Retro Food For Modern Times

17
Dec
2015

REPOST – History Happy Hour – 1959 – On The Beach

categories: 1960's recipes, Cocktail, Eggplant, Eggs, History Happy Hour, Peach Schnapps, Vegetables, Vodka

+Hello and welcome to a very special history happy hour.

Because today, December 17, not only do we have a super fruity and delicious cocktail to celebrate today’s event but also two yummy recipes courtesy of one of my (and hopefully your) favourite bloggers, Jenny from Silver Screen Suppers. Jenny is also making the same trio of recipes so when you have finished here, please head over there to have a look.

But what, and how are we celebrating?

On The Beach – The Film

December 17, 1959 saw the première of the film On The Beach. And just look at this for a cast list – Ava Gardner, Gregory Peck, Fred Astaire, Anthony Perkins. There’s galaxies that wish they were that star studded!!!! Oh and just for fun, Frank Sinatra came along too. Not to be in the film, Just to hang out with Ava. On the beach.

And that beach was in my hometown of Melbourne! Or in a place called Frankston on the outskirts thereof. In fact, for many a year, there was a scurrilous rumour that Ms Gardner had made the snarky comment that Melbourne was “the perfect place to make a film about the end of the world.” Not true my friends, not true. Said quote was totally invented by a junior reporter from a Sydney newspaper, obviously miffed that we got Ava, Gregory, Fred, Tony (and Frank) and all they got was a bridge and an Opera House.

On The Beach, based on a novel by Nevil Shute (which I have not read but now really want to) is a post-apocalyptic romance in which Australia is the only country to survive a nuclear war. However, it is only a matter of months before radiation clouds doom the survivors to the same fate as the rest of the world. Unless…Dah dah da dah….

This is a film worth seeking out. A stellar cast, some superlative acting, and an engrossing storyline, which although somewhat dated has much to speak to us about our current situation. And, if you can watch the scene with Tony Perkins and Donna Andrews without welling up? You’re already a little dead inside.

On The Beach – The Drink

What more appropriate way to celebrate the release of On The Beach than with the classic cocktail Sex on The Beach! And it’s so good. Peach schnapps where have you been all my life?

This is fruit, fruit and more fruit – peach from the schnapps, cranberry, orange juice and pineapple juice all playing a role. With a hit of vodka to give it some backbone.

This is the best summer you have ever had, in a glass. And unlike its namesake you don’t have to worry about getting sand in your privates if you have one. And you can have two, maybe three in one night with lots of different people without anyone looking askance at you!

On The Beach – The Food

Jenny (this woman is a marvel!!!) sent me a host of recipes by the stars of On The Beach but there was one that stood out for me above all others.

Gregory Peck’s recipe for Happy Pappy Eggs. Oh my…..it’s not often that words fail me. But….first up how you could you not love something called Happy Pappy eggs and second…the recipe came from Gregory Peck. AKA Atticus Finch (pre Go Set a Watchman). And then I also chose a Gregory Peck recipe for ratatouille.

The Happy Pappy Eggs were scrambled eggs with some slow cooked onions. Simple and delicious!!! But oh man, that rataouille was amazing!!! I have no idea why I don’t make it more often. It went really well with the eggs. And together they would make a super brunch dish after a long night of Sex on The Beach (either way).

I also ate the rataouille for lunch for a few days with some cheese in a toasted turkish roll and OMG…it was a revelation! So good!

On The Beach – The Recipe

There were some rather frightening copyright restrictions on the Gregory Peck recipes so we decided not to print them. However, I’m sure if you asked Jenny very nicely she would send you a copy. For personal use only. Don’t let us find you in a dingy alley handing out illegal copies of the recipe of Happy Pappy Eggs!

There are also a myriad recipes and variations for the Sex On The Beach Cocktail. This is a fairly classic take on it.

