World Cooking - Retro Food For Modern Times

Category: World Cooking

14
Jan
2020

Pasties (inspired by Cornwall)

categories: Cornwall, England, Pastry, Travel, United Kingdon, World Cooking

We have had a few wet days this week (not complaining if it will put out some of the fires that are burning out of control). But the rather damp summer weather reminded of being in England last year and most particularly our trip to Cornwall where it rained buckets for the first two days. Which in turn reminded me of that great staple of Cornish food, the pasty! These are everywhere in Cornwall, well all through England actually, but eating proper Cornish Pasties was the very first thing we did when we got to St Ives. BTW, the people of Cornwall are tremendously possessive of their pasties. It is for this reason that I am not calling my version Cornish Pasties. Mine are more Cornish-ish Pasties.

We had an odd discussion after I ordered our pasties at the bakery.

“What did you call them?” asked the fussiest eater in the world.

“Pasties” In Australia, we pronounce these with a long A. Pah-sties.

Apparently, the correct pronunciation is with a short” A” like in “pastel”.

I can’t get on board with this, even if it is technically correct. They will always, and only ever be, pah-sties to me. If you’re British or a pedant, knock yourself out with that short A. For those of you not familiar with pasties or pah-sties, just remember that it is never pronounced “Paste-ies”. They are what strippers put on their nips and not delicious beef and veg cooked to perfection in a pastry case!

The pasties in Cornwall are crimped to perfection, each one the exact replica of its neighbour. Mine were a little bit more….hmmmm…let’s call them individualistic.

Pasties came about as food for Cornish tin miners. Originally, the pastry was just to protect the meat and veg from the dirt inside the mines so I guess that a few misshapen pastry shells would not have mattered back in the day!

There is a great article from The Guardian about the history (and contents) of the pasty which you can read here. My favourite bit of that article is the legend that the Devil was scared to cross the River Tamar from Devon because the women of Cornwall were renown for putting anything and everything into their pasties. Imagine popping down to your local bakery for a Satan Pastie! Although actually not quite everything – the carrot – which you will see in many recipes for pasties is a big no-no in the traditional recipes. Potatoes, swedes and onions are the only veg your pasty needs! It also needs LOTS of pepper.

Swedes are such funny things! I only recently found out that the colour difference in the swede is due to the white part growing underground and the purple part growing above ground!

I pretty much followed the recipe given by the Cornish Pasty Association except that I used bought shortcrust pastry! Another legend says that the pastry needs to be solid enough to be dropped down a mineshaft (and land) without falling apart. Mine were going from the oven to my lunchbox so I didn’t have to worry about their structural integrity so much!

Let’s wrap this baby up and pop it in the oven. While it’s baking away, let’s have a look at some of pics of St Ives and Mont St Michel.

This would be a great hill to have a picnic on. Get some pasties to go and enjoy the view!

Here is another article from the Guardian about where and how to eat your pasties. I actually think they are great for picnics as the pastry holds in the heat of the filling for a while. As for condiments – ketchup and the more of it the better for me. Maybe a teeny splash of tabasco with it!

This is The Sloop Inn where we stayed in St Ives.

And here is St Michael’s Mount. You can only reach this at low tide otherwise the causeway is underwater!

Let’s take a peek at our pasties…ah perfectly done!!!

What always astonishes me with pasties is how the meat and veg cooks exactly at the same time as the pastry. You never get any hard lumps of raw potato. It truly is like magic!!!! Now, where’s that ketchup?

Cornwall is so beautiful. I was really happy to be reminded of the trip and all the delicious food we ate there!. I made these pasties way back in October and just writing about them has made me want to make them again. Let’s hope the weather stays bad so I can get baking!

And finally, if you can’t get enough of pasties, here are some more facts….oops! I just realised I crimped my pasties in the Devonshire way! Good thing I said right from the get-go that these were only Cornish-ish (Cornish adjacent?) pasties!!!!

Have a great week everyone!!!!

