Hello Friends, today we’re continuing our journey into Austria in 1972. We started with some Eggs in Sour Cream a few weeks back and that was a great dish! Now, I’m sure some of you might be expecting a Wiener Schnitzel as the main course. However, as I have already shared a fancy version recently, I thought I would choose something a little different. So today, we are dining on a dish of Veal in Cream Sauce. This recipe sings to my soul! Capers, mustard, lemons. As they say in Austria, a few of my favourite things!
However, the Good Housekeeping World Cookery chapter on Austrian cuisine, gives us, a world of hearty peasant fare for mains. Now, don’t get me wrong, I adore a good, wholesome dish, but let’s be honest, ‘hearty peasant fare’ doesn’t always translate to the most Instagrammable plate.
As Jenny from Silver Screen Suppers so eloquently put it, ‘brown food is the enemy of the photographer.’ Therefore, I implore you, dear reader, to feast your eyes on the words, not the pictures, for this dish is a revelation
The cream sauce was glorious! Honestly, I could bathe in it. Furthermore, it worked perfectly with the veal, but I could see it gracing chicken, fish, and shellfish. In fact, I would have eaten it with just the potatoes and the broccoli, never mind the veal! To accompany the veal, I served steamed broccoli, a vibrant green counterpoint to the rich sauce, and Nigella’s divine Salt and Vinegar Potatoes, a perfect accompaniment. Finally, as the good Doctor Seuss might say, ‘I would eat this on a plane, I would eat this on a train, I would eat this in a box, I would eat this with a fox!
This is how eating this made me feel!
Veal In Cream Sauce – The Recipe
As a total aside, can I say how hard it is for me to type “Austria”? My fingers automatically move to “Australia”! I have had to correct this so many times in these posts! I, for one, will be glad when I hit the chapter on Belgium, so that I don’t have to keep correcting my spelling!
Hello time travellers! March 2005 is our destination today with a menu based on two of my favourite things – bread and cheese! What kind of menu might Delicious Magazine be able to provide from these ingredients? Are we up for three courses of cheese on toast? Personally? I’d be quite happy with that but I’m sure Delicious will be able to give us a little more variety! Before we go there, though, let’s look at what was happening in music, books and film back in the day!
What Was Hot – March 2005
Books
Since I started doing these posts, the one constant has been the presence of The Da Vinci Code at the top of the list. March 2005 is no exception!
I have not heard of the other books but Prince of Fire is one in a series of spy thriller books about an Israeli agent called Gabriel Allon. Spy thrillers are not my thing but I believe this series is very popular. Missing Persons is a psychological thriller about psychologist Allan Gregory. This is also one in a series that interests me. If I didn’t have a “To read” pile taller than me, I would give this series a go!
Movies
Robots
The Pacifier
The Ring 2
I saw The Ring in the cinema. The Ring 2 and both of these other film were not on my radar at all!
Music
All about you / You’ve for a Friend – McFly
Good Luck Charm – Elvis Presley (what??? It’s 2005 not 1965!)
Falling Stars – Sunset Strippers
Dakota by The Stereophonics was just missing out on the podium on the British Charts. This was a big fave of mine at the time!
The Menu
Quick Cuban
This was more of a lunch than a starter. It was most certainly not a traditional Cuban sandwich, but it was delicious nevertheless! And combined both our key ingredients! You may notice that I have not toasted my sandwich – the day I made this, we were in the middle of a mini heatwave, and I really didn’t fancy anything toasted. It would, however, be as good or even better toasted!!! I also thought the tomato salad accompaniment was a bit extra even thought it was tasty!
Quick Cuban Recipe
Pistachio Crusted Goat’s Cheese Soufflé With Pea, Feta and Mint Salad
These were both superb! I loved them individually, and they really worked well together, too. I did not make the red capsicum and mustard seed relish, which was the suggested accompaniment to the soufflé. However, if you would like to give that a try, let me know and I can flick you the recipe I served mine with some chilli jam I had in the fridge. The soufflé was as light as a feather! And I could eat that salad every night of the week. I could not find snow pea shoots for love or money, but the salad was delicious without them.
