Hello friends and retro food lovers. These little sardine toadstools may just be the most wonderfully whimsical vintage things I’ve ever made here! They are as cute as a button! A button mushroom, that is! The recipe for the Sardine Toadstools comes from what is fast becoming a favourite around these parts: Marguerite Patten’s 500 Recipes for Quick Meals (1972).
Imagine serving around a little tray of these at your next Halloween party. Or an Alice in Wonderland-inspired children’s party. I showed photos of these to one of my work colleagues. He loved them so much he is going to make them for his nieces on Christmas morning. Another colleague heard him talking about them and has also asked for the recipe to make for his daughters for weekend breakfasts!
Sardine Toadstools are a dish for any occasion where you want to add a touch of magic, which could also just be lunch! Your guests will be delighted and, by the way, these taste pretty good too!
Variations on The Theme of Sardine Toadstools
Now, I know that some of you, bizarrely, in my opinion, hate sardines. I feel the same way about cooked carrots. And beetroot. So there’s no judgement here. But please don’t discount this recipe if you do. You could swap in some tuna. Or leave out the fish altogether and just add mayo and mustard for a classic deviled egg.
If you want to get fancy and don’t mind the fiddliness of trying to coax the yolks out of boiled quail eggs, think how spectacular a miniature version of these would be! Use quail eggs and cherry tomatoes, and voila, not only are you magical, but you are also sophisticated!
Caterpillar took the hookah out of its mouth and yawned once or twice, and shook itself. Then it got down off the mushroom, and crawled away in the grass, merely remarking as it went, ‘One side will make you grow taller, and the other side will make you grow shorter.’
‘One side of what? The other side of what?’ thought Alice to herself.
‘Of the mushroom,’ said the Caterpillar, just as if she had asked it aloud; and in another moment it was out of sight.
Lewis Carroll – Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
The Recipe – Sardine Toadstools
As you can see, I’ve not bothered with the rounds of bread and butter, but you do you!
Please let me know if you make these! With Christmas just around the corner, many people may be wondering what to serve guests as fun finger food or a starter. These sardine toadstools could be just the thing for your entertaining needs! And if you do make them, please tag me on Instagram if you post them or ping me a photo. I would absolutely love to see how your creations turn out.
Hello crime readers and food lovers. Let me start right off with an apology for the atrocious pun. I am so sorry. But…I was racking my brains to think of what to cook for Towards Zero and, as is my want, I started searching for a pun. “What rhymes with Audrey..tawdry…no cancel that one. Battle rhymes with cattle…maybe a beef Wellington?” And then I got to Nevile and “eh voila” as Poirot would say, the idea of Neviled Eggs was born. And once it was in my head…there was no going back.
I adored “Towards Zero,” so please don’t mistake my playful recipe title for any disrespect towards this brilliant novel. Usually, I read these books twice: once for the initial experience, and then again to glean details for these posts. My first read of Towards Zero left me utterly bewildered about the culprit, right until the big reveal. On my second read, however, I was astounded by the sheer number of cleverly hidden clues scattered throughout.
The plotting here is simply masterful! What seemed like passing chatter on the first go-round all converged beautifully towards the killer’s identity. To any aspiring mystery writer, I wholeheartedly recommend “Towards Zero” as a masterclass in artful clue placement. But even if you’re simply seeking a meticulously crafted detective story, this is a must-read.
Towards Zero – The Plot
“I like a good detective story,’ he said. ‘But, you know, they begin in the wrong place! They begin with the murder. But the murder is the end. The story begins long before that—years before sometimes—with all the causes and events that bring certain people to a certain place at a certain time on a certain day.”.”
Agatha Christie – Towards Zero
We start with four seemingly disparate vignettes.
A group of London lawyers are speaking of the latest case and Mr Treves, a highly esteemed and elderly solicitor makes the above quote about murders being the end of a series of events that can bring a group of very different people together, all as they move towards zero hour.
Angus MacWhirter is recovering in a hospital after a failed suicide. He is bitterly disappointed still to be alive but his nurse tells him that he was saved because God may need him in the future
We next take a peek at a very disturbed person who is meticulously planning a murder
Superintendent Battle’s daughter is intimidated into confessing that she stole things when she is innocent
Could these four seemingly unconnected events, be somehow related as they all move towards zero?
Our Cast:
Nevile Strange is a tennis player, known for his good sportsmanship on the court. Neville was raised by Matthew and Camilla Tressilian at their home Gull’s Point. Sir Matthew has now passed and Lady Tressilian is bedridden but Neville visits her each year. (Incidentally, I did my first “reading” of this on audio via YouTube and the reader kept referring to Nevile as Ne-vile and not Neville. For me, Ne-vile Strange sounded like the name of a Harry Potter villain.
Kay Strange is Nevile’s second (trophy) wife. She finds the visits to Gull’s Point boring and would prefer to be having fun with her friends, one of whom is Ted Latimer, a very handsome but somewhat louche young man. Whilst not staying at Gull’s Point, Ted has taken up residence at Easterhead Bay, a short distance across the bay from Gull’s Point.