10
Nov
2019

Broccoli & Stilton Quiche – Rye, England, 2019

categories: Blue Cheese, Broccolini, England, Travel, United Kingdon, World Cooking

I’ve been having a few holiday blues. You know that time where the last one feels like a long time ago and the next one seems like a long way away. So, I thought that it might help my malaise to revisit some of my favourite meals from holidays past.

Rye was our first stop on our holiday this year and I ate an incredibly tasty Broccoli and Stilton quiche from the Rye Deli.

Rye is such a pretty town and full of antique and retro shops. Well worth a visit! If you are heading to the UK and want a great quiche and some cool glassware! I bought some repro Babycham and Martini glasses. And some gorgeous vintage Laura Ashley cups and saucers.

The only things is…a bag full of glassware and a Broccoli and Stilton quiche are not good bag fellows. I spent the day shopping and loading myself up with all the gorgeous glasses. Meanwhile, my lovely quiche was getting squished to bits in my bag. It still tasted delicious but was certainly not in the pristine condition in which I bought it!

I love quiche but tend to veer towards the classic Quiche Lorraine or a Spinach and Feta quiche as my go-to’s. The Broccoli and Stilton Quiche squashed and battered though it was after a few hours of being pummelled in my backpack was a revelation. Such a tasty combination!

And also so pretty! I love how the swirls and branches of the broccolini (which I used instead of broccoli) look like little plants, making this quiche look like some sort of whimsical garden

Because I was trying to keep it British, I used a recipe I found on the Ocado website. However, in all honesty, this recipe was not as good as my original quiche from the Rye Deli. I think it was the onions. I don’t recall any in the OG version but do like the way the rounds of the spring onion play off against the straight stems and the flowery whirls of the broccolini. So, my recommendation would be to halve the amount of spring onions and cook them off a bit first.

Apart from the antiquing and the fab quiche, great fish and chips and a v good bookstore, Rye has some great olde worlde pubs

.A very cool castle, complete with stocks for anyone misbehaving!

And literary cred galore!

My only peeve with Rye was that we arrived just after 9:00 pm. And everywhere except for the fish and chip shop had closed or stopped serving food for the night. This was in the height of holiday season so it was kind of surprising. Having said that, the fish and chips were great so all was not lost.

If you can’t get to Rye, you can always get a taste of it by making a Broccoli and Stilton Quiche! If you can get to Rye, get there before 9:00 pm!

Have a great week!

13
Oct
2019

Use By: Roast Vegetable Bubble and Squeak

categories: England, Great Name, Leftovers, Roast Vegetables, Use By

What can you do with a load of leftover roast veggies? Make one of the best-named dishes ever – Bubble and Squeak! Bubble and Squeak is a British recipe which is traditionally made from the leftovers from the traditional Sunday roast. It is supposedly called Bubble and Squeak due to the noises made during the cooking process. I think this last bit may be apocryphal. My Bubble and Squeak neither bubbled or squeaked. It was totally delicious though!

So what’s it all about Alfie? Given the Britishness of this dish, feel free to use your best Michael Caine cockney voice as you read that too!

Well, get your leftovers – I had some Ottlolenghi Harissa Potatoes and some Brussels Sprouts. You can use pretty much whatever veg you have as long as you have one that can be mashed up. Mashed potato will also work a treat in this.

Mash up your veggies and add a beaten egg. The rest is up to you. Add some of your chopped up leftover roast if you like, throw in some herbs or some cheese. Add some chill or a dollop of mustard. Be as fancy or as simple as you like. I kept these pretty simple, just the veggies and egg because the potatoes already had some harissa and spice seasoning.

When you are ready, pan fry your Bubble and Squeaks to make delicious patties. These are delicious as a side dish, make a great vegetarian burger patty or are good just by themselves.

Topped Bubble and Squeak

My favourite way to eat Bubble and Squeak is to pan-fry the little cakes until they are all crispy and brown on the outside and then top them with all sorts of delish things. These are one of my go-to’s for lunch (or breakfast) when I am working from home.

