Читать книгу A Long and Messy Business - Rowley Leigh - Страница 29

February

Less is less. It is not always fewer. I once began a

sentence in conversation with Jeremy Paxman with

the words ‘Less people…’ FEWER! The grand inquisitor

exploded and I was cowed. For days, nay months,

afterwards I worried about my grammar. Why not less?

Why is it that everyone on the BBC uses the word

fewer even when it is inappropriate? From which

heavenly body did this commandment emanate?

In the true esprit de l’escalier – a French expression that

hints at the sense of loss one feels when one remembers

the correct riposte too late – I badgered him on our next

meeting. ‘Do you think more people are in favour of

Brexit now, Jeremy?’ Oh definitely, he replied. I had him

trapped. If you could allow more people, what was wrong

with less? He was, momentarily, discombobulated.

February can be tough going. There is less fresh food in

the traditional seasonal calendar. I know that does not

matter much to the average supermarket shopper but to

those of us who look forward to the treats each season

brings, February is pretty much hard tack. There are

exceptions, such as the rhubarb featured below, but this

month marks the low point of the growing year, when

nothing has started to crop and stores are getting low.

No wonder we begin Lent now.

When times are tough, the cook gets cooking. The

paucity of ingredients requires careful handling. You

will need to have a good storecupboard. And you can

cheat a bit. I know red peppers are hardly winter food

but just occasionally you can go off piste. Some of these

recipes, like the first one, are exercises in minimalism,

dishes that require a bit of precision and a lot of

restraint. When less is more, in fact.