History Happy Hour – 1959 – On The Beach

Print Recipe

Recipe from Wiki-How:
http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Sex-on-the-Beach-Cocktail

Ingredients

Scale

1.5 oz (45 ml.) peach schnapps
1.5 oz (45 ml.) vodka
2 oz. (60 ml.) cranberry juice
2 oz. (60 ml.) orange juice
2 oz. (60 ml.) pineapple juice
Orange slice for garnish
Maraschino cherry for garnish
Ice cubes

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Instructions

Pour peach schnapps, vodka, cranberry juice, orange juice, and pineapple juice into a shaker filled with ice.
Shake until the outside of the shaker gets frosty – about 20 seconds.
Strain the mixture into a glass filled with more ice cubes.
Garnish with an orange slice and a maraschino cherry

This was so much fun, it was great collaborating with Jenny and getting to watch a fabulous movie to boot! Thank you Jenny for the awesome recipes, I can’t wait to see what you have dome with them!

Have a great week you lovely people, happy drinking (and eating)!

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09
Dec
2015

Fruit & Nut Gingerbread Loaf

categories: Books, Cake, Dishiest Dish, Movies

This post for Fruit and Nut Gingerbread loaf was originally written and published in Dec 2015. It is one of many of my older posts, which due to some unknown technical hitch ended up being put back into draft. I am trying to repost them all but please excuse any references that seem odd or out of date!

What a week! Some weeks are diamonds and this week everything I made turned out really well and there was not much to choose between them. So I thought I would talk to you about them all.

First up there was a mash up of this recipe from Donna at A Cookbook Collection which is a super blog that I read all the time:

https://acookbookcollection.wordpress.com/2015/10/21/roasted-grapes-with-feta-and-walnuts/

And Niki Sengit’s entry for Goat Cheese and Walnut from The Flavour Thesaurus where she says:

“Paneer is a white tablet of feta as smooth as a bar of Ivory Soap and usually scattered with crisp walnuts. It’s generally accompanied by sabzi, a thicket of fresh herbs, to offset it’s richness. There will be plenty of mint, plus tarragon and dill, bulbous scallions and, nestled somewhere in among the sprigs and leaves, little radishes like baby robins in their next”

This OMG, I want to eat it right NOW delight is on the menu at a restaurant called Patogh on the Edgeware Road in London. And next time I’m there? I’m there!

Not being there, I made my own and I threw in a heap of roasted grapes à la Donna too! And it was so good! I love being able to nibble food from a platter and this recipe will feature on my Friday night grazing platter all grape season!

Crab and Corn FrittersFor a delicious main meal I made some Crab and Corn Fritters from the following recipe from Australian Gourmet Traveller: <<https://www.gourmettraveller.com.au/recipe/snacks-sides/crab-corn-and-mint-fritters-with-lemon-paprika-mayonnaise-10869/>>

I also made a toasted marshmallow pavlova which was A-MAZING – even if I do say so myself.

The Gingerbread Loaf

Also in the sweet realm but at the opposite end of the spectrum was a fruit and nut gingerbread loaf with lemon icing. The pavlova was light as air and so pretty. The gingerbread loaf was not nearly so pretty but wow! It was kind of like a linebacker against the pavlova’s ballerina, in the best possible way. So full of flavour. And quite right for the time of year! Also, like a good wine, this baby just gets better with age. And it lasts. It kept for about a week in the fridge. It probably would have kept for longer, we just ate it all.

This week, I am looking forward to cooking

Lunch, Starter or Salad: Italian Stuffed Deli Loaf

The Main Event: Chicken, Mushroom and Walnut Cannelloni from Katie Quinn Davies for the Cookbook Guru

Sweet Dreams: Honey Pots

In Other News, I Have Been

Shopping

Another bit of a cookbook binge – I bought the next two Tasty Reads book club books. And as my Christmas present to myself, the new Nigella:

Reading

I gave up on The Reckoning. Life’s too short for a book you don’t enjoy. I have started the December t book club selection, The Secret Chord by Geraldine Brooks. Personally, I would not have chosen to read this in a billion years – the fictional lives of Biblical characters not being high on my list of interests but I am finding myself increasingly drawn into this story. Which is exactly why I joined the book club – to widen my reading horizons.

