THE FRUGAL GOURMET THE FOLLOWING recipes are a blend of East and West, with the best of both to suit your palate and please whomever is lucky enough to share these wonderful dishes with you. SCALLOP, ASPARAGUS AND MUSHROOM SOUP (Serves 6-8) This soup is light and unusually tasty. 6 cups chickea soup stock, fresh or canned 4. dried Chinese mushrooms, sooked for 3 hours, drained and cut julienne ¥, pound fresh or frozen aspara- 8, cut inte Y2-inch pieces tabiespoons peanut oil 2 cloves garlic, chopped fine Ys teaspoon sait .2 tablespoons light soy sauce VY" pound bay ‘scallops or small sallops 2 eggs, beaten Grouné white pepper to taste GARNISH Green onions, chopped Chinese parsley, chopped. Sesame oll, a few drops Bring the stock to a simmer and add the mushrooms. Cut the as- paragus and set aside. Heat a wok and chow (stir-fry) the peanut oil, garlic and salt until ’. the garlic barely begins to brown. Add the asparagus and chow just until it is hot and not quite tender. Add this mixture to the soup along with the soy and scallops. Bring to a simmer and add the ABLEND of ancient eastern and western cultu: 2s makes up today’s recipes. beaten eggs in a thin stream over the top of the soup. Count to 10 and stir slowly a couple of times. Add the white pepper and gar- nish and serve. Do not overcook the soup. The asparagus should taste fresh and still be quite green in color. * HINT: Add iceberg lettuce to your Chinese soups. The flavor of cooked lettuce and the texture it imparts will surprise you. STEAMED SHRIMP WITH SPECIAL SAUCE (Serves 6-8 as part of a Chinese meal) The shrimp in this dish are fresh, of course. But don’t pass up this dish simply because you must use frozen shrimp. Just be sure they smell fresh and still have the shell on. i pound Jarge prawns or shrimp, shell on, 30-35 count per pound THE SAUCE 2 smal! red or green fresh hot peppers, or both, seeded and slic- ed very thin 2 tablespoons ligkt soy sauce 1 tablespoon hot peanut oi] Place the shrimp, shell still in- tact, in a bamboo steamer rack. Have the water in the steamer boiling before you put the shrimp tack in the steamer. Steam until the shrimp change color and are hot all the way through, about 6 minutes. In the meantime, clean the pep- pers for the sauce by removing the seeds and slicing the pods. Place the slices in a small dish and add the soy. Heat the peanut oil in a wok until it is just smoking hot. Pour the oil into the peppers. Be careful with this; it may splatter. Serve the shrimp on a large platter with the sauce in a dipping dish in the centre of the platter. Each guest will shell the shrimp and dip them in the sauce. Then each guest will give you a hug! This is powerful stuff. POACHED MEATBALLS IN EGG AND LEMON SAUCE (Serves 6) Every taverna in Athens has a variation on this dish, but the ver- sions offered at Taverna Sigilas in Monastiraki Square is particularly delicious. 1% pounds lean ground beef Ys cup tong-grain rice, uncooked % cup finely chopped yellow onion 2 eggs, separated 3 tablespoons chopped parsley Y% teaspoon allspice Sait and frestly ground black pepper to taste Kiwi fruit: a culinary grena ANNE GARDINER THE STORY goes that in 1976 in England, a box of kiwis was left in. the foyer of Lloyds of London. The bomb squad was called, and these innocuous little fruits were blown up, mistaken for terrorist grenades. While the incident is likely the highest point of drama in the his- tory of the kiwi, this harmless fruit, with its brown fuzzy coat, might be considered a culinary grenade. For kiwi fruit continually offer explosions of color and fla- vor to food. No doubt the kiwi’s hairy shirt bristles when it’s judged only by its outward appearance. Pare away the skin and inside an exotic emerald fesh,. punc- tuated by streaks of white, radiating like flashes of Northern lights from the core, and threaded with a ring of tiny black seeds. No other soft fruit has such a striking color combination. And while a kiwi is easily dismissed by those who won’t take the trouble to learn more,- for others its habits are as strange as the kiwi bird. For one thing, kiwi fruit don’t grow .on trees, but on thick, woody vines. In ideal conditions, these can grow as much as eight inches a day, and must be heavily pruned so their tangles don’t throttle the vines. There are also both male and female vines. And female vines must be pollinized in order to bear fruit. Kiwi are harvested by hand, and are picked before they are fully ripe. Tucked in cushioned trays like