Go west they said. I took their advice and not only went west but a whole heap north as well to end up in the UK for this year’s Cowboy Day. I will be spending the actual day in the most haunted town in Britain! Maybe a ghost cowboy just like this one will appear on the day….
Spooky huh?
Something that is not at all spooky is the Cattle Country Beef Salad Salad l made to celebrate Cowboy day. But first, this is the first time I am writing, editing, and posting entirely via phone so let’s put any weirdness in this post, beyond the regular weirdness down to that and I will re-edit, format as required once I get home!
We don’t have cowboys in Australia. We have cattlemen. Who live in cattle country which is where this salad comes from. Actually, it comes from Rosemary Mayne-Wilson’s Salads for All Seasons but you know what I mean.
So what all goes into a Cattle Country Beef Salad?
Beef of course. I suspect originally this would have been leftovers from the Sunday roast but I just bought from slices of roast beef from the supermarket.
Then there’s apples. Because we all know one a day keeps the doctor away and you don’t want to get sick while you’re out riding the range.
There’s celery because…I dunno. What use is celery? I like the taste of it but….oh that’s right. Celery keeps the cattlemen skinny. Because no one likes a tubby cowboy. Specially the horses they ride around on all day.
Spring onions. To put a spring in their step.
That was about it for the original ingredients. I also added some mixed leaves because I had to use them before I left for the UK the following morning. I also added some chunks of a lovely vintage cheddar. Which also had to be used but cheese also makes anything taste better and this was no exception.
RMW suggests using a French dressing for this. Make it really punchy by being HEAVY on the mustard. The flavours in here are strong enough to deal with it.
This was yummy!!!! Quick simple delicious. That’s an all round winner for me!
Here’s the original recipe:
Okay, I’m trying to keep this short and sweet because posting off the phone is doing my head in.
Many thanks to Greg from Recipes for Rebels for inviting me to participate in the cookalong again this year. It is always a so much fun to be a part of something like this. Plus, he”s one of the most awesome people on the internet so should just be thanked in general
I dont have my regular sign off this week but just look what can happen when bloggers get together. For an explanation of why Battenberg Belle, Jenny Hammerton and I are wearing cowboy hats and clutching a meat cleaver, a melon baller and a hammer respectively, you’ll need to head over to Silver Screen Suppers but in the meantime, have a great Cowboy Day everyone!
Today we are taking a huge step back in time and heading back to the time of gas lamps, hansom cabs and thick London fogs. How nice then in this cold inhospitable atmosphere to pop into the Oriental Club for a spicy mutton curry to warm your cockles on a cold winter’s night! Just think, Arthur Conan Doyle could have tucked into this curry as he pondered the intricacies of the first Sherlock Holmes story.
And now you can too!
Our mutton curry comes from 1861 from The Oriental Club’s chef, Richard Terry who made use of the ingredients from the first Asian grocery warehouse in London to recreate a curry recipe he had learned from Indian cooks. It is also indicative of Britain’s and Briton’s long-lasting love of curry!
This is certainly not a curry in a hurry! There are several parts to making this, which is time-consuming but if you have the patience, it is well worth the effort. Also, whilst the original recipe called for mutton, I used lamb. I could not find mutton anywhere – not even dressed as lamb. Funnily enough though, my mum says that in Sri Lanka when any recipe called for lamb or mutton, what they actually used was goat so use what you can get.
First up, you need to roast up some spices to make a curry powder. This will make more than you need for one curry so you will have supplies if you want to make this again or you can use it in other curries.
One thing that is strange about this curry is that you not only need a curry powder but also a curry paste.
Whilst we’re roasting and grinding those spices, let’s talk Sherlock! I am a HUGE fan of the BBC series with Benedict Cumberbatch, Martin Freeman and Andrew Scott because who doesn’t love a bad boy right? And I am over the moon excited to see Series 4. Tom Hiddleston! Colin Farrell! This series is going to be AWESOME!
Now, a very weird thing about this curry paste is that it contains lentils which you grind up. I have never heard of this technique before but…hey, if it’s good enough for the The Duke of Wellington, who was the President of the Oriental Club back in the day, it’s good enough for me! The genius stroke is that they help to make the gravy lovely and thick.
Mutton curry (maybe even one based on this recipe!) features as a clue in a Sherlock Holmes story. In The Adventure of Silver Blaze, which not only contains the phrase”Consider the mutton curry,” the title of this post but also “the curious incident of the dog in the night-time”, a mutton curry is doused with powdered opium, putting the stable boy meant to be guarding the race horse Silver Blaze into a stupor and hence rendering him unable to do his job.
The paste mix will also make more than you need for one curry but will keep in the fridge for months.
