Retro Food For Modern Times

17
Mar
2018

REPOST Dublin Coddle – For St Patrick’s Day

categories: Bacon, Budget Recipes, Cabbage, Holidays, Ireland, Potato, Sausage, St Patrick's Day

Isn’t Dublin Coddle the most adorable name for anything ever?

It sounds like a cuddle and that is exactly what you are going to get from this hearty and warming mix of sausages, cabbage, bacon and potatoes.

I don’t seem to have the best of luck with Irish recipes (remember the corned beef potato salad?)

I had planned to make a totally safe homemade Irish Cream because hot damn do I love a little bit of Bailey’s! However what they don’t tell you in most recipes for it is that, because it contains fresh cream, homemade Irish cream has a fairly limited lifespan. As I am trying to moderate my diet and alcohol intake at the moment drinking a whole bottle of whiskey and a shit ton of cream over the space of about 5 five days did not seem like a viable option.

Fun…just not a viable diet option!

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So Dublin Coddle it was. And whilst this was nowhere near as awful as the debacle that was the potato salad, the recipe I used for Dublin Coddle (sorry I cannot remember from whence it came) was not without problems.

It asked that you layer thinly sliced potatoes into the bottom of a baking dish then piled your sauteed cabbage, onion and bacon on top and topped that with sausages. Then you added stock to the dish.

And therein lay the problem. Even though I cooked this for absolutely AGES, the potatoes at the bottom didn’t cook at that well and were totally soggy. And, as viewers of the British Bake Off know all too well, no one likes a soggy bottom!

This was good but I wonder how much better it would have been if the potatoes had gone on the top and gone all crispy and delicious?

I will actually make it that way next time and update you on how it turns out! The good thing about this recipe is that it was traditionally made from leftovers so you can play around with ingredients and cooking techniques as much as you like!

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Here’s the recipe!

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Dublin Coddle

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A delicious hearty meal, perfect for St Patrick’s Day

Author: Taryn Fryer

Ingredients

Scale

8 sausages – the recipe said pork, I used beef
2 onions, sliced
2 rashers of bacon, sliced
2 cups of cabbage, sliced
stock or water (I used vegetable stock)
Oil
salt and pepper
parsley
Dijon mustard

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Instructions

Heat a little oil in a large pan and brown the sausages. You may have to do this in two lots.
Remove the sausages from the pan and set aside.
Add a little more oil if required and brown the bacon and onions.
Toss the cabbage through the bacon and onion mix and cook for a few minutes.
Layer the potatoes in a lightly oiled casserole or baking dish.
Top with the cabbage and bacon mix. Season well and almost cover with the stock.
Top with the sausages.
Bake at 190C until the potatoes are tender.
Sprinkle with parsley and serve with mustard.

Nutrition

Serving Size: 4

Meantime, enjoy your St Patrick’s Day!!!!

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10
Mar
2018

Rosanne Cash’s Potato Salad – Repost from October 2018

categories: Potato Salad, United States of America

Regular readers will know what a fan I am of the serendipitous find. So, imagine my joy when, in the middle of writing the post on Johnny Cash’s Chili, sorting through a huge pile of recipes I had collected over the last year or so, I found a recipe from his daughter Rosanne Cash for Potato Salad.

I felt that finding it was either a sign from the universe to make some potato salad or that the Cash family were stalking me in a really weird way.

I decided to make potato salad.

Have I ever told you how much I love potato salad?

Like LOVE it. 😍

I have CRIED when I have tasted a potato salad that looked gorgeous only to find the potato was half raw. Or the dressing was watery

That’s how much I love potato salad.

And I have incredibly high standards. So far in my life, the only ‘tatie salad that even comes close to my mum’s is my best friend Monica’s. It’s one of the reasons I adore her.

Maybe THAT’s how much I love potato salad…

Good potato salad? Friend. For. Life.

Bad potato salad? Never darken my door again!

And Rosanne Cash’s had all the hallmarks of being a GOOD potato salad. Or the one. Which is the inclusion . of hard-boiled eggs. Seriously. Mum’s potato salad has them. Monica’s potato salad has them. And this one has them. And, spoiler alert. We are now talking my top-three potato salads.

Because Rosanne Cash’s potato salad is AWESOME.

The only problem with the Rosanne Cash Potato Salad?

There was not enough of it!

Basic user error. Before making anything check your ingredients. ALWAYS check your ingredients. All of them. Even the ones where you think “Oh I always have plenty of that / those / them”

Especially those ones. Otherwise, you will go to the shops to buy celery and pickles. And come home to discover you only have three tiny potatoes. But it’s getting late and if you want to be eating this delicious sounding potato salad any time before midnight then you don’t have time to go all the way back to the store to buy more potatoes.

So…a tiny potato salad it was…

You can also do the thing….cos here’s the recipe. Just make sure you have potatoes a plenty!

Rosanne Cash’s Potato Salad

And here is he of the chilli and she of the potato salad way back in 1956!

