The Queen of Romance's Cookbook

Plus a romantic recipe for scallops

Cooking in an Art! So Barbara Cartland tells us in the introduction to her cookbook, the Romance of Food. I have found in my research, she continues, that every plant, herb, leaf and fruit has, at some time, been known for its aphrodisiacal powers.

Cartland is, after all, the undisputed Queen of Romance, with over 700 romance novels to her name. If she says something has sexual prowess you better believe she has done her research.

Created with Cartland’s private chef, Nigel Gordon, and photographed ‘under the supervision of the author at her home in Herefordshire, using her own backgrounds and ornaments’, the Romance of Food begins at Breakfast.

‘Breakfast is the most important meal of the day […]. No man or child should be expected to go to work on cornflakes and coffee […]’

Throughout the book Cartland offers a footnote on every recipe and the first recipe for breakfast - Scotch Porridge - is no exception.

“The 5th Duke of Sutherland was one of the best looking men I have ever seen. Six foot three tall, with fair hair and vivid blue eyes, he looked like a Viking. Every morning at the fairytale Dunrobin Castle which I have made the background for many of my novels, he ate his porridge from a wooden bowl edged with silver, which his Nanny had given him.”

We learn a lot throughout the cookbook - namely about sex and seduction, which is why we are here, after all.

Smoked salmon pâté, for example, is great for men: ‘’I have never known a man who was not thrilled with it and relaxed and very amenable after eating it. Every ingredient is good for health and sex”.

We also learn that honey can lead to sex orgies, paprika in very small quantities is a sex stimulus, good lovers need tender steaks, German brothels served lettuce to stimulate their clients, and so on.

There are chapters on soups, salads, meats, and fish, a chapter entitled One of My Special Dinner Menus (smoked salmon pâté features, of course) before ending with puddings, teas and savouries. It is safe to say the woman knows her food (though not white bread - she doesn’t see the point in it).

It would be easy to dismiss the Romance of Food as a fluffy cookbook but I found myself surprisingly charmed by it, quietly swept into Cartland’s pink world of luxury and luncheons. Although dated the recipes are legit, and I have included one such recipe for you to make this Valentine’s Day

Love in a Shell

16 Scallops
1 glass dry white wine
6 shallots, chopped
6 young carrots, sliced
A little fish stock
150ml / 1/4 pint fresh cream
Pinch of saffron

Place the scallops over a low heat to make them open and with a fine knife blade detach the dish from the shells, then remove the valves. Clean the scallops thoroughly in cold water as they often contain fine sand which is unpleasant to bite on.

Place the scallops in a saucepan with the wine, shallots, new carrots and fish stock and allow to cool slowly. When three-quarters cooked remove the scallops and place to one side. Add the cream to the stock and reduce over a high heat. Season with just enough saffron to colour the sauce without allowing it to become the dominant flavour. When the stock is delicately flavoured so that no one flavour, predominates, replace the scallops, heat through and, after removing the carrots, serve very hot. Serves 4.

Miss Cartland does not like scallops, so I often use sole with this sauce, and it is a great success.

This Valentine’s Day I am spending the afternoon with my son having a romantic meal at our local pizza restaurant. I am quite a fan of VD - romantic relationship or not - because when else can you actively celebrate a little baby with wings and bow and arrow?

Cupid facts!
Cupid is the son of Venus and the god of Love; in Latin he is called Amor, and in Greek, Eros. He is usually shown as a winged child. His attributes are a bow, arrow and quiver. Those hit by his arrows become lovers. Here’s hoping you are hit by one <3