The album I listened was by an act who's music always reminds me of wintertime; the album was the Walker Brothers' 1978 offering Nite Flights. The Walkers' work, and particularly the solo work of their most famous member Scott Walker, has with its use of layers of strings and latterly electronic and avant garde touches an almost claustrophobic feel that reminds me of dark nights and short days. In that respect it is a perfect soundtrack to winter. Nite Flights was the final album in a trilogy recorded in connection with the Walkers' short lived comeback and their last album to date. The previous two albums were smothered with lightweight but enjoyable easy listening material .However this album dabbles in electronica and everything from the cover to the lyrics suggests a darkness hidden within which are some first rate songs that influenced David Bowie among others.
As the opening pulses of 'Shutout' bounced out of the speakers I fried in my Le Cresceut dish 2lb of tomatoes. Prior to placing the tomatoes in the dish I cut them into five or six pieces so as they would cook more quickly. I lightly fried the tomatoes until the skins began to peel off. When they were at this stage I turned off the heat and left them to cool in the dish for ten minutes. The fact their skins were peeling made them easier to puree when the time came.
After ten minutes I took a mixing bowl and balanced a sieve over the bowl and then gradually added the cooked tomatoes to it. The trick here is to push the tomatoes from side to side using a wooden spatula so that the soft flesh and the juice filters through the sieve and into the bowl below. In doing this the skins of the tomatoes are left on top of the sieve and discarded. It's a laborious process but one that's worthwhile as when all the skins are discarded a tasty puree is left for inclusion in the casserole.
After the tomato puree had been prepared I took the flesh from a pumpkin the size of a football and cut it into cubes. The extraction of the pumpkin flesh is certainly a challenge; the first step is to take a very sharp knife (as you will break the blade from the knife otherwise if you use a blunt one; believe me I know) and cut the top off the pumpkin. You need to then cut it in half length-ways and then cut the two halves in half. At this point you're left with lots of stringy pith with seeds attached to it that is damp and sticky to the touch. The trick is to cut underneath the roots of the pith and then scoop them out with the seeds. This leaves the edible flesh that can then be cut from the skin, cubed and washed.
I sliced a large onion up thinly together with three cloves of garlic and fried them lightly with some fresh Rosemary leaves and fresh Basil leaves. In the meantime I boiled eight ounces of red lentils for twenty minutes in a pan in just enough water to cover them. When the lentils were soft I added them to the pumpkin, onion, garlic and herbs which were still frying in my Le Cresceut. I then added the tomato puree to the Le Cresceut, stirred it into the rest of the ingredients and cooked it lightly on the hob for a further five minutes.
To make the dish ready for serving I cooked it in the oven at 165 degrees (175 for non-fan ovens) for fifteen minutes after which time it was ready to serve. For a casserole without meat this one had a lot of richness and flavour. As a rule pumpkin is pretty bland vegetable but when it's cooked with rosemary, basil, garlic and onion it comes alive with taste. Although the tomato puree was an effort to prepare the fact it was fresh gave it an edge over its tinned counterpart found in supermarkets which often has an artificial taste. The lentils meanwhile provided the necessary protein to help fortify me against the colder weather now accompanying the changing of the clocks.
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| An eclectic mix of lentils, herbs, fruit and vegetables |
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