Have a great week!

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07
Mar
2018

REPOST: All The Z’s – Part 5 – Zurich Mushroom Tartlets

categories: 1970's recipes, Good Housekeeping World Cookery, Mushrooms, Switzerland, Vegetarian

Hello, and welcome to the fifth and final post of the Food that starts with Z mini-series…We’re heading to Switzerland for some Zurich Mushroom Tartlets. And I have a new book to cook from! Pack your passports friends, we are taking a trip around the world via Good Housekeeping’s World Cookery from 1972.

The book promises

222 illustrations, 48 in full colour
672 pages
2316 recipes from all over the world

The World in 1972

So what was this world of 1972 that we are about to enter into? What was the zeitgeist that spawned this tome?

www.thepeoplehistory.com tells us that

1972 This year is marked as a black year in history due to the use of terrorism entering sport with the massacre of 11 Israel Athletes by Arab Gunman. Also this is the beginning of the biggest political scandal in modern times and the start of the Watergate Scandal. On the other side of the Atlantic a worsening of the problems between the IRA and the British government see wrongs from both sides and innocent lives are lost.

Hmm…cheerful.

But who knew years were colour-coded? Who has that job? And can I have it when you’re done?

On a happier note, in 1972 you could buy these awesome shoes for just $9.97.

And this wig was a bargain at $20. The resting bitch face is possibly a sign of the troubled times…

Or maybe she was just worried about getting her wig wet. Problem solved by this umbrella for a mere fiver. Look how much happier this woman is now she doesn’t have to worry about wet hair.

Switzerland 1972

So in the midst of all this trial and trib, what was going on in the notoriously neutral country of Switzerland? Well, hold onto your hats because while chaos and panic were overtaking the rest of the world? The Swiss were creating an International Convention on Safe Containers.

The Swiss are an orderly, well-mannered, and meticulous people. This is why you could probably take your safe container and join a group of Swiss people mushroom foraging around Zurich without fear of dying from some fungi-induced poisoning.

Which brings us back to do…oh…oh..oh (If ANY of you thought we were going to get through a post on Switzerland WITHOUT a Sound Of Music reference, then you don’t know me at all do you?).

ZURICH MUSHROOM TARTLETS

Let’s start with the recipe. It’s a very good place to start…(Refer paragraph above re The Sound of Music) And let’s hope that it isn’t an omen of things to come…

Hmmmm….make the pastry it says Without actually telling you how to do that. So, If they’re not going to tell you?

I will. Here’s what you do.

Put your flour back in the cupboard, your egg and butter back in the fridge and tip your salted water down the sink. Then you get in your car and drive to the nearest supermarket and by some ready-made pastry shells.

Because if they can’t be bothered, why should you?

I used a mix of mushrooms for my tartlets and added some herbs from the garden into the mix.

I pan-fried the small fancy mushrooms in so they could be artfully strewn over the top of the tarts whilst I cooked the regular ones as per the recipe.

IWhile the mushrooms were cooking, I warmed the shells in the oven, then tipped the filling into them.

A sprinkle of parsley and some smoked paprika and these were good to go!

And they were delicious! Creamy and earthy with a lovely crisp and light pastry.

Despite the initial setback with the pastry, the Zurich Mushroom Tartlets were a good start to this book. Easy to make, quick, and tasty! Best eaten in front of the telly watching The Sound of Music, Or wearing your best curtains. Or both.

Have a great week!

26
Jan
2018

Vegemite and Pale Ale Gougères

categories: Australasia, Beer, Cheese, Snacks, Starters

Today, January 26, many Australians will be celebrating Australia Day. On the good side – it’s summer, it’s a great time to get outside and have a bbq and, if you are not in the midst of a dry January, have a few drinks with some friends. On the downside, the day itself is becoming increasingly fraught for all manner of reasons.

But we are not here to get political. We are here to eat, drink and be merry. Because it’s a long weekend. And we’re going to celebrate with some Australian food. If by Australian food we mean something that we have totally (mis)appropriated from another culture. So let’s get to it shall we?

Gougères are the French version of what we in Australia would call a cheese puff. And they are delicious! Feather-light pastry flavoured with cheese makes for a perfect snack. Particularly if you happen to be imbibing something of an alcoholic persuasion. Making it a perfect start to this weekend’s round of bbq’s.

But we’re not celebrating Bastille Day…we’re celebrating Australia Day…so how to “Strayanise” these delicious French delicacies? Well, first we’re going to throw a little Vegemite into the mix. Now, I’ll be the first person to admit that I…ahem…”borrowed” the idea of the Vegemite Gougères from Rosie Birkett’s recipe for Marmite Gougères.

And then, to make it even more Australian, I substituted the water in the recipe for beer. I used the Gage Roads Little Dove Pale Ale as the beer for this because it is my absolute favourite and I had some in the house but you could sub in your own favourite.