Breakfast Bubbles

No, I’m not talking about champagne although, having just come back from Europe where a glass of sparkling is de rigueur with your brekkie I’m totally on board with bubbles in the AM. Hmm…if you had some sparkling wine with your breakfast Bubble and Sqeak I guess that’s double bubble!

Bubble and Squeak with an egg makes a for a super breakfast. You could pan fry some bacon as you heat the bubble and squeak if you wanted to have some meat but I like to have mine just with egg. Grilled cheese on top of your B&S is another delicious breakfast option.

Lunchtime Squeaks

Come lunchtime, I like to top my Bubble and Squeak with some chilli labneh and pickled red cabbage or hummus and tomato salsa as per the top picture.

I love the combination of the crispy roast veggies, the creaminess of the yoghurt and the bite of pickle!

Bubble and Squeak can become quite addictive and now I routinely cook extra veg just so I can have them over the next few days!

Here’s a recipe but feel free to experiment as you wish with herbs, condiments etc. My version does not include cheese in the mix but, if you were going to add it, you could play around with different types. Having said that, now I desperately want to have Bubble and Squeak with some blue cheese crumbled through it!!!

Tell me, what is your favourite way of using up roasted veg?

Have a great week!

27
Sep
2019

Chicken Curry Mildura – A Sight for Sore Eyes

categories: Australasia, Chicken, Curry

Coming home from vacation is always bittersweet. One of the best parts for me is being able to get back into the kitchen. My head is always buzzing with ideas of how to recreate the food I ate on holiday back at home. But before any of that, there is the first meal at home. This is usually some sort of comfort food. I crave something that is both utterly of home and different to what I’ve been eating. After time in Asia this might be meatballs or shepherd’s pie. This time after a month in Europe, the item I most wanted to cook was something spicy. Chicken Curry Mildura fit the bill perfectly!

Chicken Curry What?

Chicken Curry Mildura. Now the only Mildura I know of is a country town in northwestern Victoria about 6 hours drive from where I live. It is situated on the banks of the Murray River. It is famous for olde worlde paddle steamers and is a centre of fruit growing, particularly citrus and grapes.

The name Mildura is thought to have come from an Aboriginal word meaning either “sore eyes caused by flies” or “red rock”

Let’s go with the red rock shall we? Because it really is a delightful country town! And a beloved vacation place for many Victorians.

After researching it for this post I’m quite keen to go spend the next long weekend up there!

What I could not find at all was why, out of all the Victorian country towns, Mildura alone gets to have an eponymous chicken curry.

Now, the aspiring Sherlocks in the crowd may be thinking “might this curry contain some of the fruit for which Mildura is famous?” No, there is not so much as aa peep from any of those stalwarts of the 1970’s curry – apples, bananas and sultanas. (Thank goodness).

Chicken Curry Mildura does contain one odd, to me anyway, ingredient which is Oyster Sauce. I have never used Oyster Sauce in a curry before! It does not taste at all of oysters or seafood of any kind. I think what it brings to the curry is a lovely deep umami flavour that makes this rather simple curry taste a lot more complex than it is!

My PSA

The recipe, which you can access here calls for 6 birdseye chillies. I need to be careful when I cook because although I love my chilli, The Fussiest Eater in the World who has a white boy palate extraordinaire. However, even I feel that 6 birdseyes is a step too far.

I used two chillies in mine and it was PLENTY hot enough. Add your chillies with discretion so you can enjoy the taste of a very delicious curry!

. Have a great weekend all!

22
Jul
2019

Pakistani Scotch Eggs

categories: 1970's recipes, Good Housekeeping World Cookery, Pakistan, World Cooking

Hello, people of the internet!

Arrrgghh, it’s been such a long time between posts due to a long period of lethargy following the flu and a dying, then dead, laptop. But, at long last, we can continue our journey around the world 1972 style as we enter the Indian subcontinent and taste test these delights straight out of Pakistan. During this leg of the trip, we will visit, Pakistan, India and the country of my birth, Sri Lanka. I am very excited about what lies ahead. But first, let’s talk about these Pakistani Scotch eggs I made…or, more correctly, let’s talk about the Nargasi Koftay I made.

