Retro Food For Modern Times

08
Jun
2016

Pieathalon 3 – Lemon Potato Pie

categories: Cook A Long, Lemon, Pie, Pieathalon, Potato

It will come as no surprise to you, wise people of the internet that this, in all it’s earthy glory, is a potato:

And this, is a can of beans.

They don’t call me Captain Obvious for nothing!

What is probably not so obvious is that you can turn these into this:

That’s right, lemon meringue pie made from spuds and beans.

How?

Well, it’s Pieathalon – the foodie equivalent of Mouseketeer Surprise Day; anything can happen and it usually does!

Starting with a brand new logo (thanks Greg, it looks super!)

Pieathalon is that time of year when bloggers from all over the world swap recipes and rejoice in the kooky baked goods of yesterday. The full list of participants and what they made is at the bottom of the post. Why not go visit them all? Maybe start with Battenberg Belle who is making my pie of choice, Fatty Arbuckle’s Delight, then pop over to Ruth at Mid Century Menu who sent me lemon potato pie!

Lemon Potato Pie – The Pie

The recipe for Lemon Potato Pie comes from 250 Superb Pies and Pastries, a book from 1941. The use of the humble spud instead of the more luxurious ingredient of butter to create lemon curd had a feel of wartime austerity about it. Butter was rationed right? Otherwise….why? No, seriously, WHY?

Let’s not delve too deeply into the minds of 1941 and get stuck right in to the pie. Starting with some grated potato.This was then parboiled for a spell and quickly became a kind of gloopy liquid.

After the rest of the ingredients were added and it cooked some more, the potato broke down even further. However, at the end of the cooking there were still some small flakes of potato which were odd and a bit off putting when you tasted the….sludge. So, even though this was not in the recipe I blended the lemon mixture to make it smooth. Bear, in mind I have the fussiest eater in the world as my chief taste tester!

Lemon Potato Pie – The Meringue

So, then to the meringue. And here disaster struck. I had put the separated whites into a bowl and left them on the far side of the kitchen bench while I made the filling. When it came time to make the meringue I looked around to where I had left the egg whites and they had vanished.

“Did you take my egg whites?” I asked The Fussiest Eater in The World.

“I gave them to the dogs. I thought that’s what you left them for”.

We had no more eggs. And we had been to a rather boozy lunch that day so there was no option of getting into the car to go buy more eggs.

“Crap…guess, I’ll have to finish it tomorrow”.

A bit later, I was making our dinner which was the Argentine Beef Stew from The A-Z of Cooking (1971). I will definitely blog about that one soon, it was DELICIOUS and I remembered something about making meringues from bean water. A quick visit to Google confirmed that you could make meringue from the water that surrounds tinned chickpeas or white beans. Why not give it a whirl? It’s in the same spirit of “make do and mend” as the potato based filling.

I drained the can of beans, the beans went into the stew and the bean water went into the mixer.

I was incredibly surprised to see that it meringued up a treat!

Ooops! I’d over filled my pie!

In homage to Ruth, I thought I would let the Fussiest Eater in The World have the final say on the Lemon Potato Pie.

Lemon Potato Pie: The Verdict

Mixed.

So, what do you think?

“The filling is gorgeous. It’s really delicious”.

And the meringue?

“Tastes like the worst marshmallow in the world”.

Well done cooks of 1941! And thanks Ruth for a super recipe! Your lemon potato pie is delicious!

Sadly, vegans and egg intolerants, the aqua fava meringue was not. It was much more marshmallow-y than meringue-y. It was very gooey and a bit stringy – think mozzarella cheese on a pizza.

Here is the recipe for the pie:

Given the bean meringue was a failure, here is the proper recipe for the meringue from Ruth.

“The recipe for Meringue 1 is 2 egg whites, 4 tbsp sugar, 1/2 tsp vanilla. Beat eggs until frothy, add sugar gradually, and continue beating until stiff. Add flavoring. Pile on pie and bake in 325 degree oven for 15-18 minutes”

Pieathalon 3 – The Bloggers

Here is the full list of the wonderful crazy people who participated in Pieathalon this year. I’m heading off to see their creations! Why not join me?

