Some things can only be eaten after being treated with heat. You couldn’t imagine eating a raw aubergine but the bleeding, minced mass of meat that is steak tartare is something certain folks dream about. And there are some things that you imagine would just wilt beyond worth if cooked — lettuce or cucumbers for example. But there’s always scope for experimentation. We love beef carpaccio. One of the kids in fact has to be firmly told to keep mummy and daddy’s share before she wolfs down the entire plate. But we’d only eat it at a place that we know has very strict safe-practices for food. Vegetable carpaccio though — once you’ve washed the veggie through — is safe and dare I say it, very fun to eat. I came across a recipe for lettuce soup and it sounded so wrong that I just had to try it. The veggie vendor tantalised me with a big bunch of rainbow chard while a friend came through with a precious delivery of bandel cheese from Kolkata … so this week, it’s a mish-mash of colours, smokiness and the usually raw and the usually cooked, trading places.

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Cream of lettuce soup
Like with all light soups, the key to this one is using the right stock or else it won’t taste like much. Use vegetable stock or chicken stock or their stock cubes. Just make sure the stock cubes are of very good quality with no MSG etc. I used a famous brand’s lamb stock cube and it overpowered the soup. Re-made with home-made vegetable stock and the soup is lovely if slightly weird — your brain says salad, your tongue says soup. I used iceberg lettuce and basil leaves but you could try romaine or regular Indian lettuce which has a lovely personality of its own, just not the greatest texture — which is why it’s not very popular at our house.

Ingredients
1 cup milk; 2 cups stock; 2 iceberg lettuces; 100 gms basil leaves; 3 tablespoons butter; 2 tablespoons maida; 1 egg yolk; 1 tablespoon parmesan; 2 tablespoons cream; Salt; Pepper

Method

Simmer the milk and stock, add salt. Wash and shred the lettuce roughly and add to the stock. Simmer for 5 minutes. Turn off and add the basil leaves. With a hand-held blender puree the contents or, strain the lettuce into a food processor, blend and mix the puree back with the liquid. Melt butter in another pan, stir in the maida and cook for about 3 minutes, mixing constantly so it doesn’t burn or harden. Spoon it into the puree which you can now simmer for another fifteen minutes. Meanwhile, beat the egg yolk with the parmesan and cream. Turn the heat off the pan and while the soup is very hot, swirl in the parmesan, egg yolk, cream mix very, very slowly. Serve garnished with some freshly ground pepper and some more basil, roughly torn.

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Zucchini Carpaccio Salad
Marinated zucchini, zesty from the lemon, luxurious from its bath in olive oil piled on top of a ripe avocado, with salty, crunchy, sweet pistachios — this salad is a textural treat. I ate it with some bandel cheese whose smokiness added a very unexpected but interesting twist in the tale. The husband suggested a pile of spicy salami on the side which may also be fun but I’d prefer it as a side to some filleted fish, brushed with butter and garlic and seared on a pan.

Ingredients

1 zucchini
½ cup e.v. olive oil
2/3 cloves of garlic
1 ripe avocado
½ cup salted pistachios
3 tbs thyme
Some chopped parsley
Juice of 1 lemon

Method

Halve the zucchini and slice it very finely along its length. This is best done with a sharp vegetable peeler. Try to get some slices with a border of the darker green peel. It looks very pretty on the plate. Crush the garlic cloves, put them in a bowl with the olive oil and some thyme leaves and microwave for 1 minute. Let it stand for about 10 minutes after. Then discard the garlic. Take 2 tablespoons of the garlic-thyme infused oil, the lemon juice and a pinch of salt and toss the sliced zucchini in. Cover and leave to stand at room temperature for an hour. When ready to serve, stone and slice the avocado (or, if they’re small, just scoop them out with a big tablespoon), pile a serving of zucchini slices, garnish with thyme leaves, parsley, pistachios, and some more olive oil. You can add grated cheese to this but it’s lovely and light just the way it is.

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Bandel Cheese
Of Portuguese origin and perhaps, mostly Anglo-Indian tables, crumbly, far too salty and absolutely addictive, I made my acquaintance with bandel cheese from Kolkata courtesy my friend Tushita. It comes smoked and regular and gave the rainbow chard a hint of bacon-iness. Eat it on its own, with bread or experiment.

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Tinni’s amuse bouche
Tinni cut salami (that had been cured in red wine) into chunky wedges, which was exciting enough. But then she served it with roughly chopped dates and chillies. It was a revelation! “I thought something spicy, something salty, something sweet,” she shrugged nonchalantly and laughed as I took this picture.

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Mushroom Carpaccio
Despite having eaten mushrooms just seared for 30 seconds on a hot pan (after marinating them for an hour in garlic, olive oil, coarse ground pepper and parsley — divine!) I was a bit nervous about eating them raw. The first time was at my friend Rheea’s. She’d washed the silt off, scrubbed them, sliced them super thin and just threw them into a salad simply dressed with lemon and olive oil. They were sublime. If you are going to try this recipe, and you’re unsure about how safe it is, then marinate the mushrooms whole and sear them on a very hot pan with very little olive oil. Make sure you take them out before they start to lose their water content because they just leak all over the pan and get soupy and well, not quite what you intended. Also, salt them at the table if you must because salt makes them lose water as well.

Ingredients
200 gms button mushrooms
1 tablespoon mustard
1 tsp sugar
2 cloves garlic
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
A pinch of salt
Pepper to taste
2 tablespoons olive oil
Grated parmesan for garnish
Juice of 1 lemon
Rocket leaves (optional)

Method
Choose good button mushrooms. Large, firm looking ones. If they look jagged, have soft bits on them or look wilted, don’t eat them raw. Scrub the mushrooms properly. Be very conscientious about this. Wash them in several rinses of water and ‘salt’ your palms and give each one a rub down. Wash the salt off immediately and leave them to drain till dry. Cut the stalks off if they look weird to you.
Now either slice them super fine (not more than 1 mm) or leave them whole. Make a dressing by mixing the mustard, sugar, garlic, vinegar and olive oil. Take a teaspoon of this mix and add it to the lemon juice and very, very gently toss the sliced mushrooms in it. Leave for about 20 minutes. Then arrange the sliced mushrooms on piles of rocket leaves (or toast). Add salt to the dressing and spoon it over the mushrooms and garnish with grated parmesan.

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Rainbow Chard with Bandel Cheese
Like the fabulous spinach and feta pie my sister Gynelle has become a master of, rainbow chard and bandel cheese go together beautifully. The chard is much more robust than spinach and therefore more than up to any challenge the heady bandel cheese offers.
If you can’t get bandel, try making some Bengali friends and arm-twisting them into getting you some from Kolkata. Or, use feta.

Ingredients:
2 cups chopped rainbow chard
1 clove garlic
2 tablespoons butter
2 discs of grated bandel
cheese (4 tbs equivalent
of feta)
Dusting of nutmeg
Melba toast or lavache to serve
Method:
Chop the garlic. In a pan, quickly sauté the garlic until it goes translucent and then throw in the chopped rainbow chard. Stir until the chard begins to wilt. Stir around a bit more, then add the cheese. Dust with nutmeg and turn off the heat. Don’t add salt. The cheese will have turned a little pink. Pile onto toast or lavache and serve immediately.