Sadly, Sherlock Holmes may not have been a fan of curry. At least not according to the 1946 film, Terror by Night. This however is not based on a Conan Doyle story so this is open for debate. Terror By Night is also available for free download here. Personally, I think Sherlock would have been a fan of this mutton curry…with or without a garnish of powdered opium.
The 19th Century Mutton Curry was delicious, dark and spicy, thanks to those lentils, the gravy was lovely and thick and the meat was tender. This was a winner! And hey, I’ve got paste and powder left so I’ll definitely be making it again!
Best served with an ice-cold beer! Whilst watching Series 4 of Sherlock!
Any leftovers? A curry jaffle is THE best hangover food known to man. Just sayin’. Tis the season after all!
Oh and by the way, the Oriental Club still exists and curries still feature on the menu. I am adding to the list for a trip to London next year!
Combine all the ingredients in a jar. Mix. Cover with a tight lid.
Store away from heat and sunlight.
Makes 7 tablespoons.
For The 19th Century British Curry Powder
Put the coriander seeds, split peas, peppercorns and cumin into a medium cast iron frypan and set on medium heat. Stir and roast until the split peas are reddish, the coriander has turned a shade darker and all the spices begin to give off a roasted aroma.
Empty them into a bowl and allow to cool.
Put the roasted spices and the mustard seeds into a spice grinder or food processor and grind as finely as possible. Place in a bowl.
Like rock and roll and dancing in that town in Footloose, burgers must be the work of the devil. There is no other explanation for something so simple tasting so good! And that’s just normal burgers. Once you have tried Margaret Fulton’s Devilled Burgers you will be ready to sell your soul for the recipe!
Not that you have to of course. The recipe is at the end of the post. No soul selling involved!
So what makes the Devilled Burger so special?
Oh and warning ahead…I am going to drop the dreaded M word. You know, the one that rhymes with foist. Haters beware!
One thing I have noticed about a couple of old hamburger recipes is that they use bread soaked in evaporated milk. This may both look and sound pretty gross but I think this combo really helps to keep the burgers moist. There. I’ve said it.
This mixture turns into something that resembles either wallpaper paste or the gruel from Oliver but I think it does the job. I had these two nights running and I was expecting that reheating them on the second night would make them dry but no, they were as juicy as ever! Possibly even better than the first night.
Other ingredients are finely chopped mushrooms (sorry Jenny), mustard, tomato ketchup, green Habanero sauce, horseradish and Worcestershire Sauce! No wonder these are tasty little demons!
These are so good. Who could believe ground beef could be so tasty? These have rocked straight in at number two on my best burgers ever (right behind my spicy feta burgers)! Hmmm..,.now what would happen if you added some feta and cumin to this recipe? The burger to end all burgers? Burgergeddon? I now so want to try it out!
Top these burgers with your favourite toppings, mine are in the recipe below and enjoy!!!!
If serving at your own devil theme party, why not lay out your salad ingredients and condiments and any other trimmings you like and let your guests create their own version of the Devilled Burger?
1/4 cup tomato ketchup or mild chilli sauce (I used a combination of ketchup and green habanero sauce)
2 tsp prepared horseradish
2 tsp Worchestershire sauce
1/4 cup mayonnaise
2 tsp green Habenero sauce
Lettuce leaves
Tomato Slices
Vintage Cheddar, thinly sliced
Red Onions, thinly sliced
Pickles
Instructions
Remove the crusts from the read, cut into squares and soak in evaporated milk for 10 minutes, then beat with a fork.
Mix meat, bread, salt, pepper, onion, mushrooms, mustard, tomato ketchup and/or chilli sauce, horseradish and Worchestershire Sauce in large bowl. Mix in the eggs with a fork.
Shape into 10 even sized patties.
Heat some oil in a frying pan and gently fry the red onions .
Preheat the grill and grill the hamburgers on one side for 7-8 minutes on one side and ^ minutes on the other. Add a slice of cheese using and grill for a further minute or so until the cheese has melted.
Whilst the hamburger is cooking, toast your buns.
Mix the mayonnaise and the green habanero sauce together and spread over the buns.
Top with a lettuce leaf and a slice of tomato.
Place the burger on top of the tomato and top with the fried onions and the burger bun.
Pickles can be served on the side or in the burger or not at all!
Oh and look! Is that a bottle of Lychee Beer in the background? Yes indeed. Just doing a little taste testing for the margarita to come. Or should that be a lagerita?
Have a fab week! Next time, we’ll be wrapping up our devil themed party with an appropriately titled cake from the Domestic Goddess herself!
“Hey mambo, mambo Italiano hey, hey mambo mambo Italiano Go go go you mixed up Siciliano All you Calabrese do the mambo like-a crazy”
This week’s dishiest dish has us going to Abruzzo for a Pizza Rustica con Bietola. AKA a savoury tart with chard . But Pizza Rustican con Bietola sounds so much more Italian and glamorous doesn’t it? And it will have you dancing the mambo because it is super tasty!