Audrey Strange, Nevile’s first wife. Normally Audrey and Neville stagger their visits to Lady Tressilian however this year their trips converge. And no one seems happy about it. Except Nevile who seems to be trying to rekindle his old flame.
Mary Aldin, Lady Tressilian’s companion
Thomas Royde. Audrey’s cousin who is visiting from Malaysia
Mr Treves, who was an old friend of Sir Matthews is holidaying in the vicinity and is invited to dinner one fateful evening.
We have:
Mr Treves killed by staircase (ingenious!)
Lady Tressilian beaten to death with a golf club and,
Superintendent Battle virtually pushing someone off a boat to confirm that really can’t swim!
Rank odours, MacWhirter asking odd things of Mary
Something significant in the attic
And many, many people being lying liars who lie
Battle also channels his inner Poirot to bring the killer to justice.
Battle rubbed his chin and frowned. “I wish I knew what keeps putting Hercule Poirot into my head.”
“You mean that old chap – the Belgian – comic little guy?” asked Leach.
“Comic my foot,: sais Superintendent Battle. “About as dangerous as a black mamba and a she-leopard – that’s what he is. I wish he were here – this sort of thing would be right up his street.”
Towards Zero – Agatha Christie
If only Battle had used a Boomslang (as per Death in the Coulds) as his snake analogy!
Towards Zero – The Covers
So many great (and non-English) covers here. My three favourites are Audrey on the cliff (top row second from left), a theatre bill, second row first from left showing Gull’s Point and of course, top row, first on the left, Tennis racquet head! So clever and cluey!
And it’s not the first tennis racquet head we’ve had either! Murder at the Vicarage also has one of these!
Place the eggs in a pan filled with enough water to cover them. Bring the water to boil then cover with a lid, remove from the heat and let the eggs sit for 2 minutes.
Drain and cool the eggs in cold water with some ice cubes in it.
Peel the eggs, cut them in half and scoop out the yolks.
Mash the yolks with the lemon juice, mustard, Tabasco and mayonnaise until the mixture is smooth.
Fill a piping bag with the mashed yolks and pipe back into the egg whites.
Garnish with a little sprig of dill and a salmon egg.
Enjoy!
Notes
I found it easier to place the dill sprigs and salmon roe on the eggs with a pair of tweezers because I have massive man hands that are not great for delicate tasks like this!
Links To The Christieverse
Battle mentions Poirot a few times but does not refer to any specific cases. The other Superintendent Battle books are:
Happy New Year Everyone!!!! Let’s hope it is wonderful for all of us. And speaking of wonderful – let’s talk deviled eggs! Specifically, let’s talk Sriracha deviled eggs. For Christmas Day, I wanted an appetiser that could stave off hunger pangs while the main meal and sides finished cooking. Ideally, I also wanted something that I could cook the day before so there was one less thing to worry about on the big day. This recipe for Sriracha Deviled Eggs fitted the bill perfectly! Plus, I got to use my gorgeous deviled egg plate!! That’s a definite win-win situation!
I tell you, cooking Christmas lunch was hard work, By the end, my plan looked like one of those walls you see in murder mysteries, with scribbled notes and arrows linking timelines all over the place. At best, timing is my bête noire so trying to ensure 3 appetisers, 4 different kinds of meat, two sides and a dessert all arrived at the table at the right time required a lot of planning and, let’s be truthful, a little bit of luck! Here’s a facsimile of my plan!
So, it was a massive relief that the Sriracha Deviled eggs could be made the day before. And, despite my wonky piping, they looked so pretty on the plate! The recipe I had for these eggs had a garlic breadcrumb topping which, to be honest, I did not like the sound of. They would have also been one more thing that would have needed cooking on what was already a mad schedule. Instead, I topped my eggs with a slice of fried shallot (bought at the Asian grocery), a sliver of red chilli and about a third of a coriander leaf. A sprinkle of smoked paprika and voila, the eggs were done. And the colours not only matched the plate but the red chilli and green coriander were also very festive.
The gorgeous plate was a birthday present from my dear friend Ali a few years ago. I love it but do not use it nearly enough. This year may well become the year of the deviled egg just so I can use it more often!
The eggs went down a treat and were the perfect start to our Christmas festivities. I was, at the time unaware that the great, great granddaddy of the deviled eggs we serve today were served way back in Roman times to the wealthy patricians as a first course called gustatio. (Which is, I guess where we get the word gustation)
Well, if you would like to have a gustatio of your own, here’s the recipe!
A disclaimer on the recipe. Usually, when I clip a recipe I write on the back the details from whence it came so I can give credit where credit is due. This clipping has no reference so maybe someone gave it to me or it might be from before I started blogging and just clipped things because I liked the sound of them! The font of the clipping makes me think it might be from a Delicious magazine but I cannot find a recipe online to confirm or deny. If the recipe seems familiar to anyone, please let me know so I can reference it properly. The eggs are basically that recipe with a few tweaks, the garnishes are my idea.
