Author: Taryn Nicole


Apr
2015

Feel Good Libyan Chicken Soup

categories: Chicken, Libya, Soup

So, this is the day I had.

Libyan Chicken Soup
Libyan Chicken Soup

The morning was humid and windy. Otherwise known as hell for allergies. My train was cancelled so I had to stand on the platform for 20 minutes waiting for the next one. In the humidity and wind. By the time the train finally came we were crammed in like sardines, my hair was frizzy from the humidity and my nose and eyes were streaming from the wind and the pollen / dust / mad air of Melbourne. Plus I’d left my book at home and someone had turned my charger off overnight so when I turned my phone on for entertainment it lasted about ten seconds before shutting down.  No reading.  No candy crush.  Did I mention this was a Monday?

Libyan Chicken Soup3
Libyan Chicken Soup3

So I was jammed into the train, nose streaming.  And I had no tissues.  I always have tissues.  Except when I don’t.  I became one of those really annoying people who sniffle and snuffle on public transport.  I hate those people. I think the only reason someone didn’t yell at me to “Stop that goddamn sniffing” was because my eyes were also streaming like mad and people probably thought I was crying.

Which I did later in the day when I dropped my lunch box and my delicious salad fell all over the ground.  So, out to buy lunch and it was no longer hot and humid.  It was pouring with rain.  So I got  soaked to the skin because, of course, I had no coat and no umbrella.  I spent the afternoon shivering.  By the time I got home, I was cold and grumpy and yes, still sniffing and all I wanted to do was get my dinner on, do my yoga podcast and collapse in front of My Kitchen Rules.

Libyan Chicken Soup4
Libyan Chicken Soup4

Harrrummmppphhhh…my soup calls for tomato paste. We always have tomato paste. Except when we don’t.  I felt like crying again but subbed in some hefty swearing and a can of tomatoes and a couple of sun-dried tomatoes.  And then I put my soup on and went upstairs to do my yoga pod.

It was now 7:02pm.  MKR starts at 7:30. Which is fine. I do the YogaMazing podcast routines which are all about 20 minutes. So perfect timing really.  Is it possible that one thing is going to work out for me today?  I switch on the computer.

7:02        Windows is updating your computer.

7:10        Windows is still updating your computer

7:20        Windows is unfuckingbelievably still updating your computer.

The update finally finished at 7:28. I swear, it was as if they had timed it for maximum annoyance.

By now my little bit of grumpiness had turned into a full scale funk and a full blown cold.  I stomped downstairs to turn on the telly and the twitter because that is now my default mechanism for watching My Kitchen Rules. Bravo MKR tweeters, you are the funniest and the best!!!

Not that I was thinking that then because I was in a pique with the world.

And then I got to the bottom step and thought “What is that gorgeous smell?”

And no, it was not the neighbour’s cooking something delish but MY chicken soup. My Libyan Chicken Soup with Thyme, or to be exact my Sharba Libiya bil Dajaj wa Alzatar.  Or as I like to call it, the chicken soup of awesomeness.

This smelled wonderful. Exotic and fragrant with spices, it was instantly warming and uplifting.  And it tasted amazing.  Both soothing to my frayed nerves and bad temper and exciting and spicy to my tastebuds.

Libyan Chicken Soup2
Libyan Chicken Soup2

Talk about chicken soup for the soul.  This was life affirming.  One bowl of this and my fit of pique was lifted.

This was as easy as hell to cook.   And all of the ingredients should be readily available.   The recipe called for “orzo” which I also didn’t have so as well as the tomatoes I subbed in risoni.  I have since found out these are the same thing. Who knew? Personally, I am going to start calling it by it’s Libyan name of Bird Tongues which manages to be both incredibly poetic, a perfect description and also, a teeny bit creepy. Oh, and the thyme featured below?  Straight from my garden!!!

Birds Tongues and herbs

I found this recipe via a group I joined called MENA, the Middle East and North African cooking club. Every month the host chooses a soup, a main and a dessert from a country in the region and members can cook any or all of them.   I have been loving cooking from Persiana, and was very keen to learn more about this region’s food and ingredients. And if this was anything to go by, bring it on.

The recipe except for the tweaks mentioned above is here:

Sharba Libiya bil Dajaj wa Alzatar (Libyan Chicken Soup With Thyme)

Gah…because I was sick I missed the cut off for MENA this month but never fear, hear are some of the other entries in for this month:

Have a fabulous week, and the next time you feel a little bit sniffly or at odds with the world, try this soup!!!

