It is maybe the most frustrating utensil in the kitchen. Awkward to hang and too big to put in the spoon jug; it won’t sit in any of the piles of bowls and pans, but it is too important to put away. What’s more, it’s annoying to wash, dry and fit together and, invariably, three days later I notice that there is some dried tomato skin stuck on the base. Despite all this, I love my food mill with a passion.
Now, I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge Victor. While Jean Mantelet did patent his moulinette presse-légumes in 1932, which went on to sell by the million and make mouli a proprietary eponym, it turns out that an inventive Belgian called Victor Simon patented his very clever passe vite (pass quickly) four years earlier, in 1928, having designed it to aid his wife in making soups and purees. The passe vite was a huge success, because it was and still is an ingenious object in three parts: a bottomless bowl, a perforated sieve plate, and an arm crank fitted with a bent metal blade that, when rotated, crushes the food inside it and forces it through the holes in the plate.
Maybe the best example of a food mill’s singular skill is the way it turns fresh tomatoes into sauce. To observe this, cut a kilo of tomatoes in half and cook them down, with salt, on a medium heat, stirring initially so they don’t catch, until they collapse into a soft mush. Pass the collapsed tomatoes through the food mill, and watch how it separates the pulp from the skin, seeds and fibres, crushing every bit of flavour from them as sauce passes through the holes into a bowl below. Only a food mill can do this! Food processors or immersion benders don’t come close; they simply obliterate the tough skins into the sauce, miss the seeds and create foam. You could argue that pressing tomatoes through a sieve with a spoon would produce a similar sauce but, when it comes to crushing flavour out, even powerful arms can’t compare with a cranked metal blade. Crushing but not obliterating, which is why the resulting tomato sauce is so pleasing – smooth, but with texture.
The food mill is similarly brilliant for apple puree, mashed potato, soups and beans – the highlight when using it for the latter is that it separates their little opaque coats to make a soft bean puree. For this week’s recipe, borlotti beans are passed through a mill with a few boiled vegetables, for a puree to be eaten with radicchio in an anchovy and lemon dressing, and fried bread.
Like the food mill, the triangles of fried bread are crucial here. It is like chips, or a disco ball, making everything a bit more fun, and certainly more delicious to eat. Thank you, Victor Simon.
Bean dip with radicchio and fried bread
Prep 20 min
Cook 20 min
Serves 4
1 medium potato
1 celery stick, strings removed and cut into quarters
1 carrot, peeled and cut into quarters
1 onion, peeled and cut into quarters
1 bay leaf
400g cooked borlotti beans
6 tbsp olive oil, plus more for frying the bread
1 large head of radicchio
1 garlic clove, peeled and minced (optional)
2 anchovies (optional)
8 slices bread, ideally white and crustless
1 lemon, cut into wedges, to serve
Cover the vegetables with enough water that it just rises above them. Add a pinch of salt and a bay leaf, bring to a boil, cover, turn down the heat and cook for 12-15 minutes, or until the vegetables are soft.
Lift the vegetables out of the cooking liquid (but keep it) and pass them through a food mill along with the beans. Add a little of the cooking liquid to loosen the texture slightly – the mix should be soft but not runny – and add salt, a little minced garlic, if you want, and black pepper to taste.
Pull away and discard any damaged outer leaves, then cut the radicchio into thick ribbons. Make the dressing by pounding or blending six tablespoons of olive oil, a small garlic clove, two anchovies, if you wish, and two teaspoons of lemon juice into a smooth, cloudy dressing. Put the dressing and the leaves in a bowl, then toss.
In a large frying pan, warm a little olive oil and, working in batches, fry the bread until golden on both sides.
Arrange the three elements – bean puree, salad and fried bread – plus the lemon wedges on a large platter, in bowls, or on individual plates, and eat while the bread is still hot.
