Retro Food For Modern Times

15
Jan
2021

Whiskey and Rye Blondies

A long, long time ago, I can still remember how that music used to make me smile….

Why I am I quoting that bit of pop perfection and rock and roll enigma that is American Pie? Because today, 15 January, way back in 1972, American Pie reached number one on the Billboard charts. And we are celebrating that event not with an American Pie (because that would be waaay too obvious…and we want options for the 50th Anniversary next year!) but with some good ol’ Whiskey and Rye Blondies!

Whiskey and Rye Blondies

The recipe for these Whiskey and Rye Blondies comes from Ella Risbridger and her wonderful book Midnight Chicken. I can heartily recommend this book – it was my choice for a Tasty Reads book last year but if you don’t want to buy the whole book, you can get the recipe for these blondies here!

The Blondies are very rich – a little really does go a long way with these. But they are also delightfully fudgy and more-ish so if you are tempted by a second helping I won’t blame you!

Why not whip up a batch now as we delve into the 8-minute 33-second opus that is American Pie?

American Pie – The Song

American Pie is the titular track on the Don McLean album American Pie. The album with its absolutely iconic cover was in my parent’s record collection for as long as I can remember. I am sure they played other songs but the only ones I can ever remember hearing are American Pie and Vincent. And I remember hearing a LOT of American Pie and Vincent when I was growing up.

I also occasionally like to torture my friends by choosing American Pie as a karaoke song. By which I mean I did it once and was politely asked to never repeat the performance. By management. And my friends.

American Pie references many people and events – the recurring theme of the “day the music died” is about the plane crash that killed Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and The Big Bopper in February 1959. It also mentions The Beatles, The Byrds Bob Dylan, Karl Marx, Charles Manson, the Rolling Stones, James Dean, the Kennedy’s and good lord…so much more! There are multitudes of explanations about the lyrics of American Pie on the internet. You can find one of them here. This is an absolutely fascinating rabbit hole to go down if you have a few hours / days to spare.

But before you do that, let’s all join together and sing…

Bye-bye, Miss American Pie
Drove my Chevy to the levee, but the levee was dry
And them good ol’ boys were drinkin’ whiskey and rye
Singin’, “This’ll be the day that I die

Have a great weekend!

And if you have another 8.5 this parody is also worth a watch!

10
Jan
2021

Classic Sausage Rolls

categories: Classic Recipes

Sausage Rolls are a classic Australian finger food – served everywhere from children’s parties to cocktail functions to picnics in the park to game day snacks. In fact, there is hardly an event where a sausage roll would be inappropriate and many where their existence could improve things! At the very least handing around a plate of them might shut that annoying guest or relative up for a moment or two while they scoff one down! They can also be found at every bakery for lunchtime or anytime snack!

For the win, they are also a breeze to make and are also very economical. There are hundreds of fancy sausage rolls recipes out there (chorizo and pink peppercorn, lamb and harissa, even the unpronounceable n’duja gets a guernsey!) but for the sake of this post, I am keeping it utterly simple and sharing the classic recipe I return to time and again!

In terms of condiments to serve your sausage rolls, for my mind, it can only ever be ketchup!

Classic Sausage Rolls – The Recipe

My version of sausage rolls is based one I found in Anneka Manning’s 101 Dishes to eat before you Die(t). Over the years, I have altered it to suit my tastes, lessened the amount of egg and breadcrumbs, pre-sauteed the onions, increased the amount of sage added some seeds to the top. If you would like the OG recipe please let me know, I will send it through!

Classic Sausage Rolls

Print Recipe

A classic bakery sausage roll. Serve with plenty of ketchup!

Author: Taryn Nicole
Prep Time: 20
Cook Time: 30
Total Time: 50 minutes
Yield: 36 1x
Category: Party Food

Ingredients

Scale

3 sheets frozen puff pastry

1 egg, lightly beaten

500g sausage meat

1 onion finely chopped

1/4 cup fresh breadcrumbs

3 tbsp Italian parsley, finely chopped

1 clove of garlic, finely chopped

2 tbsp thyme, finely chopped

1 tbsp sage,finely chopped* (minimum, I really like a sagey sausage roll so generally add more)

1/2 tsp dried chilli flakes (optional)

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1 tbsp olive oil

Sesame seeds, poppy seeds or a mix (optional)

Cook Mode Prevent your screen from going dark

Instructions

Line two cookie sheets with baking paper.

Saute the onions in the olive oil until translucent. Allow to cool.

