Retro Food For Modern Times

13
Jan
2014

My New Year’s Resolutions

categories: New Year's Resolutions

I think we all know that the holidays can be stressful.

Hands up how many of you silently vowed to kill at least one family member over the festive period?.

Yep, nearly everyone…

Now, hands up how many of you gave it a red-hot go.

Just me huh?

Oh, and the creepy looking guy in the corner. Dude, you may have issues. Mine was an accident….

This is how it happened.

If you ‘ve been reading this for a while you probably know I am a huge fan of Vietnamese food.

Since our first visit there in 2012, the so-called beloved and I have been exploring Melbourne’s Vietnamese restaurants. We finally settled on a favourite which we have visited at least once a month since then. The food has always been fabulous, the prices are great, the service is good, and the ambience is of the bustling, cheap and cheerful sort which is actually quite reminiscent of Vietnam. And it was hugely popular with people lining up for tables.

And for the last few years I have been trying to get my family to try the food there.

The reasons for the refusals have ranged from the casually racist and formally ludicrous “I don’t want to eat dog” to the slightly more realistic “I don’t want to have my car stolen/be robbed at knifepoint”. Because this restaurant is not in the most salubrious of areas. The first time we visited it, walking through the local car park, I nearly stepped on used syringes…twice. And I don’t think they were due to a meeting of the local diabetic society.

But there is such a thing as a Christmas miracle and on Boxing Day, maybe they were all still a little drunk, or just hungover and hence in a weakened state, I managed to convince three family members to visit this restaurant. Yay me. This was going to be the best meal ever. And once they tasted it, they too would love this restaurant as much as I did. And the world would be a better place full of sunshine, lollipops and rainbows or grilled beef in vine leaves ,claypot rice and pho.

So we went and we had a fabulous meal. They really liked it. Even started to make plans for a return visit.

But you know the saying about something being too good to be true?

Thus it was with this.

A few days ago my aunt who had eaten with us called my mum. “That restaurant she took us to? It’s in the news. On every channel”.

Yeaahhhh…

And not in a good, it’s won some great award way either.

In short. Three people in hospital. Another 18 ill, all diagnosed with salmonella poisoning. Restaurant shut down.

Best guess at date of poisoning because apparently salmonella can take a few days to develop – somewhere between 27 and 31 December. We were there on the 28th so bang in the wheelhouse of potential death.

And you know what’s even worse than taking your family to the salmonella restaurant?

It’s the knowledge that they will never, ever, ever, let me forget it. I’m going to be living this one down for the rest of my life!

So my New Year’s Resolution is…no, not to do a better job of it next time I try to kill my family (but thanks for the input creepy guy in the corner). My resolution is never to recommend another restaurant to anyone ever again. I’m done with that.

And to find a new best restaurant.

So, what are your New Year’s Resolutions?

And just in case you’re wondering, the photo’s this week were of some of the food I made over the holidays. I didn’t think we really needed pictorial representation of the subject matter.

Have a great week!

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10
Jan
2014

Belle & Sebastian’s Plum & Feta Salad

categories: Feta, Plums, Salad

ARGGGHHHH….

I can’t believe it is almost time to go back to work. Where did the summer holidays go? Actually, the whole of summer was M.I A. I wore winter boots the other day. We’re living in crazy times….

But maybe because the réntrée, as the French would say, is about to commence I have had a particular song stuck in my head for about the last four days now. Luckily, this was one I could tolerate, unlike the last time which was Rooms Are On Fire by Stevie Nicks. Can you imagine 6 days of “There is magic all around you, if I do say so myself…”?

Ever wanted to bang your head into a wall just to MAKE IT STOP? That’s what that week was like.

This time is the fabulous Step Into My Office Baby by Belle and Sebastian. Who I love with an almost unrivalled deep and deadly…They’re clever and funny and named after a French book from the 1960’s. They have great album covers and witty whimsical lyrics…

Smart, funny, savvy, slightly nostalgic for a past that probably actually existed…If I was a band I’m almost sure I would be Belle and Sebastian.

Even though this says I am Coldplay!

And, as if all of that musical talent wasn’t enough, they’re also creators of a super refreshing salad!

I found this recipe in “Lost in The SuperMarket: An Indie Rock Cookbook “by Kay Bozick Owens and Lynn Owens and have been waiting for plums to come into season ever since. And those happy days have finally arrived. The shops are full of them.

As a complete digression…they are also full of hot cross buns. WTF is wrong with people? It’s JANUARY!!!. Ok, don’t even get me started…here’s the book….

And here is more of the Belle & Sebastian Plum & Feta Salad! Tangy from the plums, salty from the feta, sweet from the honey, fresh from the mint….and just look at the fabulous colours…

I had mine with a very simple grilled salmon steak and it was a match made in heaven!!! The tanginess and saltiness of the salad cut through the richness of the salmon perfectly.

But I think the Belle and Sebastian Plum and Feta Salad would also go really well with chicken or pork and it would be super wicked amazing with duck….

I’ll give you another B&S anecdote just for free…for YEARS, I thought their gorgeous song Piazza, New York Catcher was called PIzza, New York Catcher….food obsessed or what?

So here are my tips to make the réntrée more bearable:

1. Make this salad….it will cheer you up

2. Listen to some Belle & Sebastian… here’s some I prepared earlier…

3. Don’t look up “The Boy With The Arab Strap” at work thinking you will just get the Belle and Seb album cover. You won’t. And some of the images you will get will be definitely NSFW. Not to mention unsavoury.

So what song is stuck in your head?

And what band are you?

Have a great week!

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28
Dec
2013

Lending a Hand – Hangover Eggs

categories: Bread, Cheese, Eggs, Hummus, Lemon

Now that I have more storage space, mum has been bringing over various bits and pieces of my childhood that she had been keeping for me.

