Category: Desserts


Nov
2022

The One with The Flan

categories: 1970's food, Custard, Desserts, Good Housekeeping World Cookery, Mexico, North and South America

For most people of my age the word flan conjures up the episode of Friends where Monica makes a birthday flan.

Monica Geller : We’re not having cake. We’re having flan.

Chandler Bing : Excuse me?

Monica Geller : It’s a festive custard Mexican dessert.

Well, today we having Flan de Café which is a coffee flavoured Mexican custard dessert direct from the South American chapter of Good Housekeeping’s World Cookery.  Now, I know Mexico is not in South America, and I know you know that Mexico is not in South America.  Good Housekeeping?  Maybe not so much!  Flan De Cafe

To amp up the coffee-ness of my flan, I baked them some vintage tea cups.

Flan De Cafe 2

What did not need to amped up was the coffee flavour. I used the lower level of coffee suggested by the recipe which was 6 tablespoons and thought my heart was going to pop out of my chest for about an hour after eating it!  I was WIRED!  Talk about a major flan high!

I would probably halve the amount of coffee for future makes.  Outside of a power punch of caffeine, the flavour was lovely, the light touch of orange added a refreshing note and the custard was silky and smooth.  The Brazil nuts added a nice crunch as well as some garnish.  I   added some extra orange zest to the top of the flans to brighten them up.  I chose not to use the recipe’s serving suggestion because I have a bit of a yecchh factor with raw eggs and I could not find guava jelly anywhere.

Flan De Café – The Recipe

Flan De Cafe

 

Festive Flan Fun

As I was making the flans, I remembered something I heard wayback one of those science shows for kids.  They said that there was enough oil in a brazil nut to act as a candle.  For some weird reason, that  piece of trivia has stuck in my head!  Well, I had Brazil nuts and I had a flan which, after all is a festive dessert!

I really didn’t expect this to work particularly as the nuts kept breaking when I tried to chop them into anything resembling a taper.  However….

Flan de Cafe3

Success!!!!  Now that’s a really festive custard dessert!

Have a great week!

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Oct
2022

Gin And Ginger Beer – Triangle at Rhodes

categories: Cocktail, Desserts, Dining With The Dame, Gin

Hello crime readers and cocktail lovers!  Today we are reading (and drinking ) our way through a short story from the Murder in The Mews collection, Triangle at Rhodes.  And what better way to sit back and watch the shenanigans taking place on this gorgeous Greek island than with a cocktail in hand?  A gin and ginger beer happens to be one of my favourite  cocktails so I was delighted to find it mentioned in my favourite story in this collection!    I will also point out that the gin and ginger beer is not the most commonly named cocktail in Triangle at Rhodes, pink gin is mentioned multiple times and may have been a better choice.  However, as I am largely reading / rereading the Christie books as I blog about them, I have already used Pink Gin as the recipe for Three Act Tragedy! If you are reading along and would prefer to have that as your tipple, click the link above!

Gin and Ginger Beer1

 

Triangle at Rhodes- The Plot

.Poirot is on holiday at the Greek Island of Rhodes.  The story opens as follows

“Hercule Poirot sat on the white sand and looked out across the sparkling blue water.  He was carefully dressed in a dandified fashion in white flannels, and a large panama hat protected his head.”

It makes me laugh a little bit to imagine the fastidious Poirot sitting on sand.  I feel that he would absolutely loathe it.  Almost as much as we can tell he hates rubbing sun tan oil on someone, which happens in the very next paragraph!  So much for enjoying his break!

The Poirot episode of Triangle at Rhodes, has him seated on a chair which seems far more his style!

Staying at the same hotel ias Poirot s the very glamourous Valentine Chantry and her fifth husband, a naval Commander who is described as a brute and somewhat apelike.

Valentine Chantry

Newly arrived at the hotel are the very handsome but not too bright Douglas Gold and his frumpy wife Marjorie. And with that, all aspects of the triangle are in place!

We have

  • An illicit affair
  • A marriage on the rocks
  • Poirot warning Marjorie Gold to leave the island.  Do not pass go, do not collect £200.  Just go.  Now!
  • Valentine Chantry killed by poison in her pink gin
  • A packet of poison found in a husband’s pocket

The case seems pretty clear cut.  But of course it isn’t because this is an Agatha Christie story so, things of course are not entirely as they seem!  It’s up to Poirot to see the innocent spared and the guilty punished.

Gin and Gingerbeer2

Triangle at Rhodes- The Covers

I could only find one cover for Triangle At Rhodes.

Very beautiful – it makes me want to go to Rhodes!

But while digging about the internet, I was also able to find this from the Strand Magazine version of the story!  Isn’t it glorious?