I also gave up on The Last Werewolf and am now listening to Time and Time Again by Ben Elton on audio which so far has been great. And I do love a bit o’ time travelling! The only problem with this is that I keep thinking it is called Time After Time and I have had that Cyndi Lauper song in my head for DAYS!!!!

Books Collage3

Watching

Along with time travelling, I am also very fond of a conspiracy theory and I happened to catch the last half of Room 237 on the telly the other night. It blew my mind! How I have missed this up to now I do not know A film about all the hidden meanings in a film I love? I loved it!!! I’m watching it again this weekend. From the start. Possibly several times.

Danny’s jumper is apparently one of the many clues hidden in The Shining that point to Stanley Kubrick having staged the moon landings. For the rest and many more theories about the movie, watch Room 237. It’s mad and awesome and cuckoo lala.

For something else that is nutty in all the right ways, you could try making this Fruit and Nut Gingerbread Loaf!

I adapted my recipe from this one:

Sticky apple and gingerbread pecan loaf cake

Fruit and Nut Gingerbread Loaf

Print Recipe

A delicious fruity gingerbread – perfect for this festive time of year!

Ingredients

Scale

150g salted butter plus extra to grease
200ml milk
150g brown sugar
150g golden syrup
250g plain flour
11/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
2 eggs, beaten
50g dried apricots, chopped
75g pecans roughly chopped (plus more whole to garnish)
50g crystalised ginger, roughly chopped (plus more to garnish)
2 green apples, peeled, cored, cut into a 1 cm dice
50g sultanas
1 tbsp lemon juice
250g icing sugar

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Instructions

Preheat your oven to 180C. Grease and line a 1.5L loaf pan with baking paper.
Place the butter, golden syrup and brown sugar into a small saucepan and stir until the sugar has melted and the mixture is smooth and has thickened slightly.
Stir in the milk.
Set aside to cool.
Sift the flour, cinnamon, ground ginger and baking powder into a bowl.
Make a well into the centre and pour in the cooled milk mixture.
Stir with a wooden spoon until well combined, then fold in the apples, ginger, pecans, sultanas and apricots.
Pour the mixture into the prepared pan and bake for 50 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.
Cool for 5 minutes in the pan then turn out onto a wire rack.
Mix the lemon juice and icing sugar. The mixture should be a thick liquid.
Once the cake is completely cooled, pour the lemon icing over the top.
Top with reserved pecans and ginger.
Enjoy!

Question Time

This week, I want to know your answers to the questions posed on the front of ~~Time After Time~~ Time and Time Again:

“If you had one chance to change history

Where would you go?

What would you do?

Who would you kill?

I can’t wait to hear what you come back with!

Have a great week!

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28
Nov
2015

REPOST – Rosemary and Blood Orange Cake

categories: Cake, Cookbook Guru, Orange, Rosemary

What Katie Ate by Katie Quinn Davies is the featured book on the Cookbook Guru this month. I made Katie’s Rosemary and Blood Orange Cake. It turned out pretty well, despite some massive hesitations on my part.

If you are not familiar with Katie Quinn Davies, Ladyredspecs of Please Pass The Recipe wrote a great post on her background and work here.

One of the issues she mentions with the recipe she tried, a carrot cake that was definitely on my list to make, is a certain vagueness Katie has around specific quantities of some ingredients. This made me chuckle because only a few days before I’d had a very intense (and hilarious) discussion on just that point and it involved rosemary, one of the key ingredients in this cake.

I mentioned I was thinking of making this cake to the work girls. One of them visibly paled. “Go easy on the rosemary” she said. She then told us this awful story of how she had made a rosemary panna cotta for a dinner party and it turned out terribly.

“People were gagging, ” she told us. “The rosemary was soooo strong”.

