World Cooking Archives - Page 7 of 30 - Retro Food For Modern Times

05
Nov
2022

Petits Pois à la Française- Murder in The Mews

categories: Dining With The Dame, France, Poirot

Greetings crime readers and food lovers! Today we are reading and eating our way through the titular novella in the Murder in the Mews collection. Murder in The Mews begins on Guy Fawkes Night, which is today (if you are reading on the day I posted it)! To go with this most English of nights, we are eating a very French dish of petits pois à la française. Now, I’ll be absolutely honest here. I am not a great lover of peas. But, there is not a lot of food mentioned in Murder in The Mews. Indeed, I was thinking this might be the day I share the recipe for Golf Pie, when, in the very last paragraph, a meal is mentioned containing the aforementioned little peas!

Murder in The Mews- The Plot

Remember, remember, the Fifth of November,
Gunpowder treason and plot
I see no reason why gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot

We open with a street urchin (think Oliver – please sir, can I have some more?) asking Japp and Poirot if they will give him a penny for the guy. Japp sends him off and the two resume their walk. In an act of foreshadowing, Japp muses that it would be a good night for a murder. The fireworks would mask sound of a gun shot. In an even greater act of foreshadowing, they then move on to the topic of Poirot committing a murder. We’ll get to that one in time!

More immediately though, the following morning Poirot learns that woman has been found dead in the very same mews they walked through the previous evening. Poirot wonders why Japp, a high ranking police officer, would be called to a suicide but agrees to meet him at the home of the deceased.

We have

The gun found in Barbara Allen’s hand held in such a way that she could not have possibly shot herself with it
No suicide note
Jane Plenderleith, Mrs Allen’s flatmate behaving suspiciously
Poirot fascinated by a series of seemingly disparate objects – a watch, a writing set, a fireplace and the contents of a locked cupboard and the smell of a room
A shady Major

Poirot and Japp (but mostly Poirot) need to figure out – was it suicide? Or murder?

My favorite part of the story has nothing to do with the plot. It is the moment when Poirot answers the call from Japp with “Allo, Allo“. Now if, only Poirot had been in a certain café in Nouvion during the war, he might have been able to help Rene in solving the mystery of the painting of the Fallen Madonna. I would pay money to see that mash up!

Murder in The Mews- The Covers

Yesssss!!!! After a slew of short stories, we can finally get back to looking at the cover art on books. And Murder In The Mews does not disappoint.

I love the cover with the green mirror image woman looking alarmed. It is so brilliantly menacing! If like me, you are a little bit confused Anubis on one of the covers, I believe it is because he was the God who took care of the dead. Bottom left is a Portuguese edition which translates literally to Murder in the Alley.

The Recipe – Petit Pois À La Française

I used the recipe for Petit Pois À La Française from Manu Feildel’s book Manu’s French Kitchen.

Japp looked at his friend for some moments in silence. Then he rose, clapped him on the shoulder, and burst out laughing.

“Not so bad for an old dog. Upon my word, you take the cake! Come out and have a spot of lunch?”

“With pleasure my friend, but we will not have the cake. Indeed, an omelette aux champignons, blanquette de veau, petits pois à la française, and to follow a baba au rhum.”

– Agatha Christie, Murder in The Mews

Other Food Mentioned in Murder In The Mews

December’s read will be Hercule Poirot’s Christmas. Because who hasn’t wanted to murder an annoying family member at Christmas?

Happy reading!

23
Oct
2022

October 2002 – My Big Fat Greek Feast – 20 Years Ago Today

categories: 20 Years Ago Today, Greece, Movies

Greetings from 2002! This month I am cooking from the October 2002 issue of Australian Table. Instead of cherry picking recipes from all over the mag, like I did with September 2002, this time I have cooked three Greek inspired dishes from an article called Acropolis Now. Nice pun Australian Table. At least they didn’t run with “It’s all Greek to Me”. So, what is on the menu?

Broad Beans with Grilled Haloumi Cheese

OMG…these were AMAZING!!!!

I love a broad bean. And you know who doesn’t love haloumi? With all due respect to vegans and the lactose intolerant, people who are dead inside. If you cannot find some sense of joy in the very prospect of grilled cheese? We can’t be friends. And you probably need to sign up for years of therapy.

I totally botched the gorgeous grill marks you are meant to get on the haloumi but I didn’t do too bad a job of recreating the recipe as it appeared in the mag. I wonder though, if this recipe appeared in a magazine today, would we need to have the word “”cheese appended to the haloumi? I think not. Apart from that though, this is a delicious dish that could appear on any table today without it feeling like a recipe that was 20 years old.

Here’s the recipe. And…can I just say…I don’t think I did too bad a job at recreating the look of the magazine picture in my version!

Keftethes and Greek Salad

I love how 2002 has to explain these as being Greek “Rissoles” . Not even meatballs. Rissoles. The word rissole reminds me so much of this scene in the utterly brilliant Australian film The Castle.

These were great! The mint was really nice and it made a very tasty yet simple weeknight dish! I was a bit worried about coating the keftethes with flour before cooking but it kept the meat from drying out and gave it a really nice crust!