Yinzerella at Dinner Is Served 1972 (www.dinnerisserved1972.com) Peanut & Beer Pie
Poppy at Grannie Pantries (http://granniepantries.blogspot.com/) Lemon Meringue Pie
Kelly at Velveteen Lounge Kitsch-en (http://velveteenloungekitsch-en.blogspot.com). Heidenische kuchen (Heathen Cake)
Greg at Recipes4Rebels (www.recipes4rebels.com) Fluellen’s Pie
S S at A Book of Cookrye (abookofcookrye.blogspot.com) Perpetrating Chocolate “Pie”
Silver Screen Suppers (www.silverscreensuppers.com) making Creme De Cacao Pie
Battenburgbelle (battenburgbelle.com) has the pleasure of making Fatty Arbuckle’s Delight!
John The Hedonizer is making Fidgety Pie. Www.foodandwinehedonist.com
Susie at Bittersweet Susie (https://bittersweetsusie.wordpress.com_ made Star Gazy Pie
Ruth at Mid-Century Menu (http://www.midcenturymenu.com) Brandy Apple Pie
Surly at Vintage Recipe Cards (http://www.vintagerecipecards.com) Transparent Pie
Erica at Retro Recipe Attempts (http://retrorecipe.wordpress.com) made Mai Tai Pie!

Thanks as ever to the wonderful Yinzerella for making it all happen!

Have a wonderful week. Now go eat some pie!

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29
May
2016

REPOST – Devil’s Food Cupcakes

categories: Cake, Chocolate, Food Heroes, Nigella Lawson

What better way to end my devil themed blogiversary party than with some Devil’s Food from the Domestic Goddess?

I adapted Nigella’s recipe into cupcakes and much deliciousness ensued!

These were easy to make, and tasted amazing! A deep chocolate flavour and they were (apologies in advance) super moist. They also lasted for close to a week in the fridge…we are after all only two people and the mix made 15 cupcakes. I took half into work to share the love but someone managed to eat all of his half by himself. Not so fussy after all it appears!

If you head over to You tube you can see Nigella make this cake herself and hear her utter my favourite phrase of the clip when she speaks about mixing the cocoa, muscovado sugar and hot water into a “malevolently dark syrup”. It is Devil’s Food Cake after all!

I pretty much followed Nigella’s recipe except that I added a tablespoon of coffee granules into that same “malevolently dark syrup” because it wasn’t already rich and dark enough! Also because I made cupcakes, I adjusted the cooking time. Mine were in the oven for 18 minutes.

Can I just say….that frosting!!!!! OMG. I ate so much of it I felt sick. Then I ate some more because it was so good!

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Devil’s Food Cupcakes

Print Recipe

A luscious chocolate cake with a rich chocolate frosting. Sinfully Good!

Author: Taryn Fryer
Yield: 12 1x

Ingredients

Scale

For the Cake

50 grams best-quality cocoa powder (sifted)
100 grams dark brown muscovado sugar
250 millilitres boiling water
1 tbsp coffee granules (optional)
125 grams soft unsalted butter (plus some for greasing)
150 grams caster sugar
225 grams plain flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 large eggs

For the Frosting

125 millilitres water
30 grams dark brown muscovado sugar
175 grams unsalted butter (cubed)
300 grams best-quality dark chocolate (finely chopped)
Sprinkles to decorate

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Instructions

Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas mark 4/350°F.
Line muffin pans with cupcake liners. I made 15 cupcakes from this mixture but the number of cupcakes will depend on the size of your containers.
Put the cocoa, the coffee, if using, and 100g / half cup dark muscovado sugar into a bowl with a bit of space to spare, and pour in the boiling water.
Whisk to mix, then set aside.
Cream the butter and caster sugar together, beating well until pale and fluffy.
While this is going on, stir the flour, baking powder and bicarb together in another bowl, and set aside for a moment.
Still mixing, add the vanilla extract into the creamed butter and sugar . Then drop in 1 egg, quickly followed by a scoopful of flour mixture, then the second egg.
Keep mixing and incorporate the last of the flour. Then fold in the cocoa mixture, scraping the mixing bowl well with a spatula.
Divide this batter into the cupcake liners, filling to just over halfway.
Place in the oven and cook until a skewer comes out clean – it was around 18 minutes for me but will depend on the size of your cupcakes.
Remove from the tins and cool on a wire rack.

For The Frosting

Put the water, 30g / 2 tablespoons muscovado sugar and 175g butter in a pan over a low heat to melt.
When this mixture begins to bubble, take the pan off the heat and add the chopped chocolate, swirling the pan so that all the chocolate is hit with heat, then leave for a minute to melt before whisking till smooth and glossy.
Leave for about 1 hour, whisking now and again.
Spread or pipe the frosting over the cupcakes.
Decorate with sprinkles or your decoration of choice.