Signature 1 Vintage Valentine Quick as Wink2

 

  • Comments Off on Feel Good Libyan Chicken Soup

Apr
2015

Frosted Tomato Cocktail

categories: 1970's food, 1970's recipes, A-Zof Cooking, Starters, Tequila, Tomatoes, Vegan

The frosted tomato cocktail was my pick from the Adventurous Appetizers section of The A-Z of Cooking. 

Frosted Tomato Cocktail
Frosted Tomato Cocktail

But first, each section of The A-Z of Cooking comes with a sentence or two to introduce it vis a vis:

A is for… ADVENTUROUS APPETIZERS: start a dinner party or special family supper with a new and exciting idea.

Booooooring.

How much more fun if they’d done them all in verse:

There was a young girl called Eliza

Who wanted to make appetizers

She tried the tomat-er

As an exciting new starter

And the result did really surprise her.

Yeah, I know that was hardly “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day” but the A-Z of Cooking is hardly The Larousse Gastronomique either.

You know what they say, water finds its level.

I nearly chose a recipe called Sweetcorn Scallops but the only thing scallopy about them was that they were served in scalloped shaped dishes or shells, neither of which I own.

I feel they were already drawing a slightly long bow in naming it. If I’d made it in a normal dish you guys would have left wondering if I’d lost my mind…

I can hear it now  “Errmmmm, that’s bacon, honey, not scallops”

Sweetcorn Scallops
Sweetcorn Scallops

Anyhow, I really liked the picture of the Frosted Tomato Cocktail  from The A-Z of Cooking which is why I chose this one to make. I love that glass.   And  just so you don’t think it’s me, they love a long skinny photo in The A-Z of Cooking.

Frosted Tomato Cocktail - Picture
Frosted Tomato Cocktail – Picture

Here is the original recipe:

Frosted Tomato Cocktail - Recipe
Frosted Tomato Cocktail – Recipe

This was really nice.  So refreshing.  It would be a gorgeous starter for a hot day in mid summer when tomatoes are at their very best.  Or even as a palate cleanser between courses.

However, I felt it was missing something.  Because you know what?  As far as I’m concerned if you’re going to call something a cocktail, it better damn well have some booze in it.  Also, you really needed to ramp up the flavourings in the original.  .

My fennelly  take on the Frosted Tomato Cocktail was inspired by this Serious Eats recipe. You could put the fennel salt around the rim of the glass as they suggest or just include it in the mix like I did.  Celery salt would also be great here, in which case, I would garnish with a celery stalk instead of the mint.

I wanted mine to be vegan so I also omitted the Worcestershire and replaced it with tabasco. It may also be the most delicious thing I have ever made that is zero fat.

Frosted Tomato Cocktail 2
Frosted Tomato Cocktail 2

We’ll be sticking with the letter A for the next sortie into The A-Z of Cooking where we will be looking at the world of after school snacks.  And I might try a haiku.

Have a great week!

Signature 1 Vintage Valentine Quick as Wink2

 

Print

Frosted Tomato Cocktail

Print Recipe

A lovely refreshing start to a meal with a slight kick of heat!

Ingredients

Scale
  • 1 kilo tomatoes, skinned and chopped
  • 125 mls tequla
  • 4 tbsp water
  • 2 tsp sugar
  • juice of 1 lime
  • dash of Tabasco Sauce
  • 1 tbsp sea salt, I used Maldon
  • 1 tsp fennel seeds
  • Mint Leaves to garnish
  • Pepper

Instructions

  1. Toast the fennel seeds in a skillet over medium heat until fragrant. Place the salt and toasted fennel seeds in a mortar and grind until they are well combined and the seeds have broken down. Pass through a very fine sieve and set aside.
  2. Place the tomatoes, tequila, lime juice, and sugar into a blender and puree until smooth. Add the fennel salt, pepper and Tabasco sauce to taste.
  3. Pour mixture into large ice cube trays and freeze. Just before serving remove from freezer, take the frozen cubes out of ice tray and place them back in the blender.
  4. Puree until smooth but still frozen.
  5. Spoon into chilled glasses, garnish with mint and serve immediately.

 


Mar
2015

New (Old) Book – The A-Z of Cooking (1976)

categories: 1970's food, 1970's recipes, Bad Retro Food

As much as I have loved Salad’s For All Seasons and there are many, many recipes still to cook from there I felt I was due for a change.  There are only so many salads a girl can take.

A little dig through my pile of vintage cook books revealed this gem – The A-Z of Cooking from Octopus Books, 1976. 