The recipe comes from Made in Italy by Silvia Colloca which was my choice when we did Italian in the Tasty Reads book club a few months ago.
Before I looked inside this book I had my hater face on. As if some B grade actress was going to have any cooking chops – and bear in mind the Claudia Roden book was one of the other selections. This was going to have to be pretty damn impressive to rival that!
Then I started flicking through and ye-es there were several pictures of Silvia looking both incredibly beautiful and impossibly thin. But it was also filled with what looked like some fabulous recipes and things that were not run of the mill. And everything I have made to date has been delicious.
This has included:
Calimari with Tomatoes and Wine
Woodsman’s Chicken
Herb Frittata with Goat’s Curd
Noodles with Zucchini Blossoms and Saffron Sauce
No Knead Spelt Pizza with Soppressata and Potatoes
Pasta Strips with Slow Cooked Goat Sauce
So, this is proving a pretty solid choice. Yay me! Well, really yay Silvia! But you know, I write a blog and it doesn’t get much more totally self obsessed than that so I guess yay me is valid.
Six Week Challenges – Update
I am still on my 6 weeks of no alcohol although I did take last weekend off! Saturday night we were having lobster – OH. MY. WORD. So good!!!! And there was no way on God’s green earth that I was not having a glass of sparkling with that! And Sunday we went out for a Valentine’s Day dinner to our favourite local Greek restaurant. And again – it would have been churlish not to have a glass of vino! But on the whole it is going well . I haven’t really missed it. I also haven’t felt many of the supposed benefits – weight loss, sleeping better, greater productivity etc.
I have been struggling with the daily meditation. I don’t think I have found the perfect time to do it. In the mornings I am usually too rushed and if i try to do it at night I fall asleep. Two places it did feel “right” were one day I did it as soon as I got home from work so it was a bit of a chance to decompress. The other was one morning when I had parked m car at the station, i just stayed in it and did my ten minutes there.
My new one, started February 15th is a flexibility challenge. Every day I will do a short workout designed to improve my flexibility. I am using the program from Fitivity. I have only done a couple so far and they have been fine but a bit boring. I’m sure they will get more challenging as I progress!
I have been thinking of more that I can do over the next few weeks /months:
No processed food
No sugar
Yoga everyday
No Candy crush
Journalling everyday
Are all on the list.
Reading
Room – Emma Donoghue
I have had this book on my To Be Read shelf for YEARS. And finally now I have taken the plunge and have started it – simply because I want to have read it before I see the film. I am probably 2/3 of the way through and I think it is very well written. There are certain parts that I have found quite confronting and other parts that have annoyed me but once I start reading it I find it difficult to put down. I am still having some problems with starting picking it up and starting it each day though…..
The Apologist – Jay Rayner
This is my current audiobook. Marc Bassett is a merciless restaurant critic. One day a chef commits suicide by roasting himself in his bread oven, leaving Bassett’s review taped to the outside. And so begins his career as the apologist.
I am not very far along with this but I am enjoying it so far.
Watching
My Kitchen Rules
I can’t help myself. I am utterly addicted to this. And the commentary on Flawless Vision.
I have only listened to one episode of this but they hated Girl on The Train almost as much as I did so it’s definitely worth another listen.
Room 101
From time to time I’ve decided to list a few pet peeves on here. Things that I would like to see banished to Room 101. Starting with:
Gluten Free Everything
When you label your bread, cakes and cookies gluten free you are doing a good service for those people who cannot tolerate gluten. When you label products that would never have contained gluten in a pink fit “Gluten Free” you are indulging in a cynical marketing ploy. STOP IT. I swear I saw water labelled gluten free recently. It made me want to break things.
Quinoa
Has no one else noticed how bad this smells as it is cooking. I made some the other day and the smell of it made me gag. I”m never cooking it again.
Cooked.com
I took out an annual subscription for cooked.com. This, for those of you who may not have heard of it is kind of like a netflix for cookbooks. Does anyone else have one of these? Do you find it useful? how long have you had it. Does it help you to choose which cookbooks to buy or do you not buy them anymore? I have not actually cooked anything from the site yet. I guess I’d better start! Stay tuned!
Kitchen Nightmares
I had one kitchen nightmare this week. I was all set to make Vitello Tonnato for bookclub only it was a new style “healthy” VT. So, instead of that gorgeous tuna mayonnaise, my tonnato was made out of tofu, anchovies and parmesan cheese. And it was rank! I have never been one to complain about the smell of parmesan cheese. I remember even in primary school when people would say “Yuck, it smells like sick”, I always thought they were nuts. This abomination of a tonnato not only smelt like but tasted like vomit. It was so bad I couldn’t even give it to the dogs.