Mix all the other ingredients except the pastry and the egg together.

Once the onions are cool, stir them into the meat and herb mix.

Preheat the oven to 180C.

Cut the pastry sheets in half and lightly brush the edges with some of the beaten egg.

Pipe or spoon the meat mixture down the centre of each piece of pastry then fold over, overlapping the edges and placing the join underneath.

Brush the rolls with the beaten egg and sprinkle with the sesame or poppy seeds if using. Cut each roll into 6 pieces.

Place the rolls onto the cooking sheets and bake for 15 minutes. Recduce the heat to 150C and bake for another 15 minutes or until puffed and golden.

Technical Note

For some weird reason about half of my posts have changed status from “posted” to draft. Rather than bombard people with 140 posts all at once, I will be reposting these through the year. As I do I will label them all as “REPOSTS” so if you do not want to read old content you can simply delete it from your inbox. My apologies for this, I have no idea why it has happened and I can’t think of another way of getting them back out there!

I’m heading back to work this week…which for me will be settling back down at my dining room table to start my tenth month of working from home!

I hope whatever you are doing that you do it fabulously!

Have a great week!

07
Jan
2021

Barbecued Chicken with Spiced Ketchup

categories: 1970's food, 1970's recipes, Asia, Chicken, Chicken & Poultry, World Cooking

Hello friends! Today I am sharing a recipe for Barbecued Chicken with Spiced Ketchup which comes from the Malaya, Siam and Indonesia chapter of Good Housekeeping’s World Cookery (1972). From the name, I thought this recipe was going to be for chicken in a spicy tomato sauce. Which would have been fine. This, however, was so much better! This. is ketchup, Jim but not as we know it!

This “ketchup” is made out of garlic, onions, sambal oelek (a chilli paste) soy sauce and lemon. Not a tomato in sight! Which lead me down a rabbit hole into the origins of ketchup. Turns out this may be closer to the original than what we commonly recognise today as ketchup or as we in Australia call it, tomato sauce. The tomato version has been around for a long time – just look at this ad from 1933!

And just to show that Heinz can patronise men as well as women, how about this ad for He-Ketchup.

The History of Ketchup

Fascinating as these ads are, let’s head even further back into the past to look at the history of ketchup. There are a few theories but ketchup most likely originated in Asia. The word either derives from the Hokkien word ke-tsiap or from the Malay word kecap. Kecap Manis is a Malysian sweet soy sauce which could be a distant relation to the original which was a fermented fish sauce. Possibly like the one still used in Vietnamese cooking.

And don’t let those ads from the 1930’s fool you. According to no less than history.com

The 18th century was a golden age for ketchup

Who knew? Anyway, the short version is the fermented fish sauce made its way to England. And the Brits went mad for all sorts of ketchups. Lemons, oysters, mushrooms, walnuts, fruit – you name it there was probably ketchup made out of it! And then in 1812 (somebody cue up that overture), James Mease from Philadelphia developed a recipe for tomato ketchup. And apart from a few artisan brands, all those other kinds of ketchup have gone the way of the dinosaur.

Barbecued Chicken with Spiced Ketchup – The Recipe

The Barbecued Chicken with Spiced Ketchup or to give it its non-English name Ajam Panggang Boemboe Ketjap was delicious and very easy to make! As you can see from the picture, I served it with plain boiled rice as the recipe suggested. If I was to add anything, I would have added a little tomato, red onion and coriander salad maybe with some fresh green chilli to add a fresh element but it was fine without. It would be very nice comfort food on a cold winter evening!

Also, I used chicken thighs for my recipe, not a whole chicken as suggested.

Have a wonderful week, friends, stay safe and look after yourselves and others!

02
Jan
2021

Evita – The Cocktail

categories: Cocktail, Midori, Name Plates, New Year, New Year's Resolutions, Vodka

Welcome to 2021 people of the internet! What will this year bring I wonder? I’m tempted to say that it can only be better than 2020, However, that seems a bit too much like waving a red flag in front of a particularly vindictive bull that tells me to hold it’s beer even as it is pawing the ground and getting ready to charge. So, let’s swiftly change the subject….hmmm…speaking of alcohol….this is the Evita!

The Evita was my cocktail of choice for NYE and a very good choice it was. It has the fruity sweet-sour flavour that I love. And the colours – acid lime green with a flash of orange from the garnish are like a neon version of the more traditional deep green and red of Christmas. Kind of festive edgy if you will. Or 1970’s chic if you won’t.

