Buongiorno Amici! Today we are taking another look at The Italian Cuisine I Love by Jules J Bond. We last looked at this book all the way back in 2012 where I developed quite a crush on the author…Bond…Jules J Bond. And who wouldn’t crush on this bon vivant and possible spy! I spent quite a while with Jules J last time and his tuna stuffed tomatoes are still a favourite summer lunch for me! Today, however, will be a flying visit, albeit a delizioso one!
The introduction to The Italian Cuisine I Love says
Italy is a country where the joy of eating is one of the many joys of life”
And today, wherever in the world we find ourselves, we will be trying to capture some of la dolce vita with some fried anchovy bread and Spaghetti in Garlic Sauce. Sorry carb phobes, this one is not for you!
Fried Anchovy Bread
Bear with me for uno momento haters of anchovies……just take a moment to look at this…
Yes, I thought that might change your mind. But if you really, really hate anchovies, leave them out. Add some salami or prosciutto or olives just have it with the cheese! If you also don’t like cheese, then I have nothing for you.
Now that’s the Italian Cuisine I Love!
Fried Anchovy Bread – The Recipe
As delicious as the anchovy bread was, it was just the begining!
Spaghetti In Garlic Sauce
As the fried anchovy bread was quite rich, I thought I would keep the second course quite light. I wanted to have pasta because last time I didn’t make any of the pasta dishes. I chose a Spaghetti in Garlic Sauce. This is a version of a Spaghetti Aglio e Olio and was super yummy!
Spaghetti In Garlic Sauce Recipe
It was so nice to step back into the worldof The Italian Cuisine I Love. I now own a few more in the Cuisines I Love series so hopefully it will not be another eleven years before we step back into the world of Jules J Bond!
For for those of you who are already totally confused, let me explain. A Jaffle is an Australian term for a toasted sandwich. And it is a much loved food for breakfast, brunch, lunch, afternoon tea, dinner, supper, a midnight snack or any of the times inbetween.
And I made one based on Vincent Price’s Buckingham Eggs. And it was very good!
Like I guess many of my generation, the first real inkling I had of Vincent Price was as the voice in Thriller….
I had no idea he could not only cook, but cook like a boss, until I started blogging. It’s one of the reasons why I am so excited that the 50th edition of Vincent and Mary Price’s A Treasury of Great Recipes is about to be released. And I am reliably informed by Jenny of Silver Screen Suppers that, in her view, it is the best cookbook ever written! And Jenny knows her stuff!!!
Only a few more sleeps ’til that happens but first, Jenny invited her blogging pals to take part in a cookalong with some of Vincent and Mary’s recipes.
I hadn’t really intended on making the Buckingham Eggs for the cookalong . I was totally primed to make Vincent Price’s Champagne Chicken but, it was only 10:00am. Possibly a little too early for a roast dinner. But I was hungry and a jaffle seemed like the perfect thing to tide me over til dinner time. A quick glance at the fridge revealed eggs, cheese and anchovies. I had a thought process that went something like this:
You could make the Buckingham Eggs
But I want a jaffle
The Buckingham Eggs sound really good.
So does a jaffle.
Anchovy and Mustard butter…-
Egg and Cheese Jaffle
Hmm…what if we…
I like where you are going with this
And thus the Buckingham Eggs Jaffle was born. I’m sure neither Jenny or Vincent would disapprove of my tweaking the recipe slightly to satisfy both the devil and the angel on my shoulder! For the purists, here is a link to the original recipe as cooked by Jenny:
For my version, I made English mustard and anchovy butter. I could not find any anchovy paste, so I mashed up an anchovy. The mustard adds some heat and makes it a beautiful colour!I could just eat this on toast forever and be totally content!
But, wait, there’s more!
Eggs and cream and cheese and onions. I meant to add some Worchestershire Sauce but I totally forgot! Oh well, all the more reason to make it again next Sunday!
Now, add the onions to the egg mixture and scramble them really lightly. You need them to thicken up but still be quite moist as they will continue to cook once they are in the jaffle iron.
Now, butter both sides of the bread (if you’re feeling decadent ) or the one side if not. Place the buttered sides on the surface of the jaffle iron. This is important otherwise your bread will stick like crazy. Place the cheese on one side and the thickened egg mixture on the other side.
Fold The Iron over. Trim any bits of bread hanging out of the iron and place over a low heat.
