Category: World Cooking

New Zealand Oyster Cocktail

Hello friends, I’m back. The old adage that time heals all wounds has lasted so long because it is true. I have had my period of grief.  And whilst it is still not entirely gone, facing each day without tears is getting easier.   And what better way to celebrate my return than with a spicy starter from the land of the long white cloud!  Today’s New Zealand Oyster Cocktail recipe comes from Good Housekeeping’s World Cookery (1972).  The book says that New Zealand men like food with no frills or foreign touches.    Based on the two recipes I’ve made, my summary of New Zealand food is not “no frills” but “Ugly Delicious”. 

New Zealand Oyster Cocktail 2

This recipe was somewhat nostalgic for me as back in the day, our local pub used to do a “Bloody Mary Oyster Shot”  as an starter.  The New Zealand Oyster Cocktail had a very similar vibe.   These aren’t pretty!  But the best part about ugly delicious is the delicious.  And these met that brief in spades, even without the added sprinkle of nostalgia!  

New Zealand Oyster Cocktail – The Recipe

If you are entertaining and want a  starter that takes less than a minute to make but has a wow factor and as mentioned tastes great, then the New Zealand Oyster Cocktail is for you!  

New Zealand Oyster Cocktail Recipe

My Variations

  • The recipe calls for Tomato Sauce which to me means ketchup.  We’re classy people here at Retro Food for Modern Homes and ketchup is reserved for chips and pies.  I used tomato juice which also added to the Bloody Mary feel.
  • For my piquant Table Sauce I used a mix of Tabasco and Worchestershire.  
  • I made a little jug of the tomato juice, Tabasco, Worchestershire, Lemon juice and seasonings and added that to the oysters instead of adding each of these individually as the recipe suggests
  • Finally my serviing glasses were only large enough for one oyster but I prefer the idea of an indidivual serve rather than muliple oysters in the one cup!
  • You can also ditch the glasses all togther and pour your combined sauce and seasonings into the shell itself!  This, to my eye looks a bit prettier but is harder to eat without spilling tomato juice all over yourself! 
  • If you wanted to ramp up the Bloody Maryness of these, add a little splash of Vodka into your tomato juice mix!

 

New Zealand Oyster Cocktail 3

Have a great week!

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Fresh Asparagus with Rouille

Hello friends and welcome to another post on what posh people ate in the 1980s. Spring has sprung in many parts of the world. I have been holding over the recipe for Fresh Asparagus with Rouille for months as I think it is a perfect dish for the season. 

Asparagus with Rouille

Why Is Fresh Asparagus with Rouille Posh Food?

We’ve long considered asparagus a high-end vegetable. 

A scene in The Crown was reshot because the etiquette advisor noticed Dominic West using a knife and fork for asparagus. The proper way is to pick it up with your fingers! This is exactly how I used to eat it back in my single days. Sometimes, when too tired to cook after work, dinner became microwave hollandaise sauce and steamed asparagus dunked straight from the jar.  I just thought I was being lazy!

And I suspect that the inclusion of the word “Fresh” in the recipe title was further 1989 code for “Not that tinned garbage the hoi poiloi eat darling, we only want the real deal”. 

Rouille accompanies the asparagus. This: 

  1. Is a Provençal Sauce
  2. Is Hard to pronounce – its Roy-ee btw
  3.  Contains saffron, a very expensive spice

Any of which would send the Poshometer into overdrive.  All of them?  This could be the poshest recipe ever!  

Finally, this recipe comes from an article called Polo Partying Shot.  Now, I don’t know if you know any polo-playing people?  One of my friends once dated a polo player and he and his buddies were universally vile.  They truly believed that having more money than God entitled them to be arrogant, rude, dismissive, sexist and racist.  They were the worst!  

Asparagus with Rouille2
Dunking with Glee..not a knife in sight!

Fresh Asparagus with Rouille – The Facts According To Me

This was amazing!  It was so tasty!  I love asparagus.  My Nana’s asparagus sandwiches (made with tinned asparagus) were one of my favourite things to eat!!!! And, as above, it was one of my lazy single-girl meals.  So, I am already a fan of asparagus.

But the Rouille?  

OMG….

Asparagus with Rouille4

The Rouille was a game-changer!  I always thought nothing could be better than Hollandaise with asparagus.  The Rouille blew my mind.  Not only was it a beautiful deep, rich yellow but it also had a deep rich flavour that was nothing short of superb.  It’s thick and lemony and garlicky with a little kick from some mustard and cayenne but you could also definitely taste the saffron.  But whilst it is punchy, it doesn’t overwhelm the asparagus.  

Finally, this was ridiculously easy to make! And certain to impress your friends at your next dinner party, picnic or night on the couch!

Fresh Asparagus With Rouille – The Recipe

via the pages of Vogue Entertaining Oct/Nov 1989

Asparagus with Rouille recipe (2)

Asparagus with Rouille6

 

For another lovely take on Spring Asparagus recipes, why not check out my Easter Lily Sandwiches?

Have a wonderful week!

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Classic Pavlova

G’Day Mates! Today we are heading back to our old friend Goodhousekeeping’s World Cookery for a sweet treat from the Antipodes! People hotly debate whether the Pavolva was invented in Australia or New Zealand.  We will not be entering into that discussion here.  Neither does Good Housekeeping.  They, rather wisely have a recipe for Pavlova in both the Australia and the New Zealand chapters! Nice diplomacy there GH!