We asked how much she put in. “Four sprigs” she said. There was then one of those talks which only happens when you really don’t want to go back to work. How big is a sprig? She thought it was the size of the stick you get in the pack from the supermarket. I think it is something about the size of your little finger. One of the girls thought it was about the size of the tip of your little finger. The internet was not really helpful. So we never really got an answer. She used four sprigs of rosemary in her gag inducing dish.

I got home and checked Katie’s recipe. It called for three sprigs.

So what to do? It was less than the panna cotta’s four sprigs and my idea of a sprig was smaller than my friend’s. But all of a sudden three sprigs seemed like a lot. Rosemary is a strong flavour. I really didn’t want people gagging over my cake.

Aarrggghhhhhh!!!!!

In the end I gave in to fear and used two sprigs. And, as one of my friends commented “You can’t even taste the rosemary”. You could taste it could but it was faint. I should have trusted Katie, I think three sprigs would have been about right. And a more exact measure of rosemary would have been ideal!

The Rosemary and Blood Orange cake looked lovely. However, my version was quite bland. This was more than likely my fault for being a coward with the rosemary; it certainly would have been a bit more interesting if that flavour had been stronger.

It was a shame because the orange flavour was pleasant and the structure of the cake was great – the crumb was good, it was moist on the inside and golden on the outside. It just needed a little something…possibly another sprig of rosemary for it to level up from being a decent, if ordinary cake to something spectacular.

The cake keeps really well but the rosemary kind of works against it – after a few days it is hard to tell if those little green flecks are rosemary or teeny specks of mould.

I would like to say I would try this cake again but currently my spreadsheet of cakes to make contains 500+ recipes. So, let’s say I bake a cake every week, which I don’t and this goes to the back of the queue, that would mean baking it again in about ten years.

Actually, that seems about right. Let’s catch up in 2025 for an update on this!

Katie’s recipe, and her stunning photo of this cake can be found here.

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24
Nov
2015

Sussex Pond Pudding

categories: Desserts, England, Lemon, Pudding

In a weird coincidence, the last three cookbooks I have read have all contained recipes for Sussex Pond Pudding. I had never heard of such a thing before and suddenly, it was stalking me! The universe was absolutely, positively telling me something. And I took that message to be that I should make one. Because that’s what the universe does right? Offers a gentle guiding hand to point you in the direction of where you need to be going.

But first, somewhat of a digression. The cognitive bias that had me seeing Sussex Pond Pudding everywhere has a name – The Bader-Meinhof Phenomenom. It occurs when a word, name or thing comes into your attention and shortly afterwards it reappears with what seems like greater than normal frequency. I’d love to know if, after reading this any of you randomly hear the words Bader-Meinhof or Sussex Pond Pudding over the next few weeks. Let me know if you do.

Sussex Pond Pudding – The Inspiration

My most recent sighting of a Sussex Pond Pudding (kinda makes it sound like the Loch Ness Monster) came from Big Table, Busy Kitchen by Allegra McEvedy.

I find Allegra McEvedy immensely likeable and all of her recipes that I have tried have been successful. She describes the Sussex Pond Pudding as follows:

“This classic English Steamed Pudding is definitely of a superior nature to most of it’s steamy brethren…it’s the only steamed pudding I ever make and I need to make it at least once a winter”

High praise!

The next reference came from The National Trust’s Complete Traditional Recipe Book by Sarah Edington.

She offers some the following explanation of the name.

“Sussex and Kent extend their rivalry to puddings – the most famous being Sussex Pond Pudding and Kentish Well Pudding. The former consists of a suet crust enclosing butter, brown sugar and a whole lemon, and in the latter currants are added. Either way, when the pudding is cut open, a rich sweet syrup, the well or pond – oozes out.”

The final book (which was actually the first book I read containing those three words was Laurie Colwin’s Home Cooking. Which you can read more about here.

You may have noticed that thus far, you have not seen any of my photos of the Sussex Pond Pudding. I thought I would intersperse my pictures with Laurie’s commentary.

A Digression on Suet

By the way, Laurie Colwin calls it Suffolk Pond Pudding. For the sake of consistency, I will refer to it as Sussex Pond Pudding throughout.