As we are not spending too much time on the covers, I thought we might look at some of the fashion.  The women are beautifully dressed.

And whoever thought we would see Poirot in shades!

Triangle at Rhodes Fashion 2

 

The Recipe

Print

Gin And Ginger Beer – Triangle at Rhodes

Print Recipe

Spice up your life with this mix of gin, ginger beer and lime.  A lovely refreshing cocktail.

Ingredients

Scale
  • 30ml London Dry Gin
  • 10ml lime juice
  • Ginger beer
  • Ice cubes
  • Mint leaves, lime slices and crystallised ginger to serve

Instructions

  • Mix the gin and lime juice together and pour into your glass.
  • Add the ice cubes and top with the ginger beer.  Stir.
  • Garish with lime slices, mint leaves and a piece of crystallised ginger.

Gin and Ginger Beer3

 

“Tony, darling it was too divine, ” cried Valentine as she dropped into a chair by his side.  “The most marvellous idea of Mrs Gold’s.  You all ought to have come!”

Her husband said:  “What about a drink?”

He looked inquiringly at the others.

“Pink gin for me darling,” said Valentine

“Gin and ginger beer, ” said Pamela

– Agatha Christie, Triangle at Rhodes

Other Food & Drinks Mentioned in Triangle at Rhodes

 

November’s read will be the titular story from the Murder in The Mews collection.  The setting is Guy Fawkes niight so get ready for fireworks and murder!

Happy reading!

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Sep
2022

Lime Pie with Creme De Menthe – Pieathalon 9!

categories: 1970's food, 1970's recipes, Cook A Long, Desserts, Pastry Desserts, Pieathalon

Greetings Pie lovers!  Welcome to a special midweek edition of Retro Food For Modern Foods.  Today we are celebrating that best of best days of the year – Pieathalon Day. This is the day, where lead by the lovely Yinzerella, bloggers worldwide swap and cook vintage pie recipes.

pieathalon 9

This year I got a recipe for Lime Pie with Creme de Menthe sent to me by Dr Bobb.  Now, call me biased but how pretty are these?  I made lots of little pies because I could not find a large already baked pie crust and at the time I made these I was suffering from double ear infections and a bad back so I was not really up for shopping about.  The one shop I went to had no large pie crusts so I bought two packs of medium. I’m kind of glad.  I think the little pies look adorable.

 

Lime Pie with Creme De Menthe

Lime Pie with Creme de Menthe?

To be honest, though, I was not initially enamoured with the recipe.  Lime yes!  It was the Creme de Menthe I was struggling with.  I have never really tasted Creme de Menthe, all I knew about it was that it was a mint-flavoured liqueur that Poirot sometimes sips.  Hmm…I wonder if that is why Yinzerella sent it to me!  I have a love/hate relationship with mint-flavoured things.  I hate mint tea and mint choc chip ice cream but I love a mint slice biscuit and I love the combo of mint and lime in a mojito.

Looking at the bottle of Creme de Menthe though I couldn’t help feeling I was going to be flavouring my pies with something that looked suspiciously like the mouthwash I use!

I had to keep reminding myself Mojito, not Listerine!

Mojito!  Mojito…And given that I always like to have a song to celebrate Pieathalon, I was singing that “Mojito, mojito” to the tune of the bit in Despacito that goes “Pasito a pasito, suave suavecito”.

(How many of you are not humming despacito now?

Lime Pie with Creme de Menthe2

 

However the real sticking point was not the Creme de Menthe but came when I was half way through making the recipe.  At the exact point when I realised that the original recipe contained egg yolks that were not going to be cooked.

Hard no for me on the raw yolks.

Not the least of which was that I now had 12 little pies. These were going to last us for days. And if the idea of fresh raw yolks was bad, the idea of 4 day old raw yolks was putrid. Plus the mixture was quite runny. I was sure if I left it uncooked, we would have soggy bottoms in no time. And as anyone who watches the Great British Bake Off will know, no one likes a soggy bottom!

So, I popped my little pies into the oven for about 15 minutes.

 

Lime Pie with Creme de Menthe3

Despite my misgivings, these pies were delicious!

Lime Pie with Creme De Menthe – The Recipe

Lime Pie recipe

 

Doctor Bobb, I raise my glass to you and your recipe!


Why not check out what Dr Bobb and all the other pieathletes made per the links below:

(please note some of the links may not be live at the time of posting.  I will update as they become live).

