Witness For The Proscuitto and Melon

categories: Dining With The Dame, Finger Food, Prosciutto, Rockmelon, Starters

Hello crime readers, foodies and lovers of terrible puns! Today’s Dining With The Dame comes to us via another short story, Witness For The Prosecution. This story appears in the Hounds of Death collection. We have already featured The Red Signal from this collection. I also have a French version of this story! Today, I am pairing the story with a classic starter, Proscuitto and Melon. We love a twofer here at Dining With the Dame so later this week, we will also be celebrating a very special occasion with a cocktail also inspired by this story.

Witness For The Prosecution- The Plot

“Supposing I tell you that he did not come in that night at twenty past nine, but at twenty past ten? You say that he tells you he knew nothing about the money coming to him. Supposing I tell you he knew all about it, and counted on it, and committed murder to get it?”

Agatha Christie – The Witness for The Proecution

Young, handsome but hard up, Leonard Vole finds himself accused of murdering the elderly lady, Emily French, in order to inherit her wealth. The facts seem stacked against Leonard. Mr Mayherne his solicitor is certain that Leonard is innocent. The only person who can provide an alibi for Leonard is his wife Romaine.

My Mayherne goes to see her, despite knowing that a court is unlikley to give much credence to the evidence of a devoted wife. He gets the a terrible shock when Romaine not only tells him she detests her husband but that he is not actually even her husband! She was married to another man in her home country of Austria but he was locked away in a madhouse so the two could not marry.

Therefore double jeopardy does not apply

She also says that Leonard committed the murder and confessed so to her.

How can Mr Mayherne save Leonard when even his own wife is determined to see him hanged?

The Witness for the Proscution – The Covers

I could not find many covers for Witness for The Prosecution as it is usually part of a collection such as The Hound of Death. We’ll look at some of the playbills and movie posters next time and talk a bit more about the 1957 movie next time.

The Recipe: Proscuitto and Melon

I’m not entirely sure we need a recipe for somerthing as simple as this, but our old friend The A-Z of Cooking has one so here it is!

I decided to sit my melon slices on some Romaine lettuce in honour of Leonard’s wife!

Links To The Christieverse

None that I could find but please let me know if you spotted any!

Other Food & Drinks Mentioned in The Witness for The Prosecution

Brandy

Our June read will be Taken at the Flood. Yay, it’s a Poirot!

Have a great week!

01
Mar
2020

Smoked Mussel, Bacon and Brie Tarts

categories: Finger Food, Mussels, Seafood, Starters, Tarts

Do you remember that song from Sesame Street, “One of these things is not like the other things; one of these things does not belong?” I think that many people may feel that song was made for these Smoked Mussel, Bacon and Brie tarts. Smoked Mussels and Bacon sounds like a delicious version of Devils on Horseback. Bacon and Brie? You betcha! Smoked Mussels and Bacon and Brie? Hmmm…But, trust me on this one. They are amazing! Such yummy tasty little bites!

Mmmmm…melty cheese….bacon…how could these not be good? And the smoky mussels combined with the smoked bacon is a perfect combo!

The recipe I used called for a can of smoked mussels. You could use these but I used some gorgeous chilli smoked mussels from my fishmonger which, IMHO, took these tarts to next level! The smoked mussels were actually the inspiration for me making these tarts. As soon as I saw them I knew I had to make something with them! And thankfully, the tarts did not disappoint. The chilli on the mussels added a lovely kick to the tarts. If you can’t find fresh smoked mussels, by all means, use tinned. And feel to add a few chilli flakes if the mood takes you!

I was thinking as I write it what a funny word monger is. There are not that many mongers about. Fish, cheese, gossip, iron and war were the only ones I could think of. Which is almost as odd a combination as mussels, bacon and brie!

Google also says there are scaremongers, fleshmongers, pearmongers and whoremongers among others. Who knew there was a specialised name for a pear seller?

Anyway, I digress. The other major thing I changed from the original recipe is the pastry. The OG recipe called for filo pastry. I’m not a fan of filo pastry for something like this. I think this sort of quiche type pastry needs a more solid shortcrust which is what I used.