Notes

If you want to make this as a large cake, watch Nigella’s You Tube clip or you can find the recipe here

https://www.nigella.com/recipes/devil-s-food-cake

If you’re serving these to guests or even if there is just two of you, make sure you spirit one of these away in case you have the need for a Nigella inspired midnight feast!

Have a great week!

23
May
2016

Devilled Burgers. Taste Heavenly!

categories: 1970's food, 1970's recipes, Burger, Margaret Fulton Cookbook

Like rock and roll and dancing in that town in Footloose, burgers must be the work of the devil. There is no other explanation for something so simple tasting so good! And that’s just normal burgers. Once you have tried Margaret Fulton’s Devilled Burgers you will be ready to sell your soul for the recipe!

Not that you have to of course. The recipe is at the end of the post. No soul selling involved!

So what makes the Devilled Burger so special?

Oh and warning ahead…I am going to drop the dreaded M word. You know, the one that rhymes with foist. Haters beware!

One thing I have noticed about a couple of old hamburger recipes is that they use bread soaked in evaporated milk. This may both look and sound pretty gross but I think this combo really helps to keep the burgers moist. There. I’ve said it.

This mixture turns into something that resembles either wallpaper paste or the gruel from Oliver but I think it does the job. I had these two nights running and I was expecting that reheating them on the second night would make them dry but no, they were as juicy as ever! Possibly even better than the first night.

Other ingredients are finely chopped mushrooms (sorry Jenny), mustard, tomato ketchup, green Habanero sauce, horseradish and Worcestershire Sauce! No wonder these are tasty little demons!

These are so good. Who could believe ground beef could be so tasty? These have rocked straight in at number two on my best burgers ever (right behind my spicy feta burgers)! Hmmm..,.now what would happen if you added some feta and cumin to this recipe? The burger to end all burgers? Burgergeddon? I now so want to try it out!

Top these burgers with your favourite toppings, mine are in the recipe below and enjoy!!!!

If serving at your own devil theme party, why not lay out your salad ingredients and condiments and any other trimmings you like and let your guests create their own version of the Devilled Burger?

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Devilled Burgers

Print Recipe

Author: Taryn Fryer
Yield: 12 1x

Ingredients

Scale

4 slices bread
3/4 cup evaporated milk
1 kilo minced (ground) beef
2 tsp salt
pepper to taste
1 chopped onion
2 eggs
250g chopped mushrooms (optional)
1.5 tsp Dijon Mustard
1/4 cup tomato ketchup or mild chilli sauce (I used a combination of ketchup and green habanero sauce)
2 tsp prepared horseradish
2 tsp Worchestershire sauce
1/4 cup mayonnaise
2 tsp green Habenero sauce
Lettuce leaves
Tomato Slices
Vintage Cheddar, thinly sliced
Red Onions, thinly sliced
Pickles

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Instructions

Remove the crusts from the read, cut into squares and soak in evaporated milk for 10 minutes, then beat with a fork.
Mix meat, bread, salt, pepper, onion, mushrooms, mustard, tomato ketchup and/or chilli sauce, horseradish and Worchestershire Sauce in large bowl. Mix in the eggs with a fork.
Shape into 10 even sized patties.
Heat some oil in a frying pan and gently fry the red onions .
Preheat the grill and grill the hamburgers on one side for 7-8 minutes on one side and ^ minutes on the other. Add a slice of cheese using and grill for a further minute or so until the cheese has melted.
Whilst the hamburger is cooking, toast your buns.
Mix the mayonnaise and the green habanero sauce together and spread over the buns.
Top with a lettuce leaf and a slice of tomato.
Place the burger on top of the tomato and top with the fried onions and the burger bun.
Pickles can be served on the side or in the burger or not at all!

Oh and look! Is that a bottle of Lychee Beer in the background? Yes indeed. Just doing a little taste testing for the margarita to come. Or should that be a lagerita?

Have a fab week! Next time, we’ll be wrapping up our devil themed party with an appropriately titled cake from the Domestic Goddess herself!

16
May
2016

The Devil Made Me Do It

categories: Cocktail

Welcome to my Blogiversary! Enter if you dare! Because the theme of this party is The Devil! I’ve even dressed up for the occasion.

We’re about to get things started. But first, allow me to introduce you to our eponymous cocktail du jour – The Devil!

