Retro Food For Modern Times

Hello, crime readers and food lovers! Today’s Dining with the Dame sees us partaking of some Blood Stained Beans alongside Hercule Poirot and Ariadne Oliver.  The Poirot / Ariadne Oliver novels are among my favourites.  I adore her grumblings about her Finnish detective, Sven Hjerson and the travails of being a mystery writer!   But also, it was this volume of stories that, back in 2020, gave me the idea to start these posts.  Like so many people I was a little bit bored during covid and decided to read an anthology of Agatha Christie novels I had bought from my local library 6 months previously.  Halfway through Cards In The Table, an idea that I later called Dining with The Dame was born!   The recipe for the Blood Stained Beans is my version of Sabrina Ghayour’s Spiced Green Bean and Tomato Stew which comes from her wonderful book Feasts.  

Mrs McGinty’s Dead – The Plot

James Bentley, a rather odd and unlikeable young man, has been found guilty of the murder of his landlady, Mrs. McGinty. Convicted based on the evidence that he was short of money and knew where Mrs. McGinty hid her meager savings of £30, Bentley’s fate seemed sealed.

However, Sergeant Spence, a detective who played a crucial role in Bentley’s conviction, harbors lingering doubts. Unsure of Bentley’s guilt, Spence turns to the renowned Hercule Poirot, hoping that his keen intellect can shed light on the mysterious case.

Poirot, intrigued by the challenge, travels to the quaint village of Broadhinny. Securing a room at the Summerhayes’ guest house, Poirot finds himself immersed in a world of chaos and inefficiency. Indeed, the comical chaos of the guest house provides one of the many humorous moments in “Mrs. McGinty’s Dead.”

“With great distaste, Hercule Poirot looked around the room in which he stood.  It was a room of gracious proportions but there its attraction ended.  Poirot made an eloquent grimace as he drew a suspicious finger along the top of a book case.  As he had suspected – dust! ….The latch did not hold, and with every gust of wind it burst open and whirling gusts of cold wind eddied round the room. 

“I suffer” said Hercule Poirot to himself in acute self pity.  “Yes, I suffer”.  

Agatha Christie – Mrs McGinty’s Dead

What Happened to Mrs McGinty?

During his investigations Poirot discovers that just before her death, Mrs McGinty had clipped a “where are they now” article from the Sunday paper about a number of females who had been involved in infamous crime cases in the past.  Turns out Mrs McGinty, who also operated as a charwoman for several families in Broadhinny had found a photo that resembled one of these women.  And, with that, her fate was sealed.

We have:

• Several people who could be any of the women in the article
• Anonymous letters
• Another murder
• Poirot pushed off a train platform
• A mysterious blonde
• Lipstick on a teacup and expensive scent in the air
• A sugar hammer with a mysterious past and some tell tale stains on it
• Lots of people with secrets they do not want revealed

It’s a good thing we have Poirot on hand to save the innocent and make the guilty pay for their misdeeds.  However, even Poirot is severely tested by the personality of James Bentley.

“There were  moments when Hercule Poirot found the personality of James Bentley so irritating that he heartily wished that he could believe Bentley guilty of Mrs McGinty’s  murder.  Unfortunately, the more Bentley annoyed him, the more he came round to Spence’s way of thinking”.

And, of course, we have Ariadne Oliver being utterly delightful!

“How do I know?” asid Mrs Oliver crossly.  “How do I know why I ever thought of the revolting man?  I must have been mad!  Why a Finn when I know nothing about Finland.  Why a vegetarian.  Why all the idiotic mannerisms he’s got?  These things just happen.  You try something – and people seem to like it – and then you go on – and before you know where you are, you’ve got someone like that maddening Sven Hjerson tied to you for life…fond of him?  If I met that bony gangling vegetable eating Finn in real life, I’d do a better murder than any I’ve ever invented”

Agatha Christie – Mrs McGinty’s Dead

Mrs McGinty’s Dead – The Covers

The Recipe: Blood Stained Beans

“Oo,” said Mrs Summerhayes, her attention diverted from Poirot to the basin in her lap.  “I’m bleeding over the beans.  Not too good as we have to have them for lunch.  Still, it won’t matter really because they’ll go into boiling water.  Things are always all right if you boil them, aren’t they?”…

“I think, ” said Hercule Poirot quietly, “that I shall not be in for lunch.”

