Retro Food For Modern Times - Yesterdays Recipes, Cooked Today

23
Nov
2020

Castilian Leg of Lamb- Dining with The Dame 7

categories: Dining With The Dame, Lamb, Poirot

Hello crime readers and food lovers! Today we are dining on a Castilian leg of lamb as we uncover the evil machinations of a shady group of evildoers known as The Big Four. This is certainly not my favourite of the books I have read so far as the plot seemed a little silly in parts. However one of the early stories significantly involves a leg of lamb This seemed like a great excuse for a roast dinner and the meal did not disappoint!

The Big Four- The Plot

This novel pits Hercule Poirot against four evil genius’ bent on world domination – they are an American – the richest man in the world, a female French scientist, the Chinese leader of the group – a criminal genius and “the Destroyer” the group’s assassin who is also a master of disguise and (wait for it) a British actor.

We have:

Sinister cabals
Poisoned curries
Poisoned grandmasters
Hijinks on trains
Stolen radium
Secret lairs under mountains
Twin brothers
Telltale tics
And, course Hercule Poirot (or is it twin brother Achilles?) using his little grey cells to thwart the villains and their evil plans.

The Covers

Given that we are talking about the Big Four – I’m showing four covers today. The third from the left is the one I read but I am rather taken by all the others.

The Recipe – Castilian Leg of Lamb

The recipe comes from the wonderful Keith Floyd and his journey through Spain – not in the search of arch criminals but in search of some damn fine nosh!

You can find the recipe here. You can also watch the entire series of Keith Floyd’s adventures in Spain on YouTube. Floyd is so engaging it is well worth investing the time.

In his hand he was brandishing a leg of mutton! “My dear Poirot!” I cried “What is the matter? Have you suddenly gone mad?”

“Regard, I pray you , this mutton. But regard it closely!”

I regarded it as closely as I could but could see nothing unusual about it. It seemed to me to be a very ordinary leg of mutton.”

Agatha Christie, The Big Four

Other Food Mentioned in The Big Four

Have a wonderful week! Next book in the list is The Mystery of the Blue Train from 1928.

22
Nov
2020

Homemade Ricotta – Finding my Whey!

categories: Cheese

As regular readers will know I am cooking my way through Sylvia Colloca’s Made in Italy which was a Tasty Read’s book whey back in 2015. To date, I have two recipes left to cook and I am going to try to get them both done this weekend. However, one recipe which bamboozled me was Silvia’s recipe for homemade ricotta.

I really wanted to make my own ricotta but there was something in Silvia’s recipe that was a stumbling block. It called for a whole litre of whey. I had no idea where I could get that from. I mean I eat a lot of yoghurt but even for me, collecting a whole litre of whey would take about a year! The internet abounds with recipes and ideas to use your leftover whey but falls strangely silent on how to get it in the first place. There’s whey protein powder but that seems to be more for bodybuilding than cheesemaking.

I asked a friend who regularly makes her own ricotta. “Where do you get your whey from?” The answer was a largely unhelpful “From the previous lot of cheese”.

Hmmm….so, with no seeming way to get whey, I turned to the internet. Which did not disappoint. I found an Epicurious recipe that used water and lemon juice instead of whey!

Well whey, hey we are good to go for the making of ricotta! It’s so easy!!!! It’s not a pretty process as it involves curdling the milk and cream with lemon juice.

And then straining the curds out of the whey.

So simple! And the end result is proper ricotta!

Making anything from scratch is great. Making cheese…amazing!!! I was so proud of myself! And this is a great way to use up cream that you may have leftover from making other things. I guess that technically I should have saved the whey from this batch so I could make Silvia’s recipe but I totally forgot. I am thinking about what a goat’s milk ricotta might be like so maybe I will save that batch.

Silvia says you can use your homemade ricotta for breakfast with honey and fruit. I used mine, with some homegrown oregano to make Ottolenghi’s Ricotta and Oregano Meatballs . They were delicious and I thought I would have some over to take some photos of the following day but we ate them all!

Homemade ricotta and homegrown oregano!!! Look at me being all homestead! I felt like I was from the little house on the prairie!

Now excuse me, I’m off to turn a hollow log into a meat smoker!

Have a great week whatever you get up to!

11
Nov
2020

Devilled Biscuits – Be Tempted!

categories: Snacks

I made this recipe for Devilled Biscuits almost as a dare. I did not see how they could work…but I had just made a big old batch of mango chutney and was looking for something to do with it apart from using it as an accompaniment to a curry. This recipe fitted the bill perfectly. I had all of the ingredients in the house so it was also a no brainer.

The recipe for deviled biscuits is so simple. Mix chutney, Worchestershire sauce and butter. Spread on thin water crackers and grill. Serve with cold cream cheese and radishes.

The bit that perplexed me was the grilling of the biscuit. I thought the chutney butter would slide right off. Instead, it sort of sunk into the biscuit leaving a slight spiciness from the chutney. Just as a test, I spread the chutney butter on a bagel on the third day I made this recipe and it didn’t work. The thinness and crispiness of the water cracker worked much better with the chutney butter!

And yes, I said the third day I made this. I made the deviled biscuits for lunch two days running. They were really (and surprisingly) good. And definitely moorish! The cream cheese and radish topping was also great! When I made the bagel version I added a little sprinkle of chopped chives and some freshly ground black pepper which also worked really nicely with the other flavours.

The recipe for the deviled biscuits came from a book called Recipes From An Edwardian Country House by Jane Fearnley-Whittingstall so comes from the early years of the last century.

And here it is!