You can find a link to the original recipe here. They really are delicious and a breeze to make. Even the fussiest eater in the world thought they were more-ish and believe me, those endorsements don’t come too often!

So why not flex your mussels and start bacon these tarts!!!! They’ll brie amazing!

Have a wonderful week!

09
Oct
2014

Rebel With A Cause – Smoked Trout Empanadas

categories: Chipotle, Cream Cheese, Finger Food, Fish, Mexico, Puff Pastry, Smoked Trout, Snacks, Starters

Have you ever read a recipe where the ingredients seem right….but the execution just seems horribly wrong?

The other day I was looking for something in…you know THAT room? Otherwise known as the room where we dumped all the crap we didn’t have a specific home for when we first moved in. Nearly a year later? It’s all still there. Thank the Lord for whoever invented doors. It makes it so much easier to metaphorically close the door and walk away from the room when you can literally close the door and walk away from the room.

I didn’t find what I was looking for in the room, because most things that go in there don’t come out. What I did find was a manilla folder full of old recipe clippings which included one for something called for Trout and Mascarpone Triangles.

Before we get to the point does anyone else have problems spelling mascarpone? For some reason in my mind it’s marscapone. I also can’t say the word “Preliminary” – that one just ends up a hot mess of r’s and l’s where they shouldn’t be.

But anyway, immediately in my head, (yeah the same one that can’t spell ma-scar-pone or pronounce pre-lim-in-ary) I had a vision of what these would be. They would look like exactly like these:

Hmm…except….maybe a little more triangular.

So, I was bitterly disappointed when I actually read the recipe and found it was nothing like that.

In fact, that whole recipe annoyed the hell out of me. In most cooking circles when you call something an X & Y triangle it’s pretty much a given that the X and Y are IN the triangle. Take these delicious looking cheese and spinach triangles from taste.com.au. Spinach and Cheese both EXACTLY where they should be i.e. inside the pastry triangle.

That is what I wanted from my trout and mascarpone triangles! Golden puff pastry filled with chunks of gorgeous pink smoked trout, creamy mascarpone, fresh herbs, a touch of chilli….that was what my mind told me a Trout and Mascarpone Triangle could, and should, be.

At best the original recipe is for trout and mascarpone ON triangles. And who the hell wants that? No one that’s who. I’m calling shenanigans on that recipe.

In some circles they say, if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em. In my circle I say if you think their recipe is a crock, make it like you think it should have been. And while we’re in the spirit of rebellion – the fancy pants Italian cheese I can’t be bothered writing the name of (because I would only have to re-write it to spell it correctly) can go fuck itself too. I’m using good old Philadelphia Cream Cheese. Which I forgot to take a photo of. The rest of the stuff is here:

I used a smoked trout, you could sub in smoked salmon if you prefer or cook a fillet of fish as per the original recipe. Or even used canned salmon or tuna to make these. Up to you. And I had an empanada maker thing but you could make triangles as per the original recipe. Or embrace the spririt of doing it your way and make them any shape you want!

If you are going to use an empanada maker, here’s how you do it from an expert,Connie Veneracion. Shame I didn’t read this until after I had made mine and hence some of mine were a little…shall we call them rustic? 😉

How To Use An Empanada Maker

And here is the revised, and in my not so humble opinion, vastly improved recipe!

Enjoy!

Print

Smoked Trout Empanadas

Print Recipe

Ingredients

Scale

400 smoked trout or cooked fish of choice
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 red onion, finely chopped
100g cream cheese, chopped into a small cubes
1 canned chipotle chilli and approx 1 tbsp of the adobo sauce it came in
1 tbsp dill
1 tbsp parsley
2 sheets ready rolled puff pastry
1 egg, beaten
poppy seeds and chilli flakes to garnish (optional)

Cook Mode Prevent your screen from going dark

Instructions

If using a smoked trout, remove the skin and flake the flesh from the bones. Place this in a bowl with the cream cheese, red onion, lemon juice, chilli, dill and parsley. Mix lightly to combine.
Preheat your oven to 200C and line a baking tray with baking paper.
Cut four circles out of each of your pastry sheets, using your empanada maker or tracing around a small plate or cup.
Place 1 tbsp of the trout mixture in the middle of each circle then fold the pastry over to seal in the filling.
Crimp the edges to seal.
Place on the baking tray and brush with the beaten egg.
Sprinkle with the poppy seeds and chilli flakes if using.
Cook for 15 minutes or until puffed up and golden.

