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Category: Europe

03
Oct
2020

Orange and Cinnamon Creme Caramel

categories: Desserts, Food Holiday, France, Orange

Happy Caramel Custard Day everyone! Yes indeed there is a day for every sort of food imaginable and October 3rd is Caramel Custard Day! I am celebrating with a Moroccan twist on the classic French dish with an Orange and Cinnamon Creme Caramel.

No one in my family, except me, is a great lover of sweet things. As a result, I didn’t have too many desserts growing up. The one thing we did have and which my mum cooked to PERFECTION was a creme caramel. So, I know what a good creme caramel looks and tastes like. The caramel needs to be a nanosecond away from bitterness, the custard smooth and silky, the top a shiny mirror glaze and the almost ombre effect of the darker caramel soaked custard at the top and the paler pure custard at the bottom.

My problem is, I have, up until now been absolutely terrible at making it myself! I tried to make a creme caramel recipe from Cantina THREE times. Twice the caramel went all crystally. Another time there was no sauce only a hard set toffee that was stuck to the bottom of each of the serving dishes!

Not so with this recipe which came from Lousie Frank’s Winter which is a fabulous book. I’ve made many great dishes from it and, as it was a Tasty Reads selection will no doubt pop up here again!

The Recipe

This version of a creme caramel was lovely. The cinnamon came through quite strongly, the orange not so much. When I make this again, I will sprinkle some orange zest over the top of the completed desserts to really ramp up the taste of the orange. You could, of course, leave one or both of them out completely if you are not a lover of orange or cinnamon and this would still be a damn fine Creme caramel.

So on October 3rd what do we say to Caramel Custards? We say…

Have a great weekend everyone!

30
Aug
2020

Mother in Law’s Tongues

categories: Baking, Crackers, Great Name, Italy

I was finally able to find some yeast ! After maybe four months, there were packets of yeast on the supermarket shelves last week Don’t hate me for buying two packets – I have MONTHS of baking projects to catch up on, Starting with these delicious crackers called Mother in Law’s Tongues!

These crackers get their name because Mother in Law’s Tongues are said to be very long. All the better for the malicious gossiping! Called Lingue di Suocera in their native Italy, they are a great addition to any snack plate. t was so delicious!!!!

These crackers are great! Even the fussiest eater in the world was impressed. “These taste like something you’d buy in a fancy shop” was the exact comment.

They are a bit fiddly as you have to roll out the dough as thin as possible but I think these are worth taking a little extra time on. They have a lovely “snap” to them and are the perfect carrier for other flavours such as pesto, burrata, guac, hummus…

As you may have noticed, these are not crackers for the perfectionist. Each one is different in their size, shape, rise and colour. Personally, I love the variety and think it makes for a more interesting snack plate but if you are one of those people that wants everything just so…these may not be the one for you!

Mother in Law’s Tongues – The Recipe

Huge disclaimer here! This recipe was in my folder of copied and cut out recipes. There was, however, no notation as to where they originally came from for me to give proper credit. I have googled to no avail. However, if you are the writer of this recipe, or know who was, please let me know and I can give proper credit where it is due!

You can also play around with the flavours on the crackers themselves – I made poppy seed, sesame seed, nigella, black pepper and parmesan, and sea salt but could see the flavour combos being extended almost indefinitely depending on your preference or what you intend serving them with. I’m thinking you could do a lovely swirl of pesto through the dough if you were going to serve with Joe’s burrata. Or maybe some dukkah for hummus. Chilli flakes and lemon zest for guac? One word of caution though – I found the plain salt ones to be a little too salty for my taste but that my own fault for sprinkling too liberally. Next time I make these I am going to do an everything bagel version which I think will be amazing!

Now, excuse, me, I have a snack plate to devour!

Have a great week and don’t stop talking about these crackers!

28
Jul
2020

Name Plates: Pizza a la Garibaldi

categories: 1970's recipes, Italy, Name Plates, Pizza

What do an Italian revolutionary, a biscuit, a beard and this post have in common? They are all named Garibaldi! This Pizza a la Garibaldi comes from The Italian Cuisine I Love (1977) by Jules J Bond. I have a particular fondess for Jules J so I was eager to pick this book back up again. And who doesn’t love pizza?

What is Pizza a la Garibaldi?

Ok. So, I’m not going to explain pizza. Because it’s pizza!