Yinzerella Candy Apple Cheese Pie www.dinnerisserved1972.com
Dr. Bobb praline pumpkin pie http://dbkitschen.blogspot.com/2022/09/pieathalon-9-praline-pumpkin-pie.html
Battenburgbelle Zucchini Pie https://www.kitchenconfidence.co.uk/all-recipes/pieathalon-2022/
S S Yul Brenner’s Pie http://abookofcookrye.blogspot.com/2022/09/pieathlon-ninth-walnut-pie-from-stars.html
Jenny Sagittarius Hamburger Pie www.silverscreensuppers.com
Surly poohs summer pie www.vintagerecipecards.com
Kari Ham Tongue Pie www.thenostalgiccook.com
Poppy Crocker apricot mallow pie https://granniepantries.blogspot.com/
Camilla Chocolate Angel Pie http://culinary-adventures-with-cam.blogspot.com/

If you are wondering who got the pie I submitted, it was Jenny from Silver Screen Suppers!  Good luck Jenny, I hope you enjoyed your hamburger pie!

Thanks as always to Yinzerella for organising this brilliant event!

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Sep
2022

Lemon Soufflé – The Incredible Theft

categories: Desserts, Dining With The Dame, Eggs, Soufflé

Hello crime readers and food lovers!  Today we are reading (and eating) our way through another short story from the Murder in The Mews collection.  On the menu is a lovely and light lemon soufflé.  Also, an apology for the long break between posts – we had a lovely week away but pretty soon after we got home, I fell ill.  I had an old-school non-covid flu that lasted nearly two weeks and left me with infections in both ears!  A lingering cough from that same flu also lead me to putting my back out!   All up, September has been a month of me either being ill or in pain, neither of which has left me with much energy for cooking or writing.  However, I read this Poirot short story when away and in the small gap of time between my return home and getting ill, I cooked the soufflés.

Lemon Soufflé1

The Incredible Theft- The Plot

.Air Marshal Sir George Carrington calls Poirot to come to the country house of Sir Charles Mayhew where some plans for a new bomber have been stolen.  The bomber will give Britain unparalleled power in the air should war eventuate.  The theft of the plans is a great blow to Britain’s military power.  Attending a house party on the night of the theft was Mrs Vanderlyn, a much-married vamp who is described as being “a very useful person to….a European power – and perhaps to more than one European power”.  Given her marriages have been to an Italian, a German and a Russian, we are not only given the start of a joke where three men walk into a bar but the possible European powers to which Mrs Vanderlyn might be useful!

Pefect Poolside Reading
Perfect Poolside Reading!

Apart from the seductive Mrs Vanderlyn we have

  • A mysterious figure in the shadows
  • A screaming maid
  • A woman with gambling debts
  • A spoiled son in need of some cash
  • Britain’s likely next Prime Minister with something to hide from the populace

Good thing we have Poirot to sort it all out.  Only…do we?   This story is somewhat of an anomaly because only after the denouement do we realise that Poirot actually does very little – all the work is done by….ah…that would be telling!  🙊

The Incredible Theft- The Covers

I could only find two covers for The Incredible Theft – neither of which are very exciting:

Incredible Theft coversInstead, I thought we could all crush on  the divine country manor that features in the Poirot version of The Incredible Theft

And, whilst we are in full drool mode, how about we take a look at Mrs Vanderlyn (and also some more house porn)

That same dress also does not disappoint from the back!

Here is another very glam outfit!

No wonder half of Europe seems to be gaga for Mrs V!

Lady Carrington also knows how to rock a sparkle and lace combo!

 

As much as I could dote on the fashions and locations of Poirot all day, we need to move on to another gorgeous little number, my lemon soufflé!

The Recipe – Lemon Soufflé

Lemon Soufflé3

 

Print

Lemon Soufflé – The Incredible Theft

Lemon Soufflé1
Print Recipe

A lovely light dessert, given a retro twist by serving it in the lemons.

Ingredients

Scale
  • 8 medium-sized lemons
  • 3 eggs, separated
  • 1/2 cup caster sugar
  • 2 tbsp plain flour
  • Pinch of salt
  • 2 Tbsp icing sugar for dusting

Instructions

  • Line an oven tray with baking paper.
  • Trim the base of the lemon so they sit flat.  Cut off the top third of each lemon and, using a teaspoon, remove the pulp from the lemons  (this takes a while) over a bowl lined with a sieve.
  • Squeeze the juice from the pulp and reserve.  Discard the pulp.
  • Place the lemon shells on the prepared tray.
  • Preheat your oven to 180C
  • Combine the yolks, half the sugar, 1/4 cup of lemon juice and the flour in a heatproof bowl.  Beat until thick and pale.
  • Place the bowl over a pan of simmering water and beat for another 8-10 minutes until the mixture is the thickness of a thick custard.  Remove from the heat but continue to beat until the mixture is cool – about another 2-3 minutes.
  • Beat the egg whites to soft peaks, add the remaining salt and the remaining sugar and beat until the mixture is thick and glossy.
  • Whisk one-third of the egg white mixture into the yolk mixture.  Fold the egg white mixture into the yolk mixture with a large metal spoon.  Be as gentle as you can here.  You want to preserve as much of the lightness and air from the whipped whites as possible.
  • Spoon the mixture into the lemon shells, filling to the rims.
  • Bake for 15-20 minutes until the soufflés have risen 2-3 centimetres above the rim of the lemons and are golden.
  • Transfer to serving plates, dust with icing sugar and serve immediately.

