The “Circus” in Piccadilly Circus; Recipe for Ricotta and Basil Mousse

  Summer, can you hear me?

I am very glad that we are at the end of January already; just today and tomorrow……

Before my memories begin to fade and I get busy with all the tasks I have postponed since the beginning of January, I want to put down on “paper” a few more thoughts from my trip last week.  I guess I have exhausted the enthusiasm I felt over the flowers and the shopping in this blog, so I need to move onto some other things.  I’ll try….

One of the thoughts which keeps occurring to me is how lucky Londoners are to be able to travel within Europe so easily and basically inexpensively.  I was also interested in the meeting and chatting with two native Italians who were living and working in London.  One was a member of the wait staff at Tempo, an adorable small restaurant in Mayfair, a young woman who claimed she came to go to school and is just staying for awhile.  And the lady in one of the cashmere boutiques who said she came from Rome when she was about 20 (she is now, I am guessing about 60) to learn English and met her husband, also Italian, and just stayed.  This made me curious, as surely if you were a native Italian, you would want to live in Italy, wouldn’t you?  I guess there is something to be said for the wandering instinct no matter how amazing your home is……..

Since I am still waking up at 5am I was busy reading about the history of Piccadilly Circus  and the usage of the term “circus” – because I just didn’t know where that came from.  Many of you probably did know, but I didn’t.  So, I was interested to read that the term circus comes from the Roman, circle and, “obvi -Mom,” as my kids say, that is the origin.  I love things like this and wonder how this evolved to the “round about” we sometimes use here.  I have often wondered why this was ever thought to be a safe and effective traffic-management device , but I guess during the times they evolved, when traffic was slower and in earlier modes it worked (I am imagining a more genteel time when, perhaps one traveled in a horse and buggy)- idk, but I can tell you, I don’t think it works so well on, say, Cape Cod or in Washington DC……  Anyway, the history of Piccadilly Circus is fascinating to me and I am always in awe of the dates of origin over in Europe and try to stop myself and really ingest the age of things (and try to imagine the Romans running around all over).  I have to say I love the fact that this name originated in 1626 and the tube station has been there since 1906.  (They are celebrating the 150th Anniversary of the London Underground and I heard that Charles and Camilla went for a ride on one of the trains today.)   What I find so interesting about the Underground is how far down you go and I was trying to imagine digging those tunnels so far down way back then, and commented on this when I was with Ryan (I doubt he found it as interesting as I did).  They are so much deeper than the NYC subways and I find this amazing…… probably no one else thinks about these things.  Oh well.

Anyway, because I saw so many live plants over there last week it has ignited my “need” for new plants.  Yesterday, I was actually looking for some chive plants at the store after I misguidedly went outside to see if I had any usable chives in my pots on the patio to snip onto my turkey chili.  So, last week made me mistakenly think we were a lot farther along in the Winter here, and, well, we are really not.  I am still going out in search of some new herb plants today to keep in the kitchen to cheer me up.  I am happy to report that my Rosemary plants on my side porch are alive and well and making it through the Winter……unlike my previous attempts to keep them inside which has always resulted in the development of powdery mildew because it is too dry……

Ok, so on to something perhaps a little more entertaining……..

I spent a lovely morning last week at Hatchards, an enchanting bookstore on Piccadilly and had to seriously restrain myself from loading up on books on gardening and cooking/baking.  Thank goodness there was no way I could carry them back with me or there would have been a big problem.  They have a beautiful and different selection there and I could have spent countless hours looking through their collection.  I still cherish, as one of my favorite gardening books, my copy of my of Tony Lord’s Best Borders, which a lovely lady from the Harrods book department sent to George at his hotel (9/92) for me after I had scurried home early from London with a terrible case of guilt when Ryan was an infant.  Incidentally, the Harrod’s location of Waterstone’s closed in September 2011.

  

This morning I was reading a new book, Alvaro Maccioni’s La Famiglia, The Cookbook (UK)……  On the book jacket, it claims that Mr. Maccioni was the first (really?)  Tuscan to bring the delicious flavours of his native homeland to the UK in the 1960s.  He opened his restaurant, La Famiglia in Chelsea in 1975.  Anyway, I came upon his recipe for Ricotta Basil Mousse and was totally intrigued.  I am going to give it a try.  This is his description of the recipe, and I quote, ” My grandmother from my mother’s side always kept sheep, so I was raised on the freshest, most delicious ricotta I think I have ever known.  Until my nonna made this dish for me, I couldn’t understand how ricotta could be eaten without sugar to take away the bitter edge.  I loved her mousse so much – it was a treat, as sweet and as special as a cake.”  Now really, who could resist???  I am just imagining the applications and iterations – sweet and savory,  as we speak………

It goes without saying that the quality and freshness of the ricotta and yogurt are paramount here!

MOUSSE di RICOTTA SALATA al BASILICO – courtesy La Famiglia, The Cookbook

Serves 4

225g ricotta cheese

150ml homemade yogurt or natural Greek yogurt

5 tblsp chicken stock

1 garlic clove, peeled

1 tblsp chopped basil, plus 12 whole leaves

2 tblsp pine nuts, chopped

3 tblsp powdered gelatin

1 tsp green peppercorns

salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

tomato sauce, to serve

Grease and line a 450g loaf tin or terrine with non-stick silicone or greaseproof paper, rubbed with a little oil (soak a kitchen towel in oil and rub it all over the paper or silicone).

Put the ricotta cheese, yogurt, stock, garlic and chopped basil into a liquidizer or food processor; blend until smooth.  Mix in the pine nuts and add salt and pepper to taste.

Put the gelatine into a small heatproof bowl with 2 tsp water and leave to stand for 1 minute, then place the bowl in a pan of hot water (off the heat) and leave until the gelatine has dissolved, about 2 minutes.  Stir the dissolved gelatine into the cheese mixture.  Leave on one side for a few minutes until it starts to thicken – you’ll know it’s thick enough when it coats the back of a spoon.  Stir the green peppercorns into the mousse mixture.

Spoon half the mixture into the prepared tin and lay the whole basil leaves over the top.  Finish off with the remaining mousse mixture, spreading the surface level with a knife.  Chill for 4 hours or until firm enough to slice.

To serve, turn the mousse out and cut into slices 1 cm thick.  Place a little tomato sauce on each plate and top with a slice of the mousse.

Variation:  Try using watercress in place of basil; use 2 tblsp coarsely chopped watercress in the mousse mixture, lay several large watercress leaves through the middle of the mousse.

Cook’s tip:  After the gelatine has been added to the mousse mixture, try putting the mixture in the freezer for a minute or two, in order for the mousse to thicken more quickly.

I am thinking that this mousse would be amazing without the garlic and in a parfait with some fruits and nuts, and……  reminiscent of a basil and lemon mousse I had for dessert in Rome……omg, yum…….  Maybe you are beginning to understand my Euro-obsessions???

I see this gorgeous red fox running across our front yard just about

every morning.  Today I caught him and watched him pick up his breakfast in the paddock.  He didn’t like me watching him, and I don’t know what he caught, but he ran up to the stable and ran away to eat in peace.