Retro Food For Modern Times - Yesterdays Recipes, Cooked Today

18
Jan
2016

REPOST – A Peacock Cake & The Gala At Yala Part 1

categories: Birthday Cake, Cake, Children's Cakes, Sri Lanka, Travel

It was recently the fussiest eater in the world’s birthday and I made him a peacock cake!

Isn’t it adorable? Even if I do say so myself! And for the non-bakers out there it is all assembly, no baking involved. I mean, you can bake a sponge if you want but, for this recipe, it is absolutely not necessary!

Yala National Park – Sri Lanka

But more about our little peacock friend later. The peacock was a special symbol for us as it reminded us of the time we spent at The Yala National Park when we were in Sri Lanka ~~earlier this year.~~..OMG…last year! (2021 Note – This was originally posted in January 2016)

The National Park at Yala is a huge tract of land at the Southern tip of Sri Lanka.. It is home to a myriad of wildlife.
Yala is situated in leopard country and whilst we did two Safaris hoping to see one of these magnificent creatures, we were unlucky both times….or were we? Whilst we did not spot a leopard (pun intended) we saw so many other wild animals, living in their natural habitat that I felt utterly privileged to have been there.

Here was Mr Peacock:

There were monkeys galore:

Sloth Bears:

Some jackals playing:

A crocodile, most definitely not playing:

And a huge amount of elephants – my favourite part was when we saw two older female elephants and a cub walk down to a pond to have a bath and a drink:

Then the baby decided to have a little roll in the water:

Afterwards, they came right up to us, crossing just behind the jeep we were in.

Then there was this little one who decided to head off on his own:

The closest we got to the elusive leopard was these tracks:

On a more sombre note, there is also a monument to the people who lost their life at Yala in the Boxing Day Tsunami of 2004.

I could go on about Yala all day and have thousands more photos of all the animals and all the birds but we have a Peacock Cake to talk about!

The Peacock Cake

The recipe comes direct from the Women’s Weekly Cheat’s Cakes 2. The idea behind these books is that you can buy a cake and then just decorate it instead of having to factor in baking as well.

I made the cake for the peacock’s body because there was a random box of cake mix in my pantry. But you could totally use a bought cake. The Women’s Weekly provides a template for the body. I copied it onto a sheet of paper, enlarging it a bit as it was really quite small and I wanted to use up as much of my cake as possible.

One of advantage of cutting around a template is that if a bit of cake “falls” off as you are cutting around it doesn’t really matter and you can have a little taste test as you work. You can call it being greedy if you must. I prefer Quality Assurance.

I used the tip of an ice cream cone for my peacock’s beak. A black jube, topped by a piece of white jelly bean topped by the end piece of a black jelly bean made his eye, with a swoop of licorice creating his cat’s eye.

And you will need something to fortify you because threading all those lollies onto the skewers takes a long time.

If making the Peacock Cake for a children’s party you can place more tail feathers in a glass by the side of the cake if you need too. Just be sure to remove the lollies from the skewers before handing them out.

Here’s the recipe for the Peacock Cake, straight from the book. I had to deviate from some of the sweets suggested because I could not find them – use what you have and let your creative juices flow!!!

This is so fun and colourful and would be a great party cake for a child of any age. If you want to make it and would like a copy of the template, let me know.

Have a wonderful week. I hope it’s full of pomp and pageantry. For me, today is the return to work after the Christmas break which is going to be tough! Back to the dreaded alarm and early mornings. On the upside, tonight I am seeing one of my food heroes, Nigella Lawson, live in conversation at the Melbourne Town Hall – it should be A-MAZING!

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09
Jan
2016

Frikkadels – The Danish Girl Goes To Sri Lanka

categories: Books, Dill, Minced Beef, Movies, Sri Lanka

I am reading The Danish Girl for book club. I am not that far into the book – so there are no spoilers here for anyone who may be concerned but there was a part very early in the book that blew my teeny mind and most likely not at all for the any of the reasons you might be thinking!

