Starters Archives - Page 4 of 10 - Retro Food For Modern Times

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!

06
Jan
2020

Sriracha Deviled Eggs

categories: Devilled Eggs, Eggs, Starters

Happy New Year Everyone!!!! Let’s hope it is wonderful for all of us. And speaking of wonderful – let’s talk deviled eggs! Specifically, let’s talk Sriracha deviled eggs. For Christmas Day, I wanted an appetiser that could stave off hunger pangs while the main meal and sides finished cooking. Ideally, I also wanted something that I could cook the day before so there was one less thing to worry about on the big day. This recipe for Sriracha Deviled Eggs fitted the bill perfectly! Plus, I got to use my gorgeous deviled egg plate!! That’s a definite win-win situation!

I tell you, cooking Christmas lunch was hard work, By the end, my plan looked like one of those walls you see in murder mysteries, with scribbled notes and arrows linking timelines all over the place. At best, timing is my bête noire so trying to ensure 3 appetisers, 4 different kinds of meat, two sides and a dessert all arrived at the table at the right time required a lot of planning and, let’s be truthful, a little bit of luck! Here’s a facsimile of my plan!

So, it was a massive relief that the Sriracha Deviled eggs could be made the day before. And, despite my wonky piping, they looked so pretty on the plate! The recipe I had for these eggs had a garlic breadcrumb topping which, to be honest, I did not like the sound of. They would have also been one more thing that would have needed cooking on what was already a mad schedule. Instead, I topped my eggs with a slice of fried shallot (bought at the Asian grocery), a sliver of red chilli and about a third of a coriander leaf. A sprinkle of smoked paprika and voila, the eggs were done. And the colours not only matched the plate but the red chilli and green coriander were also very festive.

The gorgeous plate was a birthday present from my dear friend Ali a few years ago. I love it but do not use it nearly enough. This year may well become the year of the deviled egg just so I can use it more often!

The eggs went down a treat and were the perfect start to our Christmas festivities. I was, at the time unaware that the great, great granddaddy of the deviled eggs we serve today were served way back in Roman times to the wealthy patricians as a first course called gustatio. (Which is, I guess where we get the word gustation)

Well, if you would like to have a gustatio of your own, here’s the recipe!

A disclaimer on the recipe. Usually, when I clip a recipe I write on the back the details from whence it came so I can give credit where credit is due. This clipping has no reference so maybe someone gave it to me or it might be from before I started blogging and just clipped things because I liked the sound of them! The font of the clipping makes me think it might be from a Delicious magazine but I cannot find a recipe online to confirm or deny. If the recipe seems familiar to anyone, please let me know so I can reference it properly. The eggs are basically that recipe with a few tweaks, the garnishes are my idea.

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Sriracha Deviled Eggs

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A delicious appetiser, perfect for a festive celebration

Author: Taryn Fryer

Ingredients

Scale

For the Eggs!
6 hard boiled eggs, shelled and halved
2 tbsp Sriracha chilli sauce
2 –3 tbsp Mayonnaise
4 Chives, finely chopped
For the Garnish!
Crispy fried shallots
Red Chilli, finely sliced
Coriander leaves
Smoked Paprika / Cayenne Pepper

Cook Mode Prevent your screen from going dark

Instructions

Remove the yolks from the eggs with a teaspoon. Tip into a bowl.
Add the Sriracha and mayonnaise and mash until smooth.
Stir through the chives.
If you want to be fancy, put the yolk mixture into a piping bag and pipe the mixture back into the egg halves using a star nozzle.
Otherwise, just spoon the mixture back into the egg halves.
Eitherway, garnish with a slice of crispy fried shallot, a thin slice of red chilli and a small piece of coriander leaf.
Sprinkle with smoked paprika, or if you are feeling brave enough for a triple dose of chilli, some cayenne.

Notes

Please try to use free range eggs for this!

Have a fabulous week!

13
Jan
2019

This could get meze: Hummus and Tabbouleh

categories: 1970's food, 1970's recipes, Dip, Good Housekeeping World Cookery, Lebanon, Middle Eastern, Salad, Vegan, World Cooking

I LOVE Middle Eastern food. One of my favourite cookbooks is Persiana by Sabrina Ghayour and I also love all the Ottolenghi books. Maha in Melbourne is one of my favourite restaurants – their 12-hour slow cooked lamb is to die for! I also used to live in an area of Melbourne that is full of middle eastern restaurants and ate at one of them at least once a week. So I was very excited to see that the next chapter in Good Housekeeping’s World Cookery (1972) was for food from Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Iran. I was even more excited to see that there were recipes for two absolute classics of the region – hummus and tabbouleh. Both of which were in the Lebanese section.