But first. Can we talk about suet? OMFG – was a more disgusting substance ever invented? This has to figure right up there with the civet pooping coffee and that bird embryo they keep getting people to eat on Survivor and The Amazing Race. I had to look it up because I was actually not too sure what it was. I wish I hadn’t

Suet – raw beef or mutton fat, especially the hard fat found around the loins and kidneys.

I am really sorry British people who eat this stuff all the time but that is just disgusting. Raw sheep kidney fat. Exactly what I want in my sweet pudding.

Turns out you can buy (fake?) suet in the supermarket and it looks kind of like breadcrumbs of butter. So not as bad as you might think. Just try not to think where those buttery breadcrumbs come from.

And that pastry? Was a bastard of a thing to make. And I was not at all happy with the finished product. It was very both heavy//thick and fragile. Getting it to line the pudding bowl was a nightmare.

Sussex Pond Pudding – The Commentary

And now, over to Laurie Colwin.

“Sussex Pond Pudding although something of a curiousity sounded perfectly it splendid….it never occurred to me that nobody might want to eat it”

No one wanted to eat mine either. The fussiest eater in the world took one look at it.

“What is that?”

It’s a Sussex Pond Pudding”

“It looks disgusting”

He comes from Kent. Maybe I should have added currants.

Back to Laurie:

“My suet crust was masterful. When unwrapped from it’s cloth, the crust was a beautiful deep honey colour”

Mine too, at least at the bottom, which became the top where all the butter and sugar had soaked into the pastry.

“My hostess look confused. “It looks like a baked hat”, she said.

“It looks like the Alien,” my future husband said.

“Never mind, ” I said. “It will be the most delicious thing you ever tasted”.

“I cut the pudding. As Jane Grigson had promised, out ran a lemon-scented buttery toffee. I sliced up the lemon which was soft and buttery too. Each person was to get some crust, a slice of lemon and some sauce. What a hit! I thought. Exactly the sort of thing I adored. I looked around me happily and my happiness turned to ash”

The buttery lemony sauce was by far the best thing about this . It was actually quite delicious. And the soaked buttery pastry was not awful either.

My host said: “This tastes like lemon-flavoured bacon fat”

“I’m sure it’s wonderful, ” said my hostess. “I mean, in England”.

The woman guest said “This is awful.”

My future husband remained silent.

Mine did not taste like bacon fat, maybe because I used the fake supermarket suet. If you got the right ration of sauce (lots) to pastry (not much) it was actually not too bad. It was not the “weird inedible sludge from outer space” Laurie Colwin describes however it is also not something I will feel compelled to make at least once a year like Allegra. Or ever again.

Although I am going to have to find something to do with the rest of that suet!

I guess that sometimes, instead of being that gentle guiding hand, the universe is a smartarse little jokester who is six steps ahead of you laying down banana peels for you to pratfall on.

And then, just as you are shaking your fist at it, it gives you a little wink and a grin and holds out its hands in a let’s be friends gesture. In my instance, remember a couple of weeks ago I said this:

I have a real hankering to go back and watch some early XFiles. I have yet to scratch that particular itch but it’s there….

And lo and behold, I was flicking channels on Saturday night during an ad break in, ok, I admit it, The Hunger Games and look what was on my telly:Just a couple of minutes before this scene Mulder was examining Scully’s butt for alien probes. It was AWESOME! I can’t wait for next Saturday!

Have a great week!

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07
Nov
2015

Vincent Price’s Chicken in Champagne Sauce

categories: 1960's recipes, Champagne, Chicken, Cook A Long

When the opening sentence of a blog post is:

“I am drinking champagne alone, on a Monday night, in bed”

I know I am reading the words of a kindred spirit.

So began Jenny’s blog post on Vincent Price’s Poularde Pavillon aka Chicken in Champagne Sauce. I was therefore delighted to see that this was one of the recipes that Jenny had chosen for us to cook as part of the Vincent Price Cookalong.