Notes

  • Leftover lemon juice can be frozen into ice cube trays to use as you need.
  • Or seeing as life has given you lemons, make lemonade!
  • If you accidentally poke your spoon through the bottom of the lemon as you are removing the pulp, never mind.  Wrap the base of the lemon tightly in aluminium foil for cooking and remove it for serving.  This will prevent any souffle mixture oozing out the bottom!

 

As the butler handed round the souffle, Lord Mayfield leaned confidentially towards his neighbour on the right, Lady Julia Carrington.  Known as the perfect host, Lord Mayfield took trouble to live up to his reputation.  Although unmarried, he was always charming to women.”

– Agatha Christie, The Incredible Theft

Links to The Christieverse

Nothing that I could find.

Lemon Souffle 4

Other Food & Drinks Mentioned in The Incredible Theft

  • Dessert
  • Port
  • Breakfast

 

October’s read will be another short story from Murder in the Mews. Get out your sunblock and get ready for some fun and murder in the sun with Triangle at Rhodes.

Happy reading and cooking!

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Feb
2022

Chocolate Mousse Hearts

categories: 1980's recipes, Desserts, Magazines, Meringue, Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine’s Day friends!  Love is in the air are we are celebrating with some Chocolate Mousse Hearts largely inspired by a recipe in the Autumn 1986 issue of the Vogue Entertaining Guide.  Before we continue though, I need to be totally honest with you.  The recipe requires several instances of piping using an icing bag and this is not one of my strong suits.   Hopefully, you will find my less than perfect hearts endearingly wonky rather than downright comical.  And as we all know…love means never having to say you’re sorry so let’s get to it!

Okay, deep breath, here we go…

Chocolate Moussse Hearts1

Now, these babies might not look perfect but, I gave one to The Fussiest Eater in the World earlier.

He took his first bite. “Wow”. 

Second bite “Oh my God!”

The overall vote was “Delicious”.

So, they might not be the prettiest things in the world.  But they are definitely a sweet treat!

Just a little shout out before I continue though, that beautiful plate my heart is on comes from Yael Gronner Ceramics on Etsy.I bought some of her wares late last year and have been dying to feature them!

Chocolate Moussse Hearts 2

Chocolate Mousse Hearts – The Breakdown

We start off with a meringue base – the first lot of piping.  And it really sets the tone for the rest of the dish.  If you can do this bit perfectly, the rest of the dish will be a doddle.  When you are doing the piping try to build up the outside of the hearts as much as possible.

Chocolate Moussse Hearts 3

Then those little depressions in the middle of the hearts are filled with jam.  The recipe said berry jam but I used cherry.  I LOVE the combination of cherry and chocolate plus I don’t like how the seeds in strawberry and raspberry jam can get stuck in your teeth.

Those little hearts?  I had some of the meringue mixture left over and I thought they might be cute as garnishes or as taste testers.

Chocolate Moussse Hearts 4

 

So, right about now, you might be thinking where’s that chocolate mousse I was promised?  Well, it’s coming right up.  Along with our second bit of piping:

I topped my mousse with some crumbled up Flake and a little gold lustre powder.

Chocolate Moussse Hearts 5

And a cherry on the top!

Chocolate Mousse Hearts – The Recipe

So, I was halfway through making this when I came to the sentence that said the chocolate mousse needed to set overnight.  I needed to get them made and take my pictures on Sunday 13th to have any hope of being able to ost this today.  Normally I am a bit more organised but life has got in the way this month!

It’s also the reason I garnished with a flake and not chocolate leaves and curls.

So, I found this mousse recipe online that did not have to chill overnight and used that instead.  I chilled it for 2 hours then piped it onto my hearts.

Whether you celebrate Valentine’s Day, Galentine’s Day or nothing at all, these decadent chocolate hearts are a good addition to your dessert repertoire.  They are very sweet though so for future making I would make them a little smaller (The widest part of my hearts was probably about 10cm across).  Or keep them big and share with someone you love!

Have a great week!

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