The gougères are delightfully light. The combination of vegemite, cheese, cayenne and the very slight hint of beer go so well together that it would be a real shame to only save these for one day of the year!

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Vegemite and Pale Ale Gougeres

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A tasty snack based on a classic French recipe

Author: Taryn Fryer

Ingredients

Scale

120g unsalted butter
150ml whole milk
1 1/2 tablespoons Vegemite
75ml Pale Ale
150g plain flour, sifted
4 eggs
100g cheddar, grated, plus 1 tablespoon extra, for scattering
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
big pinch freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoonfreshly grated nutmeg

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Instructions

Preheat the oven to 200°C and line 2 large baking sheets with baking parchment.
Put the butter, milk and Vegemite and ale into pan over medium heat and bring to the boil.
Add the flour and beat very quickly with a wooden spoon, over the heat, until the mixture is smooth and pulls away from the side of the pan (about 2-3 minutes).
Remove from the heat and allow to cool for a minute.
Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition until the mixture is thick and smooth and glossy.
Stir in the grated cheese, peppers and nutmeg.
Spoon the mixture into the piping bag fitted with a nozzle. Pipe little rounds (about the size of a chestnut) onto the trays, leaving space between each mound to allow for rising.
Alternatively, just spoon small spoons of the mixture onto the tray.
Scatter over the remaining cheese.
Bake for 20–25 minutes, until puffed and golden.
Serve warm. Or cool on a wire rack and reheat in a 180°C oven for a few minutes until they crisp up.

Notes

The gougères can be made in advance and frozen once cool.

If you’re celebrating, have a wonderful day and enjoy the long weekend!

If not, make these anyway, they’re awesome!

But remember…

Back with more Z Food next time! Have a fabulous week!

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22
Jan
2018

All The Z’s 3 – All The Zucchini – REPOST

categories: Flatbread, Salad, Turkey, Vegetables, Vegetarian, Zucchini

You knew it was coming right? There was never going to be a showcase of Z recipes without a recipe for zucchini. Except there’s not just one zucchini recipe…there’s going to be four. Because it’s midsummer and my zucchini plants have gone berserk. I have been eating zucchini at least once a day for weeks. I have given away dozens of them. And they just keep coming! So I have to keep finding things to do with them. Here is a summary of this summer’s dishes…so far…

This flatbread recipe which is below came via Australian Gourmet Traveller and it is so good – not to mention almost too pretty to eat! If you don’t want to make your own bread, you can sub in a flatbread of your choice. But the bread is pretty easy and gives you a huge dose of smug!

Seriously three zucchini plants are producing enough to feed a small army! And they grow so quickly. One second they are tiny, the next literally as big as my arm!

But here’s the thing…up until recently, I wasn’t that big a fan of zucchini. I recall it from childhood as being a bland soggy mess. My conversion came when I tasted it raw in a salad one day. And it was super good! The above salad is so easy to make and became my go-to whilst on holidays – I chopped a heap of carrots, zucchini, celery and cheese and kept them in a container in the fridge. Whenever I got a bit peckish, I would get out some lettuce, sometimes crumble in some hard-boiled egg, add a splash of dressing and roll up for a healthy, tasty snack! The recipe is from my old fave Rosemary Mayne Wilson’s Salads For All Seasons.

Rosemary suggests a mayo dressing for this salad. I vote no on that. My preferred dressing for this salad is a vinaigrette with a good dollop of mustard in it. Try it…you won’t regret it.

Turkey and Zucchini Patties with Cacio e Pepe Zoodles

Okay, here’s one for the meat eaters! Although I was not very complimentary about a lot of the meals in Pete Evans’ paleo cookbook, Healthy Every Day, these turkey and zucchini patties were an exception. They are awesome! I make them all the time (sometimes I even have to buy zucchini to make them!). I don’t use the egg in this recipe as I find the mixture is already quite wet without it. (Pete also doesn’t tell you to squeeze the water out of the zucchini which you need to do).

And here’s Pete’s recipe:

The eagle-eyed of you may have noticed the fourth dish nestled in below the turkey patties in the photo above. The last recipe in the zucchini extravaganza is a Zoodle Cacio e Pepe. (Zucchini noodles which cheese and pepper). A lot of recipes I have found for this cook the zoodles. We’re not going there. I far prefer raw zucchini to cooked so mine is kind of a Cacio e Pepe carpaccio…

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Zoodle Cacio e Pepe

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Ingredients

Scale

1 zucchini
2 tbsp Grana Padano or Parmesan cheese
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tbsp freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp lemon juice
1/2 finely chopped mint (optional)

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Instructions

If you have a spiralizer, make noodles out of your zucchini.
If not, use a vegetable peeler to make long thin strips of zucchini.
Place in a bowl and toss through the olive oil, lemon juice, black pepper and cheese.
Top with the mint if using.
Serve straight away

Have a wonderful week! I’m off to harvest more zucchini!

Before we go though, tell me what is your favourite zucchini recipe?

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