World Cooking - Retro Food For Modern Times

16
Apr
2015

Feel Good Libyan Chicken Soup

So, this is the day I had.

The morning was humid and windy. Otherwise known as hell for allergies. My train was cancelled so I had to stand on the platform for 20 minutes waiting for the next one. In the humidity and wind. By the time the train finally came we were crammed in like sardines, my hair was frizzy from the humidity and my nose and eyes were streaming from the wind and the pollen / dust / mad air of Melbourne. Plus I’d left my book at home and someone had turned my charger off overnight so when I turned my phone on for entertainment it lasted about ten seconds before shutting down. No reading. No candy crush. Did I mention this was a Monday?

So I was jammed into the train, nose streaming. And I had no tissues. I always have tissues. Except when I don’t. I became one of those really annoying people who sniffle and snuffle on public transport. I hate those people. I think the only reason someone didn’t yell at me to “Stop that goddamn sniffing” was because my eyes were also streaming like mad and people probably thought I was crying.

Which I did later in the day when I dropped my lunch box and my delicious salad fell all over the ground. So, out to buy lunch and it was no longer hot and humid. It was pouring with rain. So I got soaked to the skin because, of course, I had no coat and no umbrella. I spent the afternoon shivering. By the time I got home, I was cold and grumpy and yes, still sniffing and all I wanted to do was get my dinner on, do my yoga podcast and collapse in front of My Kitchen Rules.

Harrrummmppphhhh…my soup calls for tomato paste. We always have tomato paste. Except when we don’t. I felt like crying again but subbed in some hefty swearing and a can of tomatoes and a couple of sun-dried tomatoes. And then I put my soup on and went upstairs to do my yoga pod.

It was now 7:02pm. MKR starts at 7:30. Which is fine. I do the YogaMazing podcast routines which are all about 20 minutes. So perfect timing really. Is it possible that one thing is going to work out for me today? I switch on the computer.

7:02 Windows is updating your computer.

7:10 Windows is still updating your computer

7:20 Windows is unfuckingbelievably still updating your computer.

The update finally finished at 7:28. I swear, it was as if they had timed it for maximum annoyance.

By now my little bit of grumpiness had turned into a full scale funk and a full blown cold. I stomped downstairs to turn on the telly and the twitter because that is now my default mechanism for watching My Kitchen Rules. Bravo MKR tweeters, you are the funniest and the best!!!

Not that I was thinking that then because I was in a pique with the world.

And then I got to the bottom step and thought “What is that gorgeous smell?”

And no, it was not the neighbour’s cooking something delish but MY chicken soup. My Libyan Chicken Soup with Thyme, or to be exact my Sharba Libiya bil Dajaj wa Alzatar. Or as I like to call it, the chicken soup of awesomeness.

This smelled wonderful. Exotic and fragrant with spices, it was instantly warming and uplifting. And it tasted amazing. Both soothing to my frayed nerves and bad temper and exciting and spicy to my tastebuds.

Talk about chicken soup for the soul. This was life affirming. One bowl of this and my fit of pique was lifted.

This was as easy as hell to cook. And all of the ingredients should be readily available. The recipe called for “orzo” which I also didn’t have so as well as the tomatoes I subbed in risoni. I have since found out these are the same thing. Who knew? Personally, I am going to start calling it by it’s Libyan name of Bird Tongues which manages to be both incredibly poetic, a perfect description and also, a teeny bit creepy. Oh, and the thyme featured below? Straight from my garden!!!

I found this recipe via a group I joined called MENA, the Middle East and North African cooking club. Every month the host chooses a soup, a main and a dessert from a country in the region and members can cook any or all of them. I have been loving cooking from Persiana, and was very keen to learn more about this region’s food and ingredients. And if this was anything to go by, bring it on.

The recipe except for the tweaks mentioned above is here:

Sharba Libiya bil Dajaj wa Alzatar (Libyan Chicken Soup With Thyme)

Gah…because I was sick I missed the cut off for MENA this month but never fear, hear are some of the other entries in for this month:

An InLinkz Link-up

Have a fabulous week, and the next time you feel a little bit sniffly or at odds with the world, try this soup!!!

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16
Mar
2015

Whiskey in The Jar – The Emerald Presse

categories: Cocktail, Ireland, St Patrick's Day, Whiskey

I was so disappointed with my attempt at an Irish Potato Salad Roll that it drove me to drink.

Quite luckily as it happened because that particular cab on the road to rack and ruin drove me right up to the Emerald Presse. And you know, if there’s one other thing the Irish are famous for outside of potatoes, corned beef and cabbage, it’s drinking. And the Emerald Presse will tickle the tastebuds of even the most fastidious of Fassnidges.

