Basil I

“Beet tops, radish tops, basil, I always think, I am definitely going to use that … but then I don’t use them in time.”

“Are there any adders around the Mossflower region, Basil? I mean, if there were, then you’d be the very creature to know about them, being an expert and all that.”

At a favorite neighborhood wine bar, Little Andorra, where I once would stop by the bar for a glass of Croatian wine and a plate of cured kingfish with smoked butter and basil, I now had to book and pay in advance for a full-course meal.

But he conceded that “everyone in prison calls me Basil… I’ll be Basil for ever.”

The same goes for herbs: Mangini’s generous hand with the basil, sage and rosemary gives her tart a “slightly soapy” flavour as far as my testers are concerned; if you’d like to use basil, I think it works better scattered fresh on top, as in Bareham’s version, but I’m going to stick with thyme, which performs better in the oven, adding a quieter, more savoury depth of flavour.