When I was younger I longed to be the kind of person who had HollyGolightlyesqe parties where glamorous women smoked cigarettes from ridiculously long cigarette holders, people danced in crowded rooms and a drunk invariably wore a lampshade on his head.People at these parties seemed to get drunk incredibly quickly and I had been wondering what it was that, seemingly in a matter of minutes could turn you from this:

To This:

Now I think I know. It’s this:

Beware! The Devil is Potent! Delicious but it’s got a kick like a kangaroo! And totally perfect to kick off my devilishly themed 4th birthday celebrations!

Even better, it’s hellishly simple to make. Just three ingredients and you’re done! The original recipe calls for a splash of lemon juice and a lemon garnish. I had some kumquats left over from last week’s canapés so I used them instead.

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The Devil

Print Recipe

A simple, delicious but highly potent cocktail. Enjoy but beware…the devil’s voice is sweet to hear. Drink this one wisely!

Author: Taryn Fryer

Ingredients

Scale

1 part Tawny Port
3/4 part Dry Vermouth
Ice cubes
Dash of lemon or kumquat juice
Lemon twist or kumquat slice to garnish

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Instructions

Chill your cocktail glass in the freezer.
Add the ice cubes to a glass and stir in the port, the vermouth and the lemon (kumquat) juice.
Strain into the chilled cocktail glass.
Garnish with a twist of lemon or a kumquat slice.
Enjoy!

Just remember to go easy – I think where The Devil is concerned, we need to heed the words of Dorothy Parker.

“I like to have a martini,
Two at the very most.
After three I’m under the table,
after four I’m under my host.”

On a non-birthday note, many thanks to both Donna and Yinzerella for letting me know the comments aren’t working. The WordPress support team of people a lot smarter than me are working to help me fix it! Until it’s fixed, please feel free to comment via Facebook or Twitter!

Have a great week! I”ll be preparing us some devillish appetizers!

09
May
2016

REPOST from 2016 -Four Kumquat Canapés For Four Food Heroes

categories: 1970's food, 1970's recipes, Canapes, Food Heroes, Vegan

I was celebrating this week and these kumquat canapés helped to get the party started! How pretty are they?

These lovelies were inspired by a recipe by Gretta Anna Teplitzsky. Gretta Anna has been called the Julia Child of Australian Cooking. Through her books and her cooking school she brought French cooking to the Australian masses . She is one of my food heroes and an absolute glamour puss to boot! I have spoken about her before but as a refresher, her she is in all her glory!

I said it before and I will say it again. That fireplace! The colour co-ordination of caftan, candlesticks and couch! Love, love, love. Gretta Anna is the big sister I never had, the cool older girl at school I always aspired to be but never quite pulled it off.

I was looking for Gretta Anna recipes this week because, as a little present to myself I popped online and bought a copy of her second book, More Gretta Anna Recipes. And I was buying myself a little present because May is the month of the blogiversary! Retro Food for Modern Times will turn four later this month. Can you believe it? And we will celebrate in style but first, we need to talk about Kumquat Canapés because they are super delicious and a snap to make!

Kumquats are a small citrus fruit (about the size of a large olive) and incredibly sour which I love! A funny thing about them, is that if you eat them peel and all they actually become sweeter. It is the season for them here and as I was making my Gretta Anna inspired canapes I started thinking about my other food heroes and got totally carried away. I ended up making four different kumquat canapés because of the blogiversary and I named them after my food heroes. So without further ado, here they are.

Kumquat Canapé 1 – The Gretta Anna

Gretta Anna’s original recipe called for kumquats, rare roast beef and mint. She also wanted you to roast the beef. I just bought some rare roast beef slices from my local deli. I also had another idea for my mint leaves so I subbed in some rocket (arugula for my American friends).

Why this works

The rare roast beef has a slightly metallic taste with some saltiness and umami. The acidity of the kumquat worked really well against this and the rocket gave a note of pepperiness. A little dob of horseradish would also not go astray here either!

Kumquat Canapé 2 – The Nigella

For the Nigella Kumquat Canapé we are heading to Italy where we are pairing our tangy little friend the kumquat with some spicy chilli salami and a basil leaf. And to steal a quote from one of my favorite movies ever, Gregory’s Girl (if you have not seen this, stop everything and see it now!) the Nigella is bella, bella (with those last two words being spoken in the broadest Scottish accept you can muster!

