Retro Food For Modern Times - Yesterdays Recipes, Cooked Today

26
Jan
2021

LMNOP Salad

Hello Friends! After the disaster which was the Pink Dawn Salad, today I am sharing a recipe for my LMNOP salad. This is not only one of my favourite summer dinners but it is also a mnemonic which will help you to make a huge variety of other great salads!

Ever stood at the supermarket wondering if you had picked up everything you needed for your salad? Or come home to realise you had forgotten a key ingredient? ‘Well, with this LMNOP salad you will never forget a single ingredient because the keys to building a great salad are as easy as ABC!

Let’s start at the very beginning – it is, after all, a very good place to start.

L is for Lettuce

In this instance, I have used cos (romaine for my American friends) but this works as well with mesclun, watercress, rocket…whatever salad green you favour!

M is for Mozzarella

Mmmmmm…I am currently OBSESSED with buffalo mozzarella and am eating it a couple of times a week! Burrata is also divine with this. But for our memory device, you can sub in any cheese you wish.

N is for Nectarines

But feel free to swap in your favourite stone fruit fo the Peaches or apricots will work here and see below as to some other fruit suggestions…

O is for Olive Oil…

And in this instance a little bit of red wine vinegar. In our mnemonic, the O equals the dressing we are going to place on our salad.

P is for Proscuitto

In this salad but for our wider application it can also stand for Protein.

Applications of the LMNOP formula

Okay, so you have seen how to make the OG version of the LMNOP salad – here are some ideas of how you can apply the formula to mix things up!

Rocket (Arugula) + Blue Cheese + Pears + Walnut Oil Vinaigrette+ Bresaola
Mixed leaves + Haloumi + Cherries + Lemon and Olive Oil + Turkey
Watercress + Vintage Cheddar + Apples + Vinagrette with mint + left over roast lamb
Cos Lettuce + Feta + Strawberries + Lemon + olive oil + Salmon
Cos + Parmesan +Apples + a creamy dressing + bacon will give you a kind of Ceasar Salad
Kale and goat’s cheese and apricots and olive oil and vinegar + chicken

Of course you can add more veggies or fruit if you wish. The photo below is the turkey and halloumi salad mentioned above with some grilled snap peas added.

The brilliance of this recipe is that it is so versatile that you could serve it you your friends or family every day for a week and no one will ever know that you are using a formula. Tasty, healthy, easy and you will never forget an ingredient again!

Enjoy and please let me know what creations you come up with using the LMNOP formula!

Have a great week!

24
Jan
2021

Pink Dawn Salad

categories: Prawns, Salad, ThaiLand, World Cooking

Hello friends! Today we are talking Thai. I love Thai food in general but I absolutely love Thai salads – my favourite is green papaya or green mango salad but a Thai beef salad or a banana blossom salad are also fine by me. I love their freshness and zing! So I had high hopes for a Thai inspired salad with a lovely name – Pink Dawn Salad. This comes from Good Housekeepings World Cookery (1972). Imagine this as a salad – the perfect mix of colours becoming the perfect Thai mix of sweet, salt, hot and sour!

Gorgeous huh? And now that I’ve set your expectations….let’s take a look at the salad. I mean, I knew from the ingredients that it was not going to be a typical Thai salad but it was definitely touted as such by the press back in the 1970’s. I found an article from back in 1978 in the Vancouver Sun that contains this same recipe which certainly implies if not downright states that this is an authentic Thai Salad. Anyway, here it is…

Hmm…not great is it?

There was nothing wrong with the Pink Dawn Salad. I like eggs, tomatoes and prawns. I’m not that keen on bananas but Holy likes them…

Between the two of us, we ate it all. It was just…meh. Boring…bland…not really cohesive. Not a bit Thai. And only marginally pink.

I’m calling a fail on the Pink Dawn Salad – the great name did not equate to great flavour. And I had to skin tomatoes which is something I find weirdly repulsive.

Pink Dawn Salad – The Recipe

Here it is…although I can’t recommend that you give it a try.

If you are looking for a good Thai salad, I made a Crisp Chilli Whitebait and Green Mango Salad from Australian Gourmet Traveller a few days ago and it was heaven!!!! It was actually this on a plate! Recipe here: https://www.gourmettraveller.com.au/recipe/mains/crisp-chilli-whitebait-and-green-mango-salad-10838/

Have a great week!

15
Jan
2021

Whiskey and Rye Blondies

categories: Baking, Brownies, Music

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!