Author: Taryn Nicole


Jan
2022

Last of the Cheese Platter Quiche

categories: 365 Good Reasons To Sit Down and Eat, Book Club, Cheese, France

Hello friends, this weeks recipe takes the leftovers at the end of a cheese platter – the scraps of cheese, leftover nuts, maybe a bit of Proscuitto and turns them all into a delicious quiche.  In theory that is.  I, for one, think that leftover cheese belongs to the realms of unicorns and heffalumps.  I personally have never known such a phenomenon. However, tomorrow, January 20,  the world is celebrating Cheese Lover’s Day so there should be cheese platters aplenty.  If ever there was a time to see that elusive creature, the leftover piece of cheese it will be then!

Last of the Cheeseboard Quiche

The quiche is very simple so you could jazz it up by adding some of the herbs or vegetables you may have languishing in your fridge!  I used some parsley and some spring onions in my cheese as well as 4 types of cheese, some walnuts and some bacon.

Last year (for a few months), I implemented my Fridge, Freezer Pantry week which is my attempt to reduce kitchen waste.  The last week of each month, we will not visit the supermarket but will eat only what is currently in our fridge, freezer and pantry.  The practice kind of fell by the wayside during the year but I have brought it back for 2022 and recipes like this will help to ensure that I keep it going!

Last of the Cheeseboard Quiche2

Last of The Cheese Platter Quiche – The Recipe

The recipe comes from 365 Good Reasons to Sit Down and Eat, the same book that brought us Detox Soup earlier this month.

Last of the cheese platter quiche (2)

The strange thing about this quiche was the walnuts.  It was not that they tasted bad, they were a lovely addition.  However, I think I am so used to having the contents of a quiche be fairly soft that finding a chunk of something hard in my quiche was disconcerting for me.  Next time I shall cut my walnuts into smaller pieces so it is not as startling!  It would be super if instead of buying pastry you made your own and added the chopped walnuts into that!

Last of the Cheeseboard Quiche4

Just to be a little extra cheesy, here’s a very cute cheese pun.

Have a great Cheese Lover’s Day!

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Jan
2022

Berry Salad with Blue Cheese Croutons

categories: Berries, Blue Cheese, Magazines, Salad, Seasonal Recipes

Today’s recipe for Berry Salad with Blue Cheese Croutons is inspired by a recipe from the December 2001 / January 2002 edition of Super Food Ideas.   Which makes it twenty years old this month!

Berry And Blue Cheese SaladWe are currently sweltering in a hot summer so this salad hits the spot perfectly. And, without tooting my own trumpet too much, can we just stop and take a moment to reflect on how pretty this salad is?

It’s almost too pretty to eat.  But only almost.  Because it’s also delicious

Before we jump into the recipe, let’s take a look at what else was hot in Dec/Jan 2002 with the seasonal eating guide.

What’s Peaking in January – Fruit

Apricots

Why not make some apricot and rhubarb frangipane tarts?

Bananas

Banana Breakfast Cream is a great way to start your day!

Banana CreamBlueberries

Get your Scottish on with some Rhubarb and Blueberry Cranachan

Breakfast Cranachan2Grapefruit

And if you don’t like eating fruit, why not drink it.  This Navigator cocktail has gin, limoncello and pink grapefruit juice…yum!

What’s Peaking in January – Vegetables

Asparagus

Why eat normal sandwiches when you can have these cute as a button Easter Lily Sandwiches?

Easter Lily Sandwiches2

Mushrooms

The vol au vent is, for me, the archetypical retro food.  Why not check out my mushroom vol au vents from way back in 2012?

Retro Food For Modern Times – Holiday Wrap Up

Potato

Step back in time to Pieathalon3 when Ruth sent me a Lemon Potato Pie!

Sweetcorn

Another cookalong resulted in this Cowboy Caviar.  It was delicious.  Thanks Greg for organising our Cowboy Day Cookalong!

Ok, so now onto the main feature!

Berry Salad with Blue Cheese Croutons – The Recipe

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Berry Salad with Blue Cheese Croutons

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A delcious and gorgeous salad, perfect for summer days.

Ingredients

Scale

For The Croutons

  • 1 baguette sliced into 1cm slices
  • 50g creamy blue cheese (I used Gorgonzola dolce)

For The Salad

  • 100g rocket (arugula)
  • 1 cup berries (I used raspberries and strawberries)
  • 2 carrots, cut into thin ribbons
  • 1/8 red cabbage, finely sliced
  • 1/4 cup walnuts, toasted

For The Dressing

  • 1 tbsp raspberries
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
  • 2 tsp Dijon mustard
  • 1/2 tsp sugar
  • Salt and Pepper to taste

Instructions

For The Croutons

  1. Spread each round of bread lightly with the cheese.
  2. Bake in a moderate oven (180C) for 5-10 minutes until crisp.
  3. Allow to cool.

