I love old cookery books and old recipe books written by ordinary people in the past. Yesterday I shared a little article which had been cut from a newspaper, about bread and butter pudding, including a recipe for it. It was written in a very engaging and jaunty fashion by Denis Curtis, and I was intrigued to find out more about him. Well, sadly I have – so far – been defeated! There is no date on the cutting, and no clue which newspaper or more probably magazine. I have discovered that he wrote for the Sunday Telegraph in 1982, and had a book published by them, ‘Thought for Food: My Family and Other Recipes‘. I tried to find a copy of his book, but sadly those I have found are really expensive – the cheapest was £47.74, the most expensive a ridiculous £105.98!! He was on various – or at least one TV programme, and I’ve seen a couple of pictures of him, a jolly, smiling, bald man, with horn-rimmed specs.
He is remembered for inventing a recipe for parsnips – apparently he was challenged by Molly Parkin (painter, novelist and journalist) to make a dish using them. She hated this particular root vegetable and his challenge was to cook them in a way that she would enjoy. I came across this comment (unfortunately I can’t remember where I found it, but will keep looking and credit when I’ve found it!):
Parsnips Molly Parkin, a dish invented by Denis Curtis in the 1960s and introduced to me at a recent dinner party. Parkin, the writer and broadcaster, hated parsnips, but combining their sweetness with acidic tomatoes and plenty of butter and cream changed her mind. It’s what we used to call a layer-bake. In this instance it is of thinly sliced, lightly fried parsnips, peeled and seeded tomatoes, grated Gruyère and cream, with a breadcrumb topping.
Here are the ingredients for the recipe – I have no instructions but I guess you just layer and cook them:
1 large parsnip – sliced very thinly
3 medium tomatoes – sliced (I used cherry tomatoes which I simply halved)
12oz grated strong cheddar cheese
1 pint double cream
a few pinches of sugar (each layer)
salt and pepper
fresh rosemary
I confess that my featured image of some soup made by me, is not parsnip – but in fact, I don’t remember what it was, although it may have been parsnip!
Lois Elsden 