Lesson of the week – if you don’t like it, change it.

Have a fabulous week and fight the power!

Signature 1

26
Aug
2014

RFFMT – Welcome to Book Club

categories: Books, Finger Food, Soup

I joined a book club!

I think it’s kind of weird that it’s taken me this long – I love to read and I love to talk about books I have read. However, this is a rather special club catering to those of fairly specific tastes. Don’t worry, I am not about to get all 50 shades of weird on you; it is a food lovers book club where, instead of novels, we discuss cookbooks.

I am a cook book junkie. Here is part of my collection. .

There is also another shelf in a different room that has most of the retro food books. Then there are the hundreds of magazines…..and regular trips to the local library.

So, given this ~~problem~~ predilection when I read in their weekly newsletter that my local book store was starting a food lovers book group, I did a little dance of joy. No, not quite like this…well…maybe a little.

The First Rule of Book Club

Each meeting will have a theme. The first theme was Winter warmers. Members have a choice of three books that they could purchase related to that theme. The books were really well chosen by the owners in terms of both variety, audience and price point.

Whoo, hoo….new cookbook fix guaranteed. And to those annoying people who ask “Don’t you have enough cookbooks?” (you know who you are) you can genuinely say. “I had to buy it, it was for book club”.

I chose Slow by Valli Little which was actually the cheapest option but I love her work in Delicious Magazine and I knew there would be plenty in here I could, and would, make outside of the group. I was not disappointed on this count – it jam packed with great ideas for everyday cooking. And, incidentally, this book was rated the best on value and practicality as well as being visually alluring.

Second Rule of Book Club

You must cook from the book you have chosen.

This is utter genius. So, not only do you get your cookbook fix but you also have none of that guilt of buying a book and never actually making anything from it.

I made the Autumn Rosti from Valli’s book, my slightly adapted version of the recipe below.

Third Rule of Book Club

You must have evidence of cooking from the book.

This could be in photographic form or, as I and some of the others chose to do, you could bring evidence of your cooking to the meeting for the group to sample.

Best. Idea. Ever.

I took along my rosti. We also had an amazing Chicken Liver and Porcini Pate, a killer Carrot and Lentil Soup, a super tasty Lamb and Apricot Tagine with couscous and we ended the evening with a delicious Carrot Cake. The following pictures of the soup and the tagine are from Valli’s book. I did not take pictures of the food on the night because “Hey, I’ve just met you and this seems crazy but I’m going to take photos of your food and put them on the internet” is no song I want to be singing. However, in both instances, as with my rosti, the actual product looked a lot like the picture.

Valli Little's Lamb & Apricot Tagine — Valli Little’s Lamb & Apricot Tagine

Working within the theme allows you to step out of your normal comfort zone and try something new and or different. And tasting other people’s goodies can also expand your horizons. I generally do not like cooked carrots and one of the worst soups I have ever eaten was full of bits of grated carrot. So I did not look twice at the Carrot and Lentil Soup recipe in Valli”s book. Not interested. Not even remotely. In fact, I could not turn the page fast enough.

Luckily for me, someone else did give it a second look.

Valli Little's Spiced Carrot and Lentil Soup from Slow — Valli Little’s Spiced Carrot and Lentil Soup from Slow

DISH OF THE NIGHT. Who knew carrot soup could taste so good. How good? I’m making it as we speak. Damn it was good! Make it. Make it now! (Recipe below). You will not be disappointed. And even if you are? Firstly what is wrong with you? And second, get over it. By my reckoning this costs about $2.50 to make. At around 40 cents a serve even if you hate it, which I’m pretty sure you won’t, you’ve lost less than the cost of a cup of coffee.

Fourth Rule of Book Club

You must talk about your book.

