Happiest of Mid May Sundays to you. With this issue Club Marigold crosses the one year threshold, and what a year. Personally, we have all moved house, and in the case of Boyfield, relocated across the channel. There have been some monumental events and some fresh beginnings, though perhaps all rather small fry when viewed through a global lens. Looking back on a years’ worth of pandemic, political and environmental headlines, I’m surprised anyone can get out of bed - let alone make a cup of tea or muster an appetite, but muster we must. Us Marigolds only know this handful of things for sure - we are born, we die and happiness can be glimpsed from time spent indulging the taste buds.
For newlyweds a year is marked with paper and so I contemplated making this an issue about food best eaten from napkins, devoured with fingers. This led me to pies at the football and writing something about the time I positioned myself near the kitchen doors at my cousins Dutch wedding reception to smash handfuls of smouldering Bitterballen into my fizz soaked mouth. I might have enough narcissistic tendencies in me to start a Substack but not enough to force 500 words on you about how not to blister your tongue under the influence.
This did however lead me to think about food eaten to mark a special occasion, so this issue of Marigold will be dedicated to Birthday and party treats. It seems wrong to mention party food without giving the 70s props for creating those technicolor handbooks of buffet platters, cucumber scaled salmons and ornate fruit topped jellies. In honour of this we have included a recipe for Vol–au-vents, truly a pastry vessel of divine decadence. Life’s too short to not make yourself a tray of canapés and parade them around your living room… or just me? And after indulgence what’s a party without your best pals? With this said we’ve asked friend of Marigold, Allyson Fisher, to write something about birthday menus. Ally flew herself to New York just to eat doughnuts on her last pre pandemic birthday, truly a queen of indulgence.
Thanks for a years worth of opening our newsletters on a Sunday, hopefully I’ll manage to book a space a the pub tonight so I can toast this small triumph with a Guinness.
With love and squalor,
Rebecca and the Marigolds
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Vol-Au-Vents
with Josie McLean
A literal translation of Vol-Au-Vents means “fly with wind” but it’s better translated as “windblown” - describing the lightness of the pastry. A traditional Vol-Au-Vent is one large case, that is served whole as a starter, the smaller bite-size one’s we now associate as canapes are traditionally called Boucheés - meaning mouthful.
I mention this not to correct anyone but more to highlight the option of making one large one every now and again. While you lose the fleeting pleasure of a one bite moment, there is something truly celebratory about lifting the top of a large one and diving in.
The filling below; inspired partly by the pissaladiere Rebecca cooked recently, partly our collective love of alliums and anchovies and partly by a Zuni Cafe recipe, works well in both large and small.
Makes 12 small or 2 large.
2 sheets of puff pastry (ready made or handmade depending on your commitment to the cause)
6/10 onions dependant on size (I love the big sweet white ones, but basic spanish will do)
Olive Oil
A few threads of saffron
100ml sherry (optional)
12 anchovies (1 per bite)
Black olives - ideally a mild nicoise number
Preheat your oven to 180C.
Start by slicing your onions into thin half moons, then slowly caramelise them in a pan with a hefty glug of olive oil. Whatever you do, do not rush this step - if it takes 40 minutes, it takes 40 minutes. Use this time to get suitably libated before your guests arrive, I usually allow for 30 minutes total.
Once they’re soft and golden, add your sherry and saffron. Let the sherry reduce and the saffron infuse. Salt to taste.
Set the onions aside and let them cool.
Put a baking sheet in the oven to heat up - I’ve found you get better rise putting the pastry onto a hot tray.
In the meantime roll out your pastry to a pound coin thickness. If making 12, cut 36 small discs about 1 inch in diameter. 12 of these will be the bases. Cut a hole in the middle of the other 24, leaving a ring-like shape.
*Top tip - if you have one of those old fashioned shot measurers that look like a lopsided hourglass the big one makes a perfect bottom while the little one cuts a perfect hole in the tops*
If making 2 large, use the same process but larger shapes and you’ll only need 6 discs. I also like to keep the cut out middle of the tops and make lids for each one.
Using a whisked egg to seal, stick the 2 discs on top of the base as in the diagrams below. Egg wash the tops.
Place each finished case onto a parchment sheet and transfer the sheet to the preheated baking tray - bake for 10/15 mins till the cases have risen and are golden.
Remove from the oven and fill with the onion mix, top with an olive and drape an anchovy over the top.
These are now ready to be lightly reheated whenever your guests arrive.
We encourage you to use this filling as merely a suggestion, fill the cases with whatever your heart desires. Other fillings much discussed on the Marigold Whatsapp included; kidney, mushroom and crispy onion or pea, asparagus and pecorino.
While researching for this, I went digging in my Grandmere’s 70’s Larousse Gastronomique – the undisputed bible of a French kitchen. The page on vol au vents best describes your end goal. A vol-au vent “is pretty and good without a doubt. . . almost always eaten with pleasure for its extreme delicacy and lightness”.