Agatha Christie – Mrs McGinty’s Dead

Blood Stained Beans

Print Recipe

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A recipe for a delicious side, inspired by both Sabrina Ghaylour’s Spiced Green Bean and Tomato Stew and the Agatha Christie novel, Mrs McGinty’s Dead.  

• Author: Taryn Nicole

Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

• 1 punnet cherry tomatoes
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground turmeric
• ½ tsp smoked paprika    
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 400g chopped Italian tomatoes
• 1 tbsp chipotles in adobo sauce
• 1 heaped teaspoon caster sugar
• Salt and Pepper
• 400 grams green beans, topped and tailed

To Serve:

• Greek Yoghurt or Labneh
• 1 tbsp chipotles in adobo
• Crispy fried shallots for sprinkling

Cook Mode Prevent your screen from going dark

Instructions

Roast the tomatoes:

• Preheat oven to 400°F (200°C).
• Toss cherry tomatoes with 1 tbsp olive oil, salt, and pepper on a baking sheet.
• Roast for 20-25 minutes, or until slightly charred and softened.

Make The Sauce:

• Heat 1 tbsp of olive oil in a pan over a medium heat.
• Lower the heat and saute the onions until soft (about 10 minutes)
• Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute. 
• Add the cumin, coriander, turmeric, smoked paprika and chipotle in adobo and cook for 1-2 minutes until fragrant. 
• Add the sugar, tinned tomatoes and salt and pepper.  
• Cook for 20 minutes until thickened. 
• Taste and add more chipotle, salt or pepper as required.  

The Beans:

• Steam the beans for 3-4 minutes.  

Serving:

• Place the beans on a serving platter.  
• Pour over the spicy sauce and top with the cherry tomatoes.  
• Add dollops of yoghurt and splatters of chipotle sauce.  
• Sprinkle with crispy shallots
• Enjoy!

“He walked slowly up the hill towards Long Meadows.  He hoped devoutly that the contents of the bulged tin and the bloodstained beans had been duly eaten for lunch and not been saved for a supper treat for him”

Agatha Christie – Mrs McGinty’s Dead

Links to the Christieverse

• In one of her hilarious rants about her novels, Ariadne Oliver talks about using a blowpipe as a plot device in one of her novels.  An African blowpipe was featured in Death in The Clouds.  And of course wecan’t help but draw the parallel between Agatha Christie and her infuriating Belgian and Ariadne Oliver and her “bony gangling vegetable eating Finn”.
• We last saw Superinendent Spence in Taken at The Flood.
• Ariadne Oliver speaks of Mr Shaitana, the victim in Cards on The Table.

Other Food & Drinks Mentioned in  Mrs McGinty’s Dead

It’s really interesting to see how much more food is mentioned now that we are well and truly in the post war period!

• Escargot
• Afternoon Tea
• Coffee x2
• Hot chocolate and croissants 
• Grenadine, Creme de Menthe, Benedictine, Creme de Cacao
• Whisky x2
• Beer
• Bread x2
• Margarine
• Kippers x2
• Omelette / eggs x2
• Spinach x2
• Brandy
• Stew
• Vegetable Marrows
• Jam
• Sherry
• Orange Juice
• Box of Chocolates
• Oxtail Stew ( under cooked)
• Potatoes (watery x1) (hard x1)
• Pancakes (peculiar)
• Apples (it is an Ariadne Oliver novel after all)
• White Lady
• Gin x 2
• Pudding (burnt)
• Raspberries (mouldy)
• Macaroni
• Custard and plums
• Egg nog x2
• Rabbit stew
• Pudding (peculiar)
• Steak and Chips

December’s read will be After The Funeral. 

Have a great week!