Pizza a La Garibaldi though? Has cheese, green and black olives, oregano / marjoram, and anchovies. I also added some strips of roasted red pepper for reasons which will become clear right about now! This is the picture of the Pizza a la Garibaldi from The Italian Cusine I Love.

And this is me trying to recreate it. I think Jules J piped lines of tomato sauce on his pizza. There was no way in hell I was going to do that so strips of piquillo pepper it was! I wish I’d had some of those cute rolled anchovies with capers to get the same look as Jules. Mine looked like blobs.

The Recipe And Variations

I was interested to see that Jules uses bread dough as a base for his pizza. I have not been able to find yeast for love or money since the start of the first lockdown when everyone went sourdough mad so I was unable to test that part of the recipe out. Also, my preference is for a thin and crispy base rather than a thicker base so I used one of those souvlaki pitas for my pizza.

The Pizza a la Garibaldi was very tasty but for me the big disappointment was the cheese. Part of the joy of pizza, for me anyway is that beautiful streeeetch of the mozzarella.

Parmesan may be tastier but does not give the same joy! I will definitely use mozzarella next time I make this.

Who Was Garibaldi?

Well, we don’t have all day so here are a collection of fun facts about Giussepe Garibaldi

Unifier of Italy

Garibaldi was almost single-handedly responsible for helping Italy move from a collection of city-states to the country we know today. He and his volunteer army of guerilla fighters, the Redshirts, conquered Lombardy and later Sicily and Naples.

Anti Slavery Advocate

Abraham Lincoln offered Garibaldi a job as a Commander in the American Civil War. Garibaldi refused the post partly because Lincoln did not condemn slavery strongly enough for his liking.

Pacifist

Even though he was a soldier for most of his life, in his later years Garibaldi became something of a pacifist beliving that war was generally neither righteous or an effective means of getting what one wants.

Champion of the Underdog

Garibaldi believed in worker’s rights, women’s emancipation, racial equality, and the abolition of capital punishment.

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Garibaldi spent some time in South American and for the rest of his life work the clothing of the gauchos. He is also the originator of the Garibaldi beard.

Keen Entolmologist*

A little known fact about Garibaldi is that he was an avid collector of flying insects, a love he developed in South America. In order to keep his collection with him on his travels, he had specimens of his collection baked into little clay tablets. He could then pop these into his pocket to look at between skirmishes.

These small clay tablets are believed to be the origin of the Garibaldi biscuit.

(Photo via Delicious Magazine UK)

Modern Day Garibladi

I wasn’t sure if I would be able to find one of these but come on down Navarone Garibaldi. In case you haven’t heard of him, he is the son of Priscilla Presley and Marco Garibaldi, stepbrother to Lisa-Marie Presley and a member of the band Them Guns. Hmmm…maybe he could have gone with The Guns of Navarone…or would that be too obvs? Anyway, here he is!

Have a great week. And eat some pizza! It’s scientifically proven to make you happy!

*This “fact” is little known because I wanted to have an interesting story for the origin of the Garibaldi biscuit. The actual truth is that the reason why they are named after Garibaldi is totally unknown.

14
Jul
2020

Frizzled Artichokes with Gribiche Sauce

categories: Eggs, France, Vegetables

I have been wanting to make a Gribiche Sauce ever since I first read about it in an old edition of Gourmet Traveller which teamed it with some deep-fried Artichokes. The other day in the greengrocer I saw some gorgeous artichokes that prompted my memory of this dish.

These looked so beautiful…but first, let’s talk Gribiche. Gribiche is a French sauce…kind of like a tartare sauce with hard-boiled eggs. It is really tasty. I love the way the creaminess of the eggs offset against the sharpness of the vinegar, cornichons and capers. These are my flavours!!!

And I also adore artichokes, but hardly ever cook them because let’s face it, they are not the most user friendly of veg are they? Even if they are one of the prettiest!

Via Olivers Market

These were so fun to eat. I can just imagine, after the ‘rona, when we can entertain again, having a row of these down the table with little dishes of gribiche for people to dip into! But wait!!! The fun doesn’t stop there. These are also incredibly fun to make. Watch the leaves as they fry…

They move!!!!

How cool is that! Have you ever seen anything like it? Also apologies for the sound of my podcast coming through – I was so excited and wanted to capture these moving leaves that I didn’t have time to turn it off! And if anyone else out there listens to Kim and Ket Stay Alive – Maybe, Hey! How are you! I am a fellow fan!