We have goat’s cheese in the soufflé, parmesan in the crisp and feta in the salad as our key ingredients.
Pistachio Crusted Goat’s Cheese Soufflé Recipe
Pea, Feta and Mint Salad Recipe
Raspberry Tartlets with Raspberry Caramel
Oh. My. God!!!!
These were divine!!!! Truly a piece of heaven!!!! I cheated a bit by buying tart shells because sometimes, life’s too short and the weather is too hot to make pastry! Also, Any leftover raspberry caramel is amazing on ice cream.
Raspberry Tartlets with Raspberry Caramel Recipe
My Nigella Moment – Lamb with Sun-Dried Tomato and Onion Jam
For first-time readers, this refers to the moment at the end of Nigella Lawson’s cooking shows when she sneaks back to the fridge for a delicious late-night bite. In the context of these Twenty Years Ago posts, it is something contained in the magazine that may not fit with the overall menu theme, but I’m sneaking it in because it is too good not to share.
This was amazing! I really loved this, and I am so glad I chose to cook this one as my special dish! That sundried tomato and onion jam was absolutely delicious!
Hello friends and retro food lovers! Remember back in your school days when you got marks/grades for effort? Alternatively, does the phrase “the soul was willing, but the heart was weak” resonate with you? Well, they will indicate how I feel about the recipe for Pebbles on The Beach, which I’ve renamed Pebbles on a Peruvian Beach.
I understand what they were trying to do here…it just didn’t work! This recipe was also an anomaly because, so far, everything else I’ve made from Marguerite Patten’s 500 Recipes for Quick Meals has been great! Remember the Sardine Toadstools? (It’s still my favourite thing from last year)!
Pebbles on The Beach – The Intent (I think)
So, I assume that in this recipe the tops of the eggs and the potatoes would poke out of the cheese sauce like pebbles on a beach! If pebbles were white and pink and the sea was a cheese sauce. So, even then, the analogy has problems. Pebbles on the moon? Pebbles in the desert? These may have been more accurate visual descriptions of this dish.
Pebbles on The Beach – The Actuality
Without it’s Peruvian flavour bomb, this dish was as bland as could be. Potatoes don’t have much flavour nor do eggs. Don’t get me wrong, I love both of these ingredients but even combined with a cheese sauce this was dull. My best description would be nursery or invalid food. It even looks dull without its garnish!
The second is that the recipe requires you to take eggs that are already hard-boiled and then cook them for another 20 minutes. Those eggs were rock-hard!
Oh!
Surely that was not why they called this dish pebbles?
The cure for the blandness was to serve the Pebbles on the beach with some Peruvian Salsa. We last saw this salsa paired with some Croquetas de Carne almost exactly two years ago, in January 2023.
The cure for the eggs? Maybe keep them raw and cook them in the cheese sauce? I don’t quite know how to fix that one. And, to be honest, it wasn’t tempting enough, even with the Peruvian Salsa to give it another go! Honestly, if you want a really good tasty combination of potatoes and eggs, then I would recommend Roseanne Cash’s Potato Salad over this any day of the week!
Oh well, you can’t win ’em all….here’s the recipe in case you have any bright ideas or want to feed a three-year-old or an invalid.
Today history lovers, we are celebrating the first airing of the TV show Happy Days, on 15 January 1974, with a lovely cocktail, called appropriately enough, Happy Days.
But before we get to that, just a little explanation. I originally shared this post way back in 2016. However, due to some gremlins in the machine, it ended up back in my drafts file. Over the Christmas break, I started working on an index page for this blog. In doing so, I was horrified to see how much content I had that was unavailable.
Oh, and the index is coming. It is much harder to do than I thought it would be!
