“It was there all the time: That small, green, aromatic, fresh berry that eventually becomes our common black or white peppercorn was there all the time, but it took the Malagasy Republic to devise a method of canning and freezing it to make it available for consumption.”
Cleo Gruber/Gourmet
This is one of those posts that arise out of dinner tonight. And yes, I'm aware, that really I should be writing such an article after the dinner, so that I can comment on the final result, rather than before when it's all about a decision making process and a degree of anticipation. Well there's always a lovely picture to beckon me in to making the decision, which is much better than anything I could produce. I always mean to take a picture to compare with the professional one, but I'm always too preoccupied with getting the meal on to the table and then diving in to eat it. By the time I remember to photograph the dish everything is looking too shambolic to even try. Who wants a picture of half-chewed meat and veg? The dish by the way is Chicken baked with green pepper and cinnamon butter from Jill Norman's homage volume At Elizabeth David's Table. I don't know which original book by Elizabeth that it comes from.
And the recipe comes courtesy of the Jono and Jules Do Food and Wine website and this is their finished result, which cheers me somewhat because although it looks reasonably appetising, it is definitely a home-made photograph. Their only comment by the way was:
"With Julie not being a massive fan of cinnamon, we were a bit hesitant about trying this recipe, but fear not – the green pepper and cinnamon butter is fabulous and a great way to jazz up roast chicken. The spice and pepper adds depth and personality but does not dominate in the slightest, rather allowing the succulent chicken to shine. If you’re really not convinced by cinnamon you can replace it with ground coriander, cumin or ginger."
Which was also reassuring. They had more words to say about the wine than the chicken, but thanks to them for publishing the recipe online. I shall be going with the original cinnamon.
I have begun at the end however - the choice for dinner. So first a little bit about how I arrived at this decision. It's a guru week and I chose Elizabeth David, firstly flicking through French Country Cooking, but then deciding to go to my 'best of' book, where I discovered 4 choices. Three of them were chicken, not quite by chance, because David had requested a chicken Caesar salad, and so I thought that if I roasted a whole chicken, half of it would be left over for the salad.
The non- chicken one was Epaule d'agneau boulangère - a fairly simple roast shoulder of lamb, but the weather is miserable - wet and cool, and this was indeed very tempting. It's a recipe I've never really mastered, so I thought I might give it one last go - and David loves lamb. However, as I suspected, when searching in the supermarket I discovered that the lamb was expensive - and besides I had just found a whole free-range chicken reduced in price for a quick sale. No competiton really. Another time, when lamb shoulder is on a special.
So chicken. I rejected one of the short-list recipes fairly early on - Chicken baked with Italian spice and olive oil, which I suspect is not Italian at all. More likely an invention of Elizabeth's because the Italian spice turns out to be a mixture of white peppercorns, nutmeg, juniper and cloves which doesn't sound very Italian to me at all. Simple, but possibly just a tiny bit too simple and besides there was no picture, but the recipe did have one of those immortal quotes of hers:
"The small quantity of olive oil is all that is needed for keeping the chicken moist. All the basting considered necessary with poor-quality birds is quite redundant when you are dealing with a good one. And as for that maddening thing called a bulb baster, I never have understood what anyone could possibly need it for."
Vintage Elizabeth David and as I have no doubt that my chicken would not meet her exacting standards, I was chastened into rejection.
My other choice, however, had points in its favour - Chicken pot-roasted with fennel and ham. Alas the recipe is not online. I was attracted to this one because although she listed fennel stalks as an ingredient - and I do have some - I also have a quarter of a fennel bulb to use up and so this would have been an opportunity. You place your chicken on the fennel and some bay leaves, and stuff it with some thick strips of ham, lemon rind and garlic. Roast with butter and finish off by flaming some brandy over it. Always a very nerve-wracking experience for me.
So I decided on the green peppercorns - which are sort of nostalgic - apparently all the rage in 1974. And yes I think that would be right. Around the same time as the kiwi fruit mania.
Elizabeth David, in spite of offering the recipe that I am now trying - I have done the marinading with the spicy butter - didn't use them a lot:
“The ideal way of using poivre vert, that right and proper combination of flavours, scents, and textures which one day will seem as inevitable as tarragon with chicken, vanilla in shuffles and ices, juniper berries with game, saffron and tomato in fish soups, has yet to be discovered.” Elizabeth David
I wonder whether, with this recipe, she felt she had found the ideal why to use it.
Dinner done - well not done, but heading that way. I'll try to remember to photograph and comment. I couldn't just leave it there however, and went searching for other ways in which other cooks, both professional and amateur had used the combination.
First the professionals: I'm sneaking in Ottolenghi which I know breaks my self-imposed rule but how can you resist a gorgeous looking dish like his Roast chicken with creamy garlic and peppercorn sauce? - lots of garlic including black garlic which he tells you to leave out if you can't find it (or can't afford it) and use some balsamic vinegar instead. Maggie Beer offers Chicken breast with apricot and green peppercorn stuffing, which is an interesting combination; Jessica Brook in Gourmet Traveller gives us Chive and green peppercorn roast chicken with spring vegetables; and Adam Liaw has two Asian oriented dishes - one simply called Green peppercorn chicken and the other Green peppercorn chicken with crispy basil. I suspect they may actually be the same recipe. For green peppercorns are indeed a feature of South-East Asian cooking in particular.
Then there are the amateurs - well the bloggers: Greedy Gourmet- Chicken breast with creamy green peppercorn sauce; Nish Kitchen - Green peppercorn chicken; Andi-co - One-pan chicken and green peppercorns with orzo; and Sugar, Salt, Magic - Creamy peppercorn chicken.
Which all look somewhat similar do they not? Overall I think the chicken and green peppercorn pairing divides into a braise with cream and something else - mushrooms, peas, pasta and the Asian kind. I did enjoy that long ago green peppercorn phase - not quite as in your face as black peppercorns, but still spicy. And you can easily get them in the supermarket now. Crossing fingers for tonight's meal. Which will be accompanied by two different rosé wines - a comparison, which we rarely do. Elizabeth says I should serve it with lemon quarters and watercress plus a simple green salad, but I have no watercress, and besides I can't resist roasting some potatoes with the chicken and cooking some garlicky beans to go with it.
POSTSCRIPTS
Speaking of not following up on dinner choices - a few days ago I talked about my experiment with pork and Buk choy. I, of course, forgot to take a photo. It was tasty in a Chinese way - which is not necessarily a good thing in this household - probably to our shame. It was also a bit salty - the soy sauce was responsible for that. I had to make my own five spice powder because I had none, so it was probably not quite authentic. Would I do it again? Don't think so but more because of my own taste in food than the quality of the result. If you like Chinese go for it.
YEARS GONE BY
November 30 - the last day of spring - it's raining and cool.
2022 - Nothing
2017 - Nothing
2016 - A herb for all seasons
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