Category: Puff Pastry


Aug
2024

Crooked House – Tarte Tatin

categories: Apples, Dining With The Dame, France, Puff Pastry, Stand Alone, Tarts

Hello, crime readers and food lovers! Today’s Dining With The Dame delves into “Crooked House,” which is an absolute belter of a read! Typically, I prefer the Poirot or Marple novels, and standalone novels often fall short for me. However, this one is a delightful exception! The storyline is captivating, and Christie truly outdoes herself in crafting the villain.

Speaking of captivating, let’s transition to our culinary companion for this episode: Tarte Tatin. I selected this classic French dessert for a few reasons. Firstly, apples, a prominent motif in “Crooked House,” provided a thematic link. And, dare I say, there is a bad apple in the crooked house!  Also, with the Paris Olympics in full swing, a touch of French flair seemed fitting. And finally, a well-executed Tarte Tatin is magnifique!

Tarte Tatin

Crooked House  – The Plot

“I think people more often kill those they love than those they hate . Possibly because only the people you love can really make life unendurable to you”

Agatha Christie – Crooked House

The plot of Crooked House is somewhat similar to Taken At The Flood which I covered last month.  This time, we meet the Leonides family, the patriarch of which, Aristide Leonides has just been murdered.  Someone, swapped his insulin for Eserine, a deadly poison contained in his eye medicine.   Aristide had built up considerable wealth and members of his family stand to  inherit a lot of money. 

The family, and list of suspects include:

  • Brenda, Aristides young second wife, who may or may not be romatically involved with the tutor of his grandchildren, Laurence Brown
  • Roger and Clementine Leonides, one of Aristides brothers and his wife
  • Phillip Leonides and his wife, Magda West a (tryhard but largely unsuccessful actress played by Gillian Anderson in the 2017 adaptation)
  • Edith de Haviland, the sister of Aristides first wife who has lived with them since her sister’s death in order to take care of the children (played to perfection by Glenn Close in the 2017 adaptation)  
  • Sophia Leonides, Aristides eldest grandchild and daughter of Phillip and Magda
  • Eustace Leonides the teenage son of Phillip and Magda
  • Josephine Leonides, the 12 year old daughter of Phillip and Magda
  • Laurence Brown, Eustace and Jospehine’s tutor

Charles Hayward, Sophia’s fiance is our amateur detective, working closely with Chief Inspecor Taverner and Detective Sergeant Lamb to find the killer.

Tarte Tatin2

Before we get there though, many things happen including

  • A missing will
  • Embezzlement
  • Josephine being attacked
  • Hidden love letters coming to light
  • The children’s nanny being poisoned by some deadly hot chocolate
  • The wrong people being arrested
  • A missing notebook that may hold the key to everything

It might not be a good thing that we have Charles trying to discover (as one of the covers below asks) who put the poison in the hypo.  He is not, as they say, the sharpest tool in the shed. Despite the abundance of clues scattered throughout the text, he repeatedly overlooks them.

In fact, I found myself uncovering an unusual number of clues while reading “Crooked House,” far exceeding the usual number in Christie’s works. This abundance of hints led me to speculate on whether it was a deliberate strategy on Christie’s part. Given that “Crooked House” was published in 1949, I imagine the revelation of the villain must have been a truly shocking experience for readers of the time. It’s possible that Christie meticulously planted these clues to soften the impact of the eventual reveal for contemporary audiences.    If you have read this, please let me know your thoughts on this!!!!

Crooked House – The Covers

Crooked House Collage1 (1)

I was very happy to be able to include a Greek cover here as the Leonides family are Greek in origin.  I was also very glad to see that one of the covers featured an apple.  This, vindicated my somewhat unusual choice of dish!  There are lots of crooked houses which are to be expected, including one growing out of a ladies head, which is not.  I don’t understand the rather scruffy looking chicken.  And as for the creepy hell clown? No.  Just no.  

The Recipe: Tarte Tatin

There was no one in sight as we drove up to the front door.  I paid the taxi and it drove away.  I felt uncertain whether to ring the bell or to walk in.  The front door was open.  As I stood there hesitatiing I heard a sound behind me.  I turned my head sharply.  Josephine, her face partially obscured by a very large apple was standing in the opening of the yew hedge looking at me” 

Agatha Christie – Crooked House

Tarte tatin recipe

 

I broke off.  Josephine had emerged from the door leading to the drawing room.  She was eating the inevitable apple, and over its round rosiness her eyes sparkled with a kind of ghoulish enjoyment.  

“Nannie’s been poisoned,” she said.  “Just like grandfather.  It’s awfully exciting, isn’t it?”

Agatha Christie – Crooked House

Tarte Tatin 3

Links To The Christieverse

None that I picked up on – but please let me know if you found something!

Other Food & Drinks Mentioned in  Taken At The Flood

In September, we’re going Marple-ing.  A Murder is Announced will be our next read.  

Have a great week!

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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?

Smoked Trout Empandas8
Smoked Trout Empandas8

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:

Smoked Trout EmpanadasHmm…except….maybe a little more triangular.

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

Trout & Mascarpone TrianglesIn 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:

Smoked Trout Empanadas3
Smoked Trout Empanadas3

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

 

Smoked Trout Empanadas7
Smoked Trout Empanadas7

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

Enjoy!

Print

Smoked Trout Empanadas

Smoked Trout Empandas8
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)

Instructions

  1. 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.
  2. Preheat your oven to 200C and line a baking tray with baking paper.
  3. Cut four circles out of each of your pastry sheets, using your empanada maker or tracing around a small plate or cup.
  4. Place 1 tbsp of the trout mixture in the middle of each circle then fold the pastry over to seal in the filling.
  5. Crimp the edges to seal.
  6. Place on the baking tray and brush with the beaten egg.
  7. Sprinkle with the poppy seeds and chilli flakes if using.
  8. 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!

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