Linda helps to feed the Queen

CELEBRATIONS for the Queen's 90th birthday today have reminded a woman of the time she cooked for the monarch in West Cornwall nearly 40 years ago.

Queen Elizabeth II visited Geevor Tin Mine on Friday November 28, 1980 for the opening ceremony of the extension of the Victory Shaft.

She was joined by her husband Prince Phillip and son Prince Andrew.

The Cornishman reported on the event, featuring the Queen on the front page, under the headline 'The Queen smiled at me' and on two full pages inside with a number of pictures taken during her seven-hour stay in West Cornwall, which included a visit to Newlyn harbour.

For Linda Piggott-Vijeh, now 61, the visit was her first experience of professional catering and inspired her to a lifetime's work in the food and drink industry.

Ms Piggott-Vijeh said she had been living in Helston with her then husband who was based at RNAS Culdrose when she struck up a friendship with chef Ann Long, who ran the Count House Restaurant, at Botallack.

"When she was asked to cook for the Queen's lunch I asked if I could help out," said Ms Piggott-Vijeh, who said at that time she was an enthusiastic home cook but no more.

"My job that day was to peel the grapes.

"Every time I see a peeled grape now I remember that.

"I was required to serve the wine to the Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh and Prince Andrew."

Despite only getting to peel the grapes, Ms Piggott-Vijeh said that day started her love of food and led her on the path to become a chef, culminating in her being the chef for the British Ambassador to the United Nations many years later.

The former cookery teacher at Cornwall College, Camborne, who now lives in Somerset, still regularly cooks in Cornwall at a private house in Helford.

When I Fed the Queen

It wasn't until I woke up this morning to see all of the news about celebrations for the Queen's 90th birthday that I remembered that I had cooked for the Queen on her visit to Geevor tin mine in 1980.

My experience of being a general kitchen help for chef Ann Long who owned The Count House Restaurant, and who had been asked to prepare lunch for the royal party, which included Prince Philip and Prince Andrew, started my life long love of food, culminating in me being chef to the British Ambassador to the United Nations many years later. 

My job that day in November 1980, as a young naval wife and regular customer of the restaurant, was to peel thousands of grapes for the salad, and then to act as wine waiter.....

Here is a report from the day's event.......

The plaque unveiled in November 1980 of HM The Queen accompanied by HRH The Duke of Edinburgh and HRH The Prince Andrew.

‘A ROYAL visit is often cause for excitement, but west Penwith got three for the price of one. Queen Elizabeth II was joined by her husband Prince Phillip and son Prince Andrew on the trip to Geevor Tin Mine on November 28, 1980. After a lengthy trip down the mine, the royal visiting party then went on to the Count House restaurant at Botallack, before heading to Camborne School of Mines.

Restaurant owner Anne Long, was up early working on the monarch's midday meal at the restaurant in Botallack which she has run for 12 years.

Mrs Long, said that it had been an honour to cook for the Queen and her family.

"I didn't enter a competition to feed the Queen, I was asked to feed the Queen. I am sure she enjoyed her food because we spent ages preparing. We were up at 4am preparing a feast to set before the Queen. Pineapples and peppers, chicken and seafood, and fruit and vegetables were scattered around waiting to be used for this special occasion. A policeman was sent to watch over us as we got the food ready.”

‘DESIGNING dinners for the delectation of Baroness Thatcher, Princess Margaret and other world leaders was all in a day's work for Linda Piggott-Vijeh when she was chef to the British Ambassador to the United Nations in New York.

Her food was famous, and not just because it was delicious. She hit the headlines for serving the French Ambassador, Pierre-Louis Blanc, weeds for dinner.

Newly-arrived at the Embassy, which overlooked Central Park, Linda had become interested in the foraging tours organised by Parks department botanist and ecologist "Wildman" Steve Brill.

He showed students how to identify and collect wild vegetables, fruits, berries, herbs and mushrooms.

So for the French Ambassador she cooked a dinner of lamb covered with a wild black cherry-water mint jam, which included mushrooms and a salad of wood sorrel, sheep sorrel, lady's thumb and poor man's pepper, all harvested in Central Park.