Emerald Presse1

I’m not normally a whiskey drinker so I was not sure how this would taste. I liked the idea of the mint, apple and lime even though they seemed a weirdly light combination for what I always think of as being a heavy drink.

Anyhoo….Put ’em together and have you got? Not bibbidi-bobbidi-boo but…My new favourite drink!!!!

The flavours worked really well together. That little frizzante from the sparkling apple juice also added some lightness to it. In my best Irish accent this was the fooking craic!!!! I can’t even begin to tell you how delicious this is. You need to make it immediately and come back to me.

Go on

I’ll still be here when you get back.

Now, take that first sip and “Ohhhhh…..Yeah, sooooooo good”

Then we’ll have a sneaky second. Just because that sparkling apple juice isn’t going to sparkle forever.

The original recipe for this called for 45 ml of Jameson’s. When I measured this out, it looked like a huge amount of whiskey. I scaled mine back to around 30mls and found it about right for my taste. You can scale up or down according to your preference.

Styling Tip

If you really wanted your whiskey in a jar, this would look really cute served in mason jars – in which case you probably could use the full 45ml of Jameson’s.

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Emerald Presse

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A delicious refreshing cocktail to celebrate St Patrick’s Day

Author: Taryn Fryer

Ingredients

Scale

30ml Jameson Irish Whiskey
Sparkling Apple Juice
2 sprigs of mint
Half a lime, quartered
Ice

Cook Mode Prevent your screen from going dark

Instructions

Muddle the mint leaves and the lime quarters in a whiskey glass
Half fill the glass with ice.
Add 30ml of Jameson Irish Whiskey.
Add 90ml of sparkling apple juice.
Top with ice and garnish with another sprig of mint.
Sláinte

Notes

Feel free to adjust the quantities of whiskey and apple juice to suit your taste.
*Also, I think this recipe came from Australian Gourmet Traveller, however as it was just a cut out piece of paper, I am not 100% sure. If anyone knows, please let me know and I will attribute authorship accordingly.

Nutrition

Serving Size: 1

Happy St Patrick’s Day, may the road rise to meet you!

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13
Mar
2015

When Irish Eyes Aren’t Smiling

categories: Ireland, Potato Salad

I wanted to make something really amazing for St Patrick’s Day and when I say something really amazing what I mean is an Irish Potato Salad Roll. And you all thought I was joking when I said I was going to make the PSR into a thing!!!

So, I found this recipe for an Irish Potato Salad – this baby has potatoes, cabbage and corned beef. Faith and Begorrah, could you get more stereotypically Irish?

I was so excited I played some Mumford and Sons and did a little impromptu Riverdance around the dining room.

Irish Potato Salad Roll here I come!!!!

The Luck of The Irish Part 1

The first problem arrived when I could not find celery seed in either of my two local supermarkets. Minor Detail. I have celery salt. And celery. How much flavour is the seed going to add anyway?

The Luck of The Irish Part 2

I”m just going to come out and say it. Corned beef is disgusting. Maybe I bought the wrong sort of stuff but it said Corned Beef on the tin:

The recipe said to cube it, so I assumed it was going to be kind of like Spam i.e. able to be cubed. What I did not expect was this disgusting gelatinous fatty mush which almost made me gag. There were also big chunks of fat left in the bottom of the can.

And it smelt really bad.

My original plan was to cook the corned beef, onion and cabbage together, then make a kind of chunky mash with the potatoes, mayo and pickle and swiss roll them together and serve it cold.

Having seen the corned beef cold put me right off though so that plan went out the window. Mine was going to be a warm salad.

The Luck of The Irish Part 3

So, I started cooking my corned beef and onion and….oh, god, this bit did actually make me gag. There was something weird in the meat. Initially I thought it was one of those lumps of fat. Except it didn’t melt.

It looked like a piece of skin. This picture does not even convey the disgustingness of this lump of….whatever the fuck it was…

So, whilst I was dry heaving, the corned beef started to stick to the pan. So I thought it might be a good idea to throw a glass of wine in there to deglaze the plan. Because wine makes anything better right?

Wrong. This is how doomed this dish was, Adding the wine just made a very fatty, milky, winey, even more stinky liquid rise to the top. This was so incredibly gross it’s kind of making me throw up a little in my mouth just thinking about it.

The Luck of The Irish Part 4

In the end I plated it up by making some chips with the potatoes and making a stack. Potato, corned beef, potato, mayo and chives, potato, corned beef, mayo and pickles.

