Last Friday was Canada day so it seemed like an appropriate time to leave the United States of America and head north in our journey through Good Housekeeping’s World Cookery. It may also be an excellent time to leave the United States of America for Supreme Court related decisions too but that is by the by. Anyhoo, to celebrate our move to Canada I made a blueberry cake!
Now, blueberry cake is not the first thing I think of when my thoughts turn to Canadian cuisine. BUT…this chapter was fairly disappointing. Notably, the first thing I do think of was totally missing. I mean – WHO ON EARTH HAS A CHAPTER ON CANADIAN COOKING AND DOES NOT INCLUDE A RECIPE FOR POUTINE????
Ok. Let me take a few moments to do some of the deep rhythmic breathing they taught me at the conference I attended recently. Just. Breathe. Do not feel disappointed that you will not be making poutine. When you go to the office on Thursday you can buy some poutine from the very excellently named Lord of The Fries. Which may be even better than making some yourself. And breathe…
Ok, calming mantra over, let’s get on with the blueberry cake.
Blueberry Cake – The Recipe
The recipe called for lemon flavouring. We currently have a tree laden with lemons so I used the zest of one lemon and the juice of half a lemon as my “flavouring”. This added a nice hit of lemon to the cake. I found this cake to be quite dry – it very much needed a bit of cream or ice cream on the side. I had some with some homemade Mango Kufli (from Adam Liaw’s recipe) and it was divine. Mango, lemon and blueberries are a match made in heaven! I am not sure if this is because I did not have enough blueberries to half fill the loaf pan. There was a LOT of cake batter to blueberries so for future baking I might halve the batter mixture. Another variation might be to put a layer of blueberries in the middle or through the cake as well as on the top.
I think the way the blueberries bleed into the cake is so pretty!
Today’s recipe for Berry Salad with Blue Cheese Croutons is inspired by a recipe from the December 2001 / January 2002 edition of Super Food Ideas. Which makes it twenty years old this month!
We are currently sweltering in a hot summer so this salad hits the spot perfectly. And, without tooting my own trumpet too much, can we just stop and take a moment to reflect on how pretty this salad is?
It’s almost too pretty to eat. But only almost. Because it’s also delicious
Before we jump into the recipe, let’s take a look at what else was hot in Dec/Jan 2002 with the seasonal eating guide.
1 cup berries (I used raspberries and strawberries)
2 carrots, cut into thin ribbons
1/8 red cabbage, finely sliced
1/4 cup walnuts, toasted
For The Dressing
1 tbsp raspberries
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
2 tsp Dijon mustard
1/2 tsp sugar
Salt and Pepper to taste
Instructions
For The Croutons
Spread each round of bread lightly with the cheese.
Bake in a moderate oven (180C) for 5-10 minutes until crisp.
Allow to cool.
For The Dressing
Puree the raspberries.
Whisk in the oil, vinegar, sugar and seasonings.
For The Salad
Place the rocket leaves in a bowl.
Add the berries, carrots, red cabbage and walnuts.
Toss to combine.
Top with the blue cheese croutons.
Drizzle with the dressing just before serving.
Notes
The original recipe contained spinach and asparagus. I didn’t have either when I made this so I subbed in the carrot and red cabbage. Go your own way on this!
I was back to work this week which was a shock to the system!
I’ll be back ,mid-week with another cheese heavy post.
All aboard! Welcome friends to a cooking and murder collab between Silver Screen Suppers and Retro Food For Modern Times. Jenny and I have been tallking about doing this literally for months! I am breaking my usual Dining with the Dame Format to cook recipes by the stars of the 1974 version of Murder on The Orient Express and half a world away in London Jenny is doing the same. Jenny provided the recipes and we agreed to watch the film on the same day!
Murder on The Orient Express 1974 – The Film
As with the Kenneth Brannagh 2017 film, the 1974 version of Murder on the Orient Express is a star-studded affair! The rather schlocky trailer describes it as the “Who’s who in the whodunnit”.
Others in the cast include Lauren Bacall, Ingrid Bergman, Jacqueline Bisset, Sean Connery, Sir John Gielgud, Anthony Perkins, Vanessa Redgrave and Michael York to name but a few! Ingrid Bergman won an Oscar as best supporting actress for her role in this. Albert Finney was nominated but missed out to Art Carney from Harry and Tonto.
The film follows the story of the Agatha Christie novel with the luxurious Orient Express train stuck in a snow bank with no one being able to get on or off the train. One of the guests is stabbed to death in the night. It is up to Hercule Poirot to discover whodunnit!. He soon learns that the victim is connected to the kidnapping of Daisy Armstrong 5 years before. And the group of seemingly disparate strangers on the train may not be all they seem!
The stroy is based on two true events, the first being the very famous kidnapping of the Lindbergh baby i n 1932, the second was an incident when the Orient Express was trapped for 6 days in a blizzard in Turkey in 1929.
But now, we would like you to head over to the buffet car to sample today’s menu,
The Menu
Trout in Cream Saice
For your dining pleasure on today’s journey from Istanbul to Caiais, we are delighted to be serving Trout with Cream Sauce, a recipe by Ms Ingrid Bergman.
This was delicious! Trout is such a delicate fish and the lemony cream sauce was a perfect accompaniment to it. I served mine with chips (very un Orient Express), beans, broccolini and some cherry tomatoes. It was also incredibly easy to make!!! Without the chips, it is an elegant and light dish which would be worthy of the Orient Express!