The keftethes paired really well with a Classic Greek Salad!

The recipe for the Greek Salad per Australian Table had no lettuce. My local Greek restaurant, The Paradise of Lindos, always includes lettuce in their Greek Salad so I added some to mine without even realising it was not in the recipe. Go your own way on this! None of these dishes are breaking the mould when it comes to flavours or techniques. But they were all flavourful and easy to make. They would be a perfect weeknight dinner!

Here are the recipes:

For those of you with a sweet tooth, the article also contained a recipe for those lovely crescent shaped Greek shortbreads which I am very keen to try making! If you would also like to try, here is a recipe for Kourabiethes.

The Film Event of October 2002

So, you know what else happened in October 2002?

If I told you that the film that Wikipedia reliably informs me was “the highest-grossing romantic comedy of all time” was released would you have any idea what I was talking about? Take a guess. Then take another because you were probably wrong. Then, look at the title of this blog post and take another because who knew that?

My Big Fat Greek Wedding was released (in Australia) on 24 October 2002. Starring Nia Vardalos and John Corbett (who was riding high on his role as Aiden in Sex and The City) it was a rom com about the cultural confusion that occurs when a Greek girl falls for an all American boy.

I remember being delighted by this film when it came out. It was so funny and John Corbett was so handsome! My clearest memory though is this one:

I fear that My Big Fat Greek Wedding might not stand up well to the test of time. I was tempted to rewatch it for this but did not want my memories of a film I really enjoyed back in the day to be spoiled. Was has stood up to the test of time are the recipes in the article on Greek cooking. Acropolis Now? I say Acropolis Wow!

I’ll show myself the door on that one!

Have a great week everyone!

09
Oct
2022

Ceviche & Eggs A La Mexicana

categories: 1970's recipes, Eggs, Fish, Good Housekeeping World Cookery, Mexico

Hola amigas y amantes de la comida! Did I ever mention that during that very first lockdown of 2020, I tried learning Spanish on Duolingo? That first sentence pretty much reflects the highest level of proficiency I attained. Despite my very limited ability to speak the language, we are leaving the snowbound land of Canada to head south to the sun and sea of Mexico via Good Housekeeping’s World Cookery. And our first meal is going to be an absolute favourite of mine – Ceviche!

Ceviche contains so many things I love – raw fish, avocado, lemon, tomato, chill and coriander! And it is also so vibrant! I used tuna in my ceviche so there was the gorgeous pink of the tuna, some red tomatoes, the bright green of the coriander, the more more mellow yellow green of the avocado some bright yellow pear tomatoes so it really was very colourful.

I then also made Eggs A La Mexicana from the same chapter and the colour palette was quite similar!

Of course I am not the first person to realise that a lot of Mexican food is yellow, red and green…there are several colour palettes to this effect on Pinterest and elsewhere:

Having said that, the part of my brain that probably spends too much time at work, or thinking about work, thought the colour palette of both dishes was very similar to that of an Excel conditional formatting colour scale! So I may well be the first person to link Mexican food and a spreadsheeting tool!

The Recipes – Ceviche and Eggs a La Mexicana

Both of these were delicious and easy to cook! Which as long-time readers will know was definitely not the case the last time I ventured into the realm of Mexican cooking! Mind you, I’m not saying that these recipes are absolutely authentico but they had me doing a little dance like this all the same!I hope your week has you also doing a little dance and not staring at too many spreadsheets!

14
Aug
2022

Rum and Butter Tartlets

categories: 1970's food, 1970's recipes, Baking, Canada, World Cooking

This recipe for Rum and Butter Tartlets is inspired by the recipe in the Canada chapter of Good Housekeeping’s World Cookery (1972).

To Rum or Not To Rum?

The original recipe calls for Rum essence which I suppose makes these child-friendly. I remember hating rum balls, or anything else rum flavoured, as a child so I am not sure how friendly the essence version would be. We did not have any rum essence in the house so I soaked my currants in actual rum. I then added the currant soaking liquid into the pies. Did I say how delicious these were?

Rum and butter is a classic combination – seen in hot buttered rum and rum and steak!

But please make up your own mind on using real rum or rum essence. Just not red rum!

We are watching The Shining for my film club. I think it is a genius movie and one of Kubrick’s best ( Stephen King hated it with a passion) and I am keen to see what the other club members think of it.

Rum and Butter Tartlets – The Recipes

I changed the original recipe a LOT both because some things such as the amount of sugar were insane. Also…it’s Canada…why are they even using sugar when they could have had maple syrup which is a far superior sweetener IMHO!

Here is the original recipe from Good Housekeeping’s World Cookery

And here is my version:

Print

Rum and Butter Tartlets

Print Recipe

A delicious modern take on a vintage recipe.

Author: Taryn Nicole

Ingredients

Scale

70g currants
50g butter
60g cream
100g maple syrup
1 tbsp rum / rum essence
1 egg
12 sweet tart shells

Cook Mode Prevent your screen from going dark

Instructions

Soak the currants in the rum for at least 1 hour.
Melt the butter. Add the cream, maple syrup, rum and currants.
Whisk in the egg.
Fill the tart shells and bake in a moderate oven (180C) until the filling was set and the pastry is golden. This was 40 minutes for me.