So, if you’d read my last post you’d know I’d brunched like the King of the Grand Guignol himself on a Buckingham Eggs Jaffle. A few hours later, on what turned into Vincent Price Sunday, I was ready to take on the main event. Here ’tis:

If my chicken looks a bit weird it’s because it was a butterflied one I had in the freezer. It tasted lovely but just did not have the classic appearance of a normal roast chicken. The recipe calls for the chicken to be trussed and, in a moment of dumbarseness I got out my kitchen twine ready to do the necessary. Then paused. How do you truss a chicken with no bones? Short answer you don’t.

To tell the truth, I was a bit narky with this recipe when making it. Basically because I am terribly lazy and Doctor Who was on the telly. Walking the maybe ten steps from the couch to the oven (voice of the pedant – 9 steps) every 8 minutes to baste the chicken seemed like a bit of a palaver at the time. In retrospect those 56 steps were utterly worth it. The chicken was beautifully tender and cooked to perfection. And the champagne sauce went perfectly with the sides of steamed asparagus and roasted potatoes.

The sauce, as also noted by Jenny is much more than what you need for the chicken. She was going to try freezing hers. I had mine over pasta with the leftover veg and some steamed broccoli and beans the following night and it was…..

Just kidding, it was deeeelicious.

The Chicken in Champagne Sauce was a lovely classic, and elegant, way to finish the weekend! If the two recipes I have cooked are any reflection on the rest of the book, then I totally understand why Jenny sings its praises so highly.

So, although it is not Monday and I am not in bed, I am alone and drinking a little champagne toast to Jenny and, of course, to Vincent and Mary Price and their fabulous book. (And in an “it’s all about me” side note, OMG!!!!! You have no idea how long it took to get an even half way decent photo of me trying to concurrently do a wink like the little girl in my sign off logo and raise the champagne glass and take a selfie. Half of them looked like I was heavily sedated on anti-pyschotics and the other half looked like I needed to be. In the end I gave up and took a picture of the glass by my “movie star” mirror!

If your idea of a good time involves doing a bit more than poncing round your bedroom for HOURS looking more and more deranged with every click of the camera, there are a host of events to celebrate the release of the 50th edition of A Treasury of Great Recipes. To find out the wheres and whens, click on the links below:

Vincent Price Treasury Cookalong with Silver Screen Suppers

Vincent Price Legacy Tour – for details of celebratory events in the UK

Amazon Page for the 50th Edition of A Treasury of Great Recipes

Treasury of Great Recipes Facebook page

Silver Screen Suppers Facebook page

Vincent Price’s Chicken in Champagne Sauce

Vincent Price Chicken in Champagne Sauce1

Print Recipe

Ingredients

Scale

For The Chicken

1 x 3lb chicken
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp butter
2 cups dry French champagne

For The Sauce:

4 cups cream
3 shallots, finely chopped
4 mushrooms crushed with a bottle or rolling pin
1 sprig parsley chopped
2 bay leaves
pinch of thyme
2 tbsp butter
1 glass dry champagne

Cook Mode Prevent your screen from going dark

Instructions

For The Chicken:

Preheat the oven to 350F / 180C / Gas mark 4.
Season the chicken with the salt.
Truss it and place in a small casserole with the butter and the two cups of Champagne.
Cook in a moderate oven about 45 minutes.
Baste every eight minutes and turn until the chicken is an even golden brown on all sides.
Remove chicken, cut off string and keep warm on a hot platter.

For The Sauce:

Add to the juices in the casserole the cream, shallots, mushrooms, parsley, bay leaves and thyme.
Simmer on top of stove until the sauce has reduced to two thirds of the original amount.
Strain through a fine sieve into a clean saucepan.
Place over a medium heat and swirl in the butter.
Add the glass of champagne

For The Presentation

Spoon some of the sauce over the chicken. Serve the rest separately.
This recipe is originally from Le Pavillon in New York. To serve the chicken as per Le Pavillon take the chicken to the table whole and carve it there.

Have a great week! Signature 1