The whole time I was making the trout I was singing the Billy Bragg / Wilco song :
Ingrid Bergman, Ingrid Bergman
Let’s go make a picture
On the island of Stromboli
Ingrid Bergman
And I deft anyone who knows this song to do otherwise!
Ingrid Bergman plays Greta Ohlsson in the film and she won the Academy Award for best-supporting actress for her role. I would give her an Oscar for that trout recipe because it was chef’s kiss mwah!!!
Prune Fool Syllabub
To end your meal, we are serving Prune Fool by Ms. Wendy Hiller. Wendy plays Princess Dragomiroff in Murder. I feel that the Prune Fool, despite its name has the hint of gravitas equal to such a grand dame!
I LOVED the Prune Fool! The prunes and currants (I didn’t have sultanas in the red wine combined beautifully with the cream and shortbread. Eating this made me feel like a grownup. for something that is so simple to make, the end result is sophisticated.
I feel both of these dishes would meet Poirot’s approval!
Just as an aside, it appears as if, whilst on the Orient Express, Poirot has eschewed his normal tisanes and sirops for a little glass of…creme de menthe? Drunk via a straw no less.
But, I digress, back to the Prune Fool.
I know I am biased but how pretty is it?
Here’s the recipe:
Cooking for this was so fun! I loved the film as well! And it is always fun to have a shared project. Thank you Jenny for the recipes and for joining in particularly on one of the big hitters like Murder on The Orient Express. (Let’s not wait 6 months before we do another!!!) And if anyone else would like to Dine with the Dame and me, please let me know!!!
If you would like to see what Jenny cooked and how she celebrated Murder Sunday, head over to Silver Screen Suppers for a look!
I’ll be back next week with a more traditional version of Dining with the Dame – Murder on the Orient Express 2 (Electric Boogaloo).
When life gives some people lemons, they make lemonade. We, here at Retro Food For Modern Times never like to follow the crowd so we made lemon barley water. As previously mentioned, our backyard lemon tree is laden and because we are now in our sixty-fifth year of lockdown (or our 240th day – which feels like 65 years) we can go nowhere nor can anyone visit us so the opportunities for giving away our lemon crop are few. Other people in the area have cornered the market in setting boxes of lemons on the pavement for walkers by to pick up so we can’t even give ours away to strangers.
I was contemplating setting up my own Lucy Van Pelt-esque lemonade stand. And then, as if we don’t have enough to contend with, on top of the 240 days of lockdown already mentioned, we also had an earthquake! I now think the idea of the psychiatric stand is a better option. I mean how much more are we expected to put up with?
If you would like to see the most Australian response to the earthquake watch this. If you are offended by profanity and you watch it, that’s on you. I gave you fair warning.
Anyhoo, we were talking about Lemon barley water. It is a very old-fashioned drink. They used to serve it at tennis tournaments when I played as a teenager and I remember it as being refreshing and not too sweet. It is also the perfect drink to serve in this delightful fruit-inspired jug and glasses that I found the last time I went antiquing.
Benefits of Lemon Barley Water
You might be wondering why make lemon barley water and not just good old-fashioned lemonade? Well, I had some barley that had been sitting in the pantry for a while….
I suspect that some of these benefits are not as prevalent in this version which contains quite an amount of sugar but it is also probably no worse for you than many sweet drinks. The slight nutty barley flavour with the lemon is very pleasant.
I used the recipe for Lemon Barley water that was on the back of the pack of barley. You can also find it here. I added the juice of an extra lemon juice into my mixture to give it a bit more zing as I thought the initial end product was a bit bland.
What to do with the leftover barley
The making of lemon barley water does cause one issue – what to do with the barley. Some other recipes I looked at suggested it could be served unstrained in which case you would get more of the health benefits of the barley. I was not in the mood for a lemon barley bubble tea so I rinsed the lemon and sugar off the strained cooked barley and made a tabbouleh-like salad with more lemon juice, a heap of parsley and some tomatoes with some of it. I also mixed the rest of the rinsed barley with the dogs’ food so none of it went to waste! And we were all pretty happy!
To vaguely paraphrase The Arctic Monkeys we are going from the rubble to The Ritz. I’ve lately dabbled in some trashy food but the next two posts are going to be pure class. Hello Limoni di Amalfi Cotti Al Forno! You can tell this one is high-end because it has a name in a foreign language. Unless you are Italian. Then they are plain old Amalfi baked lemons.
I am going to confess straight up that my lemons are not Amalfi lemons. They are good old down home straight from the ‘burbs East Keilor lemons via the tree in my backyard! You can probably expect a lot of lemon recipes in the coming weeks!
We have just now entered LOCKDOWN SIX so it seemed like a good time to transport myself somewhere else! The Amalfi coast seemed like not a bad option! This is a Jamie Oliver recipe so you can expect fresh vibrant flavours and Limoni di Amalfi Cotti al Forno delivered! These little morsels were delightful and totally took me to a little open-air trattoria by the coast on a warm sunny day.
I think these would also be great placed on a bbq and as soon as it is warm enough to eat outside here, I will be putting that to the test!
You could play around with the flavours in the OG recipe too – add some olives or garlic, swap out the basil for dill or parsley, use sun-dried instead of fresh tomatoes., add some little marinated mushrooms…but speaking of the recipe, here it is!
You can use the leftover lemon flesh in anything where you would normally use lemons – I made a hot lemon and honey drink with mine.
These were so delicious and brought some much-needed summer sunshine and Italian sophistication into a dreary lockdown winter day!