The Recipe – Devilled Biscuits

Also, you can scale up the butter mixture and freeze it for next time!

I did have a little laugh at this review of the book on Amazon:

Well, I beg to differ Bank of America, I thought this was a great little tasty snack or work from home lunch. Also, don’t you have better things to do, Bank of America, than leave 2-star reviews on Amazon? Shouldn’t you be saving the economy or something? Why are you searching for good old recipes! Who are you? Me?

Enjoy!

And have a great week!

29
Oct
2020

Lord Mayor’s Mango Chutney

categories: Condiments, India, Mango

Over the next week or so election fever will hit many of us like a less lethal but possibly more pervasive version of the ‘rona. After all, the fate of many will ride on the outcome of this highly important and contentious race. I am, of course talking about our local Moonee Valley council elections! And yes, of course, there is another far more important election happening shortly. But today, we are keeping it local and going exotic with a recipe for the Lord Mayor’s Mango Chutney!

The recipe comes from the June 1991 issue of Vogue Entertaining Australia. It features in an article called “Banquet by The Billabong” which is all about posh dining outside

What that glamourous description doesn’t tell you is that the calls of the river life probably include crocodiles that will kill you quicker than you can blink and mosquitos carrying dengue fever, Ross River virus and Murray Valley Encephalitis . Then there’s the venomous snakes and the poisonous spiders and the drop bears. And the occasional serial killer to boot. That rustle of linen could well be the noose around your neck and the chink of silver the knife about to slit your throat!.

Come on, it’s Hallowe’en! if we’re not going to get dark at this time of year when are we????

Something a lot less Wolf Creeky is this recipe for Mango Chutney which comes from Alex Fong Lim who was Lord Mayor of Darwin from 1984-1990. This is a fabulous recipe too. I don’t like a lot of commercial mango chutneys because I find them too sweet. This however, has the perfect blend of sweet and spice and heat. And it is so pretty as well! The chunks of mango become almost translucent as they cook so they look like gorgeous bright jewels. This is the perfect accompaniment to a curry – the picture directly below had it paired beautifully with Nick Sharma’s Chicken Biryani Tagine and the one below that has it matched up with a Sri Lankan chicken curry badun.

Lord Mayor’s Chutney – The Recipe

You can, of course, adjust the amount of chilli to suit your taste. I only used 500g of mango and 2 birdseye chillies in my chutney. I also used fresh grated ginger and sultanas because I can’t abide raisins. Most importantly for those of you who cannot get ripe or under-ripe mangoes, or it is not mango season even if you can, I used a packet of chopped frozen mango for my chutney and I was very happy with the results!

I’m not entirely sure about what the other duties of a Lord Mayor are. I guess they are boss of the council? But if the quality of this recipe is anything to go by, then maybe part of their job description needs to be that they all have to share a recipe with their constituents!

I’d vote for that!

Have a great week!

26
Oct
2020

Eggs Gratinée

categories: Eggs

I love eggs and am always happy to find a delicious new egg recipe. And these Eggs Gratinée could become one of my very favourites. It is:

Quick to prepare
Uses basic ingredients
Tastes delicious

Which ticks all my boxes for a quick weeknight supper.

And let’s not forget the absolute joy of cutting open that egg to see it still a little bit runny!!!!

This is like a Welsh Rarebit with Eggs. If you want to make it even more rarebitty, you can add a splash of Worchestershire sauce and a dollop of mustard into the sauce before grilling

The recipe made a lot more sauce than I needed for my eggs. Which was fine – it meant that there was leftover sauce to remake this for lunch the following day. If you are doing this, you can also poach some extra eggs and keep them in the fridge overnight. Lunch will be ready in less than 10!

A salad is the perfect healthy accompaniment to this. But if you wanted to have a side of chips to dip into the sauce, I won’t tell anyone!

The Recipe

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Eggs Gratinée

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A delicious light supper or work at home lunch.

Author: Taryn Nicole

Ingredients

Scale

4 eggs
4 slices of sourdough bread
Cayenne Pepper (optional)
Chopped Chives or Parsley to garnish

For the Mornay Sauce:

30gm butter
30 gm plain flour
300ml milk
80ml Gruyere or Vintage cheddar cheese, grated

Cook Mode Prevent your screen from going dark

Instructions

For the Mornay Sauce:

Melt the butter in a saucepan over high heat, and the flour and stir until sandy coloured (2-3 minutes).
Gradually add the milk, whisking to remove any lumps. Bring to the simmer.
Remove from the heat and stir through the grated cheese.

Poach the eggs in simmering water until soft poached (2-3 minutes).
Pop the bread into the toaster.
Preheat your grill to high
Once the toast has popped, rub each slice with the garlic clove. Place the toast into an ovenproof dish. Top with the eggs then spoon the sauce over.
Place under the grill until the sauce is golden and bubbly (2-3 minutes, but check frequently)
Sprinkle with cayenne pepper and garnish with some herby greenery
Serve with a salad.

Notes

Note: I did not add salt to this dish because I thought there was enough salt in the cheese. If you want more salt or freshly ground black pepper instead of the cayenne, grind it over at the end where I used the cayenne.

There’s not much more to say for such a simple recipe except

WE ARE FINALLY OUT OF LOCKDOWN TOMORROW!!!!

Shops are opening, restaurants are opening pubs are opening. I can get a hair cut and my legs waxed. In a week gyms will open and statewide travel restrictions will lift. I am both overjoyed and a little nervous. Now that it’s so close I am a little bit scared about being out the world again….

Wish me luck!

And have a great week.