The Ambassador said it was some of the tastiest food he'd ever eaten – although he found it difficult to believe that the chef was not only not French, but English.

The reputation of British food continued to rise as Linda ensured that food from the UK featured strongly. Cheddar cheese straws and wine from Somerset's Wootton vineyard featured on one all-British menu.

"There is risk of disaster in cooking, but if you understand food you can turn a disaster into something else. Presentation is most important of course, but I like quite basic food myself. My favourite is steak and kidney pie.”

"I have had my disasters. My most spectacular was a dinner at the Embassy for the Japanese Ambassador. I had made a huge baked Alaska and called it Mount Fuji and when I took it out of the oven it slid onto the floor. I have never seen anyone whisk egg whites more quickly than I did then."

Wines to go with a meal fit for a Queen

Across the world this week community groups gathered to celebrate the Queen’s 90th birthday, although of course we shall all have the opportunity to join in the festivities again on the 10th June, the date when her ‘official’ birthday is celebrated.

Rather late in the day I recalled that in 1980 I helped to feed the queen on her visit to Geevor mine in Cornwall. As the young wife of a naval officer at the time my sole task was to peel thousands of grapes for the fruit salad that formed part of the meal that the Queen enjoyed with Prince Philip and Prince Andrew at the Count House, Botallack, one of the country’s top restaurants at the time. I also acted as wine steward for the lunch.

Having fed several members of the royal family during my years as a professional chef, and as a staunch royalist, I am always interested to know about the food and wine side of things, so as the Queen gathered with her family and friends for a private birthday dinner, I was keen to discover what they ate.

According to the published menu they dined on poached fillet of salmon trout, followed by beef in port wine sauce, and then a passion fruit and mango gateau for dessert, which I plan to replicate, along with these wines.

Before sitting down to dine however, one would of course fully expect to partake of pre-prandial cocktail or two. The Queen’s favourite is a Dubonnet cocktail, the recipe for which follows:-

2 parts Dubonnet Rouge
1 part Gin
1 slice Lemon
Ice

Fill a cocktail shaker with ice, add the other ingredients, stir and strain into a cocktail glass. Top with lemon wedge and two ice cubes.

The Queen is known for her lack of extravagance so when it comes to the meal itself, rather than go for wines at the top end of the scale I have selected modest bottles, within the price range of us all. 

Although there is no detail as to how the fish was served, I would fully expect her majesty to show a bit of patriotism, so to go with the first course my choice would be Denbies Pinot Gris, Dorking, Surrey, 2014, £16.95, 12.5%.

Despite the prominent beeswax, melon and honeysuckle characters on the nose, this well balanced wine is dry on the palate, full-bodied and rich with ripe stone fruits, key lime and honey, and has a long finish. Made from hand-picked grapes, this wine is made only in the best of seasons and varies in its varietal make up depending on vintage. This splendid vineyard also has accommodation at reasonable prices, so is well worth a visit.

For the beef, I am assuming that only the best, leanest cut of meat would be served, and I feel that a wine with a regal name would be just the ticket. So, rather than plumping for a heavy red that might overwhelm the royal palate after such a long and tiring day I have gone for the newest of the Beaujolias Crus, Regnié, granted its status in 1988.

There is far more to beaujolais than ‘nouveau’ and this Domaine Julien Sunier, Beaujolais, Burgundy, France, 2014, 12%, £18.95, made from the Gamay grape (as is all Beaujolais) is full of bright red fruit, vivacious and fresh.

To my mind no celebratory meal is complete without bubbly, so when it comes to the chosen pud, passion fruit and mango gateau, I can think of no better match than Pol Roger Rich Demi Sec, Epernay, France, £36.30, 12%. This medium dry Champagne, with its fruity notes of apricots and acacia honey and smooth finish is an ideal match for a rich creamy gateau, if for no other reason than that Pol Roger was the favoured Champagne house of the Queen’s first Prime Minister, Winston Churchill.