The Luck of The Irish Part 5

If this was a Hollywood version or even a reality tv show, right about now, I’d saying something along the lines of “You know, when I plated this up, despite all the set backs, despite all the trials and tribulations, this tasted fantastic….best thing I’ve ever eaten”.

It was nothing like that.

It definitely wasn’t the worst thing I’ve ever eaten. Then again, I ate bugs in Cambodia. It was the definitely worst thing I’ve eaten this year. And this is the gift that keeps on giving, not only did it leave a layer of grease in my mouth that survived at least two tooth brushings but even though I had the extractor fan on for the longest time, the day after I made this, there was still a fug of corned beef and cabbage through my entire house.

Hmm…maybe this really did need the celery seed.

Epic fail.

Sorry people of Ireland. I tried.

And my head told my heart
“Let love grow”
But my heart told my head
“This time no, This time no

But never fear…just like a benevolent Colin Fassnidge on My Kitchen Rules, I’m giving myself a redemption round.

And this time, it’s something not even I can fuck up. Roll out the barrel of Jameson’s…next up…we’re having an Irish inspired cocktail. Please let it be fabulous…or you know…just better than this. Otherwise, I might have to strategically vote myself out….

How do you plan to celebrate St Patrick’s Day? If at all?

What’s the worst thing you’ve eaten this year? Ever?

What are your thoughts on strategic voting – MKR or anywhere

Have a great week!

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24
Feb
2015

Crespéou (70’s Style Retro Picnic Bling)

categories: 1970's food, Eggs, Feta, France, Omelette, Turmeric

In his introduction to the Crespéou in Plenty More, Yotam Ottolenghi says

If I was going to sum up my cooking style in five words, 70’s-style-retro-picnic-bling would not be them”

Huh…Weirdly enough that’s exactly the style of cooking I aspire to.

Still, with an introduction like that, there was no way I was not making a Crespéou! I was already thinking about having a month of food I have no idea how to pronounce (Kouign Amman anyone?). Google tells me this is Cresp-ay-oo. And also that it’s from Provence and so-called because the layers look like crepes. Never say I don’t do the research hard yards for you…

So what is this unpronounceable piece of 70’s style crepe like Retro Picnic Bling?

Well, it’s layers of three differently flavoured omelettes stacked on each other and baked. One red, one yellow, one green. Which just goes to show the difference between those classy people of Provence and around here. We’d be calling it something dumb arse like “Traffic Light” Special.

Crespéou – Red Layer

Yotam suggests red peppers for this layer. I used sun-dried-tomatoes because red peppers and I have a love-hate relationship. Without the love.

Hmm, I have realised in looking at this picture of the red layer that I may have put in fresh coriander rather than ground. Oops.

Still, I think that is one of the benefits of a dish like this. You can mix up the flavours. I have seen other recipes where people have used, zucchinis, mushrooms, olives, all sorts of things. It could really become a “clean-out-your-fridge” type dish.

Crespéou -Yellow Layer

The yellow layer was intriguing. I have never used turmeric in an omelette before. It really works!!! If I was going to mix this layer up a bit thin crispy discs of pan sautéed potato would be great!

The trick with this dish is to leave the top of your omelettes much more runny than you would any other omelette. The idea of this is that when you stack them and bake them the egg will solidify and the layers will stick together.

Crespéou – Green Layer

Another genius combination – green onions, green chilli, basil, tarragon and cumin!!! Wow!!! This layer was really perky and fresh!!!

Once you have cooked all your omelettes, stack them up as neatly as possible. And into the oven they go to cook up that last bit of runny egg.

Once cooked through, you can eat your Crespéou as is or trim the edges with a sharp knife to be able to see the layers. I used a small square pan so I cut mine into four cubes…

These were superb. I had it for lunch I think 3 days running and looked forward to it on day three as much as I did on day one.

And I know what you’re all thinking. Which layer tasted best? I did separate one of my cubes and ate each later alone. And they were all really good. But the combination was a-may-zing!!!!

Yotam Ottolenghi also says of the Crespéou that:

“If there is one recipe that might make me cringe in years to come, it will, for sure be this one”

I say “I love you. Can you not be so happily gay and be my boyfriend? You could cook me Crespéou and we could go on a picnic in a field in Provence and I could dance around listening to “Total Eclipse of the Heart” on a vintage Walkman. Or…hold your head up high and embrace the Crespéou for the lunchbox saviour that it is. And I’m sure even better on picnics. Especially picnics in Provence. With heaps of rosé wine and 1970’s disco music on your vintage Walkman.