eggs, in commercial storage facili- ties, they can remain in perfect condition for six months at a Y cup olive oil Juice of 2 lemons Place the meat in a mixing bowl and mix in the rice, onion, eggs (whites only}, parsley, allspice and salt and pepper. Mix very well and form into small meatballs,.about 1! inch in diameter. Place the oif in a large covered frying pan and add the meatballs in a single layer. Barely cover with water and put on the lid. Simmer the meatballs until the rice is tender, about 40 minutes. Remove the meatbalis to a heated plate. Leave % cup of the remaining liquid in the pan and discard the rest, (If you are short of liquid, add chicken broth to make up the dif- ference.) Beat the egg yolks in a bowl and add the lemon juice. While Stirring, add the broth from the pan. Return this mixture to the pan and heat and stir until it is thick. Return the meatballs to the sauce and gently heat for serving. RICOTTA PIE, ROMAN STYLE (Serves 8-10) This dish is typical of old Roman eating, complete with dried fruits and pine nuts. @ THE PASTRY 242 cups all-purpose flour Y cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar 3 egg yolks, beaten Grated zest (outer peel) of % lemon 10 tablespoons unsalted butter, at cool room temperature THE FILLING 1 pound ricotta cheese 1 cup sugar 2 epgs 2 ounces white raisins, soaked in tum to cover for 2 hours, and drained 2 aunces citren or green candied lemon peel, cut in a small dice ¥% cup pine nuts, toasted in a 375°F oven until just barely browned Butter and dust with flour a 10’ cheesecake pan with remov- able sides. Place the flour for the crust in a large mixing bowl and make a well in the centre. Add the sugar, egg yolks, lemon zest and butter; cut into small pieces. Mix by pinching and rubbing the ingredients together until the consistency of coarse meal. Add a tablespoon or two of water in order to forma dough. Knead just a couple of times. Note: If using a food processor for this step, use well-chilled but- ter and just throw all the ingre- dients into the machine. Process and add the water if you need it. Cut the pastry into two pieces, one a little targer for the bottom crust. Roll out to about %-inch thickness (1 find that a marble sheet and marble rolling pin work well for this). Tetach the pastry from the sur- face with a spatula or long knife .and drape over the rolling pin. Unroll over the cake pan, leaving some overhang. Cream the ricotta with the sugar, add all the other ‘ingre- dients for the filling, and mix well. Pour this into the ‘Prepared, cake pan. Roll out the remaining pastry . and cut into %-inch-wide strips. Lay the strips across the pie in a lattice. Pinch or crimp the edges of the strips to the crust to seal, Bake in a preheated 375°F oven for 45 minutes or until: lightly browned. Cool on a rack for 15 minutes before turning out. Serve warm or at temperature. room e of striking colors constant temperature of 0°C. They'll even keep for weeks in a home refrigerator, which is highly unusual for a saft-fleshed fruit. At room temperature, a kiwi ripens quickly. It will ripen over- night if placed in a brown paper bag with a ripe apple or banana. Kiwi are ready to eat when the flesh gives slightly when gently squeezed. The sweet-tart flavor of kiwi fruit is an appealing counterpart to sweet desserts. Because of its high acidity, it doesn't lose color after being slic- ed, and unlike most soft fruits, doesn’t brown upon standing. But try a jellied salad with fresh kiwi and gelatin, and you'll discover that the kiwi contains an enzyme that dissolves protein, making a thick soup, rather than a quivering mould. Thus, for jellied salads, kiwi is best served alongside. But the presence of special en- zymes also means that the flesh of the kiwi, as well as its skin, can tenderize meat. As the kiwi becomes known for being more than an_ attractive garnish, it’s iikely we'll see cre- ative cooks experimenting with its tenderizing properties. The kiwi was introduced to the Western world as a ‘Chinese gooseberry.” In truth, however, it’s not related to the gooseberry, though the kiwi fruit is native to China’s Yangtze Valley. Introduced to New Zealand in 1906, the kiwi was renamed by the growers in the 1950s, as a market- ding tactic, reportedly after the hair-like brown feathers of their national bird. Though New Zealand remains the world’s top producer, kiwi fruit are now grown in several countries of the world ~— in- ciuding Canada — and thus are available year round.