The recipe for the Gribiche Sauce in Gourmet Traveller is pretty fancy in that it contains both chervil and tarragon, neither of which are currently available, it being the dead of winter here! Also, I’m not sure if chervil has ever been available in the shops. I feel it is something you need to grow. And I used the last of my homegrown tarragon for Meredith Baxter Birney’s Tarragon Chicken. So, I fried the artichokes according to the Gournet Traveller recipe but I made the Gribiche Sauce using this recipe from the New York Times. I did have a little dill in the fridge which I added because I thought it might help to give a slightly aniseedy flavour which would have been present with the chervil and tarragon.

The Recipe

Other Ways To Use Gribiche

If you happen to have some Gribiche sauce left over after making this, you can use it up in the following ways:

With Asparagus – this seems to be a very popular combination.
And speaking of toast, Australian Gourmet Traveller has a recipe for grilled cheese with speck and gribiche. It looks spec(k)tacular!
Heston likes it in a salad
It goes well with chicken
And fish
Even beef can take a bit of Gribiche sauce!

So no shortage of options for any leftovers!

That’s me done! Have a wonderful week everyone!

03
Jul
2020

John Hillerman’s Paella

categories: Celebrity Recipes, Rice, Spain

Does anyone know / remember The Libertines song “Music When The Lights Go Out”? The hook line in this piece of indie-pop boy love runs “All the highs and the lows and the to’s and fro’s, they left me dizzy”. That is exactly how I felt when making John Hillerman’s Paella. No doubt about it, this was a tough cook. But oh boy did it pay off!

The Lows

Converted rice? Not available for love or money.
Clams in clam juice ? Nada.
Bottled clam juice? No, nay, never.
Polish Sausage…probably could have bought some but I had chorizo in the freezer which seemed more paella-ish anyway

I made this during the height of the ‘rona lockdown. But I honestly feel that my inability to get hold of these ingredients were not limited to that insane time of food shortages.

So, had this been one of my recipes? I would have ripped it up and we would have never more heard of it. But this was was not my recipe, this was John Hillerman’s Paella recipe that I was testing for Jenny for her Murder She Wrote Cookbook so onward and upward it was.

The To’s and And The Fro’s

I didn’t have converted rice. I didn’t have clam juice. Which meant I could not follow the first step of the recipe.

I had:

Bomba paella rice.
Fresh clams.
Frozen fish stock.

This meant that if I found another recipe that got me through that first step of cooking the rice, then the rest should fall into place like one of those Rube Goldberg machines I have become obsessed with during lockdown.

The recipe I used was the one below. I followed all the directions for cooking the rice per that recipe. But then switched back to John Hillerman’s Paella recipe from the step where he says to “saute the chicken in olive oil”.

Sorry, they won’t let me link it directly so here is the URL: https://www.deliciousmagazine.co.uk/recipes/chicken-paella-with-squid-and-beans/

Here is John’s recipe:

I was literally toing and froing between the two recipes and the pan and the ingredients, making sure everything cooked properly!

The Highs

Have you seen the photos? This dish was lush!!! It was so pretty, so colourful, so full of joy!

It looked gorgeous, smelled like heaven and tasted even better.

John Hillerman’s Paella brought the smell and taste of Spain into a very grey wintery Melbourne day. It was seriously like a ray of sunshine!

I LOVED this!!!! So, so, so good!!!!! The end result made it all worthwhile!!!

Thank you Jenny for the recipe! This is the best paella I have ever made and I will be sure to make it again! When travel opens up and we can spend time together again, this definitely needs to be on our menu! In my imagination, we are sitting in your garden with Mr R and Battenberg Belle and having a lovely long lunch of paella, great conversation, lots of vino, and some great tunes courtesy of Mr Rathbone. Some ’60’s bossa nova maybe?

Oh, also for those of you like me who do not know who John Hillerman was? His best-known role was as the incredibly suave Higgins In Magnum PI but he also appeared in Blazing Saddles, Chinatown (high on my must-see list), Murder She Wrote (obvs), and A Very Brady Sequal among many, many other films and tv shows!

Have a fabulous week friends!

Stay safe, eat paella, watch John Hillerman on the tv and listen to The Libertines!

Sounds like a pretty good way to spend the weekend to me!