The only tricky bit is that once the iron is closed you have no way of telling how much the inside has cooked unless you open it up and have a little peek. Make sure you turn it over at least once so both sides get toasty. As a general rule, once the outside is a dark golden colour, the inside will be perfect. This is the colour you are aiming for:
At the risk of sounding a bit hippy dippy, when cooked like this, the egg and cream mixture and the cheese become one in a gorgeous creamy melange. This is surrounded by crispy, salty, slightly spicy bread…..OMGZ delicious.
This made a super brunch, but if darkness is falling across the land and the midnight hour is close at hand, this would also make a super late night snack!
A massive thanks to Jenny for including me and to Vincent and Mary Price for the recipe.
For all the deets on the cookbook launch and activities around it, click any (ALL) of the links below:
“We’re having a little soirée after the theatre tomorrow darling, nothing fancy, maybe some scotch woodcock and a nightcap or two. Do come”
No one’s ever said that to me. Because I don’t live at Brideshead. Or Downton Abbey.
The recipe for Scotch Woodcock appears in the After-Theatre Party Section of The Party Cookbook by Anne Marshall and Elizabeth Sewell (1971). I can’t help it, that combination of the After-Theatre Party and the Scotch Woodcock immediately had me imagining something English and posh and from a bygone, more glamorous era. In my mind, Scotch Woodcock consisted of a game bird shot on the estate by the endearingly eccentric squire and then marinated in gallons of whiskey.
Wrong and wrong. This is Scotch Woodcock.
Scotch Woodcock
If you happen to be thinking “But that looks nothing like pheasant drowned in single malt…In fact it looks remarkably like scrambled eggs on toast topped with anchovies”, congratulations! You get this weeks Elephant Stamp!
I’m not sure why this is called Scotch Woodcock when it contains neither whiskey nor woodcock. Then again, those cheeky Brits do like to bamboozle the foreigners with their nomenclature. (We’ll be getting on to Welsh Rarebit in a future post. Toad in the Hole will never be mentioned again. Except to say, that the best thing about it is that it doesn’t actually contain toads).
I wish I lived in world where I gave after theatre parties (or was invited to them). Unfortunately I don’t and I suspect not many of us do. I do however, have a penchant for a meal I can whip up as a quick and easy light supper during my Sunday night television marathon.
Scotch Woodcock fits the bill exactly. Here’s how it’s done.
The evening starts at 6:30 with The Super-Sizers Go… If you have never seen this show and have any interest in food history done in the most hilarious way, stop right now. Do not pass go. Do not collect $200. Watch The Super-Sizers Go… then come back. That last bit’s important. Make sure you come back.
Anyway, during the breaks in The Super-Sizers you can do the following:
Gather your ingredients. If you are thinking that the milk in the photo below looks a little thick, you’re absolutely right. We had run out of milk. (So much for recipe preparation!) I used cream for the photo and mixed it with a splash of water for the cooking. And, no I couldn’t have gone and bought milk. I had FOUR hours of television to watch.
Scotch Woodcock – Ingredients
Make and Butter Your toast. Make an extra piece of toast. Hot buttered toast is one of the best things in the world. Munch on this whilst you watch the end of Super Sizers.
Hot Buttered Toast
7:30. Masterchef: The Professionals. I can’t help it. I am an unashamed Masterchef addict. And I am loving the professionals. It’s as contrived and the situations are as silly as the normal Masterchef but Marco Pierre White is amazing. He’s like a wise owl, dispensing advice to the hapless. I want him to be my Dad.
During breaks in ‘Masterchef, Scramble your eggs. I chose not to add salt as I thought the anchovy and olive topping would be salty enough. They were.
You might also want to open a bottle at this stage. Sparkling wine is lovely with this…and hey, don’t we all need a little sparkle to help us face Monday?
Next break, heat your grill, load the scrambled eggs, anchovies (I added some olives) onto the toast and warm through.
Serve with another glass of bubbles.
(Just a quick note about the serving sizes. This may feed 4 people as stipulated in the recipe if it is part of a larger “after-theatre party” spread. We had it as a light meal and the quantities listed in the recipe were perfect. We had eaten a large, late lunch though. Adjust your quantities as required).
Creamy scrambled eggs, crispy toast, and the salty hit of the anchovies. Delicious!
8:30 Elementary. I know it’s not as good as the Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman Sherlockwhich is brilliant, but it’s absolutely watchable.
Sherlock vs Elementary
During the breaks, do your dishes and tidy the kitchen. Better still get your significant other to do the dishes and tidy the kitchen. And send him out for some milk.
9:30 You can both settle back down on the couch and finish that bottle whilst watching The GrahamNorton Show.
Graham Norton Show
I admit, it’s hardly high glamour but I can think of many worse ways of spending a Sunday night!
