The Sacred Art of Eating

There came a point where we just couldn’t keep buying all the boozes Nigella asked for. Amaretto is a drink neither of us have much desire to drink, but I knew some was hiding in my parents’ booze cupboard.

• Coq au Riesling
• Amaretto Syllabub

The occasion of this sweet little supper was a visit from afar (Aberdeen) of Em & El. Such glamorous guests have not graced Leith Walk for some time! (I might be kidding, I might not. You just don’t know!)

We started out with Coq au Riesling, Nigella’s very pared back version of the Retro Classique. Again, this used chicken thigh meat and again, the effect was juicy and tender and gorgeous. We served it with buttered pappardelle (as akin to Alsation ‘noodles’ as I could envisage) and slurped it all up. There was quite a bit left over which I have frozen; I am VERY much looking forward to the day I get to come home to this.

Pudding felt properly fancy and I suppose that really, it was. Amaretto syllabub, using the specially requisitioned Amaretto and lined with amaretti morbidi (soft amaretti biscuits) from the fab Sicilian shop up the hill, then served in our lovely martini glasses with a couple of amaretti on the side.

The folks round the table took a lot of convincing that these weren’t seriously alcoholic. In fact there was only 20ml of Amaretto per person, so barely a shot. However, clearly in melding with the cream this stuff increased in potency…you would not want to try and eat two of these! We all fell into something of a stupor after pudding and couldn’t be perked up even with a pot of tea! Glamorous, but no stamina, what can I say?

If my mum and dad are very lucky I might just make this down at theirs one day!

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