One of my aims for 2025 is to bring this content back. So, apologies if this looks and feels familiar (and equally, congrats on your amazing memory!) For everyone else, I thought the 51st anniversary of the first airing of Happy Days would be a great time to bring back this post!
Happy Days – The Show
Happy Days” centers around Richie Cunningham, portrayed by Ron Howard. The sitcom follows the Cunningham family, their upstairs tenant Arthur Fonzarelli (aka The Fonz) – the coolest guy in town – and Richie’s less-cool friends, Ralph Malph and Potsie. The series ran for a decade, concluding in September 1984.
During my childhood, “Happy Days” was a constant presence. As one of my favourite after-school shows, it seemed to be on television endlessly. Set in the 1950s and 1960s, “Happy Days,” along with “Gilligan’s Island,” likely contributed to my enduring fondness for the fashion of those eras. Moreover, the series launched the careers of many actors, including Ron Howard and Henry Winkler, propelling them to stardom.
Happy Days – The Cocktail
The Happy Days Cocktail is a mix of equal parts peach schnapps, vodka, grapefruit juice and pineapple juice. And it’s delicious!!! The grapefruit juice makes it by bringing an almost florally citrus scent and taste. Its bitterness also helps to tamp down the sweetness of the peach and pineapple to stop the Happy Days from being too cloying.
It also smells amazing! Like a summer fruit basket!!!
This is so good! I garnished it with some pineapple and a maraschino cherry – because how could you not be happy with one of them in your drink! I also added a little twist of the grapefruit rind just to ramp up the citrussy bitterness a tad.
Hello and Happy New Year crime readers and food lovers!!!! Today’s Dining with the Dame sees us munching on cherry liqueur chocolates while reading They Do It With Mirrors. Chocolate, cherries, kirsch and Miss Marple? Heaven!
I want you Jane, to go down there right away and find out exactly what’s the matter.”
“Me?” exclaimed Miss Marple. “Why me?”
“Because you’ve got a nose for that sort of thing. You always had. You’ve always been a sweet innocent-looking creature Jane, and all the time underneath, nothing has ever surprised you. You always believe the worst.”
“The worst is so often true,” murmured Miss Marple.
They Do It With Mirrors – Agatha Christie
They Do It With Mirrors – The Plot
Ruth Van Rydock, deeply worried about her sister, Carrie-Louise, seeks the counsel of her old friend, the astute Miss Jane Marple. Carrie-Louise, now married to the philanthropic Lewis Serrocold, resides in the expansive Stonygates mansion. This unique residence is the home for two hundred young men, part of Lewis’s ambitious program for rehabilitating troubled youth and their teachers, doctors, and therapists. Also living with Carrie-Louise and Lewis are Muriel, their middle-aged daughter; Gina, Carrie-Louise’s granddaughter; Gina’s American husband, Wally; and Carrie-Louise’s devoted companion, Juliet “Jolly” Bellever. Alexis and Stephen Restarick sons from Carrie-Louise’s previous marriage are also frequent visitors.
An Unexpected Arrival and Tragedy
Shortly after Miss Marple’s arrival, Christian Gulbrandson, son of Carrie-Louise’s first husband and a trustee of the charitable foundation supporting Stonygates, makes an unexpected visit. He appears troubled, and Miss Marple overhears a hushed conversation between him and Lewis, a conversation marked by urgency and a desire to conceal something from Carrie-Louise.
Following dinner, Christian retires to write letters. Suddenly, the lights go out plunging the mansion into darkness. In the ensuing confusion, Edgar Lawson, a volatile young man employed by Lewis, accuses his benefactor of mistreating him. Lewis, takes Edgar into his office to try to calm him down. However, the situation escalates rapidly. Edgar, who harbors delusions of grandeur (claiming to be the son of Winston Churchill and Lord Montgomery), now accuses Lewis of being his father and threatens him with a gun.