Which is fairly redundant – I can’t think of ANYTHING that wouldn’t be better on a picnic in Provence with heaps of rosé wine and 1970’s music on your Walkman. Can you?

Speaking of which…before she was Totally Eclipsed in the Heart Bonnie Tyler was Lost in France which would actually be the perfect musical accompaniment to the Crespéou…

The full recipe can be found in Plenty More or online here

GlitterPhoto
Bonnie Tyler being Lost in France is here:

Make. Listen. Drink lots of rosé and imagine yourself lost in France.

This week, I’m cooking up some more 70’s Style Retro Picnic Bling courtesy of Jane Grigson! Have a tres fantastique week what ever you get up to.

And turn around bright eyes.

And P.S. – I’m totally contemplating the name of this blog to Retro Picnic Bling. Loving it madly!!!

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23
Jan
2015

Drunk Food – The Meat Pie Floater

categories: Adelaide, Australasia, Meat Pie, Soup

I guess each culture has a food they like to eat when drunk. The Brits for instance love a curry when they are five sheets to the wind. Closer to home, we in Melbourne like nothing better than a kebab or its Greek cousin, the souvlaki. Ahhhh….greasy meaty goodness wrapped in pita bread…deeelicious whatever you call it. There was also a spate, back in the 1990’s of mobile hot dog vendors but they were a passing fad. Nothing beats the 3:00am drunken kebab. Not in this town anyway.

So ubiquitous is the post pub/club kebab run that I assumed it was a national pass-time. Oh, so wrong. A few years ago I ventured across the border into South Australian territory for a wedding. Post-wedding we ventured into the casino and post-casino we ran into one of the weirdest instances of drunk food I have ever seen. Which of course, in celebration of the month of crazy and Australia Day (January 26th) I am going to replicate here. We’ll return to that in a moment.

But first, Adelaide. It’s a weird place. City of Churches and bizarre serial killings. And before anyone from South Australia gets their knicks in a knot. It is true. Dexter said so.

And…the very second I typed Adelaide and serial killers, the little app that I have that tells me about related content brought up an article on a body found in a wheelie bin. You can fool some of the people some of the time South Australia but the internet will not be fooled. I on the other hand….did I say I lived in Melbourne? I meant Sydney. Or Perth. Yeah, Perth. It’s even further away and in the opposite direction. Yep, I definitely live in Perth. Just in case you are thinking about crossing any boundaries with your serial killer ways, take a leaf from the Village People and Go West.

But I digress, we’re here to talk about food. Australian food to boot. The picture above shows one of the classic legendary Australian dishes. The Meat Pie. Second possibly only to the Vegemite Sandwich as THE Australian dish.

We love to eat our meat pies with a bit of….and now here’s some Aussie slang for you….a bit of “dead horse”. And no, not in that ooky, literal European way. “Dead horse” is Australian rhyming slang for tomato sauce. That would be ketchup to my American friends.

And in ~~Melbourne~~ Perth this is how we eat our pies. Just as pies. With ketchup. Lovehearts optional.

And, if we have soup…lets just say a rather hearty pea and ham soup. We have it like this. Just soup. Maybe with some crusty bread. Or a crouton.

Let us now return to the street outside the Adelaide casino at 3:00am.

The BF had gone over to the van to get us each a kebab. He came back empty handed and shaking his head. “It’s not kebabs. It’s pies and soup.”

“Ewww…who wants soup at this time of night. But I’ll have a pie. ”

“No, it’s not pies and soup. It’s pies IN soup”

I honestly did not believe him. Until I wandered over to take a look.

And sure enough….pies in pea soup…..

This is drunk food in Adelaide. Seriously. Loveheart optional.

And if you don’t believe me, here’s some independent confirmation.

I told you they were freaky over there.

I would love to tell you that I tried this and despite all my ~~Victorian~~ West Australian prejudices it was awesome.

Except it wasn’t.

It wasn’t as repulsive as I thought it would be. But it was definitely a whole that was a lot less than the sum of its parts. And nowhere near as good as a kebab.

Maybe you need to be drunk to enjoy it.

If you want to try this delight for yourself, you can find a recipe for a Beef and Shiraz Pie here. I have used this recipe before and it is a beauty, however I just bought the ones I used for this. I made the soup though and it was really good. I subbed in chorizo for the more traditional ham and it made the soup super tasty! Recipe below.

I am looking forward to a long weekend celebrating Australia Day. Just not with a meat pie floater….

Have a great week where ever you are!!! I would also love to know what constitutes drunk food in your neck o’ the woods. Drop me a comment….

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