It’s wedding time in our family and this time the happy couple decided to go with a theme, choosing, of all things, the Great Gatsby. I yelped in protest when I got the invitation & complained bitterly to the husband who was very busy trying to watch something on television; he made the usual pacifying noises that, I suspect, actually means he’s refusing to be drawn into the conversation so I simmered solo a while & put it out of my mind until last Sunday when I dived into my cupboard to look for something that could be

considered Gatsbyish and to my shocked amazement, I actually found something almost suitable; now, despite the fact that it’s black & sparkly & not really suitable for an afternoon wedding, I’m good to go. The husband, on the other hand, can’t find his suit and now I’m making the pacifying noises and ignoring him. The theme comes from a novel written by the American author, F. Scott Fitzgerald, that was published in 1925. It was set between Long Island’s North Shore & New York City just after World War 1 (to be exact, in 1922); during this time the American economy was booming & the mob was making millions from selling booze to everyone who was pretending not to drink (but were drinking like fish) during the ill conceived Prohibition. Since we so often talk about the Gatsby era, I thought it would be fun to zip through the book and reflect on the kind of food & drink that Jay Gatsby would have served at his parties; so here’s a very short version of the book itself and a few fun recipes from the roaring twenties.

A GREAT GATSBY

Ingredients

• 2 ml vodka
• 2 ml gin
• 1 splash sweet vermouth
• 1 tsp fresh lemon juice

Method

• Combine gin and vodka in a martini glass, splash with sweet vermouth & add fresh lemon juice; garnish with a lemon twist.

This is a great American classic so it’s difficult to be summarize it but here goes: in the summer of 1922, young Nick Carraway moves from Minnesota to New York to learn about the bond business and therefore rents a house in a wealthy but unfashionable part of Long Island known as West Egg which was home to the local nouveau riche. As fate would have it, his neighbour is a man called Jay Gatsby & who lives in a massive Gothic mansion & throws wild & extravagant parties each Saturday evening.The difference between Nick & everyone else living in his area, is that he was educated at Yale & knows a lot of people who live in the fashionable area of Long Island called East Egg where the real upper classes live. Upon an evening he drives out for dinner with his cousin Daisy Buchanan & her hubby, Tom who was one of Nick’s classmates at Yale – they introduce him to Jordan Baker who is very beautiful but also cynical & the romance is on. At this point good American family values fly out of the window: Jordan tells him that his friend Tom has a lover called Myrtle Wilson who lives in the Valley of Ashes (an industrial dumping ground between West Egg & New York City); not long after that conversation, he finds himself travelling to New York City with Tom and Myrtle and they end up going to a really vulgar & common party in the apartment that Tom keeps for this affair. To cut a long story short: at one point Myrtle begins to taunt Tom about Daisy upon which Tom promptly breaks her nose.

MINT JULEP

Ingredients

• 240ml bourbon whiskey
• 3 springs fresh mint and extra fresh mint leaves for decoration
• 100g caster sugar
• 125ml  water
• Crushed ice, to serve
• Soda water (optional) for serving

Method

• Put the sugar & water in a small saucepan over medium heat & simmer, stirring constantly, until the sugar dissolves, then add the mint before bringing it to a simmer again &r cooking for 5 minutes or until the mixture thickenso then set it aside to cool down before refrigerating it too cool down.
• Remove the mint from the syrup & discard  it, then divide the crushed ice between the serving glasses, pour the sugar syrup & bourbon over the ice & then top it with soda & garnish it with extra mint leaves.

A while later but still during that summer, Nick gets an invitation to one of Gatsby’s famous parties & meets up with Jordan who introduces him to Jay Gatsby – a surprisingly young man who fakes an English accent, smiles a lot and calls everyone old sport. Gatsby starts to chat to Jordan when she’s on her own a while and she discovers that he knew Daisy in Louisville in 1917, that  he’s still madly in love with her and that his wild parties are an attempt to impress her; to cut a long story short, he (Jay Gatsby) wants Nick to arrange a meeting between him & Daisy because he’s scared that she will refuse to see him if she knows that he still loves her. Nick agrees and invites Daisy to have tea at his house but doesn’t tell her that Gatsby will also be there; it’s awkward meeting at first but Gatsby and Daisy eventually realize they love one another and begin an affair.

LOBSTER NEWBURG

Ingredients

• 1,2kg cooked lobster tails
• 8 crusty bread rolls or pastry cases
• 80ml dry sherry
• 80ml white wine
• 1 x 300ml thick cream
• 3 egg yolks, lightly whisked
• 1 ½  tsp sweet paprika
• ¼ tsp cayenne pepper
• English parsley, to serve

Method

• Use kitchen scissors to cut down the middle of the underside of a lobster tail, then peel back the shell delicately and break it before removing the lobster meat in one piece; cut this crossways into 3cm-thick medallions; do this with all the other tails.
• Now combine the sherry & wine in a saucepan over medium d & cook it until the liquid has reduced by half (around 5 minutes) & reduce the heat to quite low.
• Use a balloon whisk & whisk the egg yolks, the cream, the paprika and the cayenne pepper together in a bowl & add it to the wine mixture.
• Cook this, stirring all the time, without boiling it until the mixture becomes thick (about 10 minutes); add the lobster & cook until the lobster is heated through (3 minutes), then season with salt & pepper to taste & garnish with parsley.
• Serve with bread rolls.