Apart from the deliciousness, one of the other reasons I love Middle Eastern food is the amazing names for example, The Imam Fainted, and The Dervish’s Rosary. No other culture that I can think of has such poetic names for their food. My original plan had been to feature both of these recipes however, I recently discovered that I have an allergy to eggplant (aubergine), an ingredient that features heavily in both of these dishes.

Have you ever wondered if what you see and call “green” is the same as what other people see when they see green? Yes, it’s the colour of grass and leaves and apples but is the green I see the same as the green you see?

I wonder about things like that all the time.

I’m super fun at parties…

Well, my experience with eggplant was a little like finding out that what I call green is what everyone else calls pink. I was talking to a friend of mine about eggplants (as you do) and happened to mention “I like the way they make your mouth go all tingly”.

My friend was like “No…no it doesn’t….” with this face:

Long story short, it turns out that not everyone’s mouth tingles when they eat eggplant and that tingle is actually an allergic reaction. Turns out I am mildly allergic to nightshades, particularly eggplant and capsicums.

So an eggplant heavy menu was off the menu. So, no great names today, just some damn nice food. Starting with…

Hummus

Luckily I have no allergy problems with hummus which is wonderful because I eat it by the truckload. And yet, I have never made it before. And I may never make it again. I’d read that for really smooth hummus you need to peel the chickpeas. This is not only utterly boring (even using the hacks that abound on the interwebs) but also oddly repulsive. The chickpea peels kept sticking to my fingers and pulling them off felt weirdly like removing my own skin. It even looked a bit like it too…

The hummus was lovely though. This was a very classic recipe but, you could jazz it up by adding herbs or other flavourings to it.

Here are twenty or so variations from my Appetizers spreadsheet:

You say Tabbouleh, I say Tabouli

For the love of Mike can we settle on one spelling and stick to it? I’ve seen this spelt so many different ways – Tabbouleh, Tabouleh, Tabouli, Tabbouli…..in the end, even Good Housekeeping gave up. They list this in the index as Mint and Parsley Salad!

Unlike hummus, which I buy pretty much every week, I never buy tabbouleh. Because store-bought tabbouleh is generally disgusting – soggy and bland.

Homemade? Delish!

Like the hummus, the tabbouleh recipe in World Cookery is fairly plain. But this will allow you to jazz it up as you wish. Next time, I will add a little sumac into the dressing to ramp up the zing factor. I am also very taken with the Ottolenghi idea of topping tabbouleh with pomegranate arils.

That variation and a number of others can be found here.

The Recipes

I used tinned chickpeas for my recipe. I also assumed that when they said sesame oil in the recipe for hummus that they meant tahini (given it is in the recipe title) and not the sesame oil you use in Asian dishes.

Also, I did not garnish with parsley as per the suggestion because I needed all my parsley for the tabbouleh. I used a sprinkle of paprika.

The tabbouleh recipe suggests that you eat your tabbouleh using lettuce, vine or cabbage leaves as scoops. I prefer pita as the scoop, and if that piece of pita happens to have a smear of hummus on it, so much the better!

You could add some other delicious Middle Eastern titbits (for inspiration see here) and make up a lovely meze platter with these. Or, you could do what I did and just have them, along with the pita bread for lunch.

For those who care about such things, this meal is vegan.

Have a wonderful week! But before we go, tell me, what is your favourite cuisine?

26
Jan
2018

Vegemite and Pale Ale Gougères

categories: Australasia, Beer, Cheese, Snacks, Starters

Today, January 26, many Australians will be celebrating Australia Day. On the good side – it’s summer, it’s a great time to get outside and have a bbq and, if you are not in the midst of a dry January, have a few drinks with some friends. On the downside, the day itself is becoming increasingly fraught for all manner of reasons.

But we are not here to get political. We are here to eat, drink and be merry. Because it’s a long weekend. And we’re going to celebrate with some Australian food. If by Australian food we mean something that we have totally (mis)appropriated from another culture. So let’s get to it shall we?

Gougères are the French version of what we in Australia would call a cheese puff. And they are delicious! Feather-light pastry flavoured with cheese makes for a perfect snack. Particularly if you happen to be imbibing something of an alcoholic persuasion. Making it a perfect start to this weekend’s round of bbq’s.

But we’re not celebrating Bastille Day…we’re celebrating Australia Day…so how to “Strayanise” these delicious French delicacies? Well, first we’re going to throw a little Vegemite into the mix. Now, I’ll be the first person to admit that I…ahem…”borrowed” the idea of the Vegemite Gougères from Rosie Birkett’s recipe for Marmite Gougères.

And then, to make it even more Australian, I substituted the water in the recipe for beer. I used the Gage Roads Little Dove Pale Ale as the beer for this because it is my absolute favourite and I had some in the house but you could sub in your own favourite.

The gougères are delightfully light. The combination of vegemite, cheese, cayenne and the very slight hint of beer go so well together that it would be a real shame to only save these for one day of the year!

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