Now though, I am craving a proper old school Italiano Vitello Tonnato. It’s a shame Silvia’s book does not have a recipe. However, The A-Z of Cooking does. There will be 1970’s Vitello Tonnato on here very soon. I just have to allow the memory of the horror that was that tofu tonnato to subside a little!
What Silvia’s book does have is this recipe for Pizza Rustica con Bietola. I am obsessed by those words. I keep repeating them in an increasingly bad Italian accent! If you would also like to become obsessed with this lovely tart here is the recipe:
This week I am looking forward to cooking…nothing. Because I have been really busy and not done a single bit of menu planning. However, we have a new Tasty Reads book so I might crack this open and give something a whirl.
Oh and this is is my new favourite you-tube. I have watched it about a million times since I found it.
What was the best thing you’ve made this week? What are you looking forward to cooking? Have you read anything interesting? I would love to hear from you!
I am reading The Danish Girl for book club. I am not that far into the book – so there are no spoilers here for anyone who may be concerned but there was a part very early in the book that blew my teeny mind and most likely not at all for the any of the reasons you might be thinking!
Here is the passage:
Even with his eyes closed, standing shirtless in front of his wife felt obscene. It felt as if she’s caught him doing something he had promised he would avoid – not like adultery, but more like resuming a bad habit he’d given his word he would quit, like drinking aquavit in the canal bars of Christianshavn or eating frikadeller in bed”
– David Ebershoff, The Danish Girl
In Sri Lankan Burgher cooking, we have a delicious meatball called a Frikkadel. The name was too similar to the frickadeller found in The Danish Girl for me not to undertake some extensive research. (Otherwise known as googling the word Frikadeller.) And yes, they are pretty much one and the same.
Knowing this also helped to fill a gap in my knowledge about these meatballs. I have long wondered why they are flavoured with dill which is not used that much in Sri Lankan cooking. But it is used a lot in Scandinavian Cooking. Mystery solved!
I cooked some ages ago and never got around to posting them so here are my Friikkadels.
Sri Lankans would not normally eat frikkadels in bed but they would be quite commonly handed around at a drinks party as a “short eat” which is what we call finger food.
Here is the “official” description from the delightful ( but totally demented) Daily News Cookbook, a bastian of Sri Lankan Cooking.
“The term “short eats” was originally used to describe the dainty sandwiches, dry cheese or other savoury biscuits, potato chips and miniature sausages accompanying the drinks at sherry or cocktail parties which usually began at six o’clock in the evening and lasted for a couple of hours at the most….
The chief requisite of short eats is that should appeal to the eye as well as the palate; but they must also be easy to eat – that is, small enough to be conveyed to the mouth with the fingers or, at the most, a small wooden pick”
My frikkadels were eaten as short eats with a dollop of date and tamarind chutney and a garnish of coriander. However, the best, best, best way to eat your frikkadels – better than a short eat or even in bed is as part of a lampries.
Part of a what you ask? One day, when I have an infinite amount of time on my hands I will make one for you. And your minds will be blown by the awesome deliciousness of them. It’s unlikely to happen in the foreseeable purely because of the seven billion things that need to be included. For the lampries is a little pack of many items of Sri Lankan delciousness. Traditionally this would be cooked and served in banana leaves but nowadays alfoil is also used. The lampries contains:
Ghee rice
Lampries Curry – made with chicken, lamb beef and pork. I know it sounds mental but it’s so good!
Frikkadels
Brinjal Pahi – which is an eggplant pickle
Coconut Sambal
Prawn Blachang – which is a dried prawn pickle type thing. Ish.
Now do you see why I will most likely never make this myself? Not only do you need to have all of those things. But they all have about twenty ingredients each. To make lampries tis a labour of love. Which is why we buy them frozen. The best are straight from the kitchen of a little old Sri Lankan lady. Next best is from your local Sri Lankan cafe or restaurant.
And here is one that I ate at The Dutch Burgher Union when we were in Sri Lanka last year:
My favourite way of eating a lampries is to eat one of the frikkadels first. Then the rest. Then the second frikkadel as the very last thing. Kind of like the cherry on the top!
Frikkadels came to Sri Lanka from the Dutch who borrowed them from the Danes. There is also a South African version also via the Dutch. Frikkadels can also be found in many other countries of Northern Europe. This is certainly the little meatball that could!
We don’t have cowboys in Australia. We have cattlemen. Who live in cattle country which is where this salad comes from. Actually, it comes from Rosemary Mayne-Wilson’s Salads for All Seasons but you know what I mean.
This was yummy!!!! Quick simple delicious. That’s an all round winner for me! 