What sounds like a gunshot echoes through the house. The family, fearing the worst, attempted to force open the office door. To their surprise, Lewis emerges unharmed. However, a chilling discovery awaits them: Christian Gulbrandson, sitting some rooms away, has been shot dead.
We have:
One seemingly very mentally unhealthy person being Edgar and 200 possible murderers on the premises.
Someone trying to poison Carrie Louise: Arsenic is found in her tonic and someone sends her poisoned chocolates
One of the young delinquents, Ernie, admitting to wandering the grounds that night and hearing footsteps
Alex Restarick starting to add two and two together to come up with murder
Ernie and Alex killed when someone drops a massive counterweight on their heads
Good thing we have Miss Marple around to save Carrie-Louise and stop the carnage! We also have an amazingly named Doctor Maverick! This character was played by the wonderful Alexei Sayle in the relevant episode of Marple. Incidentally, in the same episode, Joan Collins played Ruth Van Rydock and the late, great Sean Hughes played Sergeant Lake.
“Just a minute, Dr Maverick. Is this young man, in your opinion, definitely a mental case?”
Dr. Maverick smiled the superior smile again. “We’re all mental cases, Inspector Curry”.
Tomfool answer, thought the Inspector. He knew he wasn’t a mental case, whatever Dr.Maverick might be!”
Agatha Christie – They Do It With Mirrors
They Do It With Mirrors – The Covers
There are, as always some wonderful covers here! Except for the French one second row far right which has an incredibly creepy (and unnecessary) clown on it. I do like however that the French name for this book is Jeux de Glaces which translates as either Game of Mirrors or Game of Icecreams. Alternatively, this eBay listing calls it the Game of Ice but then weirdly gives it a subtitle of “Club of Face Masks”. Which sounds to me like something that creepy clown would belong to.
Now, that is potentially a translation error. However, Apple TV also lists the relevant episode of Les Petits Meurtres d’Agatha Christie as “Ice Cream Games.” I’m not sure if this means that that they have significantly changed the plot or that many people are left puzzled at the end, thinking, “Where was the sorbet?”
Maraschino cherries (as many as there are holes in your chocolate moulds)
Chocolate moulds
A paintbrush or small baking brush
Instructions
Soak the cherries in the kirsch for 24-48 hours, stirring them occasionally.
Melt the dark chocolate either in the microwave (30 second intervals) or over a double boiler.
Using your paintbrush or baking brush, brush the melted chocolate over your moulds. Place in the freezer to set.
Place a cherry into each space in the mould. Add some of the leftover kirsch. Place back in the freezer overnight.
Remelt your chocolate. Take the moulds out of the freezer.
Fill the moulds with the chocolate.
Place back in the freezer for the chocolate to set.
“I think, ” said Doctor Maverick “that these ones that I have put aside have almost certainly been tampered with”….
“But it seems incredible” said Miss Marple. “Why, everyone in the house might have been poisoned”…
“Yes there is ruthlessness – a disregard – ” he broke off. “Actually, I think all these particular chocolates are Kirsch flavouring. That is Caroline’s favourite”
They Do It With Mirrors – Agatha Christie
I know the recipe sounds easy but these were an absolute mare of a thing to make! The pain points, of which there were many included:
Getting the chocolate thick enough to coat the mould and not leave any holes but not too thick.
Trying to top the filled moulds with melted chocolate… the warmth of the tempered chocolate unfroze the liqueur making a real mess!
If you push just a bit too hard and your chocolate is too thin, your thumb or finger will go right through that thin layer of chocolate while trying to demould them.
I guess this is why we have specialty chocolatiers.
I chose to use Kirsch because the poisoned chocolates in the book were flavoured with Kirsch. However, if you have already made Miss Marple’s cherry brandy, you could equally use those cherries. And you may also need a small sip after the stress of making them.
Links to the Christieverse
None that I could find. Please let me know if you find any!
Other Food & Drinks Mentioned in They Do It With Mirrors