For The Dressing

  1. Puree the raspberries.
  2. Whisk in the oil, vinegar, sugar and seasonings.

For The Salad

  1. Place the rocket leaves in a bowl.
  2. Add the berries, carrots, red cabbage and walnuts.
  3. Toss to combine.
  4. Top with the blue cheese croutons.
  5. Drizzle with the dressing just before serving.

Notes

  • The original recipe contained spinach and asparagus. I didn’t have either when I made this so I subbed in the carrot and red cabbage. Go your own way on this!

I was back to work this week which was a shock to the system!

 

 

Berry And Blue Cheese Salad2

 

I’ll be back ,mid-week with another cheese heavy post.

In the meantime, have a great week!

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Jan
2022

Schnitzel a la Holstein

categories: Meat, Name Plates

It’s been quite some time since I have done a Name Plates post where I look into the names behind famous foods.  Schnitzel a la Holstein is named after the German diplomat, Friedrich August Karl, Ferdinand Julius von Holstein who helped to shape German foreign policy in the time directly after Bismarck.  Hello?  Is there anyone still there?  Please do not be perturbed, we are not going to spend any more time on the Baron because this is a food blog, not a German foreign policy of the 1890’s blog!

Schnitzel a la Holstein 1

What is Schnitzel a la Holstein?

I feel that Schnitzel a la Holstein has fallen somewhat out of favour over the years.  A pub staple in Melbourne is a chicken or veal parmigiana which is the Schnitzel a la Holstein’s  Italian cousin.  I have eaten cotoletta, a more refined Italian relative in restaurants and, at home, my mother would often make Weiner Schnitzel.  But never a la Holstein.

So what turns a regular schnitty into a version a la Holstein?  First you need to add a fried egg then add some anchovies on top of that.  Then, drizzle a litle caper, lemon and parsley sauce over the top of it all!

Schnitzel a la Holstein 2

That is at least in the modern version of the dish.  The Baron’s OG version came surrounded by small piles of caviar, crawfish tails, smoked salmon, mushrooms, and truffles!!!!  I’m surprised the whole thing didn’t come wrapped in gold a la Salt Bae.  I mean there’s a lot…and then there’s too much!  It made me wonder if  Baron was also the inspo for this Monty Python character.

I really enjoyed this dish!  The sharpess of the lemon and caper sauce offset some of the richness of the schnitzel, the egg added some rich creaminess and the anchovies some delightful saltiness.

I served my schnitzel with a very simple salad of watercress leaves, red shallots and shaved parmesan.

The Recipe and My Variations

The recipe I used to cook my Schnitzel a la Holstein was from Saveur which I modied as follows

  • I added 2 tablespoons of finely grated Parmesan cheese into the bread crumb mixture for some additional flavour.
  • I poached my egg using one of those old fashioned egg rings instead of frying it as I  do not like the texture of the white of a fried egg.  The softness of the poached egg also provided a great contrast to the crunchy crumb crust.

Schnitzel a la Holstein 3

Schnitzel a la Holstein

Here’s the Baron:

Baron5

 

Have a great week!

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Jan
2022

How To Eat Spaghetti

categories: 1970's food, Margaret Fulton Cookbook, Pasta

Happy International Spaghetti Day!   We must have been pretty gauche back in the 1970s because in her eponymous cookbook, Margaret Fulton had to show us how to eat spaghetti. Lord only knows what we’d been doing before this.  Launching face-first into the plate?  Lady and the Tramping it?  Employing scissors a la Buster Keaon?

Thank goodness we had Margaret to tell us how to do it with a modicum of grace and class.

Three Steps to Spaghetti Eating Heaven

"How to Eat Spaghetti 1"

 

"How to Eat Spaghetti 2"

"How to Eat Spaghetti 3"

I very clearly remember my parents teaching me this exact method of twirling spaghetti in our favourite Italian restaurant (Leo’s Spaghetti Bar) when I was around 5. I’m not sure if they had been taking lessons from Margaret or were just trying to prevent the tabletop from looking like Armageddon.  Apparently, though this is not the proper way of eating spaghetti at all.

