin Ellis in person?

    I've noticed that many English actresses/actors also write books.

    Diana

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    Replies
    1. RE: We lived near Hampstead, but I never saw Jenny Agutter-but I once did a day's filming with her in Cornwall!

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    2. Meredith, that is awesome about Cornwall!

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  18. Robin, welcome to JRW and congratulations on your new cookbook. I was a huge fan of Poldark in the 1970's and certainly was a fan of yours.
    I loved reading your sweet memories of your mother's kitchen and the meals you all enjoyed together when you were young. It seems that everyone who spends time preparing meals or baking has an origin story about a family member or friend who influenced them to get busy in the kitchen. Mine was my grandmother. I love Mediterranean food and am frequently looking for meatless recipes, especially soups.
    The story about listening to South Pacific on your Dad's 78 is something I would love to hear! I fell in love with that musical when I was a child and it is still one of my favorites. The music is "enchanting."

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    Replies
    1. RE: My father trained as a pilot for the RAF during WW2 in Arizona and enjoyed all things American. He remained friends with the Mesa family with whom he was billeted--and they sent him the album. He loved music and was a good musician himself.

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  19. Thank you! I was a big fan of Robin's in Poldark, and on a favorite episode of Fawlty Towers. :) Now I will check out the cookbooks!!!

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    Replies
    1. I don't remember Robin on Fawlty Towers! Will have to look that one up!

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    2. RE: I was in the pilot episode of Fawlty Towers about the fake lord. John Cleese and I were at Cambridge together and performed in a play where I used a cockney accent--which is why I think he cast me in that role.

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  20. I keep wishing PBS would resurrect the '70 POLDARK. I enjoyed the new version, but the other should survive as well.
    We made gazpacho for friends in the '70s, probably the healthiest of the dishes we made, though we did always include enough vegetables that when a friend said at the door, "Did I remember to tell you I'm a vegetarian?" he did not go hungry. ;-)

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  21. I'm not going to squee over the fact I fell in love with Mr. Ellis's Poldark in my early teens, or how much I've enjoyed his acting in many other series and films. Instead, I'm going to focus on how brilliantly he writes about food - just the descriptions above of his mother's cooking was making my stomach growl!

    Also, my household has expanded to include not only my two daughters, but a university classmate of Youngest's. Since he's a kid in his early twenties who loves to do hard outdoor work AND is a vegetarian, I've been working on expanding my hearty meat-free repertoire. I've had my best luck with recipes from cultures with a long vegetarian tradition, so a cookbook like Mr. Ellis's - because who doesn't love Mediterranean food? - is perfect, and perfectly timely, for me.

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    Replies
    1. Julia, I highly recommend Robin's books. Mine are getting a bit tattered from use, and I'm so looking forward to the new one.

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  22. I had such a crush on him back when the first series ran! And I only had a black-and-white TV back then. And I read ALL the novels.

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    1. Ellen, I did, too! And I loved that adaptation. Even though I was already a big fan of Aidan Turner, I never felt the new series had as much dramatic tension as Robin's version. Too much galloping on the pretty horse!

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  23. Coming in a day late but had to comment.Reading this was such fun. I remember Robin Ellis and the first Poldark very well. (sigh) It was one of the early big hits on Masterpiece, and was voted onto an all-time favorite list a few years back. Being pre tv-recording-devices, it was tricky to keep up and I watched it all out of order,cathing up on re-runs. We've lately even been talking about a vacation in Cornwall sometime when we can travel again - not mainly because of Poldark -ok, a little, for me - but fun coincidence Plus gazpacho is a big standby in the summer, so welcome his easy recipe, too. Thanks, Debs!

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