I love Scotch eggs. Not those horrible store-bought things you buy on holiday in England and spend the next few weeks regretting…but proper homemade Scotch eggs. My mum used to make them regularly when I was a child and like most things, in my mind, mum’s Scotch eggs are the BEST! But surprisingly, given our Sri Lankan heritage, we never had them with a spicy mince coating the egg.

Let me tell you….mind blown!!!! Such a good innovation.

That is…until I started to do a little bit o’ digging into the history of the Scotch egg and realised that maybe it is not an innovation at all…

Fortnum and Mason claim to have invented the Scotch egg in 1738 as a luxury travelling snack for wealthy Londoners departing the fog and funk of the city for the fresh and crisp air of their country manors. The idea being that plain old hard-boiled eggs were far too stinky for these posh folk to have to deal with.

Wow…imagine that world!

I had never thought of Scotch Eggs being posh people’s food. I would have put money on it originating in a working-class scenario, much like a pastie. The crumb coating protecting the meat from the dirt and dust of a coal mine while the egg was added as a cheap and quick protein boost and to eke out the meat.

Let’s throw another scenario out there

Way back in 1592, the Moghul Empire was founded…and those dudes had a long history with Persia. How about those Moghuls found a recipe for an egg wrapped kofta from the Persians and, in turn, and over centuries, that was given to the British in the days of the Raj…

And turned into a lux travelling snack due to its popularity with the returning sahibs and memsahibs?

Not totally out of the realms of all probability I think.

Here’s the recipe!

Pakistani Scotch Eggs

Print Recipe

A spicy take on a British Scotch Egg.

Author: Taryn Fryer

Ingredients

Scale

6 eggs, boiled and shelled, aim for soft boiled
1 tbsp coconut oil
1 medium sized onion, finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1cm piece of ginger, grated
1/2 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp Garam Masala
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 tsp cumin powder
1/2 tsp ground coriander
4 sprigs of coriander or mint, finely chopped
500g beef mince
1 cup flour
1 egg, beaten
1 1/2 cups dried breadcrumbs
Sunflower oil to deep fry
Kasundi, coriander leaves to serve (optional)

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Instructions

Carefully shell the eggs and place aside.
Heat the coconut oil in a pan over a medium heat
Add the onions and cook until translucent.
Add the garlic, ginger, salt, chilli powder, Garam masala, turmeric, cumin and coriander. Cook for 2 minutes until the spices become aromatic.
Put aside to cool.
Once the spice mix is cool add the minced beef and the coriander and mix well.
Wet your hands with water and divide the mince mixture into 6 equal parts.
Wrap one of these around an egg, ensuring that there are no cracks or uncovered spaces.
Repeat with the remaining eggs.
Season the flour with salt and pepper and spread on a plate.
Put the beaten egg in a bowl
Add the breadcrumbs to another plate.
Roll the covered eggs in the flour, dip in the egg and roll in the crumbs.
Repeat for all the eggs.
Place in the fridge for 15 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 170C.
Half-fill a deep-fryer or a large pan with oil and heat to 190°C (a cube of bread will turn golden in 30 seconds when the oil’s hot enough). Fry the eggs, in batches, for 2 minutes or until golden. Place the eggs on a baking tray and bake for 10 minutes until the meat is cooked through.
Serve warm or cold with tomato kasundi and coriander leaves.

Nargasi Kofta is traditionally served in a curry sauce. I decided to crumb and fry mine simply because I wanted them to be portable. Sadly no country manor just a commuter train to work!

I served my Pakistani Scotch Eggs with a tomato kasundi from Kylee Newtons’ The Modern Preserver, which is a book I can heartily recommend. You can also find the recipe for the kasundi here.

This spicy relish complements the taste of the Scotch Eggs. If, however, you did not want to go to the bother of making it, you could serve with mayo, or Greek yoghurt – ideally with a swirl of Sriracha through it but plain would also be fine!

Enjoy and have a great week!