Image (50)Just the cover sent my retro food antenna twitching that this was going to be gold.  Because right from the get-go, there were some mad quirks.  It’s called the A-Z of cooking.  And yet….only Appetizers to Wine are listed.   What, no zucchini, zabaglione or…wait for it, my new favourite food name….zuurkoolstamppot. ( I don’t care what’s in Z…trust me, we’re eating zuurkoolstampot that week!).

The inside cover of The A-Z of cooking tells me:

This is the compulsive “look up and learn’ book, where every cook, because of the original approach of the book, will find something new.  More helpful than a standard cookery book, more enjoyable than a cookery encyclopedia, the book is packed with 190 recipes which have been specially grouped  to give the ideas and situations when you are needing them”

Does anyone else think English may not have been that writer’s first language? 

I’m not going to go into the special groupings yet.  We’ll get to them in due course.

I did however just want to spend this post pointing out a few of the maddest bits of The  A-Z of Cooking right from the get go. 

Let’s start with page 13.  I have never actually screamed with fright when viewing a retro food photo before. 

Until this. 

Welcome To My Nightmare

Oh. My. God.  This thing looks like it wants to kill you.  Don’t be fooled by its supposedly fun little parsley toupé.  This nasty little fucker has got a backbone of prawns and it wants you, and your family, dead.  In the most painful way possible. 

 Image (2)Mango Mousse…Or Is It?

Moving very swiftly away from the psycho-killer trout, we come to page 30 of The A-Z of cooking and a Mango Mousse. 

Maybe.

Anyone care to address the elephant in the room?

 Mango Mousse

Who knew that back in 1976 mangoes and passionfruit were actually the same thing?

Little known fact* for you all.  It was only in 1977, as his first piece of business as newly elected President, that Jimmy Carter deemed that henceforth they would be distinct pieces of tropical fruit. 

*I swear on a stack of wikipedias that this  so-called fact is not something I just made up. 

Good Health…Good Grief!!!

Who remembers the great cucumber shortage of 1976?   No, me either but it is surely the only explanation for this picture of Burghul Salad on p 31. Even worse when you read the recipe and it says it feeds 8. I’m sure everyone enjoyed their half a piece of cucumber. I just hope that fisticuffs didn’t break out over which half of the family got a black olive.

Burghul SaladAnd also….I hate to bring things down to the level of the toilet.  But are little black ovoid shapes really the best garnish for a salad that already looks like kitty litter?

 Expecting The Unexpected

I’ll  leave you with possibly the worse recipe in the book. Filed under U for  “Unexpected Guest” this Chilled Ten Minute Potato Soup sounds utterly revolting.  Although, maybe there is a method to this madness.  Maybe it’s actually a warning. Do not turn up unexpected to the anonymous writer’s house and want a meal.  Because you’ll be given some disgusting concoction made from instant mash and dehydrated onions.  And it will be cold to boot.

Kind of makes the kitty litter salad seem not so bad. 

Chilled Potato Soup

 I think the A-Z of Cooking is going to be a hoot!  Coming soon…Adventurous Appetizers!

Have a great week!

 

Signature 1 Vintage Valentine Quick as Wink2 Related articles

 

Related articles


Mar
2015

Book Club Update – Slow

categories: Book Club, Books, Fish, Pie, Seafood, Slow, Slow, Valli Little

It’s been a while so I thought I would give you a little update on how I am getting on with the Tasty Reads Books.

Slow: Valli Little: August 2014 pick

Slow - Valli Little
Slow – Valli Little

Recipes in book: 60

Recipes marked to cook: 34 38

Cooked to date 12 22

Newly Cooked

p50 Fresh Piccalilli

I did not make the Ham Hock Terrine that this was supposed to accompany but this was one super pickle!!!  So fresh and tasty and zingy.  Piccalilli 2

 

p60 Roast Chicken With Pan Roasted Romesco

This was delicious!

Roast Chicken With Romesco

 p64 Oven Baked Thai Chicken Curry

Meh…take it or leave it…a solid chicken curry but nothing to write home about.

Oven Baked Chicken Curry
Oven Baked Chicken Curry

 p66 Moroccan Chicken with Olives

Sorry, I took this photo on the fly during a dinner party.  Not the best quality but this dish was great.  Very tasty and you can pop it in the oven and pretty much forget about it until serving time! Oh,  and in the background you can see the fennel and apple salad from Persiana.