Here is the passage:

Even with his eyes closed, standing shirtless in front of his wife felt obscene. It felt as if she’s caught him doing something he had promised he would avoid – not like adultery, but more like resuming a bad habit he’d given his word he would quit, like drinking aquavit in the canal bars of Christianshavn or eating frikadeller in bed”

– David Ebershoff, The Danish Girl

In Sri Lankan Burgher cooking, we have a delicious meatball called a Frikkadel. The name was too similar to the frickadeller found in The Danish Girl for me not to undertake some extensive research. (Otherwise known as googling the word Frikadeller.) And yes, they are pretty much one and the same.

Knowing this also helped to fill a gap in my knowledge about these meatballs. I have long wondered why they are flavoured with dill which is not used that much in Sri Lankan cooking. But it is used a lot in Scandinavian Cooking. Mystery solved!

I cooked some ages ago and never got around to posting them so here are my Friikkadels.

Sri Lankans would not normally eat frikkadels in bed but they would be quite commonly handed around at a drinks party as a “short eat” which is what we call finger food.

Here is the “official” description from the delightful ( but totally demented) Daily News Cookbook, a bastian of Sri Lankan Cooking.

“The term “short eats” was originally used to describe the dainty sandwiches, dry cheese or other savoury biscuits, potato chips and miniature sausages accompanying the drinks at sherry or cocktail parties which usually began at six o’clock in the evening and lasted for a couple of hours at the most….

The chief requisite of short eats is that should appeal to the eye as well as the palate; but they must also be easy to eat – that is, small enough to be conveyed to the mouth with the fingers or, at the most, a small wooden pick”

My frikkadels were eaten as short eats with a dollop of date and tamarind chutney and a garnish of coriander. However, the best, best, best way to eat your frikkadels – better than a short eat or even in bed is as part of a lampries.

Part of a what you ask? One day, when I have an infinite amount of time on my hands I will make one for you. And your minds will be blown by the awesome deliciousness of them. It’s unlikely to happen in the foreseeable purely because of the seven billion things that need to be included. For the lampries is a little pack of many items of Sri Lankan delciousness. Traditionally this would be cooked and served in banana leaves but nowadays alfoil is also used. The lampries contains:

Ghee rice
Lampries Curry – made with chicken, lamb beef and pork. I know it sounds mental but it’s so good!
Frikkadels
Brinjal Pahi – which is an eggplant pickle
Coconut Sambal
Prawn Blachang – which is a dried prawn pickle type thing. Ish.

Now do you see why I will most likely never make this myself? Not only do you need to have all of those things. But they all have about twenty ingredients each. To make lampries tis a labour of love. Which is why we buy them frozen. The best are straight from the kitchen of a little old Sri Lankan lady. Next best is from your local Sri Lankan cafe or restaurant.

And here is one that I ate at The Dutch Burgher Union when we were in Sri Lanka last year:

My favourite way of eating a lampries is to eat one of the frikkadels first. Then the rest. Then the second frikkadel as the very last thing. Kind of like the cherry on the top!

Frikkadels came to Sri Lanka from the Dutch who borrowed them from the Danes. There is also a South African version also via the Dutch. Frikkadels can also be found in many other countries of Northern Europe. This is certainly the little meatball that could!

Frikkadels

Print Recipe

Delicious Sri Lankan /Dutch / Danish meatballs

Author: Taryn Fryer

Ingredients

Scale

500g minced beef – do not use the leanest type, you need a higher fat content to keep the frikkadels moist
1 large red onion, finely chopped
1 large garlic clove, finely chopped
a piece of ginger about the same size as the clove of garlic, grated
1 tsp black pepper
juice of 1 lime
a large pinch of ground cloves
a pinch of cinnamon
a pinch of grated nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
2 sprigs of dill, finely chopped
2 eggs
1 cup of bread crumbs for coating
Oil for frying, ideally coconut but peanut will do

Optional Ingredients

Lime wedges to serve.
Coriander leaves to serve
Chutney or sweet chilli sauce to serve

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Instructions

Separate the eggs.
Mix the minced (ground) beef, onions, ginger, garlic, pepper, lime juice, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg dill and salt thoroughly with the egg yolks.
Form into balls the size of large marbles.
Beat the whites of the eggs with a fork just enough to break them up but without frothing.
Dip the balls into the eggs whites then roll in the crumbs so they are well coated.
Heat the oil in a deep pan until boiling then fry the frikkadels a few at a time.
When cooked through they should be crisp on the outside and juicy on the inside.
Keep hot, draining on kitchen paper.
Serve with a wedge of lime, chutney or as part of a lampries.