This has to be the fourth pleasure of cooking – the buying, the preparing, the eating and finally, the talking. You got to speak about what you did and didn’t like about the book and learned about the good and bad of the books you didn’t buy as well. It’s really interesting to see what people do and don’t like. For instance, this was one of the other books we could choose from:

Salt Grill.

Let me tell you, this cover was controversial. People had opinions. I had opinions. I didn’t know I had opinions but it turned out I did. I quite like it but other people thought the dirty spoon was kind of gross.

The other great thing was that you got to share war stories. You know how sometimes you make something and despite following the recipe to the minutest degree it just doesn’t work? And you automatically assume it was something you did wrong? Well two people from the club made the exact same recipe and had the exact same problem with it. Coincidence? I think not.

It was awesome. I can’t wait for the next one, where the theme is Middle Eastern. I have chosen Persiana as my book and it looks amazing!!!!

Persiana

Stay tuned!

Have a great week!

[amd-zlrecipe-recipe:7]

17
Jun
2013

Let’s See How Far We’ve Come – Cheesy Meaty Goodness On a Stick – 1970’s vs 2010’s

categories: 1970's food, Books, Cheese, Finger Food, Olives, Serrano Ham, Starters

My favorite thing to eat is finger food. And it doesn’t have to be fancy – I’m just as happy with a mini-quiche or a party pie as with a teeny Peking duck pancake or a tempura prawn on a stick with wasabi mayo.

If I was ever going to open a restaurant, all it would serve would be tiny bites. And champagne. Cocktails of course. But the entire menu would be finger food. It would be a cocktail party restaurant. Anyone wishing to fund this establishment…you know where to find me.

Finger food has been on my mind recently as I have been drooling over the contents of Lydia France’s Party Bites which is like setting a child loose in a sweet shop – I want that one! And that one! And I REALLY want that one!

I was also not the only one who thought this book was looked delicious. Oscar’s been suffering from a little bit of separation anxiety since I have gone back to work and I came home one day to find the book, which I had left on the couch was not exactly how I had left it….

No so much dog eared.... — No so much dog eared….

I then had to go fess up to the library – the upside of which, after exchange of some financial compensation, the book, albeit slightly chewed now belongs to me!

There is a recipe in Party Bites which is a modern take on the old retro favourite of a cube of cheese on a stick with a bit of something. This is often to be had with pineapple in the fabulously kitschy Cheese and Pineapple Hedgehog:

Then there is the equally retro but less whimsical Aussie Staple of kabana and cheese….

No Australian barbeque of the 1970’s or 80’s would have been complete without a tray of this. Often, the kabana and cheese was topped with chunk of pineapple, a gaudily coloured cocktail onion or, if you were really classy, a stuffed olive.

The idea is actually sound. Who doesn’t love a meaty cheesy snack? And if topped with something sweet or sour or salty…well, so much the better. We here at Retro Food For Modern Times are not subscribers to the minimalist maxim that less is more. We believe that more is more. With a cherry on top!

The main problems with kabana and cheese is that kabana is kind of gross and although this combination might be tasty, it is drop dead boring. So, how do you give the ubiquitous kabana and cheese a modern twist whilst still retaining some of the kookiness of the cheese and pineapple hedgehog? Hello Lydia France’s Spanish Men…or should that be Hola los hombres españoles!

Here’s Lydia’s Version:

Spanish Men - Lydia France — Spanish Men – Lydia France

And here are mine…my Spanish men look a little drunk and definitely more chunkier. I think my Spanish men may have been hitting the Rioja a little too hard….

Spanish Men - olives, quince paste, serrano ham and manchego cheese — My Spanish Men

Spanish Men Recipe

For all their wonkiness, I loved them. These were sooooo good! Serrano ham, where have you been all my life? If you weren’t so damn expensive I would be feasting on you non-stop.

The salty olive, the sweet quince paste, the meaty deliciousness of the serrano and the creaminess of the cheese combine to create a little piece of heaven on a stick!

Spanish Men I love you!

And you’re not bad either Mario Casas…

I’m going to be spending my week checking out Spanish cinema. Enjoy your week whatever you do!