Slow - Moroccan Chicken With Olives
Slow – Moroccan Chicken With Olives

 p70 Massaman Roast Chicken

I really wanted to cook this in style of the cover (above) but we had a heap of chicken breasts…this was delicious!

Slow - Massaman Curry Roast chicken
Slow – Massaman Curry Roast chicken

  p74 Fish Pie

OMG.  So good.

Slow - Fish Pie
Slow – Fish Pie

 

Slow - Fish Pie2
Slow – Fish Pie2

p76 Green Curry With Smoked Salmon

This was ok.  I  probably would not make it again.  It was a bit too salty with the smoked salmon and the soy and the fish sauce.

Slow - Hot Smoked Salmon Green Curry

 p84 Fish Tagine

Superb!

Slow - Fish Tagine
Slow – Fish Tagine

 p102 Baked Mushrooms with Pine Nuts & Feta

Absolutely delicous!!!

Slow - Baked Mushrooms with Pine Nuts & Feta

 p124 Deep Fried Brie with Sweet Chilli Sauce

Slow - Deep Fried Brie

Of this lot, my top three were the mushrooms, the fish pie and the tagine.  And you know…fried cheese is never  wrong!!! The piccalilli was really good too.

The worst was the smoked salmon curry.  Funny thing was, I don’t think I had it marked as something to cook, however we bought some hot smoked salmon which was on sale so I thought I would give it a go.  I should have stuck to my initial instincts.

 Still To Go

p6 Braised Beef Cheeks With Salsa Verde

p8 Braciola  (you’ll notice I’ve added a few in)

p10 Steak with Wild Mushroom Sauce

p22 Lamb & Apricot Tagine

p24 Massaman Curry Lamb Shanks

p28 Lamb En Croute

p36 Macaroni Cheese with Truffle Oil

p44 Meatballs with Heavenly Mash

p62 Roast Quail with Split Pea Dhal

p88 Mushroom Soup with Garlic Bread

p92 Cauliflower Cheese Soup

p104 Pumpkin, Goat’s Cheese and Onion Marmalade Jalousie

p106 Twice Baked Souffles

p110 Mushroom & Potato Tarts

p116 Bagna Cauda with Baby Vegetables

p118 Instant Fondue with Roast Vegetables

Sixteen to go.

I’d like to cook them all before this August which will be the 12 month mark.  Technically, that should be easy.  Then again, I also have retro books, Persiana, Healthy Every Day and two Tasty Reads selections I have not even told you about yet!!!  Plus at least one other bloggy project I am keen to get off the ground.  We’ll see…

Have a great week!

Signature 1 Vintage Valentine Quick as Wink2

 

  • Comments Off on Book Club Update – Slow

Mar
2015

Whiskey in The Jar – The Emerald Presse

categories: Cocktail, Ireland, St Patrick's Day, Whiskey

I was so disappointed with my attempt at an Irish Potato Salad Roll that it drove me to drink.

Quite luckily as it happened because that particular cab on the road to rack and ruin drove me right up to the Emerald Presse.  And you know, if there’s one other thing the Irish are famous for outside of potatoes, corned beef and cabbage, it’s drinking. And the Emerald Presse will tickle the tastebuds of even the most fastidious of Fassnidges.

Emerald Presse1

Emerald Presse1

I’m not normally a whiskey drinker so I was not sure how this would taste.  I liked the idea of the mint, apple and lime even though they seemed a weirdly light combination for what I always think of as being a heavy drink.

Anyhoo….Put  ’em together and have you got? Not bibbidi-bobbidi-boo but…My new favourite drink!!!!

Emerald Presse2
Emerald Presse2

The flavours worked really well together.  That little frizzante from the sparkling apple juice also added some lightness to it. In my best Irish accent this was the fooking craic!!!! I can’t even begin to tell you how delicious this is.  You need to make it immediately and come back to me.

Go  on

I’ll still be here when you get back.

Now, take that first sip and “Ohhhhh…..Yeah, sooooooo good”

Then we’ll have a sneaky second.  Just because that sparkling apple juice isn’t going to sparkle forever.

Emerald Presse3
Emerald Presse3

The original recipe for this called for 45 ml of Jameson’s.  When I measured this out, it looked like a huge amount of whiskey.  I scaled mine back to around 30mls and found it about right for my taste.  You can scale up or down according to your preference.

Styling Tip

If you really wanted your whiskey in a jar, this would look really cute served in mason jars – in which case you probably could use the full  45ml of Jameson’s.

 

[yumprint-recipe id=’27’] Happy St Patrick’s Day, may the road rise to meet you!

Signature 1