This included a whole heap of my books, including all of my old Famous Five Books. OMG, I loved these, I must have read each of them a hundred times! And yes, at some point I will do a post on the food of the Famous Five. And it will have lashings of ginger beer.

She also brought over my old Brownie Uniform.

Even better than the uniform was, that, in the pocket was my Brownie notebook and official brownie pencil emblazoned with the Brownie Motto of “Lend a Hand.”

On the first page of the notebook there is a note about a recipe with a big tick next to it. I started this cooking thing young! On the second page is a cryptic note saying “Next week jeans + t-shirt not to wear” I wonder what the hell we were going to do with them…Sadly the rest of the notebook is blank so we’ll never know.

As New Year’s Eve is looming, I thought that in the spirit of “lending a hand” I would share my recipe for Hangover Eggs. And, all you party revellers can “be prepared” and get in some supplies. I can’t remember where I found this recipe originally but over the years, it has morphed into the recipe below.

It is however very flexible. You can add tomatoes to the toast; mushrooms, fresh chilli, or green or red pepper, or anything else you fancy to the egg mix. I also find most bought hummus does not have enough tahini in it and I’m far to lazy to make my own so, as per the recipe, I tend to add a bit. You can do this, use the hummus as is, or leave it out altogether. It’s your raging hangover, you know what’s going to work best for you!

Oh and this is really too good to be saved just for hangover days, I would eat it every day if I could!

For the healthy, you can wash this down with some green tea maybe with the rest of the lemon juice squeezed in.

For the rest of us, an ice cold coke is the perfect beverage.

For the truly suffering, a small glass of champagne just to top up your levels may be in order!

Ok, I think I’m done…better just check….

Yep, I”m done!

Happy 2014 everyone, I hope it’s your best year ever!

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23
Dec
2013

Bad Retro Holiday Food…What? Can There Be Such a Thing?

categories: 1970's food, Retro Food in the News, Shrimp

Great article on the interwebs today about Retro Holiday Foods that have, according to the authors, gladly been forgotten…although…I’m not so sure…

I thought this Shrimp Christmas Tree was brilliant…it reminded me a little of Yinzerella’s Shrimp Sputniks from a few days ago. I also loved that massive goblet of sauce… I had a little bet with myself that it would be nothing more than ketchup and mayo and…almost!

I”m doing this…Christmas 2014, your name is Shrimp Christmas Tree. Recipe here.

Funnily enough, this also reminded me of the lovely Yinzerella:

Whereas this just made me giggle for hours. Because I’m really a 12-year-old boy…

I’d ask what were they were thinking but it’s kind of obvious….

Full article here.

So, do you agree with the authors that these should be forgotten? Or, like me have you been inspired to add some retro glam to your next Christmas party meal?

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23
Dec
2013

Grapefruit, Thyme and Pepper Cocktail aka the Mexican Standoff (Spice Peddler)

categories: Big 5 Pepper Steak Rub, Cocktail, Grapefruit, Spice Peddler, Tequila

Ay Carumba this was good!!!

Yeah, not for me the humblebrag…This was awesome!

I was really worried that it would be an epic fail…It was the garlic in the spice rub that threw me, how would that work in a cocktail? However, in the end the strong flavour in the simple syrup was the thyme with the pepper and spices providing more of a background notes and warmth. (Yes, I’ve been reading wine labels again!)

I based this on a recipe from Martha Stewart which you can find here.

I also used tequila not vodka. Just because I had some that has sat on my drinks trolley for about 10 years. Seriously. I think it was given to me as a housewarming present for the last house I moved into.

I really, really wanted to use the Spice Peddler Big 5 mix in a cocktail but I thought it would be better to infuse the mix into the simple syrup. So, I mixed a teaspoon of the pepper mix into the sugar and water, and then I threw the thyme in as well to make a thyme and pepper simple syrup. Dammit, I should have thrown the grapefruit rind in as well…ah well, next time! Maybe some chilli too…

Then I kind of completely forgot about it as we were trying to hang some pictures in the new house and either the beloved or I have a skewed view of reality because it took us over 30 minutes and the use of spirit level before we could agree that a painting was straight….and this was before we started on the cocktails.

So what I ended up with was the thick black syrup you can see in the photo above. What you can’t get from the photo is that this mix of thyme, sugar and pepper smelled ridiculously like marijuana.

Or so I was told.

By the complete stranger who just happened to knock on the door at that exact moment. Then disappeared equally as quickly. Didn’t catch his name, Officer. So sorry.

Which in turn reminded me of something that never happened and is a total figment of my overactive imagination.

So imagine if hypothetically you turned up unannounced at your parent’s house. And the imagine that said house smelled overwhelmingly of….erm…thyme and pepper infused simple syrup. And imagine they were being a little silly and giggly.

Move over Quentin Tarantino, I think I just bested you in the Mexican Standoff stakes…

The problem with accusing your parents of “imbibing the thyme and pepper simple syrup” is that then then they know that you are also familiar with “thyme and pepper simple syrup”.

So, what do you do?

Borrow the drill you came to get and GTFO of Dodge is what.

Cos, you know possibly they were also just making cocktails.

I mean, if that had ever happened.

Which it didn’t.

Wow, this post is making my head spin. What will not make your head spin, or spin only in the right way is this cocktail. Which is super. – tangy from the grapefruit ,zingy from the pepper, aromatic and resiny from the thyme….

Drink it, enjoy, have a fabulous, fantastic Christmas everyone!

Special thanks to Mercy and the team at The Spice Peddlers for their trust and belief in me.

And major thanks to everyone for reading and your kind words over the year.

Without you, this would just be fun.

With you, it’s super awesome.

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