I have also found a very similar recipe from Adam Liaw

There may be a short hiatus in my posting schedule, we are about to go on a little holiday to the beautiful beach resort of Noosa on the Sunshine Coast. I am hoping for six days of sunshine, sand and great food!

Have a great week!

07
Aug
2022

Fish with with Mulligatawny Flavours

categories: Curry, Daily News, Fish, Modern Times, Sri Lanka

The Daily News Cookery Book is a stalwart of Sri Lankan Cooking, first published in 1929. My mum was given a copy as a wedding present which we still have and I have a copy of the 2013 edition which seems to be a paperback copy of the 1964 edition without the vintage ads but with all the quirkiness. This quirkiness oftentimes means it is not the easiest book to cook from. The methods of cooking can seem outdated, the measurements can be odd. So, I often use it more as an inspiration rather than something to follow exactly. This is how my dish of Fish with Mulligatawny Flavours came about. It was so tasty and delicious that I wanted to share it – and after all, it is truly revamping a retro dish for modern times!

So, I hear you ask, why not just make this as a mulligatawny? I had some really nice roti and I wanted to dip that bread into something thicker than a soup. A curry gravy seemed like the perfect thing. So, why not just call it a fish curry? I wanted to recognise the OG recipe which was for a fish mulligatawny. There are also some very non-traditional ingredients here – for instance, you would never see Thai Basil in a traditional Sri Lankan curry. However, I love its flavour, particularly with fish! Roti is also not a traditional accompaniment for Sri Lankan food – we do have a coconut roti but this is not the flaky type of bread I am referring to here.

Fish With Mulligatawny Flavours – The Recipes

And now here is the OG recipe. You can, of course, choose to make this version if you wish. Please let me know how it turns out if you do! If not keep reading for my version!

Print

Fish with with Mulligatawny Flavours

Print Recipe

A modern take on a vintage recipe for Fish Mulligatawny

Author: Taryn Nicole

Ingredients

Scale

4 red onions, 2 sliced, 2 chopped finely
1 sprig of curry leaves (about 20 leaves)
2 tbsp ghee or coconut oil, split
*450g-600g fish fillets (I used Rockling) but any white fish would work.
1 270ml can of coconut milk
200g vegetable stock
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp fenugreek powder
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 tsp ginger, grated
2cm stick of cinnamon
2 tomatoes, chopped
1 10cm stick of celery cut in 4 pieces
150g of green beans, chopped (optional)
Salt

To Serve:

Lime cheeks
Thai basil or Coriander
Roti or Rice

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Instructions

Heat half the ghee or coconut oil in a large saucepan over medium heat.
Add the sliced onions, half the curry leaves and a pinch of salt.
Drop the heat to low and cook, stirring occasionally until the onions are a deep brown. Take your time with this, it took me 20 minutes to get the onions as dark as I wanted them. Remove these from the pan and set aside.

Wipe the pan and add the rest of the coconut oil / ghee.
Once this is melted turn down the heat and add the chopped onions, the rest of the curry leaves, the coriander, cumin, turmeric, fenugreek, cinnamon, garlic, ginger and celery.
Cook stirring often until the spices are fragrant and the onions are softened.
Add the stock and coconut milk. Cook this mixture down until the gravy reaches the consistency of thickened cream.
Add the beans, if you are using them, to the pan.
Sprinkle your fish fillets with salt and add to the pan. Cook for 2-3 minutes on each side, depending on the thickness of your fish. When you turn the fish over, add the chopped tomatoes.
Check for taste – add more salt and or a squeeze of lime to balance out the flavours.
Remove the cinnamon stick and the pieces of celery.**

To Serve

Place a fillet of fish on each place, spoon over the gravy and top each piece of fish with the reserved onion and curry leaf mix.
Garnish with coriander, Thai basil and lime wedges
Serve with rice and/or flaky roti to soak up that lovely gravy.

Enjoy!

Notes

*I had 450g of fish which was three fillets however there was a lot of gravy so you could easily add another fillet in for this same quantity.

** I do not like the texture of cooked celery so I like to remove it before serving. If you are happy to eat it, chop the celery into smaller slices, as you would when making a soup and leave it in.

This is a lovely gently spiced delicate dish – the perfect response to anyone who thinks that all Sri Lankan food is blow your head off hot!

I also found myself eating the leftover gravy with more of that roti the following day and it was also delicious!

I hope you have enjoyed my updating of this old recipe!

Have a great week!

Category: World Cooking

Murder in The Mews- The Plot

Murder in The Mews- The Covers

The Recipe – Petit Pois À La Française

Other Food Mentioned in Murder In The Mews

Broad Beans with Grilled Haloumi Cheese

Keftethes and Greek Salad

The Film Event of October 2002

The Recipes – Ceviche and Eggs a La Mexicana

To Rum or Not To Rum?

Rum and Butter Tartlets – The Recipes

Rum and Butter Tartlets

Ingredients

Instructions

Fish With Mulligatawny Flavours – The Recipes

Fish with with Mulligatawny Flavours

Ingredients

Instructions

Notes