Evita – The Cocktail

The Evita cocktail contains vodka, melon liqueur, lime and orange juice. You can find the recipe here. There is another cocktail called the Eva Peron which has very different ingredients so make sure you get the right one if you want to make it. Which you should because it is a delightful little tipple!

Evita – The Woman

Truth be told until I started researching for this cocktail did not know all that much about Eva Peron aka Evita. This is what I knew:

She was the wife of the Argentinian president
There was a musical written about her which includes the song Don’t Cry for me Argentina
Madonna played her in the film version of the musical
She was very glamourous and wore gorgeous clothes
I cannot write the name Eva Peron without first writing the name Eva Person and having to correct it.

What I did not know:

María Eva Duarte met Colonel Juan Peron in 1944 and married him in 1945. He became President of Argentina in 1946
During his presidency, Eva, who became known commonly as Evita worked tirelessly to help the poor people of Argentina and to give women full suffrage.
She spoke publicly on labour rights and ran the Ministries for health and labour.
She set up a charitable foundation dedicated to social justice and helping sick and poor Argentinians
And set up an all-female political party.
In 1951 she announced her candidacy for the nomination of Vice President of Argentina, an act that was hugely popular with poor and working-class people.
She was forced to withdraw her nomination because of failing health.
Eva Peron died of cancer in 1952. She was 33 years old.

The Inspiration

What an amazing woman and what an absolute inspiration! Also, what great timing because this is the time of year when I, (and many other people around the world) are setting goals and making resolutions for the New Year.

Learning about this wonderful woman’s life really made me rethink the goals I had started to set – instead of the usual save more, spend less, drink less, exercise more goals maybe this year I will try to live with some of Eva’s grace and devotion to her cause and conviction. Why not make this the year of being strong, vocal and politically active for the causes I care about. And if I can also have all the glamour and wear some pretty dresses that is a bonus!

So, my friends, let’s all raise a toast to Eva Peron. May she inspire us to live our best lives in 2021!

Have a wonderful week and year ahead!

31
Dec
2020

18th Century Trifle

categories: Desserts, Trifle, Vintage Recipes

When you can’t find the music to get down and boogie, all you can do is step back in time. Ball of confusion when nothing is new and there’s nothing doing, step back in time

– Kylie Minogue, Step back in Time

I feel that ball of confusion is probably a polite way to describe 2020. Maybe in a subconscious desire to block out the present, I decided to step back in time with dessert on Christmas Day. And when I say step back, I mean step waaaayyyy back. We ate a dessert that could have sat on the table of poor old Mad King George – an 18th-century trifle! Fitting I think as so many of us came near to losing our sanity at least once over the last 365 days!

You will note that most of the pictures of my trifle have the dish adorned with some ivy leaves. I not only did this to up the Christmassy green and red of the recipe but when washing said dish before making the trifle I dropped it in the sink and broke a bit off the bottom. It still stood perfectly well but was not very sightly! It was way too late to go and buy another trifle dish so it had to be disguised!

The recipe called for Boudoir biscuits. I had never heard of them before. But, in my imagination they are a glamorously louche biscuit eaten by the French only in the privacy of their bedrooms. Turns out it is just the French name for what we here would call sponge fingers or savoiardi. It also turns out that pretty much every country has a different name for these sweet treats – my favourite being the name used in Uruguay and Venezula – “plantillas” meaning little plants!

So first thing we do it give our little plants a good old watering in some booze. I used marsala because I had some but the recipe suggests sherry. I also really like the label on the marsala bottle. It has a jaunty little horse, with what looks like a plant pot on its side, pulling a wagon containing what is presumably a keg of marsala. Is the plant meant to be a boronia plant? And is the plant the same thing that the little horse is wearing on his head?

Incidentally, marsala wine was first brought to England in the 18th century so using it is not entirely out of place!

I topped the soaked biscuits with custard and then topped the custard with the syllabub. The recipe asks for the trifle to syllabub be decorated with “blobs” of red currant jelly. I went to 3 supermarkets but I could not find red currant jelly for love or money! The shelves were piled high with all sorts of condiments containing cranberries. But no redcurrants in sight! I subbed in some raspberry jelly and fresh raspberries for my topping.

The trifle was delicious!! And proof that a step back in time can be a wonderful thing!

18th Century Trifle – The Recipe

This recipe comes from Sarah Edington’s excellent book Classic British Cooking.

This will be my last post for 2020 so, as ever thank you all for reading and commenting and being a part of this! I wish you and yours a fabtacular year ahead!

2021 here we come!