Why not try some at your next party? Or in a lampries? Or even in bed?

The Danish Girl does not open here until the end of the month. Have any of you seen it? What did you think?

Have a fabulous week!

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06
Jan
2016

REPOST – Two Ways With Leftover Chicken

categories: A Moveable Feast, Avocado, Chicken, Chipotle, Leftovers, Lunch, Starters, Vol Au Vent

Happy New Year!

I hope the festivities were wonderful and the champagne was flowing freely!!! The only downside to all the partying is that invariably you end up with a fridge full of leftovers. This year we were inundated with leftover chicken so, if you ever find yourself in the same situation, here are two ways to use it up.

My first leftover chicken recipe uses one of my favourite retro ingredients, the vol au vent shell. (Sorry Glenda, still store-bought!)

And it’s simples – mix up a white sauce add some tarragon, stir in your chicken, fill your vol au vent cups, sprinkle on some cheese and in a couple of minutes you have a super cute little appetizer with which to kick off your next party!

My Chicken and Tarragon Vol Au Vents are based on a recipe I found in a Feast Magazine but can also be found here.

My next take on leftover chicken is a more modern Chicken, Avocado and Chipotle Tortilla which you can serve two ways.

I got this recipe from A Moveable Feast by Katy Holder where it was originally conceived of as a wrap. I made one of these and took it to work (yes, sadly I worked between Christmas and New Year). It was tasty but I am not a fan of the taste of cooked avocado and even putting the wrap into the sandwich press was enough to turn the taste from delicious to awful. If you like cooked avocado, or you want this all to yourself, this could be just the thing for you!

If however, like me you do not like the taste of cooked avocado, or you want to share the deliciousness, turn it into a “pizza”

Heat the tortilla until crispy, sprinkle the chicken, avocado and the chipotle salsa over the top, cut into slices and serve immediately to your guests as an appetizer. (Or eat it all by yourself! I won’t judge you.

Chicken, Avocado & Chipotle Tortillas

Print Recipe

Two delicious ways with chicken tortillas

Author: Taryn Fryer
Yield: 1 1x

Ingredients

Scale

1 tortilla
1/4 cup chopped leftover chicken
1/4 avocado, roughly chopped
1 small tomato, chopped
1/4 red onion, finely chopped
1/4–1/2 chipotle chilli in adobo sauce (or to taste)
1 sprig of coriander (cilantro), finely chopped
1 tsp lime juice
Salt and Pepper
Toothpick

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Instructions

At least one hour before serving, make your salsa.
Discard the seeds from the tomato, mix with the onion, chilli, coriander and lime juice. Season to taste.
Set aside to allow the flavours to blend.
Just before serving, drain the salsa, neither of these recipes needs soggy tortilla!

For The Pizza

Heat the tortilla under the grill until it gets crispy.
Once the tortilla is crispy, take it out of the oven and top with the chicken, avocado and salsa.
Cut into slices and serve immediately.
Perfect with an ice cold beer!

For the Wrap

Warm the tortilla according to packet instructions, to soften.
Spread a line of chicken, a line of avocado and a line of salsa in the middle of the tortilla, leaving a 2 cm gap on all sides.
Fold in the bottom, rotate 90* and fold over one side then the other.
Tuck the remaining side of tortilla, securing with a toothpick.
Place into your sandwich press or under your grill and heat until the outside of the tortilla is golden and crispy.
Don’t forget to remove the toothpick before eating!

I wish you all the very best for 2016 and may it be the year all your dreams come true! Thank you for reading and commenting and being a part of my teeny corner of the internet. It’s a New Year – Let’s make it wonderful!

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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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