Coeur A La Creme – Murder on The Orient Express

Hello crime readers and food lovers!  Welcome to part two of my Murder on The Orient Express Trilogy!  We started last week with the fun collab with Jenny from Silver Screen Suppers.  Today is a regular Dining with The Dame and next week we will have an added bonus.  For now though, let’s focus on my recipe of choice for Dining with the Dame which is a classic French dessert – a Coeur A La Creme, the recipe for which comes from my old favourite, The A-Z of Cooking!

And just to be clear, this dessert is French, not Belgian!

Murder on The Orient Express – The Plot

We touched on this last week but here is a quick recap.  Hercule Poirot boards the Orient Express in Istanbul, the train is unexpectedly crowded for the time of year.  On the first night, Poirot is approached by an American, Samuel Ratchett who offers Poirot money to protect him as he has been receiving death threats.  Poirot does not like him and refuses.  Later that evening, after a course of events that either awake him or keep him awake, Poirot learns that the train is stuck in a snowdrift in the middle of Yugoslavia.

The next morning, Poirot wakes to find that his neighbour, the odious Mr Ratchett has been stabbed 12 times and is now resoundingly dead!  With no one able to get on or off the train, due to the snowdrift, the murderer has to still be on board.  As the police can also not reach the train, Poirot takes on the job of hunting down the killer.

We have:

• A mysterious red kimono
• A burned letter with the words “member Daisy Armstrong” still legible
• A handkerchief bearing the letter H
• A pipe cleaner and a box of matches different to those used by Rachett
• And twelve passengers who may not be entirely who they seem!

This book is so amazingly plotted,  so well written that it brings my obsessive little heart joy to think about it.  Every little detail in this is plotted to the nth degree, and yet when you are reading it, it feels effortless.

Murder on The Orient Express- The Covers

The American version of Murder was called Murder on the Calais Coach.  Not quite as catchy is it? I love the pulp fiction cover with the woman in the red kimono and am completely baffled by the one on its right.  What are those things?  They look like some weird brass band instruments!

The Recipe – Coeur  A La Creme

Murder on the Orient Express has a surprising lack of food.  I was hoping we would have some Turkish food from the Istanbul scenes and then some very posh French food while onboard.  No such luck!  My choice of a Couer a la Creme came from this passage:

 ‘Poirot sat down and soon found himself in the favoured position of the table which was served first and with the choicest of morsels.  The food too, was unusually good.

It was not until they were eating a delicate cream cheese that  M.Bouc allowed his attention to wander to matters other than nourishment.  He was at the stafge of the meal when one becomes philosophic”

Agatha Christie, Murder on the Orient Express

Coeur A La Creme is my take on that delicate cream cheese.  And I am so glad I chose it.  It is absolutely delicious!!!  Next to that Ingrid Bergman Trout that I made last week, it is one of the most gorgeous,  delicate,  delicious things I have ever eaten.  Think the lightest most delicious cheesecake you have ever eaten and you are nearly there!   And it comes from something as gross as cottage cheese!

Coeur a la Creme is traitionally  associated with romantic occasions such as Valentine’s Day.  But as we are talking Murder on The Orient Express and we are in spooky season, I hope all those romantics out there will forgive me for making it a bit stabby!

Other Food Mentioned in Murder on the Orient Express

Perrier

Coffee (Multiple times)

Eggs – Eggs always make an appearance in these books!  I wonder if writing about Poirot’s egg-shaped head so often made Dame Agatha hungry for them!

Orange juice

Mineral Water

Chicken no sauce

Boiled fish

Tea and biscuits

Cognac

Stay tuned next week for the third and final instalment of the Murder on the Orient Express Extravaganza!!!  If you are reading along, next up is Three Act Tragedy so get reading!

Breaking news!

Dining with the Dame now has its own instagram page so if you are reading along or cooking along or just want to share Agatha Christie related recipes or book posts you can now hit me up there too!