It doesn’t take long for Tom to become suspicious. At a lunch held at the home of the Buchanans’ when Gatsby & Daisy’s eyes meet with undisguised passion, it’s so obvious that the two are in love that Tom immediately realizes it; despite the fact that Tom is also having an affair, he’s livid and outraged that his wife could be unfaithful to him. A bit rich of him, I thought. He forces everyone in their crowd to drive into New York City so that he could confront Gatsby at the Plaza Hotel where Tom tells Gatsby that he and Daisy have a history that he (Gatsby) couldn’t possibly understand; at the same time he tells his wife that Gatsby is a criminal who makes his money from bootlegging alcohol etcetera. At this point Daisy comes to the conclusion that her allegiance is to Tom. To prove that he’s not a jealous man, Tom sends his wife back to East Egg with Gatsby. Then fate steps in. Nick, Jordan & Tom just so happen to drive through the Valley of Ashes on their way home, only to discover that Gatsby’s car had hit & killed Tom’s lover, Myrtle. They rush back to Long Island and learn that Daisy had been driving the car when it hit Myrtle but that Gatsby was taking the blame to protect her. Tom’s true character is revealed when he tells Myrtle’s husband, George, that Gatsby was the driver of the car. George, leaps to the conclusion that the driver must have been her lover and goes to Gatsby house, finds him in the swimming pool and shoots him fatally before he turns the gun on himself & commits suicide.

WALDORF SALAD

Ingredients

• 100g pecan or walnut halves
• 80ml olive oil
• 2 tbs French white wine vinegar
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard
• 85g  homemade whole egg mayonnaise
• 1 tbs fresh lemon juice
• 2 red apples, quartered, cored & cut into thin wedges
• 1 celery stick, ends trimmed, finely sliced
• 2 baby cos lettuces, washed, dried & leaves separated

Method

• Preheat oven to 180°C  & put the nut halves on a baking tray, roast until lightly coloured – keep an eye on it.
• Put the oil, the vinegar & mustard in a shaker  & shake until well mixed, then season it to taste with salt and pepper, now whisk the mayonnaise & lemon juice in a bowl.
• Put the pecan or walnut halves, the apple and the celery in a bowl & toss in the oil mixture until everything is well combined.
• Put the lettuce leaves on a large serving platter, top it with the apple & nut mixture & drizzle over the mayonnaise when you serve.

Nick has a small funeral for Gatsby and ends his affair with Jordan so that he could move back to the Midwest – away from the disgusting people who surrounded Gatsby’s life and the moral decay of life amongst the rich people of the East Coast. The book ends with Nick reflecting that just as Gatsby’s dream of Daisy was corrupted by money & lies, so the American dream of happiness had disintegrated into the pursuit of wealth & little else; even though Gatsby had the power to turn his dreams into reality, Nick felt that for him, the era of dreaming (Gatsby’s dream and the American dream) was over.

OYSTERS ROCKEFELLER

This recipe was sent in to me by Sam Redding from London and I hope you’ll all enjoy this.

Ingredients

• 36 wild oysters, in the half shell
• 2 French shallots – peeled & coarsely chopped
• 1 bunch watercress, sprigs picked, washed & dried
• 150 g chopped fresh Italian parsley
• 60g unsalted butter
• 175g rindless bacon rashers, excess fat trimmed, finely chopped
• 60ml fruity white wine
• 1 tsp sweet smoked paprika
• 90g fresh breadcrumbs
• Watercress sprigs to serve

Method

• Put the shallots, the watercress & the parsley in food processor & process until smooth.
• Heat 20g of the butter in a large frying pan over medium heat, add the bacon & fry, stirring occasionally, until crisp and golden & then using a slotted spoon, transfer it to a paper-lined plate.
• Add the watercress mixture to the same pan & stir fry for a minute, add the wine & paprika & simmer until the liquid evaporates – transfer this to a bowl .
• Wipe the pan clean with paper towel & heat the rest of the butter over medium heat before adding the breadcrumbs & cooking, stirring constantly until they are crisp – transfer this to a bowl too.
• Preheat grill on high – put the oysters on a heatproof serving dish, arrange the oysters on it, divide the watercress mixture amongst the oysters, top them with bacon & breadcrumbs & grill until the breadcrumbs are golden; serve immediately with loads of fresh watercress.