Pavlova

I am using the recipe from the Australian chapter just because most of the other recipes in that chapter were awful! The recipes included things like Brain and Walnut Sandwiches, Sheep’s Tongues in Aspic, and a leg of lamb stuffed with kidneys, identified as Colonial Goose.  I’m sure that 1970’s Australian cuisine was better than what is represented here. So Pavlova or Pavlova Cake as they call it, it was! Not that I minded because I adore a pav! It is one of my favourite desserts and reminds me of summer, Christmas and good times whenever I eat it!

Pavlova2

Why Pavlova?

Anna Pavlova, the Russian Ballet dancer was the inspiration for the dessert.  She toured Australia and New Zealand in 1926.  

The lightness of the meringue represents not only the lightness of her steps but also her beautiful tutus. The Good Housekeeping Pavlova was wonderfully light. The meringue was crisp but it also had that lovely marshmallow inside which is the hallmark of a good pavlova.  

Pavlova – The Recipe

Pavlova recipe

I followed the recipe for the meringue as per Good Housekeeping’s World Cookery.  However, when it came to the topping I went my own way.  Pavlova can be very sweet so to add some tang, I add a dollop of lemon curd into my cream.  My favourite toppings are the classic strawberry and passionfruit but you can add whatever fruit you like.  

Pavlova5

Have a great week! Signature2

 

Huli Huli Chicken Wings

Aloha friends and welcome to 2024! Whilst most of us are looking ahead, I am reflecting on the last “20 Years Ago Today” post I wrote. In that post, I said, “couscous is the only food I can think of where the same letters are repeated”. The very next day, I was searching through my file of blog-worthy recipes.  And, found a recipe for Huli Huli Chicken Wings. So, we are taking a little trip back to 1950’s Hawaii for a taste test! Never let it be said that I am not happy to prove myself wrong in the search for delicious food.  

Huli-Huli-Chicken-Wings

If someone else hadn’t already come up with the catchphrase of “finger licking good” I’d be using it right now to describe these wings. The Huli Huli sauce is so good!  It’s sweet and sour and full of umami and sticky and just plain delicious.  I made these a little while ago and as I am writing this now my mouth is watering thinking about them!  Guess what’s going back on the menu for next week! 

Huli Huli Chicken Wings2

Huli Huli Huh?

Ernest Morgado, the founder of the Pacific Poultry Co served his mum’s teriyaki-style chicken to a group of farmers back in 1955.  They loved it and he decided to market it as Huli Huli Chicken.  Huli means “turn” in Hawaiian.  The original way of cooking this was to place the chicken between two racks and to grill it, preferably over charcoal.  It was turned during cooking hence, huli huli! 

Schools and other charities often sold Huli Huli chicken as a fundraising item.  In Australia, outside every Bunnings (large hardware store) we also have fundraising food stalls.  We get the cheapest sausages imaginable, slapped into usually dry and equally cheap white bread, some BBQ’ed onions if you want them, and some sauce.  It is usually revolting but there is something about that BBQ aroma that draws you in, even though you know it you will regret it as soon as you take that first bite.  

I think Australian fundraisers could learn a lot from the Hawaiian way of doing things.  I mean, why have this?

When you could have this?

Huli Huli Chicken Wings3

Huli Huli Chicken Recipe

My recipe comes directly from the Australian Women’s Weekly website.  I have also copied it out below:

Huli Huli Chicken 1

 

Huli Huli Chicken 3

Huli Huli Chicken 4

I can also heartily recommend the pineapple salad that accompanies the Huli Huli chicken wings in the above recipe.  To me, it was the perfect fresh and zesty offset to the sweetness of the chicken.  And that hit of chilli in the salad somehow brought everything together!

Well, if this is the standard of cooking I get when I prove myself wrong, I am willing to be proved wrong again and again! Please let me know if you can think of any others! Otherwise, have a great week!

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Riceycoco

Greetings friends and welcome to Jamaica!  Today, on the back of my trip to tropical FNQ (Far North Queensland), I am featuring a recipe from the Caribbean. Riceycoco comes to us via the pages of Good Housekeeping’s World Cookery (1972). It also comes very high on the list of words I find pleasant to say!  And that is all the justification I needed to make it!

 

Riceycoco

 

Riceycoco, is as the name suggests, rice cooked in coconut milk.  It is traditionally eaten for breakfast which reminded me of a Sri Lankan dish called Kiribath (milk rice).  There the difference ends.  Kiribath is eaten with chutneys and sambols as a savoury dish whereas Riceycoco is sweet.    I am not fond of a sweet breakfast so I ate mine as a dessert, similar to a rice pudding.  To amp up the tropical vibes, I added some mango to the mix.  

Riceycoco2Rice and coconut milk is a classic in many Asian countries and I enjoyed the twist of having a sweet version of something I am more familiar with as a savoury dish.  It was also a nice reminder of the tropics now we are back in cold, grey Melbourne! Its also a very soothing comfort food – a little bit like being cocooned in a warm cuddlepillar!

Daisy - Cuddlepillar

Riceycoco – The Recipe & Notes

 

Riceycoco Recipe

  • I used coconut milk from a can instead of fresh coconut milk.
  • I also swapped out the brown sugar for maple syrup.
  • I served some additional coconut milk on the side.  
  • This would also be spectacular with a dollop of coconut yoghurt.

If you want to be reminded of the tropics, like a sweet breakfast or want the nursery comfort of a rice pudding why not give Riceycocoa try  Even just so you get to say the name a few times!  

Have a great week!