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The Ultimate Indulgence
Musings on perfect Birthday eating by Allyson Fisher
Drawing by E Boyfield
Photos by Rebecca Townrow
Birthday’s, decadence or denial, the former is always preferable to me. Should there be no rules from career restrictions to calendar obligations that cause afflictions, then in truth the sun would beam through my bedroom window, gently warming my face. Let’s begin at the start of the day. With choice sitting comfortably in my lap, unbound from the clock’s demands.
My breakfast on a cold morning’s delight would be a channa dahl, omelette and roti, washed down with a chai tea, spices of which would fuel my morning’s labour. As the clock’s legs leap forward into Spring, overnight oats laced in treacle get my vote.
Back to the subject of Birthdays, however, each and every meal deserves the attention of a grand feast and to begin French toast to me is always a win-win. Should your birthday fall upon a winter’s moon, a caramelised-crescent-shaped-banana would scarf itself with Nutella. On a hot summer’s day then a medley of fruits, an ensemble of a sweet salad could quench your thirst. With rules erased as you celebrate in a lackadaisical haze, you could hula-hoop your annual commemorated trip around the sun with a doughnut, simple and fun, with multiple flavors to choose from. Now the epitome of the day would come when your stomach insists on considering your forthcoming consumption, Luncheon. Should you be so lucky to gaze in a beached haze and a surf and turf is nothing but a sandelled-lane-away, then rest your feet. Perhaps you find yourself wandering down a city street and a soft burrito should cushion your palm.
Bare with me a moment whilst I unwrap the velvet ribbon and run my fingertips across the front cover of my collected adventures. Solo treats.
I do hope you’re sitting comfortably, I have a story to tell you, it goes a little something like this. Once upon a time there was a girl who was always on the lookout for an appetising adventure. There was a Restaurant a skip, hop and a jump away from the girl’s house. That Tiny Tapas Place where a Mariachi band would play outside when the heat frazzled waves into the mid air. Every day the girl would walk past That Tiny Tapas Place, her palms pressed against the window she’d dribble at the sight of sangria accompanied by a tortilla. One day the girl tried to get a table out on the terrace, no such luck, they were fully booked. The girl’s hunger grew insatiable, she sat on the curb opposite the restaurant with her head in her hands.
‘I shall never get a chance to eat there.’ The Girl appeared to have acquired a remarkable skill, the continual failure to find herself a seat. So, she decided to play dirty. As the shutters of That Tiny Tapas Place were lifted, The Girl secured herself a spot on the terrace, a waiter poked his floating head through the door. ‘Sorry, I’m afraid we're closed for menu training today.’ The Girl walked home with a frown affixed to her face, the sky cracked like the sound of a thousand eggshells under a giant’s foot and down poured the rain. Not one to give up, The Girl went back the following evening to enquire, okay okay, to show off about her knowledge of fortified wine. After a friendly chat over a glass of Oloroso sherry. The Girl bagged herself a seat at the bar, which usually held a strict no-reservation policy. That booking coincidentally fell on The Girl’s birthday.
The day had arrived The Girl adorned her silk floral summer dress and her hair was blow-dried. The Girl was ready for her solo lunch extravaganza. The feast consisted of pan con tomate, ham croquetas, prawn tortilla, grilled octopus, a glass of Albarino and a Crema Catalana to finish. Oh wait, wait, wait, least I forget the star of the show, a Carabinero, that’s a large, twenty pound something prawn. As the experience was so lip-smackingly indulgent The Girl has made it into something somewhat of a birthday ritual. And so I recommend it to you, no matter your geographical location. Pause for a second and think, where would I like to lunch. The perfect birthday present to yourself and as George Bernard Shaw once said:
‘There is no sincerer love than the love of food.’
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Thanks for reading, and sticking with us for the last year! As always send pics, comments or Birthday beatings to our instagram. To round things off here’s this months links . . . now go party!
Pure Spice w/ Manara - Banger after banger, this mix got me ready to celebrate. If we were actually having a Marigold birthday party, this is the music we’d like to dance to after plates had been cleared, hamstrings had been stretched and loins had been girded, of course.
Ongoing Fundraisers for Covid Related Distress in India - A great source for anyone who would like to donate to the ongoing situation in India.
Precious Okoyomon - The artist and poet Precious Okoyomon’s new show ‘Earthseed’ - title taken from a fictional religion in Octavia E. Butler’s books Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents. Considers the idea that the Earth’s seed can be transplanted anywhere and, through adaptation, will survive. Their instagram is well worth a browse too.
Marigold Summer Playlist 2020 - Pre ‘Club Marigold’ we three pals combined talents to create a yearly summer playlist. With the solstice around the corner it’s nearly time to start 2021’s, in the meantime here’s last years perhaps if you listen loud enough the sunshine might break through these rainy grey clouds (and if you fancy a ridiculous French playlist you can also try our ‘Baguette Cuts’ playlist).