One of the great difficulties which the travelling gourmet
suffers from, is that certain victuals are called differently in every new land
he enters. Take, for instance, this funny bird:
No matter what your native language may be, this piece
of poultry will be designated with a word which has nothing to do with its name
elsewhere on the globe. To offer you only the examples from those languages
Alfred B Mittington speaks fluently, compare:
Dinde
or Dindonneau (French)
Truthahn
(German)
Kalkoen
(Dutch)
Pavo
(Spanish)
Peru
(Portuguese)
Pujko
or Pulyko (Hungarian)
Curca
(Rumanian)
And of course
Turkey
(English)
Which is funny, since in Turkey, the bird
is called
Hindi
(Turkish)
While - yes, you guessed it !!! - in Hindi,
the cackling ugly duckling is known as a
टर्की
(say: Ṭarkī)
Go figure these folks out!!!
To what, you may ask, do we owe this fascinating linguistic
introduction to a simple recipe, Alfred?? Well, I elaborated a little, dear
reader, because I am faced with the very same dilemma when it comes to my main
ingredient. What I want you to use as a base for the following delicious dish (a
‘Chronos Recipe’ if ever you saw one) is a white
dairy substance somewhat thicker than yoghurt, somewhat thinner than chevre, not as greasy as butter yet a
little fatter than sour cream … You surely know what I have in mind… And yet I
bet you could not come up with its name except in your own language either! Me,
personally, I always refer to it as fromage
blanc, since I owe my mother’s tongue to my dear departed mother, and my
gourmet skills to Pépère Géronime, whom the innocent, harmless world, to tell you
the honest truth, is better off without… (see here
for some aspects of the fine gentleman’s personality…)
So there. Of that stuff, then, you will need a fair
bowl of about 250 grams for four marvellous ham rolls with a most aromatic
filling.
What else do we need? Well, these are the other ingredients:
4 large, thin slices of ham (boiled or
smoked)
1 hard boiled egg
1 tiny onion, or half a larger one
a handful of fresh chives
a spoonful of capers
a little salt and white pepper and mustard
Chop the egg, the onion, the chives and the capers
into very small pieces. Mix them in with the fromage blanc. Add the salt, pepper and mustard. Close the bowl,
and let it sit in the fridge for 24 hours.
Nota Bene: if the White Substance in your country is a
little too thick, you can always add a fair spoonful or two of that most
marvellous manna… Mayonnaise!
Next day, shortly before dinner, take out the slices
of ham. Divide the aromatic stuffing over the four slices. Roll them up, and
pin them closed, if necessary, with a toothpick.
If you have any chives left over, it is always a neat
idea to put some of them in at one end, so that the greenery sticks out. This
may also be done with fresh parsley, celery, or any mild fresh herb you fancy.
The ham rolls can be served alone, with a few pieces
of French baguette, or with asparagus, or –bloody H… - with anything else you
like. It should, however, be served as an entrée.
RELIGIOUS ALTERNATIVES: If you have no fresh chives available then
use dill instead. And if you happen to be Jewish or Muslim, you may wish to try
this recipe replacing the ham by slices of smoked salmon. But remember that nowadays
salmon is a very unhealthy product,
of which Nature has said it should
not be eaten more often than once a month!
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