 

It would be remiss if I left this post without commenting on the model in the spoon twirling shots.  That woman has quite hairy arms.  Nowadays she would be epilated, waxed and / or photoshopped into hairless conformity.  The 1970s were content to let it all hang out.  Except for their spaghetti which was tightly coiled around a fork, thanks to Margaret Fulton!

If you would like to celebrate today by eating some spaghetti, you can find a recipe here!

Have a great week!

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Jan
2022

Leek and Hazelnut Salad

categories: Leeks, Salad

Hello food lovers, welcome to 2022!!!!  Recently I reposted an old recipe and it got me thinking that I had not posted a Dishiest Dish post in a very long time.   One of my intentions for 2022 is to resume that practice, primarily because over the last few months I have misplaced a few recipes that were really good!   So, for every month this year, I will be posting the recipe for the best thing I made in the preceding month.  And for December, it was a delicious Leek and Hazelnut Salad.

Leek Salad 1

I have recently become obsessed with leeks.  They are in last week’s Detox Soup and I also made Rachel Khoo’s Leeks in Vinaigrette with Bayonne Ham.

For full disclosure, I do not like hazelnuts.  I’ll eat them if mixed with other things like chocolate in Nutella but if it is possible to pick them out of something, I’ll do it. So, for my salad, I use macadamias which are, to my taste, a far superior nut!  Almonds would also work here.  As you can also see from the photo above, in this particular iteration, I have also swapped out the spring onions for red onions.

Leek and Hazelnut Salad 2

The combination of the sweet tangle of leeks, the tanginess of the pickled onions, the creamy goat’s cheese, the crunchy nuts and the cooked to perfection (even if I do say so myself ) soft boiled egg is a delight!   And if you want to take the newspaper’s suggestion of accompanying your leek and hazelnut salad with a glass of sparkling wine, well I will not try to stop you.  In fact, I am now questioning why I have not done that in the many times I have made it.  Oh well, another reason to make it again!  (As if I needed one).

Leek and Hazelnut Salad – The Recipe

I snipped this recipe from the newspaper (Possibly The Age), years ago.  I do not know whose recipe it is in order to credit them.  Whoever you are, thank you.  And if by chance you happen to be reading this, please let me know so I can update the post!

Leek and Hazelnut Salad Recipe

 

Other Favourites of The Month

Reading

The Appeal by Janice Halllett

This is a darkly comic mystery story told through emails, text messages and other forms of media.  The Appeal is possibly the best book I have read all year.

 

I also thoroughly enjoyed the second in the Thursday Murder Club Series, The Man who Died Twice by Richard Osman.

My audible book of the month was The Broken Teaglass by Emily Arsenault.  This was a great story but I did not love the male narrator’s voice.  I think I would have preferred this in normal book format.

Cookbook

Through December, I also became obsessed with the Australian chef Karen Martini and bought three of her books – Cooking At Home, Feasting and Where the Heart Is.  Given I have bought so many of her books, I hope to feature one of her recipes very soon!

Our cookbook club book of the month is not a book at all but we are cooking from tv shows.  I am torn between the Jamie Oliver series for his new cookbook Together and Adam’s Liaw’s tv show The Cook Up.

Watching

My current fave thing to watch the British tv show Bargain Hunt. I love thrift shopping so watching other people do it has great appeal!

Cooking

This month I am keen to finish the remaining recipes in the Hugh Fearnley Wittingstall book which was a Tasty Reads pick back in 2015. I have only 4 recipes left to cook from this book!

I will also be making this recipe from the aforementioned  The Cook Up.  Using homegrown zucchini!

These are the books I will be cooking from this week

Cookbooks this week

Shopping

Queenies

My boss introduced me to these which come in a gorgeous array of designs and give your hair a very cute and somewhat vintage-looking wave.  I bought the Mojo design. Below is the first time I used it and I was pretty happy with the result.  Apologies for the gormless look on my face, I am incapable of taking a good selfie!

Queenie

Saint Belford Curation Diary

I am constantly on the search for the perfect planner.   I bought one in champagne pink to help keep me on track this year!  It really does seem to have everything in the one place – Habits, meal planner, gratitude, goals, bucketlist and of course, space for your to-do’s, appointments etc.

And just because, here is a pic of Oscar and Holly. Holly has not been well through Christmas and still needs some further testing done once the specialist vets return to work.  But for the moment, she is doing well and happy cuddling up to her big bro:

Oscar and Holly

That’s it for me, I hope you enjoyed this little peek into my life!

Have a wonderful week!

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