Why The Nigella Works

The sharpness of the kumquat cuts against the fatty unctuousness of the salami, the chilli adds a kick of heat and the basil brings in some herby spiciness.This is a Mambo Italiano in your mouth! Plus even writing the words fatty unctuousness made me feel like I was channelling the real Nigella.

Kumquat Canapé 3 – The Sabrina

As if I was ever going to make a food hero kumquat canapé and not include Sabrina Ghayour! I still have 22 recipes to make from Persiana but Sirocco is wending it’s way to me as we speak! I know I said I wasn’t going to buy it until I was totally done with the Persiana Project but I read on Twitter that if you ordered it pre-release on Amazon UK, you could get it for a ridiculously low price. And I’m all about the savings!

I promise I won’t read it, will not even open the package until the Persiana Project is done!

Well, I might open the package just to make sure they have sent me the right book and it is not damaged. But then I will pack it back up again and put it out of sight until the end of the Persiana Project.

However, if during that purely quality control inspection it happens to fall open at a page….or ten….and my eyes just happen to fleetingly glance over them….then that is just what I like to call serendipity and no, it’s totally not cheating! Let’s quickly move on to the objêt itself.

The Sabrina Canapé takes us to the delicious flavours of the Middle East – hummus, dukkah, coriander and of course our little golden friend subbing in for what would traditionally be a preserved lemon.

Why the Sabrina Works

Is is a little bite of the Middle East. The creamy earthiness of the hummus is complemented by the zing of the kumquat, the dukkah adds crunch and more spice and the coriander some greeny freshness. And for them that care about such things the Sabrina is also vegan.

The final kumquat canape was the hardest to name. It had some Mexican overtones, avocado, tequila, chilli but I was damned if I was going to name it after the writer of Cantina after the terrible problems I had with that book. So, who else would I count as a food hero who would suitably represent my canapé? Jamie Oliver? Margaret Fulton? Charmaine Solomon? No, no and no came the answers. And then, taking inspiration from the tequila – which is possibly not always a good rule to live by I hit upon the name for my fourth and final kumquat canapé.

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Kumquat Canapé 4 – The Floyd

So obvious! I’m not sure if Keith Floyd ever made it to Mexico but I’m sure he would have, at the very least liked the idea of my tequila soaked avocados. A bon vivant, raconteur and also a bit of a boozer, Floyd was one of the first celebrity chefs. Many of his shows are on you Tube and I can thoroughly recommend them for the sheer force of his personality if not always for the recipes made. Zebu Penis and Marijuana Stew anyone?

Thankfully, The Floyd contains none of the above but consists of avocado marinated in tequila and sprinkled with salt with a side of radish, topped with a strip of pickled chilli and a slice of kumquat and garnished with a mint leaf. And again, it’s vegan!

Why The Floyd Works

It’s a bit like a deconstructed guacamole, all the flavours are their with the kumquat subbing in for the lemon or lime and the radish adding some crunch!

These were each delicious and I’m glad I expanded my thinking beyond the original!

Coming up we are celebrating the blogiversary and not only are we having a party with the letter D but it’s also themed! I can hardly wait!

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Kumquat Canapes

Print Recipe

Some cute and quirky canapes using cute and quirky kumquats

Author: Taryn Fryer
Yield: 16 1x

Ingredients

Scale

16 small cracker biscuits
6–8 kumquats, cut into thin slices (I found you could only get 2-3 slices from each kumquat

For the Gretta Anna

2 slices of rare roast beef, either home made or from your local deli,cut into two pieces
4 rocket leaves
4 little dobs of horseradish (optional)

For The Nigella

2 slices chilli salami, cut into 2 pieces
4 basil leaves
For the Sabrina
4 tsp hummus
2 tsp dukkah
4 coriander leaves

For The Floyd

4 chunks of avocado
1 tbsp tequila
sea salt
4 strips of pickled chilli
4 mint leaves

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Instructions

For the Floyd

Sprinkle the avocado chunks with the tequila and allow to sit for a couple of hours.
Just before serving remove from the tequila and sprinkle with the salt.

For All

Arrange the ingredients on the crackers in a manner that looks appetising.
Top with the kumquat slices.
Enjoy!

Nutrition

Serving Size: 2

Coming up we are celebrating the blogiversary and not only are we having a party with the letter D but it’s also themed! I can hardly wait!

Meantime, if you were to make a canape for one of your food heroes, who and what would it be?

Have a great week!

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