"I could not eat dry!"

This is a quote from Richard Olney in his sometimes wonderful, sometimes crazy autobiography, "Reflexions". I could not eat dry! was his excuse when caught drinking wine at lunch in New York whilst working at a bookstore. I guess it worked as they never bothered him again and continued to drink wine whilst on the job, as they saw it...

And it does sometimes amaze me that we don't spend more time thinking about wine and how great it is with food and how great food is with wine.

Last night I made up a kind of impromptu dinner of pasta with some beet greens I had cooked with garlic the day before, some pork confit that I had way in the back of my fridge and made long ago (too long ago to mention here and not worry everyone, (anyone out there?), be sick with worry that I would keel over, but no I am still alive and feeling great). I sprinkled it with a little parmesan and a bit of lemon juice. It was very simple and delicious in the way that hunger and whatever you have in the fridge can often be.

The beet greens were wonderfully earthy and healthy tasting, especially the broth which I slurped down first thinking it was too much liquid for the pasta and the little nuggets of the browned, sweetish, salty and nutty pork confit.

But after a just few bites I knew it all needed something: wine. I had just bought a bottle of Matthieu Baudry Cuvvee Clasique 2007. It's from Chinon in the Loire Valley in France. The wine is just delicious fruity berries strawberries and raspberries but with this earthy quality that I love about cabernet franc from here.

And I'm not saying that it was the perfect match but it was so much infinitely better than eating or drinking one without the other.

Mrs Stephenson's Cucumber Mousse

I know it's a bit late in the year for this light cool dish...but just serve it with hot brown bread toast! And there are still lots of delicious cucumbers in the markets. Perhaps the only vegetable that did really well this summer of lots of rain.

And it's really fun turning something out of a mold. Really cool!

The recipe for the mousse comes from Jane Grigson's cookbook "Jane Grigson's Book of Vegetables", but I have also seen it in the Salads volume of Time Life Good Cook series, edited by my favorite—taadah! : Richard Olney. I think the Salad book credits the Jane Grigson book but Jane credits this lady, Mrs Stephenson. She made the mousse for this restaurant café I remember going to as a young girl with my mother when we were in London shopping. (Sounds very posh, I know. I certainly felt a bit posh, at least for an American.) The restaurant called Justin Le Blank was cafeteria style. The food was great, sort of a rare occurrence in 70's London at the time. I remember it quite well and I think I even remember the cucumber mousse.

Here's the recipe and what Jane says:

Mrs Stephenson's Cucumber Mousse

This recipe comes from Mrs Victoria Stephenson, who makes a variety of mousses and slads for Justin de Blank's provision shops in London [I just remember one].

Sometimes we eat it on rye bread, witha bottle of white wine, at five or six in the evening [love the hour!], sometimes as a first course. It goes with cold salmon trout and whilemeal bread and butter, as the main course of Sunday lunch in June.

1/2 large cucumber, peeled, diced small

1 heaped tablespoon salt

3 tablespoons tarragon or wine vinegar

15 g (1/2 oz.) gelatine

6 tablespoons hot water

300ml (1/2 pint) whipping cream

1 lb curd cheese or 1/2 lb each sieved cottage cheese and cream cheese [I sometimes use a mixture of fromage blanc and cream cheese or goat cheese, anything I can find that gives the mousse richness but at the same time a tangy lightness to it as well]

black pepper

chopped chives, parsley, spring onion

Mix the cucumber, salt and vinegar in a bowl thoroughly. Then turn it onto a colander, put a heavy plate on top and leave for an hour at least. Then remove the plate and press the cucumber with a clean cloth to get the last of the liquid away.

Dissolve the gelatine in hot water and whisk the cream gradually until the mixture is smooth and very thick, but not stiff. Break up the cheese and add it to the cream. Mix in the cucumber.

Taste and add a little more vinegar and salt if necessary, but be careful to overdo neither. Sometimes a couple of pinches of sugar will help to bring out the flavor; this depends on how good the cucumber was to start with. Grind in plenty of black pepper and add an abundance of chopped chives, parsley and spring onion—enough to make a strongly speckled effect. Turn into a oiled decorative mold and leave overnight in the refrigerator to set. Turn out onto serving dish.

Always provide wholemeal or rye bread with the cucumber mousse, whether it is the only dish or one of several